Dalat Vietnam : Travel 1000 miles away just to prove that I'm crazy.

..and entitled myself to be registered into a mental asylum.

This is plain crazy and stupid. There is nothing jaw dropping sight over here and to me it just more or less like haunted house at cheap fun fair. Still in the middle of construction some more! That was so unfair!

I did read the other tourists and travel blogs profess about how unique this crazy house is... but still it failed to impress me. Only a few angle did shows that the spookiness of the architecture, and the rest are.. just plain creations and works of cements mold. I didnt see "fairytale" in it at all. Sorry. 

 

One of many theme rooms they had it in here...

 

You can experience the craziness of the rooms and layout with as low as USD30 with a breakfast. seriously.. I dont see this room is.. sleep - able.  Can u? Look at the mattress and low ceilings.. by looking at it, I can imagine how poor the air ventilation..

 

As museum or place to to complete your travel itinerary, yes. But to stay in here, and oh... all the writes up about this place are totally overrated.

 

 

 

Real queen termite inside.

 

This is the guest house / Crazy house lobby I think...

 

..and maybe breakfast is served in this area/room.. I dont know. There is no proper layout / room descriptions around here. Not in English!

 

 

There is 1 single souvenir stall selling locals handmade.

 

..and it is normal trying, posing with it -  without buying it

Ok, next stop - even more boring - er

 

This place called Bao Dai's Palace. It is a summer palace of former Vietnam's Emperor Bao Dai (1926 - 1945). But Do not expect to see object de'art inside the palace.

 

The garden is well maintained, thanks to dalat's natural cold climate which helps put a charm into the surroundings with pine trees and hydrangeas flowers. Or else, macam Tasik Titiwangsa aje..

 

I had to put some kind  of shoe comdoms in able to walk around inside the palace..

This is nothing to compare with Emperor palaces in China. The furniture is alike living in modern 2 star hotels. I was like.. wtf... I thought all emperors cribs looks something like Forbidden Palace, China... Arrgghh 

 

 

 

I Guess this is the master bedroom.

2nd bedroom - and I believed the workers slept on it at night... look at the bed sheet!

Guest's rooms? Hmmm most probably for male guests

and this for female guests? Cuz it's pink?

That is the only interesting artifact I found in this big square house. And I believed that was a gift or imported / bought by Emperor Bao Dai during his trip to China?

Emperor's official office. Pfftt.. Telekom Muzium ada ni berlambak.

Some of Emperor's Corningware collection.

It is a boring trip indeed. So, to complete it, I feel it is not enough to end this boring trip by not making myself looked utterly moron. So paid RM2.50 (15,000 dong) for it.. They have this room with all king/queen/princess/gundik costumes for rent.

 

 

Stupid.

Ah, beware of these 2 kutu. They were like forcing you in a very friendly way to take pictures with them. They will pose with you like real monkey and pig who never saw a human in their entire life and in the end asking you to pay 5,000 dong for every snap. Fucker.


After wasting 3 hours time of the most boring tour in my whole life,  We asked the taxi driver to drop us at the best / famous restaurant in Dalat town. He was not helping at all.. dropped us at his friend's restaurant where there were no sight of customers in it. Wth? Then we walked further up and down until we saw this one.

Ok la, consider unique since the interior were made by bamboo, sticks and branch. It is a very clean and cosy spot. The owner is a pretty mid age lady who can speak English very well. Ah, I totally forgot to take a picture with her.

I hope they took this from a dead tree and not from the poor young live trees just to decorate the ceilings.

There are few other restaurants tagged and recommended by the "Lonely Planet" along the street. But the price of the food are twice expensive than the one which wasnt recommended by that popular travel guide show. 

and the menu not bad. I had enough eating shell grilled animals already.

Grilled fish. The fish was so hard and tastes like a chicken. Sigh. Not good.

BBQ squid. It was ok. different than what we had in Bagan lalang or seafood restaurant in KL

Seafood spaghetti. Wasn't mine. Anyway, the sauce was a bit sweet. Urgh.

Mushroom soup with asparagus. - Urgh.


If u ask me what is the best food I had in Dalat... is this.. homemade croissant...soft, creamy, buttery..and it smell very...milky... I loves this cute soft small croissant ... more than the stupid tour, the princess outfit, grilled fish and dalat town itself...

As a conclusion. this croissant was the only best thing I encounterd in Dalat.

crazy.

Dalat Vietnam : Hella Trip.

I dont know what was the main force that made me die die wanna go to Vietnam, with the price of USD404 (MYR 1350) 6D/5N single head, all inclusive - Flight, hotels, transfer, food and ass pain, I should have chose Bali, Krabi, Cebu or someplace with hot sunny beach! I blamed it on some agency who forwarded into my outlook inbox about  "Flower Festival" in Da Lat, Vietnam - and I straight booked a flight ticket to Ho Chi Minh. WTF?

So.. this is Da Lat. Im not sure any of you ever heard about this city?

Da Lat is the capital of Lam Dong Province, Vietnam with all year round cool weather. But I didnt feel the cold very much except during the night time, maybe due to some serious hill excavation and shopping complex/hotels construction. They described this city as "City of Eternal Spring" due to its valleys covered by the mist, followed with endless sights of marigold trees - all year round.

Nah, it's all bullshit. It's hot during afternoon, little sight of marigold tree, and even if they have, it almost botak okay?

Because of those beautiful words describing how amazing the city is.. has tricked me to leave Ho Chi Minh (HCMC)city with nice hotel bed and Hard Rock Cafe around, to cross dont know how many hundreds miles (7 hour, journey by bus coach) to this hot by day cold by night city. Pffttt.

Oh well, since I've been there, so I better blog about it and you can find it as references to NOT GOING through the same shit like what I did.

So, once u touch down at HCMC airport, beware of the BAD taxi driver. They will ask you to pay them 1million dong (USD54) to bring you from the airport to your destination around the city. Fuck it. Just find taxi with meter and it costs you not more than 150000 dong / USD8

If you wanna travel out from HCMC via coach, I strongly suggest that go to their central bus station at 400A, Le Hong Phong, Quan 10 TP. The place just like a Puduraya bus station. And from my observations, taxis and coach provided by Mai Linh group are very reliable for first timer like me. They use meter, the vehicle all new and air conditioned.

and just for USD 6, you are on your way to a hell journey of your life!

before that, the food,

it wasnt bad at all! and very very cheap.

and this seafood spaghettti costs me only USD 2 and 70 cents for my fruit juice. =)

Muka kena scam - looked so happy, thought of going to somewhere nicer than the city. Pffttt.

The coach provides you with these, and they have a cosy green blanket too. But..what is cosy blanket for when the road to Da Lat is so bumpy and suit for 4x4WD rally track =(

We arrived around 8pm and it was so nice that Mai Linh provide a mini van transfer from their office in Da Lat to our hotel of stay, FOC. And I noticed that the driver is cute too :P

We stayed at this boutique hotel, called Le Petit Paris for USD37 per night. It was a tad expensive for a small property like this with a lousy breakfast. But overall, ok la, they provides a clean and comfortable room and bed minus the bath tub.

 

It was called Le Petit Paris due to the trial to adapt the french concept into their property. I can see they are trying very hard tho, by decorating the hotel small back yard with statues and water fountain.. but I dont feel very french still.

 

 

by looking at this I think they should name the place as Hotel le Tities Paris.

Wake up in the morning and looking forward for some excursion.

Nah...if you want to know ~ the taste just like a maggie mee boiled in a plain water.

So when u are in Da Lat, especially during the flower Festival, the 1st thing u shld visit is.. The Flower Festival park!  PPttfff...

They described it until like the place sounded like Holland or something like that. And all I imagined was Tulips ..Tulips everywhere!!! But..

Aiyaaa.. if like this, go to KL Birdpark area can already. I was so keen to take awesomeful picture of macro whatever function in my dSLR.. u know.. some close ups and stuff...

like this.. well, u no need to go to Da Lat.. my mama house back yard do have this daisy la!!!!! Want cooler go Cameron Highlands okay!!! or pluck some from my mama house back yard and start macro shooting inside your house fridge can!!!!!! wtf!@#$%&*/?#@!

sigh.

Then we proceed to the next IT thing in Da lat called Crazy House. So we went there to check it out how crazy it would be;

More picture on this tour section in the next post. And it is crazy to come all the way to Vietnam to see this so-called crazy house. Crazy.

sigh.

Next one is Da Lat waterfall. Ok there is nothing interesting about the waterfall. Waterfalls are all the same - dirty with plastic bags floating everywhere and slippery. Except the way to get to the waterfall is fucking AWESOME!!!! 

by toboggans on rail!. and this one even better, around the mountain, all the natural dangerous slope and curve. and it just u and the seat belt. :P

The tramway is 1,000 metres long, curving up the sides of the mountain. It features sensor brakes on the two-seat cabins, which passengers may also control with handbrakes.The trip used to be 15 minutes uphill on foot, but with the new system takes only two. At 10km/h, passengers are treated to views of the natural landscape. For those who like extreme sports, the trams are capable of speeds up to 40km/h.

 

 

This is how it looks like **Picture taken from www.travelvietnam.org

Yea, yea.. since I sat at the front, I was screaming on top of my lung when the toboggan went at 3km/h speed. Talk about adventurous...ppfftt.




and the last one was the place where this guy stayed many many decade ago;

its called Bao Dai Palace. The architecture is very ugly right.. for a palace...

There is nothing much u can do in here except make yourself looked like a fool in some of their costume for rent. More picture on this tour section in the next post. Too boring.


I dont know what is the original local foods in Da Lat.. u know.. like Nasi lemak for Malaysian and Ploff for Uzbekistan people. But I had these for dinner... it was an A,B,C - Appetizing, Balsamic and Cheap..

I almost take these..since I am a quail egg lover.. but what the heck.. inside got baby bird already!!! eeekkkkkkk!!! I know if Vegans knew this they will throw a picket!!

 How much did you need to pay to eat an escargot in some french restaurant? Nah.. here is only few cents each.

 The lady was helping me on how to eat the leaves.. lol.

These are very yummy. Grilled lala with special sour and spicy sauce, crushed peanuts and fresh spring onion all over it... ahhh...

We ate those shelled families for 4 plates... burped loud and paid only USD6. I know.. they should describe Da Lat is a City of Food Heaven for cheapskate.. not City of Eternal Spring...


to be continued...