25th February: Dalat, Vietnam

On our way for a wander, I picked up a super strong and sweet little coffee from a place on the corner near the hotel. It apparently wasn’t enough, however, so instead of lunch I went to chill in a café instead for another caffeine hit. They also gave me a cup of pandan tea and refilled that, so there was no excuse for not being awake now! Kaja had a buffet from next door, and we reconvened to walk along the south side of the lake.

It was at this point that I realised that my phone camera wasn’t focusing properly. On review, quite a few photos from the past couple of weeks are out of focus. That’s rather annoying as it’s coincided with a time when I’ve taken very few photos with my camera. The view back over the lake on this blustery and cloudy day wasn’t anything special, but it would be surprising to somebody dropped here that they were in Vietnam and not in alpine Europe.

Needing a snack, we walked through a lovely little park to find a banh mi for my lunch. We were also given yet more tea whilst we waited – this time a lovely warming time cinnamon and pepper brew. In the park behind us, sat a statue of Yersin – a nineteenth century French biologist, famed as co-discover of the bacteria responsible for the bubonic plague – who lived and died in Vietnam.

On this side of the manmade lake are some old French colonial buildings which, having fallen into disrepair, are being redeveloped as Dalat markets itself towards a new generation of tourists escaping the heat of the lowlands. One of these is the train station, 7km of the line from which is now operational as a tourist route to the village of Trai Mat. It was around then that I started to feel very dizzy and jelly legged. Perhaps all of that caffeine wasn’t such a good idea?! We stopped to sit for a bit in a little roadside café before getting a taxi back to town. It was my turn for a buffet to get some energy back before going to lay down for the rest of the day. Tomorrow’s plans make going steady on the caffeine slightly tricky!