After hot days in Saigon we moved foreward to Da Lat, a French hill station in founded as retreat from the tropical climate of the southern Vietnam. Highlights are the colonial buildings and the broad spectrum of east-german origined means of transport.
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Dalat with cathedral and colonial french buildings
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In the time before air-conditioning and everywhere available iced drinks the humid and hot climate of southern Vietnam must have been real stress for Europeans. That's why the French set up a number of hill stations to offer retreat from the heat for those who could afford it, but also for military hospitals. Da Lat has a number of beautiful french colonial buildings - the most famous of them seems to be the Sofitel Dalat Palace a big fine hotel overlooking the artificial lake. But even more interesting for us were the vehicles we found in Da Lat. Saigon, Hanoi and the most tourist spots are Honda-Country and also in Da Lat most Motorbikes were of Japanese Origin. But we did also find numerous Simsons (build in Suhl, Thuringia in former East-Germany, which was a real find to us since those are the vehicles of our youth), some Wolgas and Ladas (russian-build - our first car), and some W50 / L60 (east German trucks labeled IFA which are powered by engines once built in Nordhausen - our home town).
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| Favourite spots: |
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A Lada - my wife's first car
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The steps above the marketplace - you can overlook the market area from up there with all its hustle and bustle & the town center on weekends - because it becomes pedestrian zone at night fall with kids playing on the streets and a pause from the honking motorbikes (even though they are Simson).
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| What's really great: |
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It was cool - you actually have to were a sweater or a jacket at night and one can sleep without air-conditioning. Lurking through the Sofitel Plaza, pretending to belong there and seeing how far you can get.
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| Sights: |
The French Coloinal Buildings along Tran Phu and Tran Hung Dao (especially with the red vietnamese flags in front of them). Bao Dai's summer palace (which is a relatively ugly concrete building but the interior is interesting). The flower garden at the East End of the lake, which is also popular with locals.
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| Accommodations: |
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IFA W50 Truck with Diesel Engine from Nordhausen / Thuringia (Germany)
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The Trong Hong-hotel (or something like this) new, nice, clean (20 $ / night / 2 person) - it's operated by Sinh Café, so they can give you directions. Their bus also stops there.
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A S51 Comfort (Simson) - a little shabby but still running
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I'd like to add some personal opinon here. We enjoyed Da Lat - but if one is short on time and not really interested in french colonial architecture (or has seen enough of it in Saigon / Hanoi) Da Lat can be skipped - a nice place to be but not a real must - there are places more interesting in Vietnam. Even the east-german motorbikes will be gone soon.
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Published on Saturday July 10th, 2004
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Tue, Jul 05 2005 - 09:14 PM
 by tokyomike
| Hi Thomas. Great report! Actually, I was in Vietnam last December/January, but in the south (Just uploaded a report on Mui Ne). I'm planning to go for 2 weeks this winter, but starting in Hanoi and going all the way down to Saigon. I'm going crazy trying to decide what places to see, and what to skip, so I appreciated the opinion that Da Lat can be missed if on a short trip. I may do that. But if not, your report gave me some good insight. Danke!! :) |
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