Central Highlands Road Trip, Part IV

After cresting the top of Ngoan Muc Pass, we dropped down into a small valley which was nothing like anything I expected to find in Vietnam.  Instead of jungle, we got forest.  Evergreen forest.  It was like we had taken a wrong turn and ended up outside Flagstaff.  The air was clean, cool and crisp. 

Of course, after a long trip up the pass, we were all parched.  So we pulled into a roadside stop for a rest.  Unfortunately, they had no ca phe sua da so we had to settle for water and green tea.

The owner had several interesting piles of "things" out front, drying in the sun, and it turned out that they were mushrooms.

That's ginsing on the left.

Bamboo root here.

After spending a few minutes resting up, we continued down the road through beautiful forests.  Even the housing went from the standard brick to wooden homes.  Timber was everywhere. 

I have no idea what these buildings were, but they sure looked interesting.

The weather at this point was not only cooler, but considerably wetter.  It soon started to rain quite hard, so we pulled into a very small general store to wait out the storm. 

This little girl and her father waited for the rain to clear with us.
The woman (one of the owners, I think) entertained her until she and her dad hopped on
their scooter and drove down the road.

After waiting about an hour and a half, we finally gave up, dawned our very fashionable "baby bear" adorned ponchos and made our way the remaining 12 miles or so into Dalat.

Les and Jerry before we head off into the rain.

After travelling about 85 miles Sunday, we arrived at our hotel, the Dalat Palace.  Built by the French in 1922, it's been preserved and restored to its vintage glory days.

Check out the old fashioned tub.

After a shower, nap and dinner, we wondered downtown to the Night Market in Central Dalat.  Not much interesting or unusual to see, but we did pass the prettiest church I've seen in Vietnam along the way.  It's an old Catholic Church which is still in use and was spectacularly lit that night.

It was another great day through an amazingly different and incredible part of Vietnam. 

Tomorrow: One last day on the road.