Grey but never dull: Dalat

In an attempt to keep this short (maybe even sweet?) our first stop out of Saigon was the seaside resort town of Mui Ne. Never have I seen so many extravagant hotels and spas in one place. To be honest, it was all a little too much. The beach itself was nothing to write home about and the town was way too expensive for us little backpackers. We searched under the moon light for a cheap place to stay, but our luck was out, it was going to be another 7$ night. Unfortunately this time, the cost wasn’t really reflected in the accommodation. The strip we were staying on was like walking down something from a 90210 episode, ‘life styles of the rich and famous’ came to mind.

We left the following morning.

Back on the road and possibly on the bounciest bus imaginable (my back will never be the same) we headed towards Dalat, high in the hills and famous for its coffee and wine: two of my favourite things. As we climbed the mountains, views of lush greenery surrounded us and made for a strong contrast from the cities and seaside places we had visited so far. We expected Dalat to be a small town, tucked away between the hills. It turned out to be quite different. Tucked between the hills yes, small, not so much. As we topped over the final brow of a mountain, Dalat spread out beneath us, far larger than we both imagined.

Sock horror, we weren’t dropped miles out of the centre. Things were looking good, but there was a reason why our little mini bus had struggled through the afternoon traffic to drop us at the first hotel. I think there were some family ties between the driver and hotel staff. Admittedly, it was a nice looking place, but way out of our league. It didn’t take long before we started walking. With no idea of where we were going, and only a vague idea of bearings, we started down the hill – an easier option than trekking upwards. This didn’t last long. Soon we were at the bottom, with only one option regardless of what road we picked; we were going up.

The weather here took us completely by surprise. From 30 degrees in Mui Ne, we had arrived in a place where the weather resembled something more of a British summer: cool, overcast and a little grey. This helped us as we climbed the endless hill to our guesthouse.

The large building looked good from the outside, and didn’t really disappoint on the inside either. The rooms were spacious, but there was no fan? We knew it was 6$ a night, but still, surely we would fry at night? Like I said earlier, the weather was too cold for any need of external cooling systems. In fact, after a rummage around at the bottom of our bags, our jumpers came out, albeit smelling a little damp. Nice.

It was a family run guesthouse and although not a home-stay by normal definitions, it really felt like we were part of family. It was lovely playing with the young children and the host spoke great English which really helped us out. We went through different tour options and tried to set an itinerary whereby we could see as much as possible. This was a none starter. The distances between all the attractions were just too great, and the costs of doing everything over 2 days was quickly climbing to an unfeasible high. Whilst here, we wanted to see some coffee plantations, explore the countryside, visit the Elephant waterfalls and ride elephants, surely not too much to ask for? There was only one solution, another scooter hire.

Malene’s new friend.

Early the next morning, we hired our scooter (unfortunately not pink this time), filled it to the brim and set off into the mountains. It was incredible. Everything was so green and the soil was a rich orange colour that made for a dramatic panorama as we hurtled our way through the hills. Our first stop was the Elephant waterfalls. Supposedly named because the rocks either side of the water resemble elephant heads, we couldn’t quite see it though. What we did see, was nature at its finest. After a slightly daunting descent, over slippery rocks and down to the river, we were rewarded by a beautiful waterfall. Not a bad place for breakfast we thought, and so grabbed our sandwiches and tucked in, occasionally being splashed by the cascading water.

Slippery slopes, was it worth it?

Yep!

Behind the water.

Back towards Dalat, we stopped at a coffee farm. Their most famous coffee is the weasel variety. Not sure on the name, we enquired as to its origin, not expecting the answer we got. As we walked into a little back room, we saw large cages with sleeping weasels. The process behind this coffee is as follows: feed the weasels coffee beans. The weasel then excretes the coffee beans. Make coffee out of what comes out. I was pretty disgusting and I really don’t know who thought of the idea. Ingenious or a little twisted? You decide.

My total concentration face.

After filling up our trusty 2 wheeled steed in Dalat, we continued to head through the city center and out the other side. It didn’t take long before we had to come off the main road and onto a pot holed ridden side track. But it was fun, occasionally felt like motocross and kept us excited for our next stop: Elephant island. To reach the small remote island, we had to cross the lake. The skies were starting to grow a little darker and with the silent water, it was all a little eerie. The island had the same feeling. Desert of people, we stumbled over large tree roots and passed empty swinging chairs. Eventually we found a guy and saw what we had come to see: an elephant. We promised ourselves that we would only go for ‘a ride’ if the animal looked like he was in a comfortable, nice place. With so many stories of animal cruelty, we definitely didn’t want to be part of that. But this elephant was having a great time. And as we climbed the rotting wooden stairs and onto the platform, we gingerly stepped over and onto the wild beast. It was a slow, surreal experience. He (I think it was a ‘he’?) plodded carefully through the forest and down to the waters edge. All the time chewing on a huge bamboo shoot. Naturally, I felt like I was sitting on top of an Imperial walker from Star Wars, another dream fulfilled!

Eerie lake.

Riding through the forest.

Same same but different.

The entire day was something of a dream. This was kind of the underlining tone for this entire trip so far. Right from the start, at the orphanage with the children, to the playground of Nepal and Thailand, Cambodia and now Vietnam: we were ticking so many life long ambitions. It’s all going so well and hopefully won’t change. The way things are turning out…how can it get any better?

We’ve lost out camera.

It turns out that Malene had hidden our camera behind the television in our room in Mui Ne. Without blaming her entirely, I was left in charge of packing our things together in preparation for the bus. Silly me for not checking behind the tv! Okay, I should have done a simple checklist of all important items, but it had happened and we needed to fix it. Luckily, we managed to get in touch with the previous hotel and they had found the camera and were keeping it safe. They then popped it on the bus and we were reunited with our trusty camera later that evening. I was seriously considering buying a new one, as the scratches on the lens are starting to get really noticeable. I hope the photos in this post are passable, as it was my trusty phone that took them.

Our final near miss came when we were to board our bus to Nha Trang. The confusion started with the fact that there are 2 buses, heading in opposite directions and leaving at the same time. We were supposedly booked on the Nha Trang bus, but in fact, the booking hadn’t gone through, leaving us potentially stranded. Luckily (using that word a lot at the moment!) our host managed to book us with a different company which all went through fine. What it does mean is that the company we brought our open bus tickets from, would have had to pay for the same journey twice. Mistakes on their behalf had started, and this would echo for the rest of our Vietnam trip.

Nha Trang here we come. With more beaches and Malene itching to take her PADI open water diving course, we were both eager to get there. We just had to ride out the 12 hour bus journey it would take for us to get there. Good times.

Hard to say goodbye to these views.

Paradise found: Koh Rong Samloem

The last time we were able to walk down a sandy beach and gaze across the blue ocean was in Goa, India. If you’ve read that post, then you’ll realise why why weren’t so impressed with that place. On the other hand, the beach itself was dreamy, and that was something we definitely missed. Our beach shorts and bikinis were repacked to the top of our bags and we set off for Sihanoukville; again by bus.

5 hours later and after more never ending Cambodian musical films, we reached the outskirts of Sihanoukville (named after king Sihanouk). Unfortunately, we were dropped about 3km out of the center, and being midday, the sun was way too hot for us to walk it. The haggling began. After attracting a crowd of tuk tuk drivers who all wanted us (we felt so special!), we agreed on a price and actually got a taxi, with A/C to take us to our first guest house. It was a charming little guesthouse, covered in trees and potted plants. The 3 French guys who were there were very welcoming, even if they were more concerned with smoking the greenery rather than watering it.

That afternoon, Malene and I took a long walk down to the coast and explored the thriving beaches. It was a busy place, packed full of bars and eateries: hardly the paradise we had expected. Still, after a few hours of walking around and checking hotel prices, we found a cheap place, no more than a minute from the white sands. We booked ourselves in for the following day.

The next morning, we again packed our bags. This has now become second nature to us and although we’re getting faster and faster at the ritual of stuffing our sacks, the sacks themselves never seem to get any lighter. Although it was early, the sun was already raging down on us. We were quick to drop our bags in our new room and head straight for the beach. After a ten minute walk on the burning sand, we found an idyllic spot away from young travellers who were already set on partying. We claimed our sun loungers, ordered a beer (you had to buy a drink to use the seats – I had no choice!) and quickly settled in for a morning of nothingness. The water however was just too inviting. Deep blue and nicely warmed by the summers sun, we often took a quick dip and then returned to the comfort of our shaded seats. We began to wonder just how long we could stay here.

I had no choice but to buy the ice cold beer – honestly.

Practicing walking on water.

That evening, we wondered around the food markets and watched the place come to life. Music blared out, sun loungers were replaced by soft bean bags and tables and travelers came out in their drones looking for a happy hour. They had plenty to choose from too. We took the opportunity to enquire as to the price for getting to the small island of Koh Rong Samloem. Situated approximately 2 hours off the mainland, we studied the brochures which of course looked incredible. They always do. The price: 20$ per person. Included in this price (which was a lot for us) was a return boat ride on the famous party boat, Lunch, breakfast, one free drink and free snorkeling equipment. The prices for accommodation on the island were reasonable and so we booked our tickets for the following morning. It turned out that we wouldn’t be spending much more time in Sihanoukville. A mistake?

We agreed to leave our bags in the tour office where we booked the boat tickets. Chained to each other and in a back room, we presumed they would be safe. In hindsight, this was probably not the best of moves. But I’ll get to that later. We made our way to the jetty and waited in the shade of the bar – not drinking this time. The huge ‘party boat’ slowly edged its way towards us and before long we were on board and sipping on fresh coffee accompanied by even fresher pastries, it was going well. We set off and soon the mainland along with Sihanoukville disappeared into the distance. After an hour of cruising, we reached a small island. We dropped anchor and the mornings fun began: starting with a jump from the top deck into the warm, deep blue sea beneath. We got our snorkels and explored some beautiful coral reef just off the island. Malene was loving it. I couldn’t quite get the hang of breathing and decided to head back to the boat for some more jump offs.

Back onboard, it was time for our free beer as we dried off. Another hour passed and the island of Koh Rong Samloem came into view. It was like something from a movie. As we stood on the bow of the boat, the beach and tropical island grew closer and closer. It looked like happiness and we were eager to get even closer. The boat stopped a few hundred meters from the shore line and a smaller boat came to pick us up. That smaller boat then stopped 50 meters from the beach, and this time we were going by foot. With our bags held high above our heads, we jumped overboard and into the thigh deep, see-through blue water. We waded closer and closer to the beach. It felt like we had been shipwrecked and were now deserted.

Arriving on the beach.

Our dorm room had the greatest views. With one side of the wooden building fully open, we had uninterrupted full panoramic view of the beach and ocean. We were already excited about jumping into bed, but first, beach time! With Bob Marley playing in the bar, we soaked up the sun and relaxed into our new stress-free environment. With the bluest of waters gently crashing against the white sand, it was hard to imagine anywhere more peaceful and beautiful. I have never seen beaches like this before. I thought it was the type of place reserved for films, our overly photoshopped photos…how wrong I was.

The beach hotel

We played pool, sat in wicker chairs and got busy doing nothing. One evening, we crossed through the jungle and onto the west side of the island for a beautiful sun set. We watched the sun slowly sink down the horizon and felt totally captured by the whole place. That night we settled down in our bed and slept like babies. It was 4am when we were awoken by a crack of lightning. As we sat up in our bed, we watched a thunder storm erupt over the sea. Bellowing thunder accompanied by huge flashes of light danced over the calm ocean. It was a strange feeling that we were so safe and dry in our bed, yet we felt like we were caught in the middle of the storm. The rain didn’t last long and less than an hour later, it had passed leaving the skies to turn red as we watched the sun rise.

Sunrise from our bed.

Our days here on Koh Rong Samloem have provided memories of paradise that we’ll never forget. With all the difficulties of travelling around new countries on a tight budget, this place helped us to forget all those worries and reminded us of all the beauty we had seen along the way. Back on the main land, we returned to the tour agency to pick up our bags. Whilst there, we met another couple who had done a similar trip to us and were also collecting their belongings. Unfortunately, a bus travelling to Phnom Penh had accidentally taken their bags thinking they belonged to passengers on the bus. We were so lucky that they hadn’t taken ours. In fact, we were beginning to realise just how lucky we had been at this place. On arrival in Sihanoukville, we tried to stay at a guesthouse that was highly recommended by various travel guides. However, when we got there, it was fully booked. When we returned to Sihanoukville from the island, we actually found out that the guesthouse where we wanted to stay had devastatingly burnt down. No one was hurt, but a lot of luggage had gone up in the blaze. Again, we were very lucky…always a good thing to be when travelling.

On our last night in Sihanoukville, we met up with Jo and Tom for the final time. After here, we would be traveling in different directions and so decided to have some drinks down on the beach. It was an amazing evening, fueled by cheap beer. Meeting local people is always great and you learn so much of country by doing so. But it’s also fantastic to meet lovely, like-minded travellers. Exchanging stories and information is so much fun, especially if you’re travelling alone or as a couple. So, once again, it was time to say goodbye to Jo and Tom. For us, we would be travelling down the coast, eastwards and to Kampot. Here we would get covered in dust, eat incredible sea food and say goodbye to Cambodia…until next time.