Tan’s in Việt Nam!

Da Lat is a quaint little town somewhere in South Vietnam. Though it has its little quirks, I actually feel like it is like “any other town in Vietnam.” Da Lat was actually built in the early 1900’s by the French colonialists. These people thought Vietnam would be in French possession forever, and they decided that they would build a proper French town. Half a century later, the French were kicked out. Although Vietnam has gone through many wars in the 20th century, Da Lat has been amazingly spared of any intense fighting. In fact, there was a sort of unwritten agreement between the Communists and anti-Communists that there would be no fighting in Da Lat. These enemies were allowed to walk down the street with each other in Da Lat, as long as they pretended not to see each other.

Nowadays, this city has become a favorite place for newlyweds to go on their honeymoon. I honestly do not know what a bunch of newlyweds would do here since it really is a quaint little town. But on the other hand, I suppose a bunch of newlyweds would really only need a hotel room, and Da Lat’s laid back attitude does have a certain charm. Postcard pictures of Da Lat also suggest that there are wonderful natural sceneries found in its outskirts. There is a particularly nice postcard picture of a waterfall that I got.

Bao Dai, the last emperor of Vietnam, certainly loved this place. He had 3 villas made for his leisurely pleasure in this town, one being on the highest hill in the city. Emperors for some reason have this obsession for being at the top of ever city they live in. The second highest hill was occupied by the French Governor-General. Of course, any real power actually laid on this hill, not Bao Dai’s. Given Bao Dai’s residence and the presence of French homes, it is obvious that Da Lat was certainly the Beverly Hills of Vietnam.

Because of the lack of fighting here, many original colonial French buildings still stand. I actually felt like I was exploring suburbia America. The houses were spaced apart,they had white picket fences, and front yards. Some of the homes were very nice, rivalling any home in Orange County, California, especially those really nice ones in south county.

The weather itself is actually chilly, and night time can be outright cold. It is the only place I’ve seen in Vietnam that actively sells jackets, gloves, scarves, and beanies in its market. The locals here routinely wear all 4 of these items on any given night. Actually, I only stayed in Da Lat for one night, so I can’t really stand by that comment.

The night market also operates in a decidedly different fashion than any other place in Vietnam. In any other city, the sellers would scream out , “Come buy my stuff! Come buy my stuff! Hey Korean dude [meaning me] come buy this really cool stuff!” If I choose to enter his stall and buy something, we start negotiating the price. In Da Lat, the sellers scream out “Twenty-five, Twenty-five, twenty-five, the price is 25,000!” There is no bargaining. That price is for a good quality jacket to warm against the cold. Other jackets cost 15,000 and 35,000 dong, but you do get what you pay for. Perhaps I still have the Saigon mood in me, because I decided to buy a 390,000 dong coat instead. It looks like those coats that the Russians wear. To round things out, I threw in an extra 10,000 dong for a nice scarf.

Da Lat is also known for its wine. I got two bottles, white wine and red wine. I like red better. Is it the best wine ever? I have no idea. Wine tastes like wine. In any case, I am now in Nha Trang. Apparently the beach is full of white sand. I have no idea. It’s night time.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 10th, 2005 at 10:00 pm and is filed under Super Xanga. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.