Bacon Loves Kale: Cat Tien National Park to Da Lat, Vietnam

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Cat Tien National Park to Da Lat was decent haul, at 193 km. Not only that, a 6,000 foot pass stands between these two places. For an eight horsepower motorbike, the two of us, and our bags, it was quite the feat. You could tell that the elevation was putting a hurting on our poor little 110cc bike – likely choking it down to 5 horsepower. At this point, first and second gear was the norm. It was a narrow, one and a half lane highway over the pass. Which meant that two vehicles couldn't get past each other without the other one stopping and pulling off the road. But dangerous passing doesn't just exist on the mountain roads - it's an epidemic everywhere. Just look at this video below that shows a Vietnamese lady on the motorbike ahead of us nearly collides head-on with a bus passing another vehicle.

Due nearly all Vietnamese drivers seemingly all in a rush to get somewhere, we saw a truck hauling about 40,000 pounds of bricks in the ditch, and likely a bent front axle. One of the dangers of overloaded trucks, excessive speed, blind corners, and likely not enough brakes.

Once we cleared the pass, the road into Da Lat, highway QL 20 was such a great change of pace from the dusty, dirty roads. This was perfectly paved asphalt, smooth as silk. And it even had a motorbike lane to boot. The last small grade into Da Lat, we started to notice that the flora had started to change. We saw evergreen trees – something you would never associate with the hot, humid, tropical weather in SE Asia.

Da Lat is different from the rest of Vietnam. Part of the central highlands, the climate is actually quite palatable. The highlands are known for growing coffee, avocados, strawberries, and artichokes. Who would have thought.

Evergreens, in Vietnam?

Artichokes!

We stayed at Dreams Hotel, owned and run by Mrs. Dung. She is a wonderful woman, who speaks perfect English. And the all you can eat breakfast spread? Simply awesome!

Walking around town, it never ceased to impress us with what people carried on motorbikes. This one, sold gold fish!

Further down the street, I found this great example of an old Willy's, likely left over from the Vietnam War.

We wrapped up that day with a visit to the lake in Da Lat. The area was quite westernized, as it even had pedal boats in the shape of swans.

After we finished exploring the town, we decided to head out of town for a day trip. Taking a loop on highway TL 275, we found it was under heavy construction. We've taken construction zones back home for granted, with cones, people directing traffic, etc. Here, you're out to fend for yourself, with swinging excavators, no clear road markings, and rocks and rebar everywhere.

After the construction, it was a great opportunity for a break from riding. We had some local coffee at the Me Linh Coffee Plantation, complete with civets for special civet poop coffee.

Coffee shop overlooking the plantation.

Civets in their cages.

Here's the "pre-processed" coffee - that somewhat resemble chocolate peanut clusters.

Continuing on the counterclockwise loop, we went to look for Elephant Falls. I had a rough idea where it was, but was not sure. We kept riding, and tried asking for directions from the locals, which was not very helpful. They just smiled, nodded, and pointed down the road...so we hoped for the best. Eventually, we saw the sign for the falls, and turned in. And also marked it on Google Maps.

It’s quite dangerous, really slippery, and the handrails look like a Rube Goldberg contraption. Once you make it down, the views are quite spectacular.

From the bottom of the falls.

Walking towards the back of the falls!

Back in town, the food was quite good. Margaret had found a place where the locals grille meat using the U-shaped clay roof tiles over charcoal. That’s definitely a worthwhile stop. It's called Quan An Cu Duc.

There's the roof tile, angled, so that the drippings run into the bowl.

Da Lat had heavy influence from France from its days as a colony. This town was originally conceived as French resort – evident from buildings all over town, including the historic train station. This particular line is no longer used for long distance travel – only for tourists to get a ride up to see the temple.