Vietnam: Lak lake or wild waters

Last destination in our Vietnam trip was Lak lake and we stayed in LAK lake resort bungalow on the very lake shore and even enjoyed the resort swimming pool!!! That was unexpected luxury! :)

First evening we took our time cooling in the swimming pool and when the night was hitting the town we followed the sound of music coming from the village nearby and finished up in the "Cafe Nr. 1" of the village :)


Lak lake in the morning. This lake used to be full of crocodiles, but now those crocs can be seen only in form of shoes & handbags..


And again it`s time to discover :) In search of motorbikes we start our journey towards one of the tribe villages.

Lak lake & the elephant.



Walking the rice-fields...there was an incredible amount of green butterflies in the air - magical!


And ready to hit the road again ;)


The top moment of the day was swimming with wild "maugli" kids in a wild mountain river: stream was rather strong, water nice & fresh, kids rather happy to join the water fights and sand castle construction :)





Same river, different spot.


Longhouses - traditional tribe village houses.



Typical gas station by the road.


After the swim and ride around the villages it was time for water melon lunch and then we continued in search of Rocky cliff and found "Lord of the rings miniature river land" ...and it was again time to swim :)
The river is multifunctional:
..swimming place
..dishwasher
..washing machine
..shower (lady down the stream was shampooing her hair....but that was down the stream ;)




And then again flat tire...it was getting dark and our resort was rather far, but with the help of locals managed to find repair place and fixed it all.


Next morning left for BUON MATHOU...and didn`t make a single a photo there.. I guess no need to say anything else about that city ;)
After a couple of hours in BUON MATHOU boarded the bus back to SAIGON and spent 8 h in an overcrowded minibus with no air-con. It was our only option to make it to the plane next morning.
Green stop.


Saigon by night. Very typical way of constructing in Vietnam...high in the sky!


Bye bye Vietnam ;)
See you for my next posts :)

Vietnam: Dalat or the Alps of Vietnam!

DALAT otherwise known as:

1) "French Alps" of Vietnam :)
2) The City of Eternal Spring
3) The Top honeymoon spot for Vietnamese
4) Place to hire Easyriders



After Mekong lowlands and Muine beaches it was time to get high ... in the mountains to visit tribe villages, see lakes & waterfalls!

The central lake of Dalat city had dried out, so the TOP HONEYMOON SPOT IN VIETNAM was really missing something "it" :)), but the city had indeed European touch & feel! And finally fresh air! It felt like real early & hot autumn back in Europe… pine trees, strawberries (ok, that`s more like early summer), flower fields in the greenhouses..

And again it was time to rent motorbike & this time there were 3 of us (French guy Hugo met in our guest house joined us in the remaining couple of days) and we went on motorbiking around Dalat!

As I mentioned...European touch...Vietnamese "Gaudi touch"... CRAZY HOUSE in Dalat!



And then...endless coffee fields...



Small villages and streams of children returning from school...




Visited Happy Buddha :)


And then took a slippery path down for the best views of the wild Elephant waterfalls ...enjoying rain forest feel and the absence of tourist traces!



Before the sunset still managed to make it to Datanla falls and met many tourists!


And then we found a perfect lake for the sunset...but instead of perfect sunset found a perfect bunny cloud :)


Our favorite place in Dalat town - Piece café! Mango & Strawberry smoothies were the best & it was always full of backpackers & easyriders offering a ride (Easyriders are moto-tourist guide community that make motorbiking experience possible even for ppl who don`t ride themselves)


So after an adventurous day around Dalat we had our last smoothies in Piece cafe & were ready to continue to Lak lake...so stay tuned for the next post :)

Vietnam: Muine = waves, palms and sunshine :)

MUINE is known as surfers & kite surfers paradise beach… but surfers here were somewhat older than U`d expect after having seen all those surfer movies ;)
MUINE is a several kilometer stretch along the beach which is turned into a nice resort, but if you wonder away from resort`s center you`ll find real dreamy & empty beach spots and fisherman town-village.

What we didn`t know about Muine was that it turned out to be mostly French/Russian resort :)) , so most places had Russian menus & signs & Russian tourist were all around.


So we arrived to Muine at 1 am and after 1 h walk around the resort trying to find accommodation we realized it`s quite hopeless `cause everything seemed to be full because of Tiger New Year break, so we found a cozy spot on the beach by one of the resort hotels...waves & warm breeze were our lullabies under the stars & palm trees and the morning started with a beautifully orange sunrise and quite many ppl trying to capture the beautiful moment on their photo cameras and to “book” the best sunbeds on the beach... (we had taken ours at 2 am ;)


Also it turned out that we had landed by a Russian resort hotel `cause that was the only language we could hear around us :) Starting already from 6 am a bit anxious & somewhat sunburned ladies were trying to figure out which sunbeds were still available.. meanwhile we were enjoying the morning sun and catching some waves!


Later we managed to find a guesthouse away from the resort center and it led us to discovery of a dreamy beach!








On a 2nd day in MUINE we rented a motorbike to travel around and sea the fisherman village and the sand dunes.

7 am Fisherman village & the round boats used to deliver the goods from the bigger boats straight to shore.






White sand dunes & Lotus pond are some 30 km away from central Muine and the road by the sea is breathtaking.
The dunes - closest I`ve ever been to a desert feeling and though it might look very romantic in the movies... in reality the sun is burning, heat makes you weak and wind is blowing the sand into your face.... anyway...really cool & beautiful :)) And sliding down the dunes is highly recommended if you`ve got nothing against having sand all over you :)







Hon Ron: swimming break on the way back close to this place.


And by the sunset time we finally made it to Thap Poshanu Cham Towers.



On the 3rd day we were enjoying the beach & kinda starting to consider trying the kite surfing, later met 2 Estonians and went out together..



The next day wind was gone & instead of 50 usual kites in the sky only 1 or 2 gave it a try & the gave up real soon, so we saw it as a clear sign that kite surfing is not meant to happen this time & it is time to move on to Dalat!

To be continued ;)