BILLandCYNTHIAfromAWAY: DA LAT: The "Little Paris"

DaLat has been a haven for generations. In the mountains, cool, beautiful, bountiful – it first attracted the elite 19^th century French who fled the heat of Saigon and took a steam-engine train to the pretty Cremelliere station house for a bit of R and R. So too did the opposing forces in the War; apparently both the Americans and the Viet Cong relaxed in DaLat before rushing back to the fray.

We spent a few days here, in the Dreams Hotel, and it was all very dream-like. Our main interest was to view what is known as the Crazy House, built by an architect who surely must have been influenced by Dali – but resolved to out-do his strange surreal fantasy. After crawling through the labyrinthine tunnels, peering past undulating curves into bedrooms which had weird animals as motifs, sitting in the garden surrounded by twining vines, gigantic and rather ominous leaves and flowers, we were not even surprised that the fantasy theme permeated all the tourist sites we visited.

We saw a whole lot of Eiffel towers, some being composed of flowers; there was a Disney-like gateway to an amusement centre. The art-deco Royal Summer Palace was almost too kitschy to believe: a motorcycle at the entrance, decked out in flowers; horse-drawn buggies; the opportunity to dress up in royal robes and sit on the late king’s throne to have your photo taken.

A visit to the Flower Gardens could have been ordinary. Not. From the huge dragon at the gate, to acres of formal gardens dotted with bonsai trees, cavorting swans, bushes pruned into strange shapes –(example: gigantic teapots); orchids and birds of paradise a-plenty -- it was odd, to say the least.

It was almost a relief to see that life in the more humble sense does go on, as in the old woman at the market carefully counting out dong, and golfers treading the royal links on the lakeside course. The food, of course, was delicious, and the wine, made in DaLat …. ahhhh…. At last!