Truc Lam Temple Da Lat

On our last day in Da Lat, our group decided to try and kick our hangovers and get some culture, so we took the cable car from just on the outskirts of Da Lat to Truc Lam Temple at the top of the mountain, it was so ridiculously peaceful up there with all the low playing traditional music and the incense burning, we got there just as they were closing down for the day so we didn't get to go inside many of the temple buildings but the architecture itself was incredible. The best thing about the temple is that it was so easy to get to from the town so if your just on a stopover in Dalat and have a few hours to kill you should come here. 

Da Lat Waterfall Canyoning

Finally have semi decent internet again still not great but enough for this post, so Da Lat was our next stop after the sand dunes of Mui Ne, Da Lat is basically a giant forest area north of Mui Ne and its significantly cooler there (17-18 degrees) and lots of rain this time of year. The town itself is pretty basic although one place I would definitely recommend at night is the 100 Roofs Cafe, it was designed by a student from the crazy school of architecture, and is basically a massive skinny building with loads of hidden rooms and narrow tunnels and staircases that you can play hide and seek in, and the drinks are cheap, if you've ever been to Budapest its basically like a mad ruin bar on steroids, people go missing in this bar for several nights at a time. 

one of the rooms of the bar- not my photo

from the outside- not my photo

So in Dalat the main things to do are trekking to see the villages and waterfalls and Canyoning, we chose the latter as we heard it was one of the craziest things you can do in Vietnam. We went with a tour company called Viet Action Tours (£40 equivalent) who I would highly recommend they had all the right safety gear etc and some of the cheaper tours don't. We left our hostel at 8:30 and were driven in a minibus up to the hills where the waterfalls were, here we learnt how to use the guide ropes got given our helmets (and nicknames I was Rambo) and practiced scaling down a few steep hills. Once we got the hang of it we then moved on to the actual sheer cliff faces, starting with a cliff not a waterfall (20m) we scaled one by one down the face, not gonna lie stepping over the edge of a sheer cliff with just a rope is pretty terrifying and it takes quite a lot to scare me. After this was scaling down the 25m Waterfall, the rocks are super slippery and it is pretty difficult to get down and stepping over the edge again you think the guide is joking when he tells you you'll be fine, but hands down one of the best experiences of my life, you then trek through the forest to the last waterfall which is trapped in canyon so you basically hang most of the way down and drop into the waterfall (nicknamed the washing machine you'll find out why). After this was cliff jumping (optional) and a zip line down to the bottom of the lake followed by a lunch in the town (included) and then we were dropped back to our hostel. If your in Da Lat and a bit of an adrenaline junkie you must do Canyoning, 100% recommend. 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g293922-d7987929-Reviews-Viet_Action_Tours_Day_Tours-Da_Lat_Lam_Dong_Province.html

White and Red Sand Dune tour Mui Ne

So today we went on a tour of the famous red and white Mui Ne sand dunes (£4.50) through our hostel ( which is amazing you should stay here) Mui Ne backpacker village. We were picked up in a jeep at 1:30pm and taken first of all to the fairy springs which is basically a super shallow river path you follow through walking bare foot through pretty amazing scenery, lots of sand and limestone cliff heads and tropical trees, after this we got back in the jeep and stopped off at the fishing village in Mui Ne, while everyone stayed at the top I decided to be really nosy and take my camera down to the actual village, the village itself was empty except for this adorable little boy who ran out of his house to give me a shell, its amazing that it doesn't matter if theres a language barrier with children, he led me to his house to show me his toy truck and was completely adorable. after this I said goodbye to my new friend and we went to the white sand dunes which were absolutely incredible (see pictures below), we rented quadbikes during the sandstorm and decided to impersonate mad max through the desert (£15 for half hour) once we spent an hour here we then moved to the other side of Mui Ne which was the red sand dunes, where you could surf down the hills on mats which we didn't do but it looked fun. Here we explored for another hour and watched the sun set over the desert before heading back to the hostel for 2 for 1 Whiskeys, day well spent. 100% recommend.

me and my new best friend - fishing village Mui Ne

Fairy Springs - Mui Ne

Local little boy who showed me his house in the fishing village - Mui Ne

White sand dunes - Mui Ne

Red Sand Dunes - Mui Ne

Red Sand Dunes - Mui Ne

Quad biking in the white desert - Mui Ne

Fairy Spring - Mui Ne 

Red Sand Dunes- Mui Ne

White sand dunes - Mui Ne  

White Sand Dunes - Mui Ne

Mui Ne

5 hour sleeper bus to Mui Ne from Ho Chi Mi City which was pretty dire with this weird reclining top bunk seats literally cm's from the ceiling but it was only £5, we're now staying at Mui Ne Backpacker Village a beautiful hostel minutes away from the beach with a pool for (wait for it) £4.50 and we have air con and the bar do spaghetti (although i am trying new food mum i promise)

The monsoon hit again around mid day and like sensible people we decided to go swim in the sea because it seemed it would be fun, to be fair it was but to the locals we probably looked like complete nutcases. Tomorrow we're doing a tour of the Sand Dunes before we head to Dalat in the evening!

pretty much a drowned rat

Mekong Delta River tour; 2 Day 1 Night Homestay

Been out of crazy city civilisation for a few days, touring the incredible Mekong Delta river through Kim Travels tours, I would 100% recommend visiting Mekong Delta and it's floating markets, I would also massively recommend if you have the homestay option to do this instead of a hotel, not only is it much more authentic you are literally fully immersed in river life staying in a kind of shack made out of leaves right on the riverside in the middle of the Vietnamese wilderness. So through the tour we booked we got picked up by a bus around 7:30 AM at the hostel to part of Mekong Delta river, once there we boarded a longboat and cruised down the river, our first stop was one of the on land markets where the locals sold anything from sarongs to skinned alive frogs (I kid you not I watched it happen by accident it was gross), the market was really interesting to walk around as the produce was so diverse but be warned it is pretty graphic in terms of animal parts and doesn't smell particularly wonderful. After we then went to see how the locals made rice paper for spring rolls, how they made coconut candy and honey tea, i'll break this up with some portraits I took at the market and the local cuisine introduction.

lady selling seafood- on land market

little boy sizing up the tourists 

lady selling various meats - on land market

Local Cuisine- How they make Rice Paper

a stall holding relaxing after the market rush

two of the trader market boats on the river 

Ho Chi Mi City - Downtown

Today we spent the day getting lost quite literally in downtown Ho Chi Min City, after Emirates still have not heard where my luggage is, I decided to hit the local market and buy some basics to last till my bag rejoins me (if ever). So after getting fairly ripped off for some backpacker basic elephant print trousers, we decided to check out Ben Thanh main market, this market was packed with stalls selling anything from jade Buddha charms to taxidermy tarantulas and bats, this particular market was aimed more at foreigners like myself and it was hard to try and barter items to a lower price as most stalls had a gang of people to back up their original price. If your in Ho Chi Mi its still worth a visit especially if you've lost your luggage. 

1. Ho Chi Mi City ft missing luggage

safely arrived after two flights and two days in airports (with the time differences) in Ho Chi Mi City, not off to a good start as unfortunately the airline I flew with didn't think it was important to put my luggage (my bag containing the next year of my life) on the plane I was flying on, so waiting for that to turn up in the next few days. Today we're off to explore what Saigon has to offer and probably get ripped off a lot, i'll be uploading some pictures later providing nothing else goes wrong! on the plus side we have a ridiculous view from our cheap hotel room of the whole city so things could be a lot worse... 

So after a stupidly long train from Budapest and hitching a ride (thanks Daniela) I was in the beautiful land of Croatia for my goodbye to Europe, my beloved home I will not see for the next few years while living on the other side of the world. I think the main thing i'll realise once I head over is how much I took for granted how nearby everything is to me, I can pretty much get anywhere in Europe in less than three hours on a plane something i'm realising now that i'm leaving. This month is a month of goodbyes; to my friends in Budapest (my second home), to my degree (finally) my family and my amazing dog & to EUrope (in more ways than one, idiots). Its strange to think that in a few hours ill be boarding a flight to Vietnam to start my adventures on the other side of the world..watch this space