Day 70 - 73 Dalat

High in the hills of Vietnam is "the sound of music" film set, or a Austrian/Vietnamese atmospheric town. 17 degrees during the day was a refreshing relief even quite cold compared to the high 30's we had been experiencing every day. Dalat is responsible for producing most of the country's fresh produce, flowers, wine, and diary products...it's a patchwork quilt of vegetable patches, roses, strawberry fields, trees, and colourful  houses perched on climbing narrow streets. The lake is at the centre of the action complete with swan peddle boats. Horse and carriages roam the surrounding gardens helping this place live up to its name "romantic city". Mike and I stayed at a little guest house in town called Thien An with one of the best provided breakfasts we have had on this trip...avocados, peanut butter, vegemite, and marmite were an awesome surprise. The marmite/Vegemite (Asian brand) cost the owner $160,000 dong per jar which works out to be $8US (a lot in Vietnam) but he had worked out that these jars were key to bringing New Zealanders & Australians to his guest house. We had an action packed 3 days in Dalat, tobogganing to waterfalls, gondola rides, garden walks, market visits and hooning around the picturesque countryside on our motorbike. On one of our favourite days we visited "crazy house" a house created to look like the roots of trees, and hollows in logs. It was an amazing feat for architecture with rooms in every nook and cranny. Our crazy visit was topped off with a hot drink and cupcake at our favourite cafe Windmills. This became a regular indulgence every afternoon to escape the rain and "cold" (I don't think we are going to adjust too well to the NZ winter).