We had a dreadful ten hour journey from Ho Chi Minh to Dalat and we had begun to recognise a trend that many travellers before us had realised and guide books warned
of - Vietnam is a stunning country but the transport and infrastructure spoils the journey. When we finally arrived in Dalat, we discovered a pretty town with a big lake that lights up at night by a replica Eiffel Tower and fairy lights in the trees. The latter was sweet and the former very tacky but Dalat is famous for being kitch and the gaudy sights make it a popular tourist destination amongst the Vietnamese. At 1500m above sea level, Dalat is known for having an eternal spring - warm by day but without the sticky heat of Ho Chi Minh and cool by night. It was actually nice to wear long trousers and jumpers again! Dalat, whilst pretty, was unremarkable and we left for the beach resort of Nha Trang the following day.
The journey to Nha Trang was in a slightly improved bus (although five hours
actually took nine - recognising a trend here?) and we stopped to stretch our legs at a wonderful scenic stop with mountains sweeping into a jungle-lined valley. Whilst not as beautiful a beach or seaside town as Silhanoukville in Cambodia, we still managed to while away a couple of days on the rather gravelly sand and an excellent day diving with
Rainbow Divers. The coral is beautifully intact in Vietnam (unlike parts of the Great Barrier Reef in places as a legacy of careless divers amongst other detoriating factors), the visibility far better than the Thai waters and the world beneath revealed colourful aquatic life and garden after garden of stunning plants. We even saw an octopus snuggled into some rocks and Haong, our local divemaster, prodded it until its tentacles slid further beneath the rock in a fog of black ink.
Unfortunately our colds get steadily worse whilst in Nha Trang, possibly as a result of diving in colder water than we were used to, and we struggled to get suitable medicine. Not because of range, oh no, we could probably have bought Morphine over the counter if we had so desired. No, it was the language barrier and Beth ended up doing a pantomime to depict nasal congestion and sinus problems. Steve, her co-performer, could be heard for miles as he snorted and coughed up phlegm to demonstrate our condition. After being offered Augmentin which was subsequently refused by us (who takes anti-biotics for a cold?), we eventually received some undisclosed, frighteningly large pills that we weren't sure whether to swallow or insert anally. We settled on the former (closer to the problem area we figured) and we have no recollection whether they worked or not because within half an hour we were on our bus to Hoi An, sleeping like babies.
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