Dalat Christmas Break

A four night trip to Dalat for Christmas in the well posh Sofitel Dalat Palace was a nice break from Saigon. Vietnamese people tell me it's very romantic, certainly unheated rooms do encourage cuddling up, but I enjoy it for the cool air during the day and the kitschness.

First, here's a picture of the cool air:

And now some of the kitsch:

Dalat makes a wine, and from the bottles they have also made a Christmas tree which will also double as a general purpose tree for the upcoming flower festival.

One of the "romantic" attractions of Dalat is to take a swan pedalo onto the lake.

You can take your swan for a tour past the potato crisp heart:

Or gaze at the Dalat Eiffel Tower courtesy of the Post Office:

Pony rides are popular, so is taking pictures of people taking pony rides. Look carefully (you might want to click on the picture for the full size on flickr) you should be able to see the best combination of hats in any one picture ever.

A stetson, a non la or cone hat, a sun hat complete with face protector if the hat doesn't provide enough coverage and, being Christmas, a santa hat. There's also a hat on the guy on the pony that I don't know the name for.

Merry Christmas

A shoe with everything

Diamondesque jewels set on a giant multicoloured, multifacet jewel, surrounded by a ring of clear jewels sitting on more of the same on a gold trimmed and silver studded Be Be flip flop with a bit of wedgieness about it and silver studs teamed with flesh coloured, sun evading thong socks and, if you look very carefully, a flower painted on the big toenail. A winner on all fronts I'd say. 

Sometimes I am so glad my giant western feet don't fit into these things because I would, I know I would.

Phuoc An, Hoi An

During our last trip to Hoi An we stayed at the Phuoc An Riverside hotel. I was stunned by some of the very individual decorations.





Be honest, how often have you looked at a marble statue and thought "You know, that would be so much better with a sarong and a pedicure."



The wall lamp verged on criminal but the comfortable rooms and view from the roof more than made up for the kitsch decor.

Lady with baps out lying on top of a lion.

We moved to a new house recently and our landlord brought us this as an attractive addition to
our living space:

It's going to take quite some time to find the perfect position for it.

Tet flower market, Saigon

As Tet approaches it seems like everyone goes flower crazy. The biggest market I've seen so far is in the park between Pham Ngu Lau and the New World Hotel. The plants are incredible and I was sorely tempted to buy some but we're going away over Tet and it's never pleasant to come home to dead plants so I limited myself to taking pictures of them.



Yellow and red are the predominant colours being sold but there's lots of variety of plant related objects, like fruit rats.



These stand about a metre and a half high and are made from a yellow waxy fruit which I don't recognise. They're sold in pairs and are, for want of a better description, striking. You might be able to see that they're entwined with fairy lights too. Nice.

Kumquat trees are very popular, I don't know if this shape is traditional of if it's borrowed from Christmas trees. They'll look spectacular when the fruit ripens.



Orchids are popular too, here's a perfect white blossom:



Of course, at times something a little more decorative is required, so why not buy an orchid planted into a straw dog's head on a plate?



Just to be on the safe side...


... the police maintain a presence. You never know when flower buying could turn nasty and I'm sure stall holders can sleep more peacefully knowing that they're there



That's it, I expect the next posting will be on our jaunt to Singapore and Cambodia, Happy New Year.

What I did on my holiday

Laos, a lovely country for a holiday and the Beer Laos is damned fine at about 50p for a 650ml bottle. Here's our first bottle:

Beers, dry grilled beef, papaya salad and sticky rice for under three pounds on the river front in Vientiane on Christmas Eve.

We stayed in a nice guesthouse, incredibly clean and at £10 for a room including breakfast and airport transport very good value for money. We had a standard room for our first stay because there weren't any superior rooms available at Aroon Residence and particularly enjoyed the room decor. It reminded me of the painted hotel in Priscilla Queen of the Desert.


And now unobstructed by furniture:


We returned to Aroon Residence for our last night and got a superior room without murals, very tasteful.

Just a few dollars more.

It's a guesthouse, not a hotel so no bar, but there are no restrictions on bringing your own in. The manager is very efficient and responds to emails quickly.