Dalat

Four hour  bus ride from Na Trang to Dalat.  Ethan does a good job of breaking up the long rides with opportunities for short walks, bathroom breaks or "kodak moments".  We traveled on a relatively new road to get to Dalat, which is in the mountains at an elevation of 5,000 feet.  This was a scenic drive as this area is known for agriculture and there are many greenhouses, tea and coffee bushes and flowers.

Our restaurant lunch was the typical eight course meal with soup, other appetizers, entrees of beef, chicken, and/or pork, vegetables, steamed rice and a light dessert.

After lunch we took a cable car through the mountains to the Truc lam Zen Buddhist temple - beautiful buildings and groups overlooking a river.

This tour has been very well run.  Ethan gave us a detailed itinerary at the beginning of the trip, and it details all of the activities scheduled for each day, along with wake up times and departure times.  Our group has been on time for all departures, so things are running very smoothly.

We were guests of a Vietnamese family for dinner this evening.  Unlike the poor, rural people we have been meeting, out host is a teacher at Dalat University.  He speaks,very good English and interviewed us skillfully about our loves I the US and our observations about Vietnam.  He lives in a three stour house that was a tear down of his original house.  He has a 6 yr ols daughter and a one hear old.  His wife owns a plumbing supply store and her mother lives in a house behind theirs. She cooked our meal.  This guy represents the educated, professions Vietnamese citizens and it was a lovely evening.  It was also a very nice balance to our other experiences so far.