Halloween
Scattered Clouds! No Rain!
Le Dai Hanh (Nguyen Thi Minh Khai in Background).
Today was spent planning for my trip to Saigon. I didn't do much today. I walked around the city and stopped at the V-cafe, where I talked politics with the owner and a pair from Australia. Eventually the Australians were so drunk that the conversation ended. I was told that the city had built a new water and wastewater treatment plant with the assistance of international aid organizations.
The "Eiffel Tower" of Da Lat.
My next trip was a walk around the main lake in Da Lat, Xuan Hu'o'ng. It was like walking around Lake Merrit in Oakland, except without the sulphur smell. It was very pleasant. Many people were walking around the lake and a few were jogging.
Cho Da Lat (Market)
Xuan Hu'o'ng
I stopped along the way at the Flower Gardens.
Entrance Ticket
Flower Garden Entrance Gate.
After the flower gardens, I continued around the lake and headed back to my hotel. Walking towards my hotel, a student at the language school joined me.
The Second Set of Blue Rooms that I saw in the Entire Country.
Swan Boats in the Back Pond.
Back at the hotel, I sat with a group of women in the Peace Cafe. All three were travelling through Vietnam, but they were travelling separately. Their ages were between 18 and 34. The youngest one had been to Vietnam three times, having come to Vietnam from Australian early in High School. She really loved Vietnam.
Another of the women was a journalist for the Associated Press who had scooped a story about the flammability of the underwear used by U.S. soldiers in Iraq during the cold winter months.
The last woman was an expat, originally from San Francisco, living in Barcellona.
