September 10,

Awoke to mostly cloudy skies. We had our our Javas with a twisted hard biscotti thing(?). Jeff then went to a store for yogurts and an apple. We split the apple topped with our Nutella and a yogurt each. When we finished it had not rained yet but was going to by noonish according to the weather forecast (so maybe or maybe not.) We did decide not to rent a scooter for the day. Around 0930ish, we went out.

We walked to the “Flower Park” lakeside. It had not started raining and skies showed some blue, so we gambled and paid the entrance fee of 100,000 Dong each ($4). DaLat is known as the flower center of Vietnam, so we expected a nice park, and it provided. It was more a botanical garden (as I thought yesterday) with the twist of Instagram photo ops everywhere!

The layout is around a small double pond/lake area and includes two upper levels of elevated walks. We went up to the most elevated areas first (this was backwards for the map, but more logical to us). I went up on the elevated walkway/bridge Instagram photo-op. It was actually good stairway up – like at the waterpark. From here we got great overview shots of the park. Then we entered into a paradise, rose bed greenhouse. The roses that seem popular are the varied, multi-colored ones, and the double petaled, that look more like a peony. The way lead to another area, a larger scale Bonsai outdoor section. The planters of trees were around 5-12 feet tall, and some were small scale forests – that was new to us. We always enjoy the Bonsai plants, and appreciate the many years of effort each one takes. Actually we saw three people working on individual planters.

From here we went down a level, passing through another photo-op area of a Dutch-type windmill to get down, and go to a Japanese-type, Zen garden. It was called the Azalea Garden. It had a Japanese style, red, arching bridge with a 'peaceful' waterwork/fall that you could go out onto stepping stones- which Jeff did not me.

Now we worked down to the lakeside walkway and found more photo-ops. I was at one of purple butterfly wings, when a lady wanted to do some photos with me – memories of India selfies flooded my head. This is a really nice garden park, and the weather has held out.

Next we found some plant topiaries – elephants and a gazebo; beheld many beautiful flower beds – one of bird's of paradise, where two flowers seemed to be birds courting; and took in the entry water fountain with it's huge backdrop planter arch. We also saw a beautiful, large orchid arranged “tree” and then we saw a most unique, turquoise-colored bloom… that was exotic and cool! Then we exited by way of the Fairy Tale Garden, which included a rendition of the Seven Dwarves.

Next we went to the mall here in DaLat. It started raining on us, so we double timed it. (We had passed by it yesterday, not knowing what it was.) The mall is also lakeside, but it is underground – built into an embankment area. The shops inside do not have windows. It is the most bizarre structure. Anyway, here we walked around and found the hypermart grocery store. We bought a salad and some precut watermelon in the store for lunch. We also split three sausages. Great lunch! Then we went back into the store for some items we needed. Finished we started to leave the mall, but it was still raining, so Jeff sequestered a Grab taxi. We arrived back to our hotel pretty dry.

We unloaded and took a well earned siesta- even taking a small rainy-day nap. We did over 10,000 steps again! When we decided on supper, we both wanted the Popeyes Chicken (we saw yesterday… it is the first one we have seen for quite awhile and we have to compare the spice level from the USA ones). Jeff went out and got it as it was still raining/drizzling, as it has continued to do all afternoon. Anyway, when he brought the chicken back, we relished it. This was one of our weekly defaults back home. It was spicy, but differently due to the chillies.

As we finished, we heard the clash of drums and cymbals as we had last night. We had to check it out. On the street outside our hotel was a couple of manned-dragons, and the dragon-keeper(?) – collector of the money, anyway – with a parading drum section. They seemed to be collecting money from the local businesses. After they passed, we went back into our hotel. I pulled out Google translate and asked our young hotel attendant, “What this was about?” She replied, “Tet trung thu nay danh cho thieu nhi,” translation 'This Mid-Autumn Festival is for children.' WOW! I love Google translate!! That was something to watch and observe. I even high-fived the dragon-keeper. Jeff said he did as well.

We went back up into our room. I blogged and Jeff read. Bed by 2200.