September 12,

We got around – I was dragging due to not sleeping well last night. Anyway, we had our Javas, which helped me. We had our Muesli and yogurts for breakfast. Ants had found it so we finished it off.

Around 0900 Jeff went down and turned in some laundry to clean – we don't have a washing machine in the room. I guess that defines it as a hotel room not an apartment. Jeff also rented a scooter for the day. So we went out, taking a chance on the weather app being accurate.

We went to the Datanla New Alpine Coaster that is just on the outskirts of DaLat. It's a little adventure park the has zip lines and cliff/rock climbing as well as two alpine slides. We just wanted to do the alpine slides. We arrived, parked and paid – 250,000 Dong ($10.17) each. Upon entering the park, there is a gorgeous waterfall, Datanla Waterfall, that was spilling with a bunch of water – as it should due to all the rain we have been getting. We meandered around it some and then to the slide. We each took our own cart. There are handles that control your speed, and they are naturally set to brake position. When you push them forward, away from you, the brake is released and you go. You control your own speed, until you have someone in a cart in front of you that is pokey and stops when they aren't supposed to! People were stopping for selfies!! It was fun, but could have been better. The second ride was more an uphill pull of your cart by the track and not near as good. Of course they have photo cameras and you can pay extra for the picture. Jeff was bad and took a photo of me but it was at the end where we had to slow down. We bought a bottle of water and then left Datanla. We had to pay 3,000 Dong (12 cents) for parking.

Next we went to DaLat Cable Car. We parked and went to pay the fee for a round trip. It was 1100 and the cable car was going to close for maintenance from 1200 to 1700. Huh – do we go? We decided to go for it. The ticket cost 150,000 Dong ($6.10) each. As the lady handed us the tickets she said last ride back was 1130! What!! If there is anything to really do at the end, we are out of luck! Our cable car was purple that helped make it a bit better. The car only holds four people but we have it to ourselves. It descends to get to the other side, going over a big, hilly, forested area and you can see DaLat in the near distance. On the other side, we disembark. Exploring there was a cafe, a pond area with glass sculptures, and more Instagram spots. We looked around for 10 minutes and then lined back up to go back across. (It was enough time.) A cable car came for us (time and chance) was another purple one! The attraction of the cable car was the vistas. It was nice to see Vietnam from above. The dirt here is red as we go over some road construction.

Back on the other side we leave, paying the 3,000 fee for parking. We head back into DaLat town and stop for lunch at Lee's Pizza House, LPH. We ordered an appetizer of ParmaHam Mango Roll (more a wrap); some Deep-Fried Sweet Potato; and a 4 Mushroom Pizza. Jeff had a lemon soda and water, I had a Classic Mojito. It was all very good. The sweet potato fries had a dipping sauce that reminded me of the sauce for a Bloomin' Onion at Out Back Restaurants. The mango wrapped with parmaham was special with a pureed of salty mango and maybe citrus. Then the pizza – four different kinds of mushrooms, what else do I have to say. Total bill was 450,000 Dong ($18.30) After we finished I noticed their little fish aquariums – they have teeny-tiny shrimp! The young owner saw me looking at them. He said he started with ten shrimp between the two tanks. I bet he has tenfold!

Now, we went to a winery, Vinh Tien. When we arrived, we were confused, as it too, is an amusement park, DaLat Fairytaleland. We parked, paid the entrance fee of 90,000 each ($3.66), and went into a fairy and hobbit cement village, with thrown in places of wine back drops it was unreal and different! At the entrance a lady in a witch costume(??) greeted us. There were lots of places for Instagram photo-ops. We seemed to be here all by ourselves and took our time just trying to figure out the purpose of fairytaleland? Questions?? Finally, made it to the Wine Cellar. It to is all decked out, but with wine bottles aligning wood arched ceilings. There was wall art of wine bottles, but the best was the chandelier of wine bottles. Anyway, I did a tasting (Jeff is the DD) of a white wine – Artemis, Sauvignon Blanc; a red wine – Artemis Syrah, and a Grappa, which is a Pomace Brandy. The tasting included an accompaniment of peanuts. It was 70,000 Dong ($2.85). We bought a bottle of the red wine 185,000 Dong ($7.52).
Now we got on the scooter and went back to our hotel, An Nam. We went up to our room and both took a small nap. I blogged and Jeff read. We had a sprinkling of rain but it stopped. Actually… almost had a sunset. But we did see half of a double rainbow!
Around 1815 we took the scooter out to the night market. We found 10,000 – which is 10k – Dong (41 cents) parking. Then we strolled along just looking at our supper options. We got a ten ounce cup of whole strawberries- 25k ($1). Nice Start. Next, we had roasted chestnuts- 50k ($2). I tried them again and actually enjoyed them a bit. The shells just peel off since they have been roasted. Then we bought and split a sausage on a stick with a bit of chilli seasoning- 20k Dong (81 cents). So good. They are roasting them on charcoal, smell alone is worth the price. We also got a peach tea here 15k Dong (61 cents). Lastly we split an avocado and young coconut gelato. It was amazingly good – you got both flavors!
We really had fun – all the sights of people and food, colors of veggies and fruit, and smells of grilling. But we were full – too much lunch earlier. We loaded back on the scooter and did a leisurely drive around the lake. DaLat town is all aglow with lights and they reflect on the water. The air is crisp cool. It is simply lovely. DaLat has moved up on a list of potential places to return.
Back at our hotel for the night now. Our laundry was returned to us and Jeff returned the key for the scooter. Good, good, good day!