September 13

We awoke to sunshine, mostly. Around 0845 we set off after renting the scooter again today. We were in search of Million Coffee Roastery to see about some coffee for me. Jeff had Cascara coffee cherry Tea. I had Arabica Cascara Coffee. It was good. So I got out Google translate to get a bag of the beans with a coarse grind. After 15 minutes or so and lot of miscommunication.. we realized the coffee I had drank was not what she was trying to sell me. So Jeff said forget it and paid for our two morning Javas and we left. I still have two or three days left and there are plenty of other roasters.

Now we set off for a day out, but first we needed food. We found a street row of cafes and stopped at Quan An Chuan Hue (O Khanh Chi)… which translated as Hue Standard Restaurant (O Khanh Chi). It was a mom and pop place. We each had a bowl of Bun Bo Hue (or Gio) To Thuong – I think, according to the menu – which was beef and sausage in great broth with thick noodles. We also had the plate of greens. It was so tasty and good – very comparable to our food tour Bun Bo! We paid 110,000 Dong ($4.48) and load back up on our scooter.

We toodled around and up, passing out of DaLat and many greenhouse looking buildings. We are going to the tea plantation area. We finally go up a steep slope – our scooter was having a underpowered moments but made it without me having to get off! Along side this small steep grade we finally see the tea plants all lined up, along undulating hillside. The rows of the tea plants are more straight, not having any boulders to work around or shade trees to cool the plants. But we are in our jackets as it is quite cool up here, so they may not need shade. Anyway, there is just something about seeing the tea plants going on and on, and the green color leading right up to the blue sky. Nice! There is also a steady breeze and the area is taking advantage of it – there are probably a dozen giant, modern windmills up here.

We head on and go to Ladora Winery. As we entered we paid for entrance fee for a tour and tasting. It was 120,000 Dong each ($4.89). We drove through to the scooter parking. A young man flagged us down. He, Ricky, was our “guide.” He escorted us to the main building, which he said is called the Chateau. It sits as a 'modern castle' with a moat around. First Ricky took us down into the wine cellar of the castle. It is a brick, vaulted ceiling with dramatic lighting. The winery uses French oak barrels. They make Vang DaLat Wine, which we discovered in Phu Quoc and like. They also make Chateau DaLat Wine, which we have not tried. Ricky gave some stats on their production and the aging process. Then we progress into the “castle proper.” There was some great framed pictures of corks lining the walls. I did some cork art and love the novel pictures. Ricky sat us and explained that we would be tasting three different wines. He brought us a couple of biscotti-type crackers and the first wine – Chateau DaLat Special, a Sauvignon Blanc. It was crisp and slightly minerally with hint of lime. Next wine – Vang DaLat Classic Special. It is a blend with Syrah. Last wine – another Chateau DaLat Special, a Cabernet Sauvignon. The Cab. Sav. was the best, we like the fullness of it so much more. We bought the next Cab Sav up – the Chateau DaLat Reserve. We also bought some Sangria they were selling. We wanted to try it but did not want to push our limits. After our tasting we said goodbye to Ricky, thanking him, and walked aroung the winery a bit. They have a beautiful blooming rose bed and many other plants flowers. We really like this area and the weather has held up, as in no rain.

Back on the scooter, we decided to go back to our Hotel, drop off our wines and regroup. After an hour we decided to try another coffee place. It was a pleasant drive right up to a 1/2 mile from Kho Coffee Roastery. It started to rain, which would have been okay as we were so close to our destination… but the shop was closed up! We found a little covered area and was contemplating what to do, and the rain stopped. We boogied ourselves back to DaLat and rain was still stopped so we went quickly to the mall and got our stuff. When we came out it was sunshine, so we pressed on and went to DaLat's Railroad Station.

The Station is a cute moderate sized building. It was built in 1932 and ceased (“forced to stop”) operating in 1972 “during the American colonization.” Some of the of the tracks getting here are called “Serrated Train Tracks,” which are a cog type system along the tracks as there are very steep climbs to get here. this was fascinating to Jeff and I. There are still little excursion runs, which we may yet try to do. Finished we head back to our hotel again and turned in the scooter. Jeff paid for the two days rental. We took a break for couple of hours. I started this blog , Jeff read.

Around 1800, we walked the one-ish mile to the night food market. We found the place that had hot pot and we went in. It is called Banh Uot Long Ga. We ordered the hot pot and were talked into a side of string beans and a side of pork belly. The food all arrived. We had way too much food – should have just stuck with one thing. But we enjoyed the two “sides”(they were main entrees not sides!) much better than the hotpot. The string beans were seasoned with garlic and slices of beef – so good!! The pork belly was great as it always seems to be. Now the hot pot- it was not up to standard. The beef was okay, but tended more grisly and tough. There was also parts of the cow I would rather not eat in the pot. The noodles were good to put the broth from the hot pot over. Also the onions/veggies in the pot were good, and the spicy sweet sauce accompaniment was excellent. Jeff had a beer, I stuck with a water. We also had lots of greens- we hardly touched them. We ate all we could, and that was too much, but there was still so much left over! We called for the bill, having no idea what it would be – as the menu did not have prices. It was 700,000 Dong ($28.52). We rolled out of there.

The walk back to our place was good and aided – minimally, albeit – to digestion of supper. The air was crisp cool, and still no rain. Back in our room, I finished this blog and Jeff edited. Bed by 2200.