My time here in Da Lat is drawing to a close. I’m the world’s worst tourist. There are very few of the top attractions that I’ve actually visited. The chrome-plated “see Da Lat” experience has been replaced with city exploring, quiet afternoons at the hostel, plenty of good dinners, and immersion. I don’t feel like I’ve missed my chance. My experience of Da Lat probably isn’t in everyone’s interest, but it’s the one I felt like having.

There are many farms in and around Da Lat. You don’t have to go far from the city centre before you run into the elongated, curved greenhouses with their semi-transparent plastic cladding. In Denmark, it’s easy to find fresh fruit and vegetables. In Vietnam, you trip over it. From shops to restaurants to cargo-carrying scooters. I’ve reached a point where it feels odd when I don’t see a bundle of mixed herbs in the entrance of a place to eat.

Da Lat can do more than fruit and vegetables. Flowers and plants are also grown and put on display in enormous quantities. Walking into a plant nursery in Denmark is often a marked shift in air, scent, and humidity. A stroll through the city park, the flower garden, or just the local café’s backyard here in Vietnam does the same thing.

The distant flower park

Some 10 km outside the centre of Da Lat there’s a flower park. There are several closer by. Nevertheless, this one became my destination. I set off in the morning, well covered in sunscreen. The sun bites from midday onward. Da Lat has offered up strong sun and almost no clouds. 25 degrees in the shade, close to 30 in the sun.

My trip took me along the train tracks, through greenhouses at the bottom of a valley, and back up to a viewpoint. There’s a shift away from the centre. Small, tidy, and almost exclusive places appear in little enclaves where there’s a view. I stop briefly, get a cool fruit juice, and carry on.

After a longer walk along the main road, I turn down a small side road. I don’t quite know what I’m looking for. There are still greenhouses to the left and right, few signs, and the road gets smaller and smaller. Eventually, though, I hit a fairly large car park. Clearly built for a lot of buses. Good sign. But there are no buses parked there. I get a little worried. Being closed in the middle of the day wouldn’t be unusual.

I reach an entrance, and thankfully it’s open. Despite few means of transport parked outside, there’s actually a decent number of guests. And the hydrangea field stands wide and dense in front of me. I wander around a bit. Enjoying the scent of the flowers and the peace within the fenced-in field. The area is split into an upper and a lower level. The upper level has an indoor café and a few viewing platforms. The lower part is long, wide rows of hydrangeas. There’s even a small Golden Bridge replica. That one got passed over in Da Nang, but now I can get the flower-field version instead. It’s apparently also a bit smaller.

Choosing the buses

I’d decided beforehand not to walk home. The obvious thing is to pull out the Grab app and call for a ride. That wouldn’t cost more than 15 kr. However, I’ve noticed that public buses run along the main road in the direction of Da Lat. The bus is more interesting to me. For one thing, it’s more comfortable than a scooter (I think). But the buses are also interesting because they say something about where people actually move around. Some buses take you to other towns, while others take you to hiking trails, flower parks, and other places to stay. The Da Lat buses aren’t signposted online, though.

With a bit of help from a hydrangea-field attendant, I got the basics sorted. No timetable, just a general “runs every 15/30/60 minutes.” No bus stops. You flag down the bus.

The experience is fairly nerve-wracking. 30 degrees, a half-empty water bottle, and no idea when – or whether – a bus is coming. But after 10 minutes, one does. I wave. It stops. 5 kr. and then I’m on my way back to Da Lat. I hope. There’s no route map, so I don’t actually know. Here, though, it’s simple enough that I can just ask to be let off. And that’s what I do, as it turns off at a big intersection 1 km from my hostel. I walk the rest of the way.

Shopping

One evening while I was out looking for a good place to eat, I found a small cluster of men’s clothing shops. I’ve reached the point where I actively need to start finding new underwear and socks. At the same time, I’d like a thin jacket in light colours to shield against the sun.

The next day I go back. There are more options than expected. Adidas and Nike, but also a couple of small outlet-like resellers. I find one with a “big” size section. XXL and XXXL sizes. Back home I’m a size XL. XL in Asia feels like children’s clothing. So I have to reach for the very biggest shelves.
I found 4 t-shirts, a jacket, 3 pairs of underwear. All in size XXL. The jacket and 2 of the t-shirts get tested. They fit fairly well. And it only costs 400 kr. For all of it.
The fact that the underwear didn’t fit after all is just how it is.

Onward

In a couple of days I leave Da Lat, but I’m leaving behind a city I’d like to come back to. I’m leaving a good number of unvisited sights behind. The city has a nice size, with plenty of city life, but also good and easy options for getting out of the city.

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is my next destination, for a brief visit before I hop on a plane.

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