Eating insects with my eyes closed, drink coffee
that was weasels’ poop and nearly drowned in a lake are what I remember about
Da Lat. When choosing the town as the next stop on my self-guided tour, it was
actually a last-minute decision. Having nearly suffocated by the heat of
SaiGon, I consulted every friend of mine who have been to Viet Nam to find a
way out of it; one of them recommended Da Lat and there I went. As most people traveling to Da Lat say the waterfalls
are some of the highlights, Eating
crispy crickets and seeing how weasels poop coffee with www.helloVietnam.com
I stopped at the cricket farm on my way to
the Elephant waterfall. Since the tour that my hostel was too expensive and I
was on a tight budget (I did not plan to go to Da Lat in the first place) so
renting a motorbike at $5 was a viable option for me. Luckily, I did learn to
ride one even though the skills had become rusty over the year. After a few
minutes of awkwardness to get my feeling with the vehicle, I set off chasing Da Lat famous waterfalls.
The crickets were quite flavorful although it
might be creepy to see them with their legs and antennae still intact. I was
served a plate-full of cooked crickets with chili sauce and decided to pick up
one then close my eyes firmly. I slowly put the little fellow into my mouth
while running through my head with images of them still alive and jumping merrily
around. After a few seconds that felt like centuries, I found myself chewing
vigorously in the laughter of people around. I took a sip of locally-made rice
wine to wash down the exotic snack before tucking in the rest of the plate.
I had thought the craziness of the day was
over until I reached the next stop. Have you ever heard of weasel coffee? That
was exactly where I visited. Basically, the farmers fed the weasels with coffee
cherries and collect the half-digest beans, and they are civets, not weasels,
do not be fooled by the name. It was not my favorite but tasted good. You think
drinking a cup of coffee was normal? Try to think you are sampling poop to see
how it feels.
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| Da Lat weasel coffee |
Being
dragged down a lake
No more stopping on
the way for me, I headed straight to the waterfalls as the afternoon wore on.
The Elephant is a plunge waterfall; even
though it cannot stand up to the grandeur of other falls that I had seen, the
contrast of white water with the lush green vegetation around can totally make
up for the lack of magnificence. It was rainy season and there were substantial
volumes of water pouring over and between the protruding green-capped rocks and
low trees. Full River creates voids within which pebbles swirl at high flows. In
midstream, there were some bowl-shaped pits in a rock outcrop showing how badly
eroded they are by the powerful force of water.
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| Da Lat Elephant waterfall |
After the Da Lat Elephant waterfall, I set off for the Pongour. It is the
prime example of how context colors the overall impression of the fall. This
cascade waterfall is a National Geographic standard backdrop with water gushing
over the rocks. Verdant bushes thrive between slow-flew streams and hug the
gray rocks to make the whole scene seem more welcoming. As I got closer to the
pond under it, the smell of mud and musty odors emanating from the trees went
up to my nostrils. It had a serenity-pool at the bottom and around it, flowers
were nodding gently.
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| Da LatPongour waterfalls |
Little did I know that an accident was
waiting for me. Having been carried away by the whole scene, I missed to
warning sign of a stone covered by green lichen and step right on it. Moments
before I was taking in the view, now I felt myself under the cool water and
fully submerged; spinning and cartwheeling along the strong currents. I tried
to strike for the surface but after several fail
attempts, I was still under the water. I felt the air in my lungs ran out and
my limbs struggled to bring the whole body up. When my head finally found a way
to reach the air above, I grabbed for a rock, latched on to it and breathed
raggedly. After a few minutes to catch my breath, I crawled to the bank with
the whole body soaking wet and shaking by panic. Later I found out that the pool
was out of bound because of the powerful and dangerous currents. As this
accident broke my spirit, I stopped my journey chasing other waterfalls in Da Lat..
After eating crickets, drinking poop coffee
and being dragged down the water, I called it a day and got back to my hostel
as fast as I could. Da Lat with www.helloVietnam.com in the memories of others is a sleepy romantic town
but somehow in mine, it is an unexpected challenge of a life time. But that was
a story of an unlucky me, do not let it interfere with your exploration of
beautiful Da Lat waterfalls.
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