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| elephant falls |
G- What part of 9:00 AM does that mofo not understand?
P- I don't know baby, they have no concept of sleeping past 5:00AM.
G- I am sick to death of never getting enough sleep!
P- Me too, but I don't think we're gonna get any until we leave Asia.
G- I cannot believe we're getting back on those motorcycles.
P- We don't have to.
Dae & Jung were in the lobby/restaurant when we walked down the stairs.
G- Do you think they know where they're going?
P- Based on last night's search for this hotel, no.
G- (to motorcycle drivers sitting in the lobby) Could you tell my driver how to get to this area?
Da Lat Motorcycle Man – Where are they from?
G- They drove us here from Ho Chi Minh City.
Da Lat Man – No, I can't tell them.
G- Why not?
Da Lat Man – I don't think you'll find anyone in Da Lat that will give an outsider directions.
G- Well that's pretty damn ugly.
Da Lat Man – They taking our business.
Da Lat Man – (blank stare, no comment)
G- No problem, we'll figure it out, and we'll be sure not to hire any motorcycles while we're in Da Lat.
P- We'll walk everywhere first.
Da Lat Man – (still just a blank stare)
G- (to Phyl, outside) It's amazing how they pretend not to understand what you're telling them when they don't like what you're saying, but while they're trying to sell you shit, they speak English better than many Americans.
P- Assholes!
The scenery was beautiful and it was a shame that we were in such pain that we couldn't enjoy it as much as we should have. We stopped several times for Jung to ask directions, but after a while, we began to sense that we were lost.
G- (Yelling across the motorcycles) – Hey! Do you have any idea where we're going?
P- Not really. I assumed we were heading to the grape growing area, but I think they're lost and my ass and knees hurt so much I'm about over it.
G- I agree. We've been back on these bikes now for an hour and haven't really gotten anywhere yet.
P- I guess it wasn't a good idea to take the motorcycles from Saigon.
G- Oh well, how would we have known?
The climb to the bottom of the falls began to get treacherous and Phyl was starting to freak out when we reached a point where the railing was gone and rappelling equipment was needed.
P- What the hell? Who can get down that but an advanced rappeller?
G- That is scary. We'll stop here.
P- You can go, I'll wait for you.
G- I'm not going down that! Even I'm afraid of that.
P- I never know, my little spider monkey. It seems you'll scamper into most places where I won't go.
G- Not that one. It's a big drop off.
When we walked away, we commented to each other that it was funny to hear an Asian person complaining of the primitive ways of Asia, even if she was from a very cosmopolitan city like Singapore. She must not have gotten out of Singapore much, if we were more accustomed to Asian ways than she.
Back at the entrance, Jung & Dae were across the street drinking coffee. They waived us over. Hell no! We didn't want coffee and we weren't being tricked into buying them lunch or coffee or whatever. We stood at the entrance and spoke to a delightful Vietnamese woman who ran the Elephant Falls cafe. She told us that she had a boyfriend, currently in Los Angeles, who would be back to see her in 2 months. She had been to Ha Long Bay and spoke of its beauty. She was working hard studying English to better communicate with her boyfriend. We asked her about the wine growing area and she explained that it was about 20 kilometers away and that we would not be allowed to taste wine there. I guess we were stupid to think that even wine growing country in Vietnam would resemble Napa or Sonoma in even the tiniest way. Our bodies could not take 40 kilometers on the bikes, and if we weren't going to get to drink wine, what was the point?
At the Crazy House we paid them the remainder of the money we owed and tipped each of them. They really had done their bests to make us happy, and the journey had been so long, that we forgot about the fraud committed at lunch yesterday. We felt very sorry for them that they had to drive back to Saigon tonight, but at least we were releasing them early from our agreement which had been to drive us around until 4:00 pm. It was now only 12:00 pm. We waived as they drove up the street.
We bought our tickets to the Hang Nha's Crazy House and just inside the gate, were given a little lecture on the history of the house and it's architect/owner/builder, Hang Nha. We were very surprised to learn that Hang Nha was the woman in the ticket booth. She is the daughter of former Vietnamese President, Truong Chinh, which is why she was allowed to build such an unusual house when no one else would have been able to. We explored all the nooks and crannies of this tree house and concluded that Hang Nha is probably quite the oddball, a la Gaudi, whom she no doubt reveres.
We returned to our hotel and drank a few beers while we spoke to Laila, a Canadian yoga instructor living, for 3 months, and working in Vietnam. She confirmed that there was no wine tasting in the grape growing region. In fact, the grapes are grown there, then trucked into Da Lat to be processed. We were glad we had made the decision not to ride all that way. Da Lat was a nice town, but most of what it has to offer is adventure sports in the surrounding countryside, so 1 day in Da Lat was enough for us. We purchased 2 bus tickets, from the hotel, to Nha Trang.
