3-Day Markets, Palaces, and Monasteries of Da Lat Tour from Ho Chi Minh City

This was the absolute best! Truc was our guide and I have to tell you, we had a fantastic driver too. Yes, we drove from Ho Chi Minh City to Da Lat, it took approx. 6 hours, but it didn't seem that long. The scenery and geography was amazing! And seeing the people of the different areas was exhilarating! Our guide was so knowledgeable, friendly and down-to-earth and had stories to tell us about everything we saw. We left early from HCMC and got to Da Lat in late afternoon. There are rest stops all along the route for travelers on any mode of transportation and these rest stops have all sorts of food, rest rooms, etc. as most rest stops have. Where we stopped for lunch was a delight! All sorts of veggies, fruits, rice, of course, and Artichoke tea which is a must. The tour company had been told that I'm a vegetarian so they had planned for me but my friend travelling with me is not a vegetarian and she had all sorts of good eats! The amount of different teas and coffee for sale at this rest stop was phenomenal! I had a hard time deciding on the coffee. I'm a coffee fanatic and Vietnamese coffee is good and strong. When we arrived in Da Lat, after checking in and resting, we went on a bike ride around the gorgeous lake in the city center, during our time there, we went to Mass at the city cathedral, we went to Liang-Biang mountain, the Ugly House, some of the ethnic peoples' living areas, the day market and the night market, the orphanage and Catholic Church where there was a market featuring all sorts of embroidery made by the sisters and young women there and flowers for sale. We had some great food in Da Lat. I really hated to leave. It was one of my best memories of Vietnam. On our way back, we had 2 more stellar adventures, we stopped at a famous waterfall where they sold Artichoke Tea. Getting to the waterfall was interesting and riding a type of roller-coaster back up to the parking lot to the minivan was also interesting but i enjoyed it. The 2nd adventure was going to visit the K'Ho spelling ethnic people's village. We had a good time speaking with the ladies who showed us how they weave the material that makes their beautiful scarves. We went all through the village meeting more people and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. What a good time!