Nha Trang to Da Lat

While Nha Trang is a town on the ocean, Da Lat sits to the west, 1500 meters high in the mountains. About 180km apart, the first 100km of the bus journey takes only an hour and a half over strait line highways, past endless rice fields. The last 80km consumes the other two and a half hours, winding steeply through beautiful pine forest and past dozens of cascading mountain streams until one is deposited on the high plateau where Da Lat sprawls.

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At the mountain's base, the bus stops for a pee break, and to take whatever Dong tourists might be convinced to part with - an ice cream bar is 4 1/2 times the price here as in Nha Trang - at a road side canteen. On offer are small cups of the liquid which bathes these beauties, presumably to bolster ones courage for the upward trek.

The vistas open as the bus reaches high in the hills, the hairpin turns allowing a glimpse back over the land below....

More on beautiful Da Lat to come.