Today I had a little adventure running around Da Lat's marketplace by myself while Tung's family went to church in the morning. Tung left his toothbrush back in Saigon, so I had our taxi driver take me to the city's main market and wove my way through stalls and squatting merchants, navigating dried preserves, fresh vegetables, flowers, and cookware to finally find a "general store" stall that sold toothbrushes and nail clippers.
I then dropped by the post office so I could pick up a new calling card to reload minutes onto our cell phone. The phones here, whether cellular or land-line, are really a hit-and-miss situation. Different districts have different "area codes" that precede the main number--fair enough. However, that code is subjected to change at the discretion of the Telecommunication Powers That Be. Even a government-owned, reliable taxi company such as VinaSun sometimes changes its district code in the middle of nowhere so that calls could not go through. And the phone numbers do not always contain the same amount of digits. Using a SIM-loaded cell to call back to the US is not always guaranteed to work.
After I finished my errands, Anh Hoang drove me around Ho Xuan Huong, "Perfume Lake." Tung said it ironically smelled awful the last time he visited 7 years ago, but they must have cleaned it up since then; in the lazy hours of the afternoon, tourists could take a swan-shaped paddleboat around the lake to catch the breeze.
I also swung by the botanical garden, a well-kept landscape of potted plants and clipped bonsai. Horses drawing carriages decorated with fresh flowers stood ready to take visitors around the park. I think it was the first time I've ever been the only person in a park where you had to buy a ticket to get in; it must have been too early (and slightly drizzly) for sane tourists to venture by.
Later, I met up with Tung's family when they got out of church. Boy, was Tung happy that I found him a toothbrush. One of the attractions in Da Lat is to take a gondola (suspension-cable car), overlooking a scenery of wild forest, groomed farmland, and hills laced with fog in the distance. A one-way ticket costs $40,000 dong. Anh Tinh, Tung's cousin, took at bus to Saigon to meet up with Tung's family half a week after our arrival to Viet Nam. We went with him to South-Central to eventually drop him off at his home in a village in the city of Phang Rang. His family members are farmers, and by normal standards, $40,000 dong ($2.35 US) is enough to buy 4 good restaurant meals. Therefore, it was simply impractical to spend that kind of money on a 15-minute entertainment. Anh Tinh is in his 40's and had never, to-date, taken a gondola ride.
So Tung and I treated him for his first one, and together the three of us stepped into an enclosed carriage. Suspended on a cable, we soared over the lush landscape of leaf-greens, lake-blues, and colorful houses dotting the scene.
So Tung and I treated him for his first one, and together the three of us stepped into an enclosed carriage. Suspended on a cable, we soared over the lush landscape of leaf-greens, lake-blues, and colorful houses dotting the scene.
The gondola let us off near Thien Vien Truc Lam, a serene Buddhist temple built on a hill, overlooking the beautiful city. In the picture below, from left: Di Ha (Tung's youngest aunt), Tung's grandma, Co Xuan (our unofficial tour guide), Tung's mom, me, and Anh Tinh (Tung's cousin). Tung is the great cameraman behind this awesome picture.
Exotic flowers dotted the gardens, planted in neat boxes or urns with names clearly labeled on blue signs. Bamboo trees and camellia shrubs partially enclose stone benches where people can retreat and relax.
The roofs of the main temple and nearby structures curved up in the classic Chinese design.
A large golden Buddha sat in the main temple, behind an urn holding clusters of burning incense sticks.
Perhaps the most breathtaking sight is the view of the lake. Rumor is, the government may be planning to take over part or all of the land surrounding Truc Lam temple to build roads. I hope this isn't true, but this may be the first and last time that I get to see the lake this way.
Flanked by crisp green pine, dotted with islands of trees, backed by gentle, rolling hills misted at the top with a veil of fog--the serene lake sits, a placid body of water with a smooth, glassy surface.
A picture hardly does it justice--I stand on sacred temple ground, looking out at pure, natural beauty, and I forget that I am a Technical Writer in the busy hub of Silicon Valley. Stress melts out of my pores, and all worries evaporate from my mind. It must be scenes like this where it's possible for monks to fast and lose themselves, where even the most troubled heart can find refuge and retreat into a sea of meditative calm, where we humans are reminded that we come from Nature, and to her we will ultimately return.
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