The Summer Palace

Upon entering the last Emporer's Summer Palace in Dalat, an immaculate 1930's art deco building, we were asked to put cloth shoe covers on our feet. Although they did make me look like a smurf, the upside was that they were perfect for sliding on the polished parquet floors!
Unlike in the UK, once inside we were allowed to wander pretty much all over, even sitting in their chairs and hammocks.
Walking back from the Palace, we saw some uniformed cadre's practising their marching drill. I don't know if it was his Vietnamese military cap, or just friendliness, but as they passed by a few cadre's saluted Kim.
Lounging in royal hammocks and recieving military salutes? - it'll all go to his head y'know.

Durian

Tried to persuade Kim and Ned to try durian fruit today. It has a really strong, almost pungent, smell but is supposed to be delicious. Eating it is described as like "eating custard from a toilet bowl". We've had durian flavoured sweets, but not the real thing yet. I'll keep trying...

Chicken Village

Took a local bus (30p for a 17km ride, and the boys sat up front with the driver) to a Koho tribal village, nicknamed 'chicken village' because of it's strange central concrete statue. Saw coffee beans being dried and weighed, wooden shacks with satellite dishes, and the boys helped a woman de-weevil the corn before bagging it. Strangely enough, pigeon fancying seemed to be a hobby here too, as we saw a few extravagent coops attached to homes.

Motorbike taxi's

Sandra, if you're reading this, look away now.
The cheapest and simplest way of getting around short distances in Vietnam is motorbike taxi. These are often wee mopeds, but we've had great fun squeezing 3 on a bike. The strange thing is that by some quirk of the law, Annie and I have to wear helmets while riding pillion, but the boys, who stand up wedged between the rider and handlebars, don't have any helmets at all (Sandra, I warned you).
Needless to say, they think it's great fun!

View from the front.

Datanla Falls

One benefit of the typhoon rain is that the waterfall's are really impressive! To get to the falls we had to ride toboggon's down a twisting roller-coaster run. It's not automated, the tobogon's just sit on rails, and you have to apply the brakes by pulling a lever!

Dalat

We've headed away from the coast and up into the central highlands of Dalat, for a change of scenery and climate. Saw lots of wooden hut villages and waterfalls on the switchback roads up, and surreal sight of the day was a moped carrying a large clear plastic bag full of water, containing two huge live fish.
The good news is that the predicted typhoon coming from the Phillipines has blown itself out, the bad news is that it still had plenty of rain left in it. And although there is torrential rain here today (I had to wear a waterproof jacket and a poncho just to go and get our lunch), we've escaped the flooding that Hoi An and Na Trang have.
We're in a hotal with free internet access and Cartoon Network on TV, so the boys are happy (though slightly less happy when we suggested they catch up on some maths homework!). The forecast says we'll have a clear day tomorrow, before it rains again, so we think we'll head on to the beach and sand dunes of Mui Ne on Thusday.

Dalat: the Crazy House

Kim: Today we went to the Crazy House, which is a house which someone designed. It's like a maze, and it's crazy. Me and Ned loved it. It had tiny little rooms, like caves, and statues of animals like a bear, an eagle, a kangaroo and a monster kinda thing. There were crazy steps going up and down everywhere, and me and Ned got confused. I'd love to stay there.