I went to KL ahead of my friends. I wanted to visit my nephew, B as I'd not seen him since CNY in Feb. I had so looked forward to playing with him once I arrived. Unfortunately, my plane was delayed and B had already fallen asleep when I reached the house. Heh. Nonetheless, I did spend a good 2 days with B and only went to join my friends on Sunday night after dinner.
We checked into Myhotel at Jalan Tun Sambanthan, just next to Old Town White Coffee. This was a budget hotel ...
The room
The room and en-suite bath and toilet were rather spacious. There's air-conditioner, coffee and tea-making facilities, a tv. I wished the room was cleaner though. It being just beside the road made it noisy - I could hear the booming rhythms of a singing event from across the road, and I could hear the traffic. Most annoying of all was that I could hear people come and go, open and close the doors, and talk loudly in the corridor. I did not sleep well.
We woke up early, checked out and proceeded to KL Sentral where we boarded the bus to the airport. I'd not taken the bus for a while. So now it cost RM12.00 for one way to KLIA2. The bus departed at around 6.20 a.m. I slept a bit in the bus to make up for the lack of sleep the night before.
We arrived at 7.10 a.m. and dropped our bags at the counter and went to have breakfast at the food court, Quizinn. I did not know what to eat, so ended up having nasi lemak ...
Breakfast
The nasi lemak set was RM9.50 with a cup of coffee. I splurged on the fried chicken, which cost RM6.00. So that made the whole breakfast set RM15.50. Hmn .... Pricey nasi lemak, edible, though nothing really special about it; coffee was served in a badly stained cup .... it was a little off-putting.
Our flight AK204 delayed slightly from Kuala Lumpur. I sat along the aisle, and next to me were a Korean father and daughter. Flight time was 2 hours and 25 minutes, and it was a rather turbulent flight. I was so glad when we landed at Cam Ranh International Airport, Nha Trang.
The current airport
The airport was small and dated. We did not fill in any immigration card at all upon arrival. After we went past immigration, we collected our bags and headed outside, where we met with our guide, David and the driver. Since there were 8 of us this trip - and we were provided with a sprinter van. It was rather comfortable actually - C and I had the back row seats to ourselves, so we had plenty of room to put our things.
David was formerly a Russian language teacher at a high school, so he was excited to find out that we were all teachers. Heh. David was a nice guide, really accommodating. We all liked him.
The new international airport being constructed. It's located just next to the old airport.
It took 50 minutes to get to Nha Trang from Cam Ranh ... and we could see much development along the way. There were many resorts and hotels being built here, it being by the coast and all.
Loved the view of the bay here at Cam Ranh
50 minutes later, we reached Nha Trang ...
Nha Trang beach and the city centre beyond
There were plenty of shops and hotels there .... and I thought the beach looked so beautiful
Lunch was at Nha Trang View Restaurant just by the sea. We were served with many good food every meal throughout the week.
Left to right, top to bottom : crackers, Vietnamese salad, mustard and pork ribs soup, bok choy, French beans and carrot stirfy, stewed pork ribs, clams in spicy and sour broth, another type of clams, brinjal
Hmn ... I have no idea what species of clam is this ....
I find the vegetables to be fresh and sweet, and enjoyed all the food served to us. It was indeed a lavish meal to me. My favourite dish for this meal was the Vietnamese salad - there were only vegetables in the dish, but they were fresh and crisp and beautifully flavoured with lime and fish sauce. The toasted peanuts added a nutty flavour to the dish. Yums. I polished off the whole platter when no one else wanted to eat it.
CV and mom are vegetarians and they had 4 dishes to go with their rice ....
4 vegetarian dishes
After lunch, we proceed to Da Lat ... it was a 3 hours ride by car. Da Lat, located 1500m above sea level, had a pleasant climate. During the days of French colonial government, officials came here to escape the heat and humidity of the lowlands.
Before we began our climb uphill, we stopped at this rest stop called Ben Loi Quan. It had toilets, and a souvenir shop and a restaurant. We had an ice-cream here ...
Before we began our climb uphill, we stopped at this rest stop called Ben Loi Quan. It had toilets, and a souvenir shop and a restaurant. We had an ice-cream here ...
There was a river at the back of this premise ...
After our short pit stop, we got going. As we climbed up, the air got cooler and cooler. Our driver turned off the air-conditioner, and opened up the windows so that we could enjoy the cool mountain air.
Almost reaching Da Lat ....
Lots of tents .... vegetables, fruits and flowers are grown in abundance here ...
The streets of Da Lat
We reached Da Lat in 2.5 hours instead of 3 hours, and checked into River Prince Da Lat Hotel. This is a 3-star hotel ... and it seemed to be quite empty. Apart from a middle-aged couple, we did not see any other guests at this hotel.
Our hotel lobby
Our room at River Prince Hotel, Da Lat
Spacious room with a spacious en suite toilet and bath; The room looked a bit old-fashioned, though it was clean. The room had no air-conditioner, but it was not needed anyway.
At 7.00 p.m., we had dinner a restaurant named Moulin Rouge ....
All the dishes tasted so good
I loved every dish served here at Moulin Rouge, and I think it was the best meal for the entire trip for me.
Vegetarian dishes for CV and mom
Another dish cooked with black pepper for CV and mom
Cut fruits to share ....
We went to the Da Lat night market after that. We drove back to our hotel and David walked us to the night market so that we would know how to walk back ourselves later on.
The night market
Strawberries
Caps and scarves
Lots of tea!
Atiso or artichoke tea is a product of Da Lat
Each meal, we were served with Atiso. We liked the taste and wanted to buy some back for our friends ...
Seafood
Chicken soup
The vendors did not allow me to take photographs .... so I wouldn't say that they are friendly at all. I did not buy anything .... and soon walked back to the hotel.
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