Da Lat

Central Highlands of Vietnam- lots of greenhouses and our first rain in months

Bundling flowers- Mike bought me a dozen roses for 10,000VND (50 cents)

Weasels (actually Civets)

 

 

Coffee beans after being ingested by the weasels

Delicious coffee

View overlooking coffee plantation

Silk factory- the girl is making silk thread from the cocoons

We were in Da Lat for a few days. It's in the Central Highlands that are along the spine of the country from north to south. Higher in altitude and much cooler. We saw our first significant rain there (even though it is supposedly the dry season.) It is a perfect climate for year round growing of all sorts of things- coffee, strawberries, roses, artichokes. There is also quite a bit of silk production. It is a famous  holiday and honeymoon spot so quite touristy but very pleasant.
We hired an "Easy Rider" guide to take us on a motorbike tour of the countryside. Our guide Tranh (or Paul- his "French name") was an American war vet who served in the Southern army. After the war he was put in a re-education camp for 3 years. He makes a living doing bike tours all over the country. We thought about taking a couple day tour but after being caught in pouring rain for 4 hours we decided against it. I guess our blood is too thin after all of the time on the beaches.
Our tour included visiting temples, a waterfall, a silk factory and rose greenhouses. We also went to a coffee plantation where we sampled the famous weasel coffee. Apparently the weasels ingest the coffee beans when they are at the peak of their flavor. After the beans pass through the weasels they are washed, roasted and ground. Very expensive coffee- but according to our guide just a gimmick. The digestion does nothing to change the composition of the coffee beans. The real advantage is that the weasels will only eat the best--perfectly ripe-- beans. It was fine coffee but probably not worth the extra cost.