The Heather Report: Eat Bugs, Grasshopper

I’ve always wanted to visit Dalat. Lonely Planet describes it as "Bizarro Vietnam" leaving me feeling that a trip to Vietnam would not be complete without a tour of Dalat. Dena was luckily open to the idea and off we went. After landing at the airport, with trees outside still covered in Christmas ornaments, we boarded a bus for the half hour ride through the hills to the Central Highlands town of Dalat. After humid, rainy and cold Cat Ba, the dry, pine scented air of the hills was a welcome relief.

The only cheap hotel we could book ahead was the Villa Pink House. Upon our arrival, we were met by the extremely friendly Rot, who spoke amazing English. The room was big and clean with a view of the city but the key selling point for the Pink Villa is definitely the staff. Super friendly and they seemed to find my attempts at Vietnamese amusing!

One of the highlights of Dalat are the guided motorbike tours into the surrounding picturesque hills and villages. A group called The Easy Riders is renowned for their tours and they are EVERYWHERE in their blue jackets trying to sell you a tour. However, Rot told us about his own version of the Easy Rider tour which he promised to be less touristy with a stop at the ethnic village where he grew up. Less touristy? We’re in.

We had the option of riding on the back of a motorbike with a guide, or driving our own. My control freak self was all about driving my own motorbike and Rot gave me a zippy semi-automatic number that would take my about 120 km over the course of the day. The bike was much nicer than the one I drive in Cat Ba, so I relished the moment as we wove in and out of traffic and emerged into the open roads of the hill country, passing through villages and flower farms. Sigh.

Loving my motorbike in hilly Dalat!

First stop: cricket farm. Yes, the Vietnamese eat many things….really nothing goes to waste here…including crickets. And scorpians. Yikes. As you can imagine, the cricket farm is quite loud with many chirping critters in various stages of life. The coup d’ tat occurred when we were offered a fried cricket to eat ourselves. Buried in a blob of fried doughy goodness, it didn’t seem like a huge risk. So down it went. It in fact tasted like fried doughy goodness with just a little extra crunch!

Ready for my cricket! Future product for Whole Foods??

Dena ate two. Impressive!

Off to the local market, which I really enjoyed, because it truly had zero tourists. We learned a lot about Vietnamese culture from Rot during our time with him, including the fact that many Vietnamese in this area are Animists, meaning that they worship their ancestors, believing that their deceased kin can influence the course of their lives on earth. Rather than celebrating birthdays, they celebrate the deaths of their ancestors going back three generations. A part of the party involves the burning of fake money and other paper items that their ancestor would have liked to have during their lifetime. One portion of the market is full of paper versions of designer clothes, glasses, even little motorbikes, all for burning at the “death celebration.”

Note the paper shirt and tie on the right, and the little paper motorbike.

Loved these ladies at the market. Until recently, women in rural Vietnam chewed betel nut to turn their teeth black, as it was considered a sign of beauty. These ladies were defininitely sporting the black teeth!

Back on the motorbikes to the silk farm. The production and weaving of silk goes back many generations in Vietnam and it’s cool to see the tradition from start to finish. The silk worm wraps himself in a silk cocoon, which has over 500 meters of silk, which is something like 1,600 feet. After the cocoon is formed, but before the silk worm dies, the pod is placed in hot water to loosen the thread. A worker finds the end of the thread and feeds it onto a machine which unravels the pod. Once empty, the pod is placed in a bin and the worm will later be removed to be fried and eaten. Again, I’m amazed at how the Vietnamese do not let anything go to waste!

Silk cocoons before they are unwound. The worm is still buried inside.

The silk pods, bobbing in the hot water below, are fed onto the machine and unwound

After the silk is removed it is threaded onto a large wheel to be merged with other threads, forming a skeen of silk. Then it’s time to weave. The complexity of the weaving machines would put the innards of a computer to shame and it actually takes a month just to thread the 1000 + needles on the contraption. The patterns are placed in the machine as well and look like the cardboard patterns from a self playing piano.

There's no way I would have the patience to thread 1,000 needles for an entire month! The patterns are stamped in the cardboard sheets to the left of the machine

Of course one is able to buy a completed silk item from the factory and I couldn’t resist another silk scarf. (I seriously have about 15 already) But one more can’t hurt.

Finished product!

After a quick visit to a waterfall where we got quite wet, we visited Rot’s village and met a fascinating woman who is part of one of the ethnic hill tribes of the area. She literally lives in a shack with her 5 kids. The tribes in this area are unique in that the sons must be “sold” for marriage. The parents handle the financial arrangement and love marriages are basically non-existent. This particular women fell in love with a rather wealthy young man, although she was quite poor. His parents forbade them to marry so the moved to the jungle and lived together as husband and wife. After several years they came back and lived together in the village. However, his parents did not approve the marriage and they sold him to someone else to marry. Now the woman is alone and trying to raise her 5 kids. So sad!!! She also said it’s not uncommon for a young man to marry an older woman if she is rich and can pay the parents a lot of money. One of her neighbors has a husband who is over 30 years younger than she is!

One of Dalat's beautiful waterfalls

This woman (back) is left to raise 5 kids with the help of her mother who was showing us how she weaves traditional tapestries.

During lunch at the home of Rot’s parents, Rot gave us some valuable insight into Vietnamese culture. For example:

Vietnamese want to be as white as possible because it means that they do not have to do manual labor in the fields. When it’s sunny out, no matter how hot it is, most people will wear full long sleeves, gloves, a hat and a face mask to keep from getting tan.
The Vietnamese are very modest and do not wear revealing clothing nor do they hold hands with their boyfriends/girlfriends in public. As Rot pointed out, you cannot show any public display of affection, but it’s perfectly acceptable for a man to stop and pee at any point along side the road. Even in the middle of a city street.
If you are slightly overweight or have long nails, this also means you are wealthy and do not have to work outdoors. You will often see men with a long, well manicured nail on their ring and pinky fingers. Or a slightly chubby man holding up his shirt, putting his girth on display!

After Rot taught us a few Vietnamese drinking games, we headed back to the Pink Villa tired and happy! I highly recommend the hotel (if you’re looking for budget accomocations) and the tour with Rot.

The two "bizarro" things we saw in Dalat: creepy topiaries at the Flower Garden, and the Crazy House, which is a guest house built in the style of Gaudi. Both are worth checking out if you're in Dalat!