New Year's in ĐaLat

I just got back from ĐaLat and had a wonderful time. I don’t think I did too many of the things recommended in the guidebooks, but it was wonderful to leave HCMC for a while and see some of another part of Vietnam. ĐaLat is a small city in Lâm Đồng province, about a six or seven hour drive from HCMC. It’s about 1500 metres above sea level in the Central Highlands and is extremely renowned for its fruit, vegetables, and cut flowers. It is called the city of flowers and pine trees by some and the city of eternal springtime by others. It really is lovely and just being in the mountains was a bit of alright. My student, Linh Kim, invited me to go with her family to the flower festival, which is held every year on the first of January.Linh is married to Thinh, who is a very lovely man. He teaches landscape design at Nong Lam University, and so he and some of his students wanted to attend the flower show. Linh is a biotechnology professor at the same school, and her specialization is orchid propagation by tissue culture. ĐaLat is very famous for its orchids, but primarily for its hydrangeas and a flower called golden everlasting, that looks a bit like a straw flower. Linh and Thinh have two kids, Phuc (7), which means happiness, and Quyen (2), which is the name of a beautiful yellow flower. We got an early start on January 1, meaning I met them at 4 a.m. in front of their university. I had arranged a taxi for 3:15, because they live in Thu Duc, which is on the opposite side of the city. I had to wake the taxi driver up, which was not a good sign and he didn’t exactly know how to get to Nong Lam University, but after a lot of driving around we made it and only about 10 minutes late. Thank goodness there was no crazy New Year’s Eve traffic. There was quite a bit of traffic on the roads, but all of it fairly routine, I think. Linh and Thinh have an SUV and we made good time once we were on the road. We drove for a couple of hours and then stopped for breakfast for phở and it was pretty delicious. Thinh disappeared for a few minutes and reappeared with his brother, who is supervising a building project that Thinh is leading. After a short break, we piled back in the vehicle and continued our journey. Before too long, we hit the mountains and the highway was (of course) under construction. Next thing you know both kids are upchucking ... Linh and Thinh are great parents and just handled it all with aplomb. I couldn’t help much, as both of them were making strange with me. Now they call me, Ba, which is like grandmother (aka old lady). They are adorable and their parents dote on them.
We eventually arrived in ĐaLat and checked into our hotel. We had lunch and then went back to the hotel for a rest, as everyone had been up all night. I could tell, from our initial glimpse, that the city was jammed with tourists. Little did I know! When we started to go to the flower show, the traffic was terrible, so we walked here and there, and saw some absolutely gorgeous orchid displays, but it was really almost impossible/impassable. So many people. So we got in the car and went to XQ Historical Village. This is an art gallery and shop complex in a suburb of ĐaLat and it was very interesting, mostly because it had an extensive collection of the most gorgeous silk embroidery. I thought the silk embroidery in China was exquisite, but these pieces are huge and so lifelike ... some are even 3D, with petals and leaves coming off the background.We popped into a jam and fruit products store after being approached by a guy on a motorbike, who handed his business card to us through the open window and then led us to his shop. In fact, there were several people doing this. Linh and I laughed because we had completed a unit on advertising/marketing and had discussed types of advertising ... but the Honda Wave method was not one of the direct marketing techniques we had covered. Very interesting ... so many teas made with atiso ... artichoke. I am not sure if the tea is made from globe artichokes or from wild Jerusalem artichokes ... the roads around ĐaLat are lined with clumps of Jerusalem artichokes.After a hot pot dinner, we tried the lakeside again and we could do it for a while and we saw a bit of the entertainment ... singers and dancers ... very crowded, however. We also met up with Thinh’s students who were so happy to see him. You can tell they really love him. We resolved we would get up early the next day to go to the flower festival.
We got to the park the next morning and wandered around. I think we were all surprised at how many landscaping flowers there are in common between Canada and Vietnam ... some notable exceptions, but still and all, it was remarkable. The flowers that really captured my attention were the orchids ... omigoodness .... so many types and varieties. As I have primarily been a procurer of the Costco phalaenopsis genus of orchidia, I am by no means an expert on the plants, but I do think they are amazing.Linh and I had a nice rest sitting on the grass while Thinh took the kids on the swan pedal boats. Quyen had been so taken with the boats and had her heart set on a ride. It was nice that the little lake in the park had five swan boats (which Quyen insisted were ducks) and so with a bit of a breeze, it was much safer and easier to navigate than the larger lake in the centre of town. After the ride, Linh and Thinh and the kids were all bagged ... I know why the parents were tired ... lugging the 2-year old around and sometimes the 7-year old! While they rested, I strolled along the streets near our hotel and then farted around with my new camera.
Once we were all ready to go, we went to church. They are both quite devout Catholics and so it was very interesting to attend a Vietnamese service. We met his students outside the church and I was struck by how many young people were in the absolutely jammed service ... on a Saturday evening! I read that young people are starting to really flock to Buddhist temples as well, so perhaps it is a national revival of consciousness regarding spirituality or something. The music was quite lovely, and much of the service was sung. I rarely knew what was going on, but every now and again, something would strike me and then I’d know what was going on. I must admit that part of the tiem I was distracted by trying to figure out the writing on the hoodie of the young woman in front of me ... finally I got it ... Let’s we to go to the shopping. I have seen several T-shirts and hoodies of a similar ilk and I do love them. However, most of the time I was engaged in worship ... and I was struck by the solemn bow, with arms folded in front, that people gave each other as a sign of the peace. It quite caught me by surprise.After the mass, I noticed that there were 50 or 100 people gathered in front of the grotto with Maria Mother as she was referred to, and people chanted what I assumed was the Hail Mary. It was haunting ... in contrast to the huge blue-eyed baby Jesus hovering overhead.We spent some time with Thinh’s students and then went off to the town market where we wandered around and ate dinner at a restaurant, although the street food looked awfully appealing. I was struck by the throngs of people and can only imagine what it was like at the lake, where there was supposed to be a big parade and maybe 150 couples getting married (ĐaLat is the honeymoon capital of Vietnam), along with various forms of entertainment.We rushed up to a rooftop coffee shop at the first signs of fireworks and were lucky to be able to get a spot with a view. The children were so delighted. Phuc said he wanted to stay up all night watching fireworks. Alas ... we had agreed on a 5:30 departure, so we were back at the hotel by 10:30 or so.
So ... Happy New Year! It was one I will always remember, that is for sure. I hope that your New Year’s Eves were fun and safe and memorable. More pics on flickr!