To break up our journey from Hoi An to Hồ Chí Minh City, we decided to spend a couple of days in the southern mountain city of Ðà Lạt (hereinafter Da Lat). Known for its coffee plantations and fresh clean air, it has always been a welcome retreat to those living in the capital further south. Braced for the big city, we were excited to spend a couple of days in the mountains before the final trek of our trip.

The Summer Palace was very art deco and kept with all the furnishings as they were when it was last used in the 1970’s.

Although Da Lat is a bigger city (with the population just over 400,000), it feels like a smaller, more manageable town. The hills throughout the city provided us with plenty of exercise to work off our favorite meal: a sizzling plate with eggs, beef, pork, pate, and onions served with fresh bread and a Coke. We loved this $2 meal so much that we ate there for lunch both days we were in town!

With only two days in which to explore, we packed in the sights much more than we had done while in Hội An. Coming off of a month of rest and relaxation, we were ready to hit the ground running in Da Lat. One morning was spent on a tour visiting five different places outside of the city: a coffee plantation (where we tried weasel poop coffee!), flower warehouses, an insect farm (good source of protein for the locals), a waterfall, and a temple. Additionally, we walked a couple of miles to tour the Summer Palace – a retreat built by the last king of Vietnam in 1933.

Jon was so excited to try the coffee made with weasel poop! (It did taste pretty good!!)

While all of these activities were interesting and educational, teaching us about the daily life of the Vietnamese, their exports, and their history, it wasn’t what made Da Lat special to us. What made the city memorable was the fact that we went a little crazy…not once…but twice!

The Crazy House is not an insane asylum; rather, it’s a hotel where for between $35-60, you can spend the night among the random sculptures and artwork in a room that isn’t anything like your standard hotel room. Since Jon and I were on a budget, we spent our nights at a hostel nearby but paid a $5 entrance fee to wander around the grounds on our first afternoon.

This bridge was 4 or 5 stories up in the air, connecting the roofs of 2 different buildings.

Anyone who has studied the works of Salvador Dali or Antonio Gaudi will feel right at home at the Crazy House. Buildings that appear to be separate are joined by twisting staircases connecting different floors. Mosaics, mirrors, and bright colors all serve as a backdrop for the bizarre structures. Hallways don’t lead from room to room in order; they wind around, up, and down, providing a disorientating effect.

Bridges blended with the trees and made it hard to tell where you were going!

Much like the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, the Crazy House isn’t yet complete. We went into rooms that were bare cement, waiting for the decorations and finishing touches. In one such room, blocked off from the public, we were welcomed inside by a painter who was enthralled with Jon’s big, bushy beard. He took a few pictures of Jon and then showed us around the room, somehow managing to communicate in his non-existent English (and our non-existent Vietnamese) that it would be a sort of lounge with a bar and piano once finished.

This man was so excited to see Jon and his beard, inviting us into the off-limits area that he was painting. He took numerous pictures of Jon so of course I insisted on one of them together!

Jon and I wandered around for close to two hours, wanting to make sure we had peeked inside of every room and climbed every winding staircase. We felt like kids at a funhouse and anticipate spending the night if we are ever back in Da Lat.

After our afternoon at the Crazy House, we felt that it was time to relax over a pint of beer. Since I am very thorough in my research upon arriving in each new city (she said humbly), I led the way to a bar called 100 Rooftops that promised to have nice views over the city. Once we arrived, we quickly realized that we wouldn’t be relaxing with our beers – we would be playing a game of hide and seek in a building five stories tall!

As soon as we walked into the bar, we knew we would be spending more time than we had originally planned!

Similar to the Crazy House, 100 Rooftops was a maze of staircases leading to different levels, rooms that didn’t connect to the next, cave-like nooks and eccentric decorations. Noticing that there was hardly anyone else in the bar at that time, we decided to play a giant game of hide and seek. One of us would go down to the ground level and wait for a couple of minutes while the other found a nook in which to sit and hide. From rooms with masks and spiderwebs to corners with sea creatures, each section varied from creepy to strange.  We finally did get a chance to relax, lounging on the balcony overlooking the city on the fifth floor. The sunset cast a shadow over Da Lat as the city lights came on and we made our way to dinner near our hostel.

Some decorations were creepy and some were just silly – I’ll let you decide what you think about this one!

Our time in Da Lat was not what we had expected. We thought that we would be out in the country enjoying the scenery, which we certainly did. However, we had not expected to go crazy at a hotel and a bar! Going crazy in Da Lat quickly became one of our favorite memories from our time in Vietnam and provided us with the opportunity to see the quirky side of Vietnam.

This was the most random/interesting thing that I saw on the back of a motorbike throughout all of our travels in Asia – bags with fish for sale.

*Note: The use of accent marks is inconsistent for a reason. I found it easier to refer to the cities by the Anglicized version, since this is what most of you will recognize. For the lesser-known places, food, or people, I’ve kept with the accent marks since this is what we got used to while traveling.