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Monday morning Jeff and I crept out of Casa de Andrew and John not to wake the boys from their slumber. The place was a complete hole, and random neighbors were coming back to retrieve bowls and plates from the night festivities (take note of this comment for later). As bad as we felt leaving it a mess and as much fun as we were having in debaucherous Saigon, it was time to leave. The boys and the whole couchsurfing experience definitely made Saigon such a memorable place for us!

At Ease with the Easy Riders

Casey Lary
2007-04-21 23:11:26

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a lot, but at some points were on new streets. It was all still very enjoyable. By mid morning, I was finally beginning to feel comfortable and loosened my grip on Lam's shoulders. There were times when I would have no hands (gasp!) on his back, and he would always turn around to ask if I was okay. I think he got used to it and gaged my state of comfort/happiness based on the grip of my hands. We visited more villages, saw the "Buddha Dog," the random rooster statue, a Buddhist Monastery, the Lake of Sighs, and cruised around Dalat. Lam and Hai helped us take care of some shopping and money issues, then shared one last coffee before we parted ways. They were our friends, and I was a bit sad to say good bye.

Dalat was just as cold as when we first arrived, and now without power. The entire city exhausted its electrical supply for the Christmas Flower Festival. If the store/hotel/restaurant did not have a generator, you were SOL and living by candlelight.

This did pose sort of a problem for me and Jeff. We had intended to shower at our hotel before catching the night bus. They said they would have power by 6, and that did happen. Turns out the hot water company was still without power. There was no way I was jumping into a cold shower, although it was slightly tempting because we were gross. It was nearing time to board our night bus and still no hot water. We were heading out on the Mekong Delta tour the next morning and it would be real bad to not shower at all. Up Shit Creek? No No...we rang up Andrew and John, our fellow couchsurfers, who said come over whenever. Fabulous!

We arrived in HCMC earlier than expected and rolled up to their house at 4 am, just as Andrew and John were rolling in from the bars. They seemed overly excited to see their pet monkey again. Turns out the morning we left one of the neighbors we saw that morning came back later and stole the monkey (see beginning of blog)! They had just been reunited with Batista earlier that day. A quick drink, a skype
call home to mom, little sleep, and we were off to catch our tour on the Mekong Delta.

To conclude- Dalat fulfilled all of my expectations. Highly recommended!