Ho Chi Minh City and Da Lat

Well it has been a busy week as we arrived in our fifth country of the trip: Vietnam. We started in Ho Chi Minh city/Saigon, where we had one full day to explore. Due to our limited time we found ourselves roped into a big tour group to go see a Cao Dai Temple and the Cuchi tunnels. Cao Dai is a religion made up of values from Buddhism, Catholicism, Hinduism and is known for it's colorful temples. The tour was definitely not our style, as we found ourselves herded and rushed along in a giant group and and I felt uncomfortable as we stood at the back of the temple as the service went on, in a sea of loud and pushy tourists just wanting to snap a picture. The tunnels- 250km of underground tunnels created before and during the Vietnam war for protection with places to eat, sleep, fight and strategize-were much of the same, although interesting to hear a different perspective about the war. 

Thankfully, our second stop
in Vietnam left a much happier impression. Our main reason for choosing Da Lat, a pretty and cool-weathered town, was to see Pongour/ Pongua Falls. Since we were only staying a night, this trip had to be done pretty soon after arriving and we found ourselves being pushed on a tour to "the falls." After the day before's tour we were a bit resistant and hesitant to the overly helpful man at the hostel and cheerful guide rushing us along, and we got in the car only to realize we were actually going to a totally different waterfall! After a few terse conversations and phone calls and the agreement to pay a few extra dollars they agreed to turn the car around and take us where we wanted to go. We ended up being super happy they did because not only did we get to see the gorgeous tiered falls, we lucked out and our guide's friend also took us to climb up the waterfall and through the spray. This was absolutely one of my favorite parts of Vietnam and a very cool experience! We continue our travels now to Hanoi and Halong Bay!

At the Cao Dai temple 

Pongua falls 

At the hostel in Da lat