We then drove 30km to another of Dalat’s main sites – Pongour Waterfall. You can also try Cricket Wine, which is said to be good for bones, muscles and back pain! One of the most bizarre things to do in Dalat is to pay a visit to a cricket farm, and Linh was determined to introduce us to this unusual snack!Īfter wandering around the farm and seeing the crickets, we were taken to a little room where we were served a plate of fried crickets and lemongrass with a chilli dip – I was nervous to try them at first, but once I got over the ick factor, I pleasantly surprised and ate the whole plateful!Ĭrunchy, salty, and extremely moreish, crickets are actually very healthy and a very sustainable food to produce! Linh explained everything super clearly, and while I’ve never been interested in textiles or anything similar, it was incredible to see the worms doing their thing and spinning silk!īefore the pig’s tongue had even had a chance to digest, we were on our way to experience another culinary first – crickets! We had a tour of the entire factory and learnt all about how silk is made, seeing every single stage that silk worms go through to produce silk. Our next, and one of the most interesting stops on our Easy Rider Vietnam tour, was a silk factory. Vietnamese coffee is some of the best in the world, so you won’t be missing out if you refrain from trying the Kopi Luwak.Īlso, Kopi Luwak is really low in caffeine so, yeah, not worth it. It’s because of this that I don’t recommend trying Kopi Luwak.īy all means visit the plantations, drink the regular coffee or sample the types of tea available, but I don’t encourage you to contribute to the abuse of the palm civets. On the plantation I visited in Bali, we were told that the civets roam around freely in the jungle, but in Dalat they were in tiny, filthy cages covered in rust, and I hated that they were kept in these conditions for tourists like me. However, after finishing our cups, Linh took us to see the animals themselves, and it made me wish I’d never participated. I’d actually tried this coffee before, in Ubud, Bali, and I tried it again on my Easy Rider Vietnam tour. Many coffee plantations around Dalat produce the infamous Kopi Luwak, the world’s most expensive coffee which is made from collecting coffee beans from the poop of palm civets. The view more than made up for our exhaustion though – seriously, the countryside surrounding Dalat is stunning. ‘ This is why I said it was a hike, not a walk!‘ Linh laughed, as my friend and I found ourselves completely out of breath halfway up! Our first stop was a viewpoint that we had to hike up a hill to get to. My friend and I met our guide, Linh, at 8.30am and we kicked things off by speeding off into the mountains, the cool air whooshing past us as the city of Dalat grew smaller and smaller. I opted for a full-day tour, from 8.30am until 5pm, which cost about 25 GBP – a bargain if you ask me! There are so many things to do there, and you can actually do most of them on a Dalat Easy Riders tour just like the one I’m about to tell you about! If you are travelling up (or down!) the length of Vietnam, you would be really doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t visit Dalat. Located 300km Northeast of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) in Southern Vietnam, in the Central Highlands region.Īlthough it is a city, it is surrounded by breathtaking nature, and is home to an abundance of coffee plantations, vineyards, silk farms and waterfalls, making it popular with Vietnamese tourists and backpackers alike. Unlike the relaxed beach town of Mui Neor the sleepy Hoi An, Dalat is where you go to explore, have an adventure, and experience a whole host of new things. Tours can last anywhere from one day, all the way up to 12, with various routes and itineraries based on your preferences. You can either drive the bike yourself or hop onto the back of the guide’s bike (which is what I did). They are a team of licensed and professional local tour guides who take tourists on epic motorbike tours through the Vietnamese countryside, enabling them to experience the country through their eyes and get off the beaten track a little. This post will outline my experience with Vietnam Easy Rider – where we went, what we saw, and perhaps most importantly, whether I’d recommend it.Įasy Rider Vietnam – A Dalat Motorbike Tour ReviewĮasy Rider Vietnam is a concept popular all over Vietnam, although Dalat Easy Riders were the first. Instead, I opted for a Vietnam Easy Rider Tour, and boy, how I’m glad I did. However, as someone who is risk averse at the best of times, I couldn’t make like other travellers and just rent a motorbike myself to explore the area. Surrounded by pine forests, orchards and mountains with a centre full of French architecture, Dalat is known as the ‘City of Eternal Spring’ in Vietnam, and there are tonnes of things to do and see there.
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