Central Đà Lạt
Pavilions near the 'out of town' end of the lake
Đà Lạt is one of Vietnam's two major hill resorts - places to escape the heat and bad weather that much of the country stoically endures during the long summer months. The city is just under 5,000 feet (1,500 metres) above sea level and acts as the fruit and flower garden for the country. Growing conditions are ideal with moderate temperatures, rarely over 30, and gentle rainfall. It is a place the Vietnamese wistfully perceive as capturing the best of Vietnam, and accordingly they flock to it for their holidays; the proportion of foreigners is marginal. This popularity was ironically started by the French occupiers who sought out and founded a resort here, building the first hotel in 1907. Boulevards were laid out, Swiss style villas sprang up, and with the forming of the lake in the early 1920s, the resort emerged in much the form it now has a hundred years later: a delightfully easy place in which to come to rest.
Looking towards the town across 'Xuân Hương' Lake. A name which might be translated as the Lake of 'Youthful/Spring Fragrance' - an epithet sometimes challenged by foreign visitors who have noted the Vietnamese relaxed attitude to litter
Looking across the north, or out of town, end of the lake...
Above. The fisherman on the jetty sits just in front of this sign - in duplicate from the water's reflection -
'Fishing Prohibited'
...and above across the south end. The lake is two miles long - enough for waves to form
Looking across Xuân Hương Lake at night
Swan pedalos, popular at dusk with the young
These up-lit fountains now decorate many towns and come into their own as the short tropical twilight descends
'Tea' 'Coffee' The latter newly taking its place in Vietnam alongside tea
On the lake a costume pageant is enacted involving canoeists racing each other across the water...
Our Jeep enjoying the prospect
...and then reaching the finishing stage...
...by walking along these poles
As is normal in Vietnam viable ground is never wasted
A trap decorated with flowers waiting by the lake
Đà Lạt has three of the last emperor's mansions. This is the so called 'Third Mansion' and is open to the public. It was built to the European high fashion of the 1930s by
Emperor Bảo Đại who held the office from 1926 to 1945. By which time the throne was a sinecure under the French and Japanese occupations. Above the rear of the building
The view across the city of Đà Lạt from the Cable Car Station
The cable car was opened in 2003 it runs...
...from Đà Lạt to near the Trúc Lâm Monastery a distance of 2.2 klms
Bảo Sách with ice cream. Colin, expecting accidents, with orange
Pool on the cable car platform
Loading cabbages. Vegetable supplies for surrounding cities including HCM
A gecko at work keeping the ceiling clean while chirruping endearingly - and no, they never all off
Looking towards the town centre
A town centre bridge. Centre picture...
...people eat between cleaning carrots
The cafe by the lake in the town centre
The wooded slopes of Đà Lạt City running down to the lake set against a backdrop of mountains - no bad place to relax
Trailers...
The next page has
the countryside around Đà Lạt City.
The next page
of the Mosaic Section is to be headed 'The Garden'.
Or go to the contents of the Mosaic Section.
The last page introduced Đà Lạt's Crazy House
To Vietnam's other Hilltop resort - Sa Pa
To that most atmospheric of city lakes, Hoàn Kiếm, in central Hà Nội
