Rolling Stones

Day 60: Nha Trang (VN) – Da Lat (VN). For some, Nha Trang would have been paradise. Coconut palms fringed a golden sandy beach, lapped by warm azure waters and bamboo huts provided shade for an afternoon cocktail or two. Some may have questioned why we didn't just end our travelling right there and then and drink pina colada's on the beach for the next seven weeks.

But beautiful though this place was - Nha Trang wasn't for us. Here, the tourists outnumbered the locals, cocktails came before culture and 5 star hotels and gourmet restaurants prevailed over the simpler hostels and street food that we were used to. Nha Trang had very little to offer us in our quest for knowledge – knowledge about Vietnam, it's people and knowledge about ourselves.

So like the proverbial rolling stone we were on the move again. “Let's leave the coast, an travel inland”, Karen suggested in an attempt to get away from the touristy feel we had adopted since our arrival in Hoi An a few days previously. A quick look at the map pointed us in direction of the Central Highlands and the Troung Son Mountain range. At an elevation of 1,475 meters lay Da Lat, affectionately know as the City of the Eternal Spring due to its cooler climate and lush green vegetation. Hours later, we were winding our way through tricky mountain passes on our way to our next horizon.