"You and you make me, me, me, me, and me VERY HAPPY!!!"

Dalat is a city in the mountains known for its production of fruit, vegetables, rice, silk, flowers and coffee. We hopped on a bus for an 8 hour ride leaving behind the hustle and bustle of Ho Chi Minh City. When we arrived, it didn’t take us long to realize how nice the climate was; quite cool compared to any other place we’ve visited in SE Asia. This climate is ideal for growing and harvesting anything you can imagine. We learned that this area of Vietnam is one of the richest. The local farmers ship over 400 tonnes of fruit and vegetables to HCMC every morning, ship flowers all over SE Asia, and coffee all over the world. In fact, Vietnam is the second largest coffee exporter in the world behind Brazil and ahead of Columbia. We were both surprised by this and were told that 1 Kg of Dalat’s best coffee beans is worth $3000 US in the global coffee market.

We stayed in Dalat for three days and two nights. On one of the days, Julia and I jumped on the back of motorcycles and cruised around with the “Easy Riders”. The “Easy Riders” are a group of 82 men who take tourists around the countryside on the back of their motorcycles stopping along the way to teach about the local culture and farming. On this day, we visited yet another amazing waterfall, a silk factory, coffee plantations, a rice wine brewing station, local farms, a crazy house (which is compared to Alice in Wonderland) and had a great lunch with our guides (after they teased us about ordering monkey, snake and dog for us to try). It was a great way to see the area and learn about Dalat’s richness in a country that for the most part remains quite poor.

Another event that will remind us of Dalat forever is a family that we met one evening. As we made our way back to our hotel after a delicious Italian meal, we were approached by four young men. Hesitating at first, we engaged in a conversation once we discovered they weren’t trying to sell us something or rob us. Out of the 4 of them, only one spoke a little bit of English and he invited us to join them for a coffee. So away we went following them down little alleyways to their favorite local café. We had some good drinks, a few laughs, practiced our miming skills (it’s amazing what you can communicate with your hands!) and learned that our presence was making these guys “very happy”. Em, who spoke very little English kept saying you and you (Julia and I) make me, me, me and me (he and his friends) HAPPY!!! It was quite nice to see the smiles on their faces and in return, they made us happy as well. We tried to cover the bill once we finished our drinks and the owner of the café quickly told us to put our money away. In Vietnam, it is customary to treat those who you invite and as guests, we were expected to simply enjoy. It was quite a treat knowing how little these four young guys have and learning about how hard they work each day to help support their families. After our coffee, we were then invited to go to Em’s house for a cup of green tea…this is when the evening got really interesting. Within 30 seconds of us entering their home, at least 15 of his family and friends appeared to greet us. His mother was a precious woman with four kids aged 26 to 34; she was 65. We were made to sit down and sip away on some fresh green tea as they took many pictures of us, petted my arm and facial hair, and admired Julia’s white skin. It was hard to communicate with them but their smiles and laughter told us all we needed to know. They were so happy to have us in and show us how they live. For Julia and I, this experience was extremely eye-opening in seeing how these people live and how happy they are with so little; just a big happy family thankful for having each other, a house, some clothes, and enough to eat each day. They have already emailed us twice and have given us their address. We are going to put together a care package when we get home with some Canadian memorabilia to send to them.

Next we are off to Nha Trang; a beach town that has become one of Vietnam’s largest cities. We are looking forward to chillin’ on the beach. More to come…