Vietnam: Da Lat

I am in Vietnam, and it's been one of the most pleasing parts of my trip. Joined family that I have over here, my aunt, uncle and cousin. Aunt and uncle lived in Canada for 20 years before moving back to Vietnam a couple of years ago. My cousin followed them last year. They like it here. My aunt Eliane says this country (whose communism kicked them out, decades ago) is booming. But unlike China, who have HK and Taiwan to fuel the boom, Vietnam's only got the Viet Kieu, like them (my uncle Hoa is half Chinese-Vietnamese).

We were in Da Lat for the weekend. I got here late on Thursday, and we rented a van to get from Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City, and more and more locals call it by its pre-Revolution name) to Da Lat, a vacation spot in the mountains, a few hours to the north, and formerly a resting place for colonial leaders back then. My mother and family spent their vacation there. I'm looking forward to post pics when I get back to HK.

Da Lat is a cooler city, the weather might be like that of Montreal, in the midst of summertime (and hey, this is below the Tropic of Cancer). It's got lakes, forests and peaks; pretty hotels - even some which go up to 85USD a night, like the Sofitel Dalat Palace. My mother will be eager to see the so many pics I took.

I feel rested and of a much better mood. It must be from seeing the sun and everything. We played some French music, Henri Salvador, Francoise Hardy, Beau Dommage, Jean Leloup and the rest of my French music CD collection, on the van, on our way back to Saigon.