Day 55 - So long Nha Trang, hello Dalat.

Welcome to Dalat.

Day 55 - 17th August

So we roll into Dalat after an early morning breakfast of poached eggs and a bumpy four hour coach ride.

We were excited to go out an explore, having a day and a half to spend in Dalat. But first it was our hostel check in.

We stayed at Mr Peace, a . . . I don't really know how to describe it. When I arrived, Mr Peace hollered my name and ran towards me with a big hug. This followed in turn with the other four. He then led us up to our room and told us we should join him for dinner at 5:30 with the rest of the guests and Mr Happy. He was pretty camp but we liked his enthusiasm and energy.

We agreed, to be fair, he seemed like quite a nice guy and his wife and daughter were great too. We also booked up a canyoning tour for the next day, something I was looking forward to.

That's one creepy house.

One of the rooms.

So to fill the afternoon, we headed to the Crazy House, this creepy old place built with rooms inside it for people to stay in. It was a fascinating place but I felt like I was in The Witches or Alice in Wonderland. 

Mr Happy was very happy to see me, telling me he loved me. It wasn't that me that made me nervous, but more the creepy stare that came with it. I have tried to replicate it below.

He took us to the market to get ingredients for dinner and shortly after, Julie, Anne Banana and I were chopping tofu, pulling heads off shrimp, stripping mushrooms and preparing greens. Mr Happy had a close eye on me which made me more uneasy.

The food was the highlight of a very weird meal.

Over dinner, this weirdness continued with his smiling whilst eating his noodle broth with us. It was beginning to remind me of Hannibal Lector when he tells the senator that he loves her suit. Now imagine that but ten times worse.

We headed out to play pool nearby with Anne, a girl who lived nearby and helped at the hostel between school and working with her parents. She seemed to enjoy us teaching her pool and we found her to be sweet and quiet.

On the way back, Mr Happy saw us and accompanied us to the Bee Bar. Whilst we listened to live music from an impressive band, he told Anne Banana that he wanted dance with me. She said I should, so I did reluctantly from a safe distance and to the fast song that I could. I was praying My Heart Will Go On wouldn't come on as it usually did twice a night in Asian bars. 

After convincing I wasn't gay, and that I couldn't be his ladyboy, he said I'd broken his heart. I wasn't sure but made my apologies all the same.

I slept with one eye open, I'm not going to lie and any sleep I did get was riddled with nightmares of Mr Happy's Chesire Cat grin!