Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City Motorbike Trip: Day 12 - Nha Trang to Da Lat

I woke up at 7am and ate breakfast, got on my motorbike and started heading for Da Lat. The ride was really beautiful as I started at the beach and climbed high up into the mountains.

There wasn’t much traffic and the road was winding. The weather was great and the scenery was awesome. I had Deja Vu during the drive. I had a lot of Deja Vu during the entire trip through Vietnam and when I travel in general, I tend to get Deja Vu. It seemed that the road to Da Lat was a road I had seen previously in a dream. The ride to Da Lat was surreal. I had my headphones on and I just cruised.

When I reached Da Lat I had bun (thin rice noodles) with beef and I ate cumquats. I was tired so I drove to a park next to a big lake in the middle of Da Lat and fell asleep.

I slept on my motorbike while resting my head on my luggage and eventually I ended up just sleeping in the grass with my helmet on. I woke up 3 hours later and I still felt tired. I had only slept for 3 hours the previous night and had partied.

I decided to find a hostel and TripAdvisor led me to the Enjoy Da Lat hostel. It was tricky to find. The streets in Da Lat are confusing and it’s not easy to navigate. I met some people at the hostel and settled in. Then I went out and got a shave at a barber shop. I met up with some guys from the hostel and invited them to come watch me play guitar at a restaurant.

I went to a classy little cafe called V Cafe and played 4 or 5 songs while people were eating dinner.

Curtis, a musician, restaurant owner, and expat who has lived in Asia for 25 years was my contact. He’s played music all over Asia and lives in Da Lat. He played with me and provided fills and solos in my songs. It was really fun to play with him because he’s a great musician.

After I finished playing at the restaurant we went to a bar called Escape. I was going to play there, but another band was performing and the drinks were expensive so we went to another bar. The guys I was with were Owen from Canada, Koon from the Netherlands, Gregory, Paul from England, and Ramses from the Netherlands.

Gregry noticed that I didn’t have my backpack with me so I went back to Escape bar to get it. While there, Curtis called me on stage 3 times to play guitar. I played about 15 songs. By the time I left it was 12:45am and there were only a few people left in the bar.

People gave me compliments on the music I played. It was fun to talk to Curtis because he’s been in Asia so long, he’s gone a bit crazy.