Check out Dalat Vietnam! This Highland City Is Amazing

As the road coils upward through picturesque mountains, I can't help thinking about my love for Natrang. I'm trading the tranquil beach and heat of the lowlands for the cool whisper of Dalat's subtropical highlands. Dalat reveals itself in fragments, mist drifting across the hills, quiet villages tucked between valleys, the kind of landscape that makes you ease off the throttle just to take it in. Up here life moves differently, softer, slower. If you're new here, welcome. I'm Geoff and this is Aussie Nomad Life. Real travel, real stories from the roads less taken. Stick around, hit that subscribe button and come along for the ride as we take you into the highlands of Vietnam. And if you want to know what I really think of this place, stick around to the end. We've just arrived in Dalat after a three-hour bumpy trip up the mountain but anyway we made it alive so she's all good. I haven't got a clue where we are but we will call a cab. There's our hotel, it's called the AM Memory, classic old thing. Not bad, not bad. We are on the street, it is a little noisy but I did notice there's some top windows up there and I'm going to close those when I get back but yeah, it's not freezing up here. Not yet anyway. As I was saying, I just came out of a winter so I'm pretty climatised to the cold. Patchy might get a bit cold though, we might have to buy her a jumper but she's got pants and I don't. I only got shorts so we're going to head off and try and find a little bit of food. I'm going to find food and some beer and then we're going to go back and I have to do some editing. So yeah, we're going to give you the royal tour tomorrow. When night falls in Dalat, everything slows down in the best way. The air gets cooler, the light gets softer and you start seeing people wandering out for food, photos and a quiet hangout. It's not busy, just calm, relaxed and surprisingly charming. G'day, g'day everybody. We are having our first coffee in Dalat. Just woke up, I think we were pretty beat last night. I had to stay up really late to do some editing and do some major data wrangling and backing up. So I've been busy, up late last night and then up this morning, very early and then I went back to bed after I'd done all the data wrangling. But yeah, no, we're in this sweet little city and look forward to taking you all around. It's very interesting, has a very euro feel to it I think. But we're going to enjoy our coffees and take you on a tour. Perched high in Vietnam's central highlands, Dalat feels like a secret whispered between pine forests and cool mountain air. At nearly 1500 metres above sea level, its temperate climate has earned its nickname City of External Spring. Though the city is modest in size, around 220,000 people call it home. Its economy thrives on two pillars, tourism and agriculture. High-tech farms here grow strawberries, flowers and temperate vegetables. Tourism is equally vital. Visitors flock here year-round, drawn by the soft mists, the French colonial architecture and winding roads that feel suspended in time. Walking around Xuan Hung Lake at the city's heart feels like stepping into a painting. Willow trees bend over calm waters, cafes line the shore and couples glide across the lake in small boats. In this moment, Dalat isn't just a destination, it's somewhere deeply alive. A place that holds its history in one hand and its future in the other. G'day everybody and welcome to Dalat, the beautiful prosperous city in the mountains where people are happy and looks like they all want to be here. There's a lot of pride that I see in this city. Okay, we have found a place for lunch and again we're targeting the pork chops, eggs and rice. Perfect breakfast. Well, it's kind of brunch now but this looks really fresh and beautiful and I can't wait to get stuck into it. Yummy. As the night descends again, Dalat settles into that same cool gentle rhythm. The streets aren't loud, they just glow with groups of people drifting between cafes and restaurants and as for us, it's a perfect time to head back out into the night, this time in search of something a little spicier to warm us up. All right groovers, we are going out for dinner and it seems like we've brought the rain wherever we go. We're going to go to a Singaporean restaurant that we saw down here. They do really spicy food. Now, if it's the real deal, I love Singaporean food. I've had it before. I've been to Singapore many times and they have very good food. I'll give them that. Look at this place, look at this place. Very fancy guys. This is a pretty swishy city guys, I'm not gonna lie. I would describe it as a wealthy city for these Vietnamese people. Very wealthy. I haven't, you know what I'm saying, like these guys, they're not short of a quid and I think their main income is agriculture. They sell, I know we were buying milk up in Dalat, sorry, we were buying milk up in Da Nang that came from Dalat, so they're probably a major dairy producer. All right, I think we're coming up to the Singaporean hot place. I think this is it just here. All right, we are going to indulge in some spicy seafood noodle. It looks like a popular place here, so it can't be too bad. Every time we come past here, there's a lot of people here, so we're gonna give it a crack. Dinner is served. We have two extremely hot bowls of seafood noodles. Hatchy's of course has the super spice and I have baby spice. Super spice, baby spice and I can tell she's loving it. Because being Thai, she loves her spicy food and she has had a problem finding good spicy food over here, so I think she's in heaven over there. I thought it was a Singaporean restaurant, but no, it wasn't. What it was, to me, I think it was a modern infusion of the two-minute noodle. They were definitely using instant noodle. It was hot as hell. They had fresh seafood in there, fresh cabbage, really nice stuff, but I think what's getting all these young crew coming in here to eat here, it's like a glorified two-minute noodle because they weren't fresh. They were definitely instant noodles, but yeah, it was good. It's good. Hatchy seemed to enjoy it. You enjoy that? Yeah. Enjoy the food? Spicy? Yeah. Yeah, she loves it because it's spicy. It was hot. I hardly had any spice and I still burnt my arse off. Anyway, we're going to go across the road because Hatchy spotted the corn and the hot dog, so we're going to go over here and have a look. All right, so Hatchy's indulging in a sweet potato, aren't you darling? Sweet potato. This looks like the place to be if you're young and they're partying. We might go in and have one. All right, we decided against going into that bar. Yeah, it was pretty busy. All the kids are in there, so we didn't bother. It was packed and I'd have definitely been the oldest guy in the bar. He's washing his bus in the middle of the footpath. I love it. Don't mind me, he just pulls the bus up on the footpath, gets the bucket out, hose, not a problem. He's going for it. He's getting in some much needed maintenance. Yeah, look, he's washing. I love it. Big bus too. Man, I've got to say, this is a really cool city. This place is kitsch. That's how I'd describe it. Very kitsch, guys. Very trendy. They are definitely not short of money in this town. All these locals are middle class. From what I've seen, I don't know whether we're just isolated in a trendy area, but we will go for a bit of an adventure tomorrow and have a look-see. Oh, is that a bar over there? Is that a bar? There's a bar, darling. I just spotted a bar. I think, unfortunately, it's draft beer and I'm not drinking it. They're getting rowdy over there, darling. Yeah, look. Oh, karaoke. Oh, I'm tempted. Can we go and have one? Patchy's like, no. Oh, I totally want to do it. Oh yeah, karaoke. Patch doesn't want to go. I don't have to understand, darling. All I hear is really bad singing, lots of beer, and that's all that counts. She doesn't want to go, but you know what? I'll honour her. We'll go. You don't want to party, darling? No party? What's this? Oh, duck. Yeah. Oh, wow. Oh, this is a fish place. Fish place. Oh, guys, this place we went to yesterday was awesome. We're going to go back there. They sell snakehead fish, it's called. All right, groovers, we are going to eat what's called snakehead fish, and we had it the other day, and we liked it that much. We're going to have it again. It's absolutely beautiful. It comes in a noodle. All right, so before we destroy our meal, this is it. Yummy, yummy, and I reckon this is snakehead fish. I did some homework, and it is local fish, freshwater, and I'm guessing that they catch it in the local rivers and whatnot. So yeah, we're going to, without further ado, we're going to get stuck into these. Has a tough texture to it, but it's not tough, but it's just not flaky like like a snapper. These nice big fresh noodles. I might put a bit of chilli in this. I put too much in the other day, so I'm going to be very careful. You've got this chilli sauce here. It's very potent. It's like, I think they soak the chillies in an oil. I'm going to just put a tiny bit this time. So I put too much in yesterday or the day before. Look at these little beautiful, look at this. I like this. I want it. It's a nice, I like this hotel. Oh, look at this security. It's like something out of a movie, isn't it? Any ghosts? No ghost? Look at this. This is a very nostalgic hotel. I like it. Good night. Look at it. Very nostalgic. Yeah, turn the light on, darling. Yeah, it's like this, you know, not many people running a joint, but who cares? We're paying, we always pay $18 a night for this place. Check it out. It's not a bad hotel. I don't think it's a bad hotel. Look at that. $18 a night. Here's my little setup and then we're right out on the street and it's not noisy. It actually got really quiet last night. Well, someone left the front door open. We're going to head into the markets here. We've just did a little beautiful 20 minute stroll from our hotel, which is up in the hill there. But yeah, gorgeous city. Absolutely gorgeous. I think Dalat is a must see for anyone who comes to Vietnam. It's just, it's blowing my socks away here. It's absolutely beautiful. Huge European, French influence in the architecture. But yeah, I don't know. The vibe here is, it's just awesome. It's a really nice little affluent town and yeah, I'm digging it. Alrighty, so we have been doing a little bit of shopping around this market and they are definitely more expensive than Da Nang. Slightly, I reckon 20-25%, but I just think that it's probably a foreigner price. But still not too shabby. The produce looks pretty good. The markets are clean. So yeah, it's not bad at all. But yeah, definitely slightly more expensive and they seem to get a little annoyed if you don't buy their products. So if you ask them and then you don't buy it, I think they get a little offended. So I just spotted a McDonald's and we're going to go over there and check out what do you pay for Maccas in Dalat, here in the middle of Vietnam, up in the mountains. Let's see what they charge for the stuff. I'm not really into the Maccas, but I don't know, every now and again when I've had a gut full of beer, I wouldn't mind a bit of junk food. But let's go and have a look at these prices, shall we? Here's your burger prices for a chicken value meal, hamburger value meal, 39. There you go. It's got my name written all over it. All right, groovers, after I was totally slagging off the McDonald's, we were looking through the menu and we are starving. We have not had breakfast. So we decided we'd have a little cheeseburger and some fries. It came to 39,000 each. That works out, so it's kind of, it looks like a cheeseburger meal deal. And I hope that's not copyright music in the background. 39, it's 50 baht, 50 baht, $2.26 for a cheeseburger meal deal, $12 in Australia, fries, coke and a cheeseburger. I think the last time I had a cheeseburger meal deal was about 12 bucks in Australia. So we'll do a burger inspection when it gets here and see how it compares. I'm sure it'll be exactly the same junky sweet food as usual. Okay, dinner has arrived. We even had it delivered to us. So all right, which one's the Coke Zero? That's Coke Zero there. It's got the tag on it. Ooh, fries, generous serve for a small. Here's the big test, free sauce, ketchup, free sauce. That's the big test. Is that nice darling? Good, good. I'm going to get stuck into this little snack and it's all right guys, actually. It's not too shabby. Look at this healthy looking burger. It's not all squished or greasy. That's good. Thumbs up. For a Macca's burger, I'll give it a nine for sure. That's pretty damn good. Fries, give it a 10. Can't go wrong. Perfect. All right guys, I had to show you this, the irony of an Aussie dining takeaway joint that sells tacos. One thing I've noticed about these little shops around here, which is very cool, is they all just sell one thing. They all have their little niche. There's beanies over there. All you're going to buy are beanies. There's perfume over there. All you're going to get is perfume. It's pretty cool, man. Everyone just does their thing. They just sell one item. I'm noticing that about some of the restaurants as well. We go to this other restaurant where we buy just fish and they sell one type of fish. It's the snakehead fish. It's a local freshwater fish and all they do is sell snakehead fish meals. That's all you're going to get. I've just found that very interesting and very cool. It's a good way to spread the affluence amongst the community where they're all just selling one item and not just selling a million things. Interesting point to note. On my last night here, remembering I couldn't do karaoke the night before, I do the responsible thing. I walk straight into a nightclub full of Vietnamese kids half my age. They party like it's a sport and I'm just hoping to survive the warm-up round. What are my final thoughts on Da Lat? I absolutely love this place. What a little gem and I would highly recommend you come here when you get to Vietnam. It's definitely got to be up in the top five on your bucket list because it's a very unique location. Lovely people, lovely town and yeah, it's moderately priced. Has a tourist flair. They know how to look after their tourists here. A lot of really good cheap hotels. I have nothing to really complain about. No, it's a gorgeous, gorgeous place. We are taking off today. We're catching a van back at 11 30 back to Nha Trang. So, kind of looking forward to getting back to the beach. Patchy's still in bed. She's absolutely knackered because we spent all day yesterday filming. I pushed her really hard so we had to get the shots because we had limited time here. So, I had plenty of footage, I hope, in the can and we can cut you a couple of good videos out of there. So, yeah, I feel like we've done our job here. I would like it more time. Again, it's very hard to judge these places when you're only here for a couple of days. I think as YouTubers and influencers we've got to be careful, you know, how much we say and what sort of judgments we cast in such a small time because it's near on impossible to try and to get a full picture in a few days, especially if you've had a negative experience in any of your locations. So, I try and put all that negativity aside and look, you know, I'm here to look at the positive sides. It's too easy to get on here and nag and complain about things and that's something I don't want to do. So, we want to look at the things, look at why you should come here, not why you shouldn't come here. So, I hope you enjoy this video. I've really enjoyed being up here and filming it. Hopefully, the weather is going to be good when we get back to Da Nang. We're flying back on Thursday back to Da Nang. We're not catching the train. We've done that. It's too long. The trip's too long and I'm not going to catch the bus either. So, the flight was cheap enough and we're both sleeping on it. Speaking of negativity, no, they love their really... Some of these hotels, you've got to be careful. They have these rock-hard mattresses, man. I'll tell you what. I can't wait to get back to my bed and get a nice soft mattress and I'll actually look for that when I do bookings because I can't really handle those rock-hard mattresses. Must be an Asian thing. Anyway, I'm going to check out. I've got to go and buy some barmees or some rolls for the trip back and we'll see you guys in the train. Take care. Bye. These look pretty happy. Guaranteed, she will sleep for the trip. So, she's very happy and we both won't have to pull our spines out of our buttholes when we get there because the last trip, we were on the other band and it was pretty rough. We ended up on the back seats and yeah, it was not pleasant but this one will be pleasant. So, hopefully, I can get you some good shots but I'm looking forward to it. It's very comfortable and we'll see you guys on the way. Stay tuned for the next episode and do us a favor, everyone. Hit that subscribe button. That's the best way you can support us right now.