Đồng Nai to Dalat – Our first cupping experience and the best coffee ever

Our stay at the Bamboo Lodge in Đồng Nai was lovely. It was so comfortable and peaceful I didn’t want to leave. After a big cup of the best coffee in world and a cuddle from the kitten, we were heading off to Dalat.

The mountain roads of Vietnam are so picturesque I couldn’t quite believe what I was seeing most of the time. It looked like sample a screen saver on a Windows PC everywhere you looked. Also, there are cows and buffalo everywhere. They aren’t bothered by the cars and bikes zooming past them either. In fact they sort of move with it.

This photo was taken on the highway. The owner of the cows wasn’t far behind and it seemed that everything was going to plan for them. If this happened at home everyone would lose their minds but here’s it’s just a normal day.

170km down and all road hazards dodged, we made it to Dalat. We got to stay in a really lovely hotel with the best room. The only thing that let them down was the management. I’m not going to bore you with my complaints. Though I will say that they tried to make me pay twice and told us our room was booked then cancelled after we had packed all of our clothes to leave. It’s a good thing the room was still free as the first thing to greet us outside was a flat tyre. Luckily for us there was a mechanic a few minutes push away so we pushed the bike up the hill and within five minutes it was like it never happened.

The speed that he replaced the inner tube was unreal. The cost even more so. For a new inner tube and the chain tightened and lubed it came to roughly $2 I paid more to say thank you but no where near as how much you would pay at home.

After getting both the bikes looked at we took them for a clean. They cleaned off every speck of dirt and they came out looking brand new… well almost. It rained straight after and then didn’t seem to stop.

The weather I’m Dalat was pretty poop so we needed up spending a lot of our time drinking coffee and playing pool. I need to practice way more, I am terrible to the point of embarrassment.

Dalat is my favourite place so far. The architecture is so European it’s easy to forget your in Vietnam. Even the way the gardens are trimmed to perfection is like the parks back home.

This is a Vietnamese hot coffee. It’s basically a strong espresso with condensed milk and it tastes wonderful, you feel pretty alert after too. Before I leave I’m going to try and buy a couple of these coffee filters so I never have to go without.

Cupping

Since I was a teen I have always had a bad back. Even when I was a gym addict and in good shape my back would still give me grief. I had tried everything, then I tried cupping. One of my friends has it done regularly and she swears by it so I thought, why not? My back may look horrendous, but I can honestly say it’s never felt so good. I spent six hours on a bike yesterday. Usually my back would be in half but it’s been absolutely fine.

This is Mitch’s back after a session of cupping. I know, it looks like he’s about to sprout legs out of those marks. My back looks the same but I found it a bit more tricky than Mitch did to get a good photo.

We had the cupping experience as part of a spa package which was one of the most strange experiences so far. We booked ahead but when we arrived the staff began arguing about who would be our masseuse. It was so awkward. I stood up to leave then suddenly it was all smiles and we were welcome again. We booked a package for a sauna, massage then cupping and although it came to a rocky start and my masseuse kept belching and scratching me with her finger nails, in the end it was pretty good.

After the treatment we thought we would go for some cake and tea to finish off the night. I had peanut butter, banana and chocolate pancakes and Mitch had a chocolate brownie, it was lush. So we paid our bill and left only to be chased by one of the waitresses. We had been given the wrong bill and not paid enough. I came back in happy to pay the difference with the remaining money in my hand. Instead became stuck in a circle of seven waiters/waitresses arguing and shaking their notepads at each other.

I feel that this dog is a good representation of me at that moment.

Eventually I got to pay and leave when they stopped arguing. After all of that and our hotel trying to charge us twice, we were feeling a bit unwelcome and looking forward to some quiet at the next place.