Kicking the wall

I had this horrible dream the other night where I was being chased by these dogs, small ones at that. In a last effort to get away from them I kicked one in the mouth. As I hit the face I awoke from my dream in serious pain. Turns out I actually kicked the hard cement wall at that moment. I guess it sorta serves me right for kicking a dog... even if he was chasing me and it was in a dream.

My toe was pretty busted up and a lovely shade of purple. I'm slowly able to put more pressure on it and am somewhat able to bend it now.

A visit to the crazy house

People seem to love Dalat. Honestly, I'm not sure why. It's more expensive than most other Vietnamese cities and really doesn't offer that much. Sure it's got great veggies grown here, but then again the people selling them in the market are hiking up the prices to foreigners that it makes you more angry than anything.

One highlight of the city is the Hằng Nga guesthouse, otherwise known as the Crazy House. The house was built by the Vietnamese architect Dang Viet Nga, daughter of Truong Chinh, Vietnam's second President (after Uncle Ho). This probably explains how she was able to get away with building such an anomaly of a building in a communist country.

Described as a “fairy tale house”, the building’s overall design resembles a giant tree, incorporating sculptured design elements representing natural forms such as animals, mushrooms, spider webs and caves.

People describe it as being somewhat like Gaudi's work but I found that it paled in comparison to his achievements. It was a neat idea, but after a little while we were not so impressed. However, the hundreds of Russian tourists that were visiting while we were there were awe struck.

view from the entrance.

um... next

sword fights with the gong mallets. real mature

contemplating.. inside a fake tree

Dak Lake Waterpark

Before leaving Buon Ma Thuot we thought it would be a fun idea to check out the areas waterpark. Being the middle of the week there was no one around so we had the place to ourselves. However, they said they were having electricity issues so the waterslides, lazy river, and wave pool were not working. This was practically all their rides. So what did we do? We made our own fun!

floating..

adam found these harry potterish fake glasses. it's like an old man going for a dive.

conflict of interest

lounging

the slide wasn't actually working but it was a great pose.

posing, again

I pushed myself out with a shit load of friction and wedgie

giant condom

lounging..

so the thing is... we were trying to do a Titanic photo shot... only it looks a little homo-erotic. bad angle

our hero

a battle begins

oh no, the hero is on his knees. Mercy... Mercy

but wait, he's back up

and victorious

i lost something...

oh, there it is

unintentional but I sorta have a "passions" thing going on here. just call me Hey-Suess

Draysap Waterfall

Just outside of Buon Ma Thuot is an area of a few waterfalls named Draysap. It's a very picturesque and natural place that is only now just beginning to see the starts of the Vietnamese tourism horde coming in to destroy and pollute what was once beautiful and serene.

Here is a little story of how it got it's name

This name is derived from a legend of love story between a boy and a girl who lived in this area. Everyday, H'Mi - name of the girl - used to go to the milpa with her lover. One day, while resting on a flat stone, they saw a monster, whose head was as big as a mountain, eyes like bronze urns. Its body was glittery with silvery scales. Suddenly, the monster dived down from the sky and his trunk plunged into the ground, stirring up a colossal column of water. The monster spread out its large wings, flew around several times, making a fierce rain then flied away. In terrible shock, the girl disappeared into the mist. The boy was transformed into a big stump, whose roots stuck into the rock. This place was then called the Dray Sap, or Misty Waterfall.

there were some wedding photos being taken.

the groom and I. a happy couple

view from the bridge

view from the bridge

near the first waterfall's pool

there was a little whirlpool that had trash circling around in it.

it was dry season so on this part only a little water was coming down.

Kaja and I on the bridge to the second waterfall

near the base of the falls

looking down on the bridge

on the way to and from the falls you need to cross this rickety old many times fake repaired bridge. it was a bit scary to cross.

but we did cross and we did it in style

footwear and shirts are optional