Upon my arrival in Da Lat, things weren’t the way I remembered. In truth, nothing much has really changed. What changed was my perspective. Instead of looking down on to the road from the seat of a tall and comfy bus. I was in the thick of traffic upon my motorbike and the city seemed more crowded and I chaotic than I remembered. I didn’t mind it one bit. I have come to really enjoy the “organized chaos” of Vietnam’s roads and I take joy in the thrill of navigating these complex streets.

I eventually arrived in my homestay in Da Lat. This is the third time I have been here and friend who own and run the place are always happy to have me over. There are two reasons why I am here in Da Lat for this occasion. First, a friend of mine, Rafael (he is from Spain) who lives here and is married to a Vietnamese woman just had his first child so I came here to meet his son. Second several friends from Canada, two families, were also in Da Lat so I came up here to do some hanging out.

The first family, I knew from my time in the Canadian Armed Forces. Like me, they had quit their job in the Armed Forces to pursue a life of travel. the second family were friends of the first family and they were also traveling through South East Asia. First we met up in Da Nang. After leaving Da Nang, we all agreed to meet up again in Da Lat. This also gave me another excuse for another motorcycle road trip.

My second night in Da Lat, my friend Stephen, the manager and I went to Rafael’s house for dinner and to meet his new baby. Stephen, Rafael, the baby and myself all took a picture together. The baby was the most handsome of the whole group.

The next day I met up with my Canadian friends. We were going to spend the afternoon doing some family activities. The best family activity in Da Lat is strawberry picking. I enjoy such family friendly activities because I am still a kid a heart.

When we arrived at the strawberry farm there was some confusion from the taxi driver. My friend insisted (which he did) that he had already paid for the ride with his credit card through the app which he used to call the cab. The taxi driver insisted on being paid in cash. I was called over to translate and explained in Vietnamese all of these things. But the taxi driver would not except my explanations. Eventually, my friend said to heck with it and paid in cash. He was a little annoyed that he had to pay twice but he shrugged his shoulders and said he would message the “Grab” app and get a refund. With that minor annoyance out of the way we were on our way to strawberry picking.

For me, however, it was a big moment. I was called upon to step up and translate and I did a good job considering my lack of preparation and my intermediate level of Vietnamese. It felt good to see all my studying pay off.

After picking strawberries we decided to head back to the hotel. The family with the younger kids took a cab back and I walked back with the family that had the older kids.

That night, the two dads of the families and I were going out for drinks. It was a guys night out. The two moms of the family bought a box of wine and had a girls night in.

First we went to a place that served enormous pitchers of beer for very cheap. When we first arrived I saw how noisy and crowded it was and was nervous of going in. I am not fond of crowded noisy drinking spots. My friends offered to go to a different place with me but I decided to challenge my fears. We sat down and quickly ordered some drinks.

Because of Covid there were very foreigners in Da Lat so the drunk and friendly patrons. They quickly approached our table and tried to communicate with us. Ironically I fund their slow and slurred speech to be easier to understand for my intermediate Vietnamese.

One young man sauntered over and draped his arm around me and left it there for some time. Luckily, I have no personal bubble and don’t mind physical contact with humans. An attribute which has helped in my travels because some cultures are more touchy feely than others.

Another young man must have spent about half an hour drunkenly trying type into google translate but couldn’t remember basic spelling. On occasion he would look up from his phone, laugh and say “sorry, I don’t speak English”.

Another young man approached us and and asked if we would like “rickets”.
“Rickets?” said my friend who was also a registered nurse “why would I want to something so painful and unpleasant as rickets”.
“No, No..rickets” he said again.
“Do you mean con châu chấu (grasshopper)? I asked, with a suspicious inkling of what I thought he was talking about.
“No, no” he said again.
A few minutes later a plate full of freshly cooked crickets came to our table.
“Oh, crickets” we said.
I was skeptical of trying crickets but my friend (the handsome fellow in the above photo) said his kids love it and at they like candy.
I can’t allow these kids to be braver than me. So I tried on.

It turned out delicious. One food expert described the flavor as nutty and earthy and I completely agree.

As we chugged down beers (the alcohol level was rather low on these beers) and munched in crickets an empty glass was hurled across the room and smashed into the floor, shattering into hundreds of pieces in an ear piecing crash.
The whole bar suddenly went quiet and we all turned and looked at the group of you Vietnamese men near the entrance of the bar. A young man with both a look of both and pain and anger on his face was being restrained by his friends.

From behind the bar emerged a tall and fit elderly Vietnamese man. A look of disgust, disdain and determination on his face that could make a drill sergeant tremble on his face. After a brief staring down by this determined looking old man. The young men left some money on the table and hurriedly left.

Judging by the age of this old man this looked like a man who had witnessed the American Vietnam war and survived in Vietnam-Cambodian war in 1975 – 1979. This was a man who had seen a lot and he was not going to take shit from some young drunk punks.