Dalat - Day 12

We begin our day with a visit to Ta Nung, the vegetable and flower growing center of Vietnam, just north of Dalat.  There are many greenhouses all hand constructed of bamboo and clear plastic sheeting.  We visited one of the growers where we saw some of the most beautiful long stem roses and Gerber daisies.  They had many acres of these two flower varieties.  They pick the roses once a week and the daisies  every three days.  All this is done by hand, as well as the weeding, watering and fertilizing.  It is, however, one of the more profitable agricultural products, and does very well in the mild climate of the Dalat area.  From here we head down the road to visit a cricket farm.  Yup, that’s right - this entrepreneur has figured out how to raise crickets in quantities suitable for wholesale supply to restaurants.  They are a very popular snack in Vietnam.  We then head a little further down the road to visit a silk factory,  nearly fully mechanized, to extract the silk from cocoons and turn it into beautiful silk fabric which is then dyed and turned in to a variety of silken ware for sale at the factory.  In addition they sell the fabric to other factories in Vietnam and other SE Asian countries.  About 1 in 100 cocoons is a double, and must be processed separately by hand.  This silk is used to produce the raw silk which is a heavier, less smooth silk, but equally beautiful, and much more expensive because of the hand spinning.

Our final stop this morning is a visit to Buon Chuoi, a very traditional hill village of the Chil people who migrated to Vietnam from Indonesia and Malaysia many years ago.  About 15 years ago, the government began relocating these people from the forests and hillsides to prevent the “slash and burn” agricultural practices they had used for decades.  This new village is surrounded by thousands of acres of coffee plantations, and the Chil now make their living working in the coffee fields.  The government is subsidizing the building of new brick homes for this tribe, as well as a brand new school.  One of the most interesting sights we saw was the dozens of pot-bellied pigs running loose in the yards and street.  We also saw many young children, ages 6 and under, who stay in the village on their own while their parents work in the coffee fields.  They are darling, but very shy.  Oh, by the way, we had to be transported to this village in an open wagon pulled by a tractor over a road so rough I hesitate to call it a road.  It actually was quite fun.

Late this afternoon we go to Dalat University for a talk on Vietnam’s higher education system.  Basically the “university” is primarily a four year undergraduate school that offers only Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees, and whose curriculum is controlled by the government with little or no input from the faculty.  Following the presentation by the professor, we are taken on a guided tour of the campus by students who want to practice their English speaking with us.  Most are fairly competent, and it is generally a very good experience.  Afterward we are headed to Dalat Village to watch a local Lat hill tribe perform their colorful native dances.  As we boarded the bus our guide, Tano, asked if we would mind if he invited the students to join us.  We of course say to invite them, and so we are joined by about 25 of them.  This turns out to be a highlight of the trip as most of them have never interacted with any hill tribe and are quite fascinated by the dances and the people.  During the performance at least twice the audience is drawn to participate in the dances, and the students love it.  On the way back to drop them off at the campus they serenade us with two songs to thank us for letting them join us.  They were such nice kids it was hard to see them go. 

Thanks for your update Audrey.  Guess no one else is reading.  Too bad.