Letters from Indochina (Part 13)

This entry is part 13 of 39 in the series Letters from Indochina

April 12, 2025

Letters from Indochina (Part 13)

By Simon J. Lau

Today I had a ton of time to kill before my evening flight to Da Lat. I spent much of it eating. Breakfast, in particular, was fantastic—I ordered a beef stew, a baguette, and a Vietnamese iced coffee. Not only was the food delicious, but it only cost $2 USD. Nothing beats good food and a great deal!

Later, I stopped by a hammock cafe—a type of local spot in Vietnam where instead of chairs, customers lounge in hammocks to drink coffee, nap, or just kill time. I’ve seen a few before, usually small street-side setups with a few hammocks strung up in the back, but this one was made entirely for hammocking. It was a full structure packed with hammocks. Most people come to dawdle, and some clearly come just to pass out. It was a neat experience, though even with fans on, it was still uncomfortably hot.

Late in the evening, I flew into Da Lat. I’ll do a proper intro tomorrow, but let’s just say I was thrilled to find it much cooler here than where I came from. Thanks to the elevation, it’s about 15–20°F cooler than Can Tho or Saigon. In fact, for the first time on this trip, I even pulled out my light sweater.

I arrived around 8:30 p.m. and hadn’t eaten since noon, so I was starving. I headed straight to the Da Lat Night Market, a lively stretch of food stalls, street performers, and vendors selling everything from strawberries to sweaters. It’s touristy but fun to walk around and very photogenic.

For dinner, I had my first Vietnamese pizza, a grilled rice paper “pizza” topped with quail eggs, green onions, dried shrimp, and a drizzle of sauces, then crisped over charcoal. Kind of like a Vietnamese quesadilla-meets-pizza hybrid. It was surprisingly light, surprisingly good!