Around Dalat

Terraced hills behind a ceramic dragon.

It's possible to take a train ride out of Dalat on the Crémaillére Railway left behind by the French. It's an absurdly short run at eight kilometres (the rail line was a target during the American War, this is all that's been repaired), but a very entertaining one. Dalat is on a plateau, and much cooler than the rest of south Vietnam. As I've mentioned, this is a small country with a big population, and they take their arable terrain seriously: the entire run from Dalat to the small town of Trai Mat is heavily terraced, the better to farm all the vegetables that can be grown up here. The market is full of stuff you don't see elsewhere, including green peppers, artichokes, and strawberries. The foreground of the picture is taken up by the body of a ceramic dragon on the incredibly ornate Linh Phuoc Pagoda in Trai Mat.