On our single day in Da Lat we enjoyed renting a motorbike and zipping around the area, taking in the sights of the beautiful highland city which was developed as a colonial resort by the French in the early 1900s. As dusk descended we were heading back to our accommodation when all of a sudden the streets exploded with the sounds of motorbike horns and the visage of waving red flags and yellow stars. We had stumbled upon the city-wide celebration of Vietnam's victory over Qatar in the AFC U-23 semifinals.
For our night in Da Lat we booked an incredibly unique room (the Termite Room) in Hang Nga Guesthouse, popularly known as The Crazy House - one of the city's most famous destinations. The house was created by Vietnamese architect Dang Viet Nga. The bizarre building is reminiscent of Gaudi's work and will likely stand for ages despite being deemed by some as “anti-socialist architecture”, as Nga is the daughter of Truong Chinh, who succeeded Ho Chi Minh as Vietnam's second president starting in 1981.