Historic train station and Linh Phuoc Pagoda, Da Lat

It's Spring in Da Lat in March with the highest temperature average of 27C. It felt much hotter than that when we awoke to our sun filled apartment so we were in no hurry to leave the aircon and spent time catching up on emails and creating a list of places we wanted to see. Today, we decided, we would go to the historic train station and take the tourist train to the Linh Phouc Pagoda.

Spring in Da Lat

On arrival at the train station we were stopped by the gatekeeper to pay an entrance fee which was a surprise. The station stood somewhat majestically behind a wide garden and lawn. It hasn't rained here since before December and the lawn was a sad, thinly covered burnt grass.

Ga Da Lat

Ga Da Lat and the railway line linking it with Saigon was built by the French rulers between 1932 and 1938 and is the first significant structure built in the area by the French. As such, it has been identified as an historical monument. The trip between Saigon, Ho Chi Minh, took about half a day which made Da Lat a popular place in the cool for French colonialists to holiday.

Train timetable to Linh Phouc Pagoda, Dalat

With no time to purchase tickets, we were told to quickly board the train as it was going to depart in one minute. On we clambered to find that almost all the seats were occupied by a couple of tour parties. Korean, we found out when we conversed with them via the Translate app. Mostly women having fun together. 

Tourist train, Dalat

The line to the pagoda is only 7km and runs very close to houses along the way. I could have put my arm out the window and plucked a flower from the many hanging baskets that adorned the porches and fences. It sped up a bit when it came to a horticultural area. Here massive shade houses containing all kinds of vegetables - cabbages, corn, tomatoes, beans as well as sunflowers, chrysanthemums, and many other flowers covered the hillsides.

Horticulture houses, Dalat

The Vietnamese sign, Nam Mo The Am Bo Tat, at the top of this building translates to Dreaming of a Warm World it Sits On. It's an impressive building and I wonder if it is a retreat or meditation centre

See the sign at the top of this building

waiting for the train to pass

Dalat city has wide boulevards courtesy of the French, however when we got out into the suburbs lanes even narrower than this one were common.

It was a 400m walk for us to the Linh Phuoc Pagoda while the tour groups got a bus ride. The parking area was full of buses coming and going.  People crammed the doorway. Shoes were piled up. It was hot. That was a bit too much for balance challenged me so I contented myself with looking around the exterior of the building.

Linh Phuoc Pagoda, Da Lat

This pagoda is famous for its decorative mosaics including the resident dragon being made out of bottle tops and the heavy bell decorated by broken rice bowls. It's a relatively new pagoda being built from 1949 - 1952.

On our return to the station we enjoyed a much needed coffee, learning that Vietnam is the second largest coffee producing country in the world. 

Weightloss coffee beans, Da Lat

Several types of coffee beans were on sale. I thought I needed to purchase the Weight loss Lovers beans but left the Smoker's beans to someone else.