how many men...

does it take to move a bonsai?

Fantastic busy day! Out to the Dalat Flower Garden which was amazing, a bizarre mix of wonderful plants, trees, flowers and manicured gardens with giant swan pedaloes, huge mushrooms for shade and even Fanstasia inspired planters! All around are gardeners trimming, clipping, shaping and even moving giant bonsai - we saw two being moved apparently because they have outgrown their pots. The second one proved a challenge, when the crane lifted it the pot came too and about 6 men tried to hold the pot down, only to be lifted off their feet as well! I got a shot but it wasn't great, so this was the first one we saw.

The gardens, parks and green spaces we have seen, even in HCMC, are immaculate, with obviously hundreds of gardeners employed to keep them in tip top condition. There's a lot of topiary - spoiled a bit today by the addition of false teeth and eyes on the animals, as if you couldn't tell what they were.

Then off to another waterfall, again the centrepiece of a tourist attraction with cafes, shops, kitch at every turn and even elephant rides (elephants are indigenous to the Central Highlands) and ostrich rides!! The waterfall itself wasn't much bigger than Corra Linn at home, but the attraction was you could walk right under it.

Then - lunch!! The best meal we have had so far: pumpkin soup; chicken and banana flower salad; fried deer with ricecakes; mudfish cooked in a clay pot with rice and a banana to top it off. It was delicious!!

We then went to a tiny pagoda, not in any tourist books, where we met Ting, a 15 year old trainee monk. He was so serene and serious, but he did let us take a photo, in the folio.

A trip to the market rounded off a hectic day, with lots of photo opps though as usual I have deleted many of the 150 pics I took today. We saw all the fruit and veg, fish and meat, live frogs and ducks and plenty of happy people including one old lady desperate to have her photo taken.

I have put three additional pics here of an orchid, the young monk and the old lady.

Update - we have just been told that there is a storm on the way, and that our proposed boat trip the day after tomorrow could be jeopardised, so we have agreed to a very early start tomorrow, so we can do the boat trip tomorrow afternoon, with a free day the day after. Suits us all, so up at 6!

1500m up in the hills, we have spotted the Ocean Palace Hotel and the Seahorse Bar!!!