This morning we took an optional tour called the Dalat Agricultural Tour. Dalat is a big agricultural region due the good weather conditions and the rich volcanic soil. Driving around we saw many greenhouses which contain a variety of vegetables and flowers. We went to one that was growing lilies, roses, and gerber daises. The lilies had buds but were not blooming quite yet, which was good because they are trying to time them so that they bloom for the lunar new year. ‘The roses weren’t blooming yet either but the daisies were. The daisies produce flowers for 2 1/2 years. We learned that you pick the flowers by wiggling the stem very low to the bottom. The flower breaks off and a new one will grow at the break point. We each got to pick one.
We got back on the bus to go to the weasel coffee place. They grow a lot of coffee in Dalat, in fact the Central Highlands where we were is the largest coffee producing region in Vietnam. Vietnam, in turn, is the second largest coffee producer in the world behind Brasil. At this location they grow coffee and then feed it to weasels or more accurately civet cats. The civet cat spits out the skin and the berry part and digests the bean. The civet’s digestive tract partially ferments the beans, changing their chemical composition.. The civet then poops out the bean. The civets don’t get exposed to the caffeine since they don’t actually digest the bean. There is a shell on the bean that the civet poops out which is removed and then the bean is dried and roasted. The result is a cup of rich, smooth coffee with cacao and salted caramel notes. We tried the civet coffee and I don’t like coffee so of course I didn’t like it. Rick didn’t think it was significantly better than regular coffee. It’s quite expensive, $20 for a 1/4 lb. of beans so we didn’t buy any. Here are some pictures from the civet coffee plantation.
After trying the coffee, we saw ladies making local handicrafts.
Next stop a Montagnard Village. Montagnard is a general term coined by the French for the 19 indigenous tribe in the Central Highlands. Today we visited the K’ho Cil village of Buon Chuôí. These people are mostly catholic and were converted by the French during their rule over the area. The people were nomadic, farming the soil using slash and burn methods and ultimately exhaust the soil. Once the soil in one are was exhausted they would move on to a new area of the Central Highlands and replay the gameplan. The government wanted reduce the potential for erosion as a result of their practices so they built houses for them and encouraged them to grow coffee, providing a significant boost to their return on sweat and blood investment.
We rode to the village on a wagon pulled by a tractor. It was quite a bumpy ride! Some of the houses we passed were quite nice because coffee growing has provided a good income to the landowners. Many of the houses had coffee beans drying in front of the house.
First stop in the village was the Catholic Church. Then we visited the chief. The chief’s wife (an arranged marriage) was weaving with what Mai called a backpack loom. She held one end of the loom with her feet and the other end was anchored by being tied around her waist. The couple had 5 children and had given their government house to one of their children so they were living in a shack in the back. Here are some pictures.
After visiting with the chief we had lunch in Dalat and then had some down time at the hotel. Mai took some people to the market for avocado ice cream but we didn’t go because we were full. While at the market Mai bought some puréed durian which she brought back to us. Durian is a super smelly fruit and it’s not allowed in many establishments because it smells so bad. We had to go out on the balcony to eat it. The travel and food writer Richard Sterling states that “its odor is best described as pig-excrement, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock.” Other comparisons have been made with the civet, sewage, stale vomit, skunk spray and used surgical swabs. I tried it and it wasn’t awful but I wouldn’t eat it regularly. Rick found it interesting but not up to par with the jackfruit, longins or leeches we’ve tried.
Later that afternoon we went to Dalat University where we learned about the university and then spoke with some students. Dalat University has over 10,000 students and offers undergraduate and graduate degrees. This was a lot of fun.
That evening we went to dinner at Banh MýChao. They serve sizzling plates (think fajitas) with beef, fish, or mushrooms. The sizzling plate also had an egg and a meatball. It came with a baguette and salad and we were supposed to assemble sandwich bites. It was quite good.
Gerber daisies are my favorite!