I rented a motor scooter for $5 in Dalat and rode through coffee country and then beyond into mostly uninhabited hills (recognizable from Vietnam War footage in all sorts of films!). For long stretches I was the only vehicle on the road, such a rarity in this country that feels as if it's sagging under the weight of its huge crowded population like a thin and smelly old mattress. (Sadly.) The air was cold, but the sun occasionally came out -- at last I've seen the sun, and even blue skies, in Vietnam. I stopped off at a large unexpected botanical gardens, hidden in the middle of nowehere, which reminded me of the Coastal Botanical Gardens in Boothbay, except this one had many bonsai trees instead of rhododendrons. Besides the three or four sets of young Vietnamese couples canoodling between the flower beds -- the woman wobbly in their heels on the stone pathways and always giggling (I think it is very feminine here to keep up a constant sweet chortle) and the men following behind and snapping photos -- the garden was quiet and almost otherwordly. Behind the gardens, I followed an overlooked trail to a river's edge, coming across horses and buffalo grazing together. If you zoom in on the last photo, you can see the horses running after they catch my scent. I took a nap by the river; no one came by.