Lee Starnes Photography | Product | Food | Beverage | Travel | Vietnam Photographer

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Catching Up: Dalat over Xmas.

Over the past few weeks, as you may have noticed, I have been a bit off the radar. Partially voluntary and partially by sheer logistics. The lunar New Year, or Tet as they say here in Vietnam, brought a much needed respite and a bit of digital detox was in order. I’ll have plenty of images up here in the coming days (Indonesia was incredible!) so check back for those. That said, I had such a backlog of images and I wasn’t quite sure where they would live, so I’ve decided to use this space to show some of those.

Over Christmas, I headed up to the highland outpost of Dalat, around 6 hours north of Saigon. Historically, Dalat served as a getaway for French colonialist due to it’s cooler weather and “European” feel. French villas, pine trees, lakes, and crisp evenings made this place a slice of home I suppose. These days, while Dalat is still known for its cooler temps and outdoorsy activities, its also the home of where most of the organic produce is grown in Southern Vietnam. Farms dominate the countryside, and little food stalls seem to be every few meters.

While I love Saigon, it was literally a breath of fresh air getting up into the mountains. Here are just a few shots from the weekend. Those of you who live in Saigon, where is your favorite weekend getaways? We’re always looking for new places to explore, let us know in the comments below!