Up in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, in the Annamese Mountain range, is the raunchily named Valley of Love. It used to be the Valley of Peace until university students changed its name and cemented Dalat's reputation as the hot Vietnamese destination for couples searching for a cooler climate. Dalat is a curious mix of the unabashedly kitsch saved by a rare regard for the avant-garde further let down by a penchant for pointless taxidermy and ultimately rescued from the depths of bad taste by a population of student intellectuals. The contradictions of this little Love Shack town can make your head spin.

Dalat saw its chance to become the Paris of Asia - and promptly ignored it. It got as far as dubbing itself le Petite Paris and building a miniature replica of the Eiffel Tower but then took a headlong plunge into tackiness. The locals began building 'tourist attractions' in the Valley of Love - sailboats, mini-zoos, and swan-shaped paddleboats - and then promoted the whole Disney-love-theme by dressing up as giant rabbits.

The giant rabbits were quickly superseded by milling posses of cowboys touting for trade along the banks of Dalat's most popular lake, Xuang Huong Lake. It's difficult to fathom what these gun-slingin' Dalat cowboys (no relation to Texan footballers) have to do with the gentler emotions of love and romance, but there's no denying they're a big hit with snap-happy honeymooners.

The kewpie-doll schtick and even the poor man's Pekinpah routine look classy, however, compared to the town's other claim to fame: stuffed animals. Not cute 'n' cuddly soft teddy bears but real animals stuffed and mounted in all their morbid glory. The town was once the big-game hunting mecca of Vietnam and the reputation lives on in all the mantelpiece trophies scattered around the town.

Nevertheless, any visit to Dalat will throw up a few rare gems. It has a surprising reputation for being the home of avant-garde art, and a visit to the Hang Nga Guesthouse (nicknamed the 'Crazy House') is a must if you're interested in objet d'arts and quirky sculptures. If you can sidestep all the gun-slinging cowboys around the lake, there are some magnificent Flower Gardens to explore, but undoubtedly the town's biggest draw card is its cool mountain air; at 1500m (4900ft) above sea level it has a temperate climate that comes as a welcome relief after the hot sticky temperatures of the flatlands.

(source: lonely planet 2005)
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