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Beside packaged products, L’angfarm features buffet-style tasting experience that are definitely worth trying and surprisingly valuable.

L’angfarm is a well-known brand in Da Lat. If you wander around Dalat market, you will find no fewer than four Langfarm stores offering a variety of jams and teas—premium Da Lat specialties. But just some of them offer sweet buffets.

Where to find Buffet Langfarm

There are two L’angfarm outlets in the Dalat market that serve buffet. Look for a L’angfarm store and head to the second floor where you see the “Buffet” sign. Be sure to ask the staff about the tickets before going up to enjoy the experience.

How much for a L’angfarm’s Buffet Experience

The ticket for the buffet costs 79,000 VND per person. I find this price quite attractive for the variety of Da Lat specialties you will enjoy, including:

• Savory Dishes: Grilled rice paper, steamed sweet potatoes, steamed corn, sticky corn, and vegetarian buns.
• Jams to Enjoy with Sandwiches: Strawberry jam, blackberry jam, pineapple jam, and passion fruit jam.
• Dried Fruits and Gummy Candies: Dried papaya, mixed nuts, assorted milk candies, chicken jerky with lime leaves, and dried dragon fruit.
• Fruit Juices: Artichoke with sugar, passion fruit juice, mulberry juice, and strawberry juice, plus water.
• Teas: Ginger tea, oolong tea, reishi tea, green tea, chrysanthemum tea, bitter melon tea, and noni fruit tea.
• Ice Cream: Melon, raspberry, tiramisu, cheese, caramel, vanilla, coconut, kiwi, cherry, salted peanut, rum raisin, mango, coffee, yogurt, mint, and strawberry.

The vibe at Langfarm Buffet

The seating is spacious and airy, but tables near the windows tend to be filled up quickly. You’d better reserve in advance for a good spot. The buffet outlet would be likely to get crowded around 8 PM, so early birds is recommended.

The wooden, curvy architecture provides a stylish and cozy atmosphere. The seating height varies depending on the certain location, don’t forget to choose the comfortable seats to easily access to food.

Tips for a truly joy

Be mindful to take small portions to avoid wasting food. For ice cream, staff will take a maximum of two scoops at a time to prevent it from melting and becoming unappetizing. If you choose ice cream, prioritize tasting this before trying other dishes.

The cherry, salted peanut, rum raisin, and kiwi ice creams may have unusual flavors, so it’s best to sample them in small amounts first.

Some teas like bitter melon and reishi can be quite bitter, and pairing them with jam may not be pleasant at all.

There is a sandwich grill available, so toast your bread before spreading fruit jam for a more delightful experience.

Trekking to top of Black Virgin mountain – one of the famous peaks in Viet Nam – is a cool experience. The mountain should be in your check list, just 3-hour drive from the city center.

I still remember my first ever night, when I was at the top of the highest mountain of the south of Viet Nam. After a long trek through many terrains, finally my team reached the camp site in the evening, wet and fatigued. It’s Ba Den (Black Virgin) mountain trekking memories in my mind, still fresh and clear.

You’re a trekking lover, and in the south of Viet Nam, don’t miss Ba Den (Black Virgin), it should be in your checklist.

Mountain history: there’s a tale telling that..

In late 18th century, Viet Nam was at war. A young man falling love with a girl. However he decided to enlist in the resistance, which means he had to say goodbye to his lover. Even when the man was far away, she still remained faithful to him. Unfortunately, soon later, her beauty attracted a powerful man in the village. One day, he kidnapped her on the mountain. In the escape, she preferred death to dishonour and jumped off the cliff. Then a monk living on the mountain have a vision of her, and he told her story. Gradually, pilgrims from everywhere learned about the story and visited the temple in the spring.

If you do research before, then you soon find out a lot of war history documentations mentioning it and there’s even a memoir to tell. Nowaday, Black Virgin is one of the popular destinations, attracting thousands of pilgrims and travellers.

Now, for a trekking lover, why is Ba Den cool?

It’s considered as the highest peak in east-southern legion at 996 m. Many native trekkers get here on the weekend, so it’s quite crowded at the camp site, especially at night, when a lot of camp fires are set up and people gather around, singing, having barbecue and telling stories.

First, We need to get there. This is the route map to Black Virgin Mountain.

After 3-hour riding, we’ll be at the bottom of the mountain and ready to trek.

How to get to the mountain top

There’re generally 5 routes to the peak:

1. “Pagoda route”: Head to the pagoda and then continue stepping on rocks to the peak
2. There’s a side route, The local call it “electricity post route” because it follows the electricity cable supporting the human activities on the peak
3. “Pipe route”, because it follows the running water pipe from the peak to side pagoda.
4. “Ma Thien Lanh” – a valley at the opposite side of pagoda, the route is quite tough.
5. “Da Trang” – (“White Rocks” in English), toughest route, just for advanced traveller.

So it depends mostly on your current physique and health to decide which route to take. While the first and second is quite easy to navigate the direction, the other is required guidance if you’re new guys there. Many guys have got lost, make it more adventurous and exciting.

Any tips ?

It takes 3-4 hours to the peak through pagoda, electricity post and pipe routes whereas you have to spend 2 days on the valley and white-rock ones. So the backpack should be well prepared and balanced, because the heavier your belongings are, the more fatigue you get.

For the easy ones, you should pack along 2 liters of water, some refreshments and first aid kit and personal stuffs (smart phones/cameras/Mp3,…) using for one day.

For tough ones (the fourth and fifth options), 3 liters of water, food for lunch and dinner, even the morning following day, first aid kit, sleeping bags or tents, personal stuffs and some clothes (it’s quite cold at night).

On the way to the top, you’ll experience many plants and trees, some are fruits, the other are flowers and herbs. How surprised I was when my partners revealed some information about them.

There’s time the top was overwhelmingly littered. Now many people try to fix this and it helps a lot. The sign in the picture below is one of the effort to make it clean. So, remember to clean your camp before leaving.

Local travel slogan at the top

Some people consider traveling as a cure for their love hurts. Is it really good or just an over-estimated expectation?

I talked to a friend in 24h store in my neighborhood this afternoon. She was in deep sorrow and tended to hurt herself with a lot of pain. Well, She hit the table hard and insistently she couldn’t get out of the hole, a deep sorrow for a long long time like hands holding her back. She knew what is right or wrong. But “the matter of heart, it doesn’t easily change.”

Then she told me how she’d cured her pain. She’d taken several rides to the same place: Can Gio coastal town – an quite location, just 60 kms away from the city center. She thought that travel would take all the sad things away and fulfill the mind with fresh plans, directions or even, a belief of recovery

Well, sadly, I confided, travel should never be your love junk yards. I used to embrace journeys like an escape plan every time life hits me hard: love hurts, jobs away, family conflicts, no idea who I am and what I really want in life and so forth. But after all, I couldn’t fix those.

So I asked her whether she felt relented or her backpack after trips loaded with new hopes then turning to hopelessness because of her unwilling cho change. Some of us share this situation, we do something in hope of washing away the bad luck in our life. Indeed, It’s just like you facing the wall, and you’re trying to turn left or right instead of crossing over it. We usually find the way to escape from our problems, not to solve them.

I love trekking, one of the lessons you soon discover in this kind of travel is you have to leave all unnecessary stuffs, at home or at bases lying beneath the mountains. Because the more higher you are, the heavier you feel. Life is a trek, you should put all burdens back and enjoy the journey. Some moment in time you won’t get back, and instead of a heart full of regrets, just look up and see the world. It’s worthy!

So the next time, when you plan to travel to cure love hurts, keep in mind that, it may not be effective. The only way to solve it is sit down alone and plan to do something big. You can also choose to get trekking with some funny guys, they will inspire you, make you more optimistic and on top of that, you’re smiling. The joy fixes all life fault.

15 Manila travel facts cover whole my first experience in the capital of  Phillipines, that help you know more about this place, from communication, people, food, smell to pick-pocket situation. 

1. Communication

You’ll feel very friendly when most of the local can speak quite a standard English, very easy to understand. It’s really a plus for Phillipines travel experience when you can query almost things from directions, foods, public transportation, or social chit-chat… You can go local really really deep and have more budget choice. Great!!

Talking with the local is also interesting. When strolling around Rizal park, I came up with a little girl – Jennie – asking me to buy her some souvenir as a donation for her charity work. Her accent and flow of speaking was very good. I was finally convinced to do that even that’s not my plan at first.

2. Chaos traffic

Like Vietnam, streets in Manila are quite chaos but at a smaller scale. When I stepped out of the airport, to take jeepney to downtown, I had to cross the highway without a skywalk, I saw the local did so.

Cars in full speed passing you leave a very anxious feeling. What if drivers are busy doing something and don’t notice you are crossing over. I daren’t think of that case. That was my first encounter.

I noticed that people can make a cross wherever they want if the street is clear and make sure driver see them. That’s all. At some big intersections, maybe do drivers obey the laws, but most of the time, they try to get over fast.

The closest encounter that was when I walked alone from bus stop to the hostel, across many kinds of roads: highways, blouvards, avenues, alleys, roads, LRT terminals… So see Manila traffic reflects its chaos situation, especially in rush-hour.

3. CCTV

As a “paradise of crime”, It’s no doubt that there are a lot of CCTV devices in every corners. But what I was surprised that the warning signs are put on the wall purposely. I think the situation is so bad that local people choose to warn the thieves before they do anything wrong.

These CCTV really give you a big sense of unsafe here. When local people have to watch for their properties, it means travelers should be double watch themselves – a big backpack means you are really a “cash cow” walking on street. Be careful!

4. Jeepney

Jeepneys are kind of hop-on-hop-off, which means there’s no terminal at all, you just watch for the right jeepney, wave the driver and get on. When you’re on, you’ll experience the real jeepney-rush: noise from roaring engine, swung by the move, some guys just hop on to hold the ceiling bar and hop off at the destination,..

Jeepney bring you to most of corner in the Manila, its really a budget transportation that you should take advantage when travel in Phillipines to save more money and get deeper local experience. Many local talks I made in jeepneys and they are really awesome to know more people and the local lives.

5. People

I think, though the country is famous for crimes such as pickpockets, drugs,.. During my time there, I saw many people doing nothing but just sleeping in streets or Rizal park.

However, Fillipinos are kind and friendly. My first contact was the dorm receptionists. They are very useful and always show the best way to travel.

I remember when I was pickpocketed in the last day in Manila, I tended to go airport by Jeepney but the receptionist girl persuaded me to take LRT and bus, I thought she reduce any risks for me.

The other girl is Jennie, whom I met at Rizal park. She’s younger than me just a year, beautiful and dynamic. She sold the keychains for her charity programs. Her accents was smooth and graceful. I really admired her for what she’d done. That means Fillipinos know how their country is well-known for and are trying to fix that.

During Tagaytay trip, I also met really nice shop assistants and vendors. They were friendly and help you a lot to have ones best fitting you.

6. Tricycle

It’s a kind of private taxi, with an extensive sidecar. That’s really genius when Fillipino can convert from a bicycle with only one passenger into a “car” which can serve up to totally 3-4 people on.

The fare is fairly cheaper than taxi but still more expensive than Jeepney. There are two kinds of tricycle: one made from bike and the other made from bicycle. I once took the tricycle based on bicycle and saw how hard the rider brought me to my dorm.

One more thing, you’ll never see the road surface as close as you in a tricycle cabin, and it make it worth a try afterall

7. Smell

Though I love Manila for its historical beauty, I’m not sure for its smell. Airport is OK, but when I was stuck in a jeepney going through Baclaran market, it started something smell very “local”.

When I walked streets to streets, the smell was like somehow, someone pissed somewhere. It completes smell out. An other annoying smell is from gabbage. They are everywhere in the city. The last smell is people smell, I mean, the Black Nazarene – where thousands of people convene – It was so much cramped, you can smell the ones close to you, sometimes, it’s not ease at all.

8. Guards and guns

As a “heaven of crime”, we see many “angels” in Manila: the guards. They are really well armed with pistols (usually), shotgun (often) and rifle (rare) along with handcruff. Manila was the first place I’ve seen as many kinds of weapon as that. Sense of Mafia city in Italy or Far West in U.S or Mexico, where people need gun to deal with daily issues. Whoops!

The men who put on weapons I saw are note only polices but also guards of 24-hour shops, banks or even, city park. But luckily, I’ve never heard any gunshots during my time in Manila. I wish that for you too, If you plan to stay there.

9. Black Nazarene

I was lucky. The first day I stayed in Manila was right at second day of Black Nazarene festival. You’d experience the sense of overwhelmed by thousands of local people in red, practising their religious ritual. If you choose to join them, get your pocket closed strictly and every precious properties should be locked on or put at hostel. Then do it!

It was scary at first when you’re stuck in a flow of people, strolling through streets, you see nothing but people, people everywhere, some pray, some sleep, some even … look at you if you don’t dress like them. I was paralyzed for an hour, maybe more, when joining them. So scary but sense of holy, like you’re blessed, is awesome!

10. Food

Manila food is not really well-known. The first one I had is a kind of meat soup, served with noodle and boiled rice. It’s quite salty, you can add sour favor with clementine and scallion sliced pieces.

Some street snacks like banana cue, tofu is so sweet, peanuts cooked with hot spices is good. I don’t really enjoy Manila snacks much, but they are still worth trying. We travel, eat to explore, right?

11. Historical buildings

What I really love in Manila, and makes it highlight in my mind from other cities all over around the South-east asia is its history reflecting through buildings as forts, churches and parks.

I still remember my walk in Fort Santiago in a charming late afternoon, very mass with big blocks of stone walls, some ruins, taste of past that you can smell mostly everywhere around Intramuros.

I really love my experience in St Augustin Church. Very stunning and old time. I saw many many things beautiful there: paintings, books, holy stuffs,… that you wish to see in medieval Europe. How wonderful they are.

After the trip, You’d really better understand how Phillipines chose Christ to be their God among others.

12. Hostel

Dorm is great for its location, near the center and other attractions. I stayed in Wanderers Guest house, which locates in Malate, near beauttiful Malate church and Remedios circle, take few steps for jeepneys going around the city. Price is awesome too, very budget style.

However, you have to deal with Manila thief disease in dorm room even. My friend said that he was snatched when check-in, and on my locker door in the room warning you have to use heave duty lock. Huhm *sigh*

13. City under construction

Manila is still under construction as many slums are still big problem. I saw a lot of buildings with dozen of workers, construction site besides an old building, which is degrading, ugly and dangerous to live in.

Walking along Rizal park or Intramuros, trees are still cluttered, bushes overwhelming pavement and Manila is not a clean city when people are building it up.

14. Pickpocket

Before the trip, I was warned that Manila was a pickpocket heaven, I noted that, and keep it in my mind. It was really anxious when you come out of hostel with high alert everytime. But afterall, I was the next victim of pickpocket disease in Manila, in my last Jeepney ride to hostel, before check-out to fly that night.

Most of pickpocket happens on jeepneys, where dozen of people packed in small size cabin, even you know someone is trying to steal your properties, you won’t get him/ her if you seat so far from the backdoor. So, be watching, or you soon have to say farewell to your wallets.

15. Manila at night

It’s great to stroll around the neighborhood at night, because there are many interesting places to kill time. From nice coffees to karaoke clubs, atmosphere is cool, streets are well-decorated with colorful lights from pano and fountain.

Yes, there’s a fountain near my hostel, it’s remedios circle. At night, the fountain flows accompanied with colorful lights. In some special event, there are performances in Spanish style. Really nice!

Ah, one more thing, You should see a boxing match. It’s really worth your night, too

“ Hey, slow it down, what do ya want from me”

I remember the lyric of the song “What do you want from me”. And it’s a question I give myself: “What do you want from me”.

No guide, no tips, just my small thought in this post.

I get inspired by an idea that I should travel to every countries in the world before anyone in my hometown does (so I’ll become the first one). So I tried as fast as I could to make it come true.

And you know.

I got burnt out, yesterday, when I was trying to produce posts to my blog and work to earn a bit of travel money, to buy airfare, to check-in, to complete my dream.

“Travel to every countries in the world” is my dream. But I didn’t understand why I gradually hated travelling. Something wrong, something VERY wrong here!!

And my friend threw me a blog post, a woman rode bicycle across Southeast Asia, lived on a budget and enjoyed trips so much. A typical long-term travelers.

And I read other travel blog, top ones. I did enjoy them. How cute words were, how beautiful photographs were taken, so inspiring. How could I become them? Top travel bloggers.

I read Quora, and it seemed my problem was like other beginner travellers: pushing myself too much and as a result, I got burnt out and turned to be hating trips.

And the advice?

Slow it down.

I think that you can become the first one of something, but before you do it seriously, just ask yourself whether you love the journey, not just the trophy.

Spend more time on destinations, seek more beautiful photography moments, more local conversations, more time to watch sunrise and sunset,… more time for your inner voice.

I think this is better than just a hop-on-hop-off journey. I used to consider budget travel as how to win the cheapest airfare and try to minimize the cost of travel while travel to as much as I could.

Most cheap flights are at night, and time is conflicting so much to my work (yeah, though you can work and travel, it’s still work, right?). And I tried to connect as many countries as possible to reduce airline cost.

The result?

It turns out that I miss many interesting things that (maybe) I don’t have any chance to do it again. And I was so lonely in some trips!

I know that 9-to-5 work life is  a circle, and each of us has certain responsibilities to carry on.

…

But when someone I know pass away, I remind me of Steve jobs speech “our time is limited”. So I try to live as every today was my last day. Of course, I plan to treasure time and spend on more life-time experiences, slow but valuable moments, not somethings empty, over-and-over-AGAIN and boring.