We cycled out to Dantala Falls to do some birdwatching this morning. I had read about it on a trip report from a birder who had visited the area in 2006 and he described it as having the greatest density of birds that he had encountered on his trip to Vietnam. When we got there we realised two things were not in our favour. Firstly, the area has become a big amusement park with ziplines, elevators and rail cars rides. Secondly, today is Sunday so every second Vietnamese "nature lover" was enjoying the forest to the sounds of shrieking laughter and booming music. Eventually we gave up and retired to the restaurant for a cup of coffee and a cola. As we were enjoying our drinks we picked up three lifers - Streaked Spiderhunter, White-cheeked Laughingthrush and Indochinese Barbet.

Feeling a bit better, we cycled back to Da Lat stopping to pick up another two lifers - Large Cuckooshrike and Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker- while going up the hill.

We stopped for a plate of Com Tam Suan (pork chop and broken rice) at a restaurant at the top of the hill and got another lifer - Chestnut-vented Nuthatch.

Suddenly the day wasn't so bad afterall.

We got back to our hotel just as the rain came down - not bad timing.

One of the great things about travelling by bicycle is that one has easy local transport on tap. Throughout this trip, we have used our bikes to explore the towns and cities where we have stayed. Today was not different and we enjoyed a nice cycle around the areas surrounding the lake in Da Lat.

One of the places we passed was the Catholic cathedral. It was packed to the rafters for the Sunday afternoon sevice with the overflow spilling out into the yard. A few years ago in Negombo, we passed the cathedral on a Friday afternoon and the situation was similar, however in that case it was only one of two services because they have services in both Sinhalese and Tamil. It's quite amazing that in two countries where the dominant religion is Buddhist that Catholisism seems stronger than in supposably Catholic countries.

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