Đà Lạt’s
‘Crazy
House‘
This extraordinary, unusual building rises just a few blocks away
from the centre of Đà Lạt. It is the dream-come-true of a Vietnamese
architect, Dang Viet Nga, now an elderly lady, who is the daughter of a former
President of Vietnam.
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| This bizarre project is still under construction.... |
When walking in and around the house, you realise its design has
clearly been inspired by Gaudí’s works in Barcelona, although references to
Dalí’s artwork should not be discarded either. It features hardly any straight
lines or right angles. Corridors look more like caves; implausible bridges
connect different areas and rooms, and visitors may feel dizzy when crossing
its uppermost reaches, and possibly even claustrophobic in some of its
concealed alcoves. Decorative motifs are quite fantastic and bizarre. Their exuberance can be quite overwhelming, too.
The house is also run as a guesthouse, with many different rooms
hired to tourists in order to raise funds for its construction. Entry fees also
apply. A very fanciful building, it appears to recreate childhood dreams and visions
inspired by fairytales. Unfortunately, some visitors do not respect the place
and have damaged parts of the house and gardens - the omnipresent graffiti! - or leave their filthy rubbish
stuck in hidden niches and recesses of sculptures and structures, too.
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| The family altar |
It really is an ideal place to take young children to. They can access very small corners that adults cannot; they will also be highly entertained of course, but their imagination naturally should do the rest.
Đà Lạt
is a medium-sized city in the southern Vietnamese highlands; it boasts arguably
the best coffee in Asia, but the fresh fruits and vegetables grown on the
hillsides and valleys are just as good as the coffee. Thoroughly recommendable are the fruit shakes, which you can get for under two dollars each. The region also produces
the best (and only) Vietnamese wine, which is…, how can I put it? Yes, I think
the phrase “can considerably be improved upon” expresses what I mean to convey, and it does so quite accurately.
Chosen as the location for French colonial
jaunts into the cooler highlands, Đà Lạt
has now acquired its own distinctive personality. These days it receives many
visitors from stifling-hot Ho Chi Minh City, a.k.a. as Saigon. It is quite
amusing to observe them around the city centre, dressed in their winter wear
(scarves, gloves, beanies, leather boots, overcoats, etc.) as if they were in
the Alps, while Western tourists take an after-dinner evening stroll in their
shorts, T-shirts and sandals in a very nice temperature of about 18 degrees…
