Dalat, Vietnam is one of the city that feels like eternal spring. It is surrounded by forests, lakes and waterfalls. Because of its geographical highland, it is known for their great coffee and golf courses. But there is another attraction that bring about 100,000 travelers around the world. It is called the Crazy House (Hang Nga Villa).
Crazy house is built by a famous Vietnamese architect, Dang Viet Nga. The construction started in 1990, but is still going on and they don’t know when it will be done. Like the name, it literally does look like a crazy person built it. Occasionally people compare to Antoni Gaudí’s architecture, but it seems a bit crazier than his work.
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This is a great tourist attraction for Dalat Vietnam, but it also operates as a hotel. As little as 40 dollars can let you sleep in this unique and different hotel. So, I thought it would be a great idea to spend 3 nights here at the Crazy house in Dalat. But that thought has gone to hell as I arrived and stayed over night.
The Crazy House Opens for the Tourists at 8:30AM
The Crazy House opens at 8:30 AM which means the tourists will start pouring in. What it means by pouring in is that tour buses will arrive one by one. Imagine all the tourists talking as they pass through your bed.
I lived in downtown Brooklyn for nearly 6 years, and the bus station was right in front of where I lived. It was noisy but I got used to it and never really bothered me. Only my friends and family couldn’t sleep at all in my bed. So for me saying it was noisy at Crazy House really means it was noisy.
The Unused Rooms Are Open for Tourists to Peak In
So not all rooms are reserved for residents. Some rooms are opened for travelers to peak in and see how it was built. I think it is a great way to show the house, but the problem starts from there.
People assume some of the occupied rooms are to peak in. So they shake the door trying to open it. And when you are in the room, you get a shock of your life (Only at the beginning, and later you just try to ignore). You have a sign you can put out, but that doesn’t help at all.
The lock for the door is not a proper lock, so every time you go out for other activities, you get to worry about what will happen to your room. You do not feel safe leaving your valuables in the room.
At one point, I screamed from inside and a poor lady who was trying to open it was scared for her life (I guess).
A Great Place to Stop By and Take Pictures, But the Worst Place to Stay Over
It would have been a great experience if there were no tourists knocking on the door or had been more secure but it wasn’t the case. I am not saying it’s a bad place to visit. It actually is one of the must do things in Dalat, and I even wrote about it and put it on the top list (You can read about it right here). I also made a video about top things to do in Dalat and check it out below.
To give a bit of credit, the perk that you get for staying over is that you can walk around at night. It is a bit scary, but also nice without 100s of tourist walking around. I had the luxury to go up the top and look at the view of Dalat at night.
Crazy House Dalat is a great place to experience and be a part of an unique architecture. You can wonder around and get lost and find something new in the building. When you look closely the details are quite amazing and detailed. It’s been being built for almost 20 years and it is still going on.
I had a great time looking around and walking around the building as it felt so unique and special. But unfortunately staying over at Crazy House wasn’t.
