Vietnam 2.0

Hello everyone and happy new year :)
A lot has happened on my journey and it's finally time to tell you about it.

After Merle and I left Australia for Vietnam, we had to congratulate Merle on her 25th birthday during the approach to Ho Chi Minh City. To celebrate, we checked into a 4-star hotel, used the hotel's sauna, and relaxed with a massage to recover from the hardships of the past months. The next day, we walked through the city and visited the War Museum. Then we went to the Cu Chi Tunnels, a huge underground network of tiny passages and caves where the Vietnamese hid from the Americans during the Vietnam War.
From Ho Chi Minh City, we took an overnight bus to Da Lat. Here we rented a motor scooter and visited the surrounding waterfalls. We particularly liked the Elephant Fall, because a small, somewhat hidden path led us directly to the foot of the waterfall into a small cave. Although we got a little wet here, the view was magnificent. Besides the numerous waterfalls, there were also some beautiful temples in Da Lat for us to admire. Towards the end of the second day, my scooter had a flat tire. I had driven a nail into the rear tire and was already expecting a hefty bill from the hostel, when the lady at the hostel told me that the repair would cost 50,000 Vietnamese Dong - 1.80€!
That same evening, we continued north to Hoi An, again by night bus. The small town is mainly known for its colorful lanterns, which light up the cozy streets in various colors at night, which was very beautiful to see. Unfortunately, Vietnam was plagued by heavy rain showers at that time, so we had to spend most of our stay in Hoi An at our hostel.
The weather was rather poor in our next stop, Hue, as well. Nevertheless, we visited the old castle of the city and walked along the river to another beautiful temple.
The next morning, we visited an abandoned amusement park in the vicinity. Operations here were discontinued several years ago, and the park has remained untouched ever since. Therefore, we were still able to explore some of the now heavily damaged attractions. In the afternoon, we took the next bus, which took us to Phong Nha. Phong Nha is a very large area where countless cave systems are hidden. Currently, about 350 caves have been discovered, including the largest cave in the world, which was officially identified as the largest cave only 9 years ago. Some of the caves are also accessible to tourists, so we visited 2 of them: the Phong Nha Cave, where we entered by boat and later explored on foot. The next day, we took the motor scooter to the slightly more distant Paradise Cave. Beautiful formations of stalagmites and stalactites offered us fascinating views. Looking back, the two days here were also the absolute highlight of our time in Vietnam.
From Phong Nha, we took one last overnight bus to Hanoi. In this city in the north of the country, there are countless small alleys where many shops line up. You are constantly approached from all sides because everyone wants to win the favor of the tourists, it is loud and after a while also a bit exhausting. Nevertheless, Hanoi is a special city for me, which I was happy to return to in 2015.
Finally, we spent our last days in Vietnam in Ha Long Bay, where we spent Christmas Eve on a boat in the bay. The day was almost perfect. However, when jumping from the boat into the water, I lost my GoPro. It was attached to a wristband intended for such actions. Unfortunately, as I now know, the quality of the wristband was poor, as a piece of the plastic attachment simply broke off and the camera sank into the turquoise-blue water. Apart from this negative moment, our 2 weeks in Vietnam were beautiful. The food, the people, and especially the landscape impressed us a lot, and we are certain that we will not be here for the last time.

Best regards
Fabian