Grown up overnight

Remember when I told you about the difficulties in Sa Pa and Jana's bag? All a joke compared to what happened next.

Ho Chi Minh City and how one thing led to another: after having an incredibly fun night with some Vietnamese people we met in Sa Pa, we didn't manage to wake up at 8 am for check out and the bus to Hanoi. I'm not 16 anymore ;) So we missed our bus, but managed to check out at 12 and then wandered around Sa Pa with our backpacks after organizing a replacement bus to Hanoi. A night bus at 10 pm. We complained several times about the fact that apparently all roads lead to Hanoi, where we really didn't want to go anymore, but had to. And then in the night bus, the little fact that made Jana laugh during the 6-hour trip: the night buses have bunk beds, each top bunk with a ladder. Can you guess which one doesn't have a ladder? That's right: mine.

So we arrived in Hanoi at four in the morning, took a taxi to the airport right away, and I organized the flight to Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City. A group of teenagers ran towards me to take pictures with me and I felt like a superstar or unfortunately also like an outcast wherever I went. But the fact is, no matter where you are: You will be stared at and spoken to.

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City at around 9:15 am. And when we left the airport, we couldn't believe it: A MC DONALDS!!!! I have rarely been so happy. Strengthened by 6 incredibly tasty chicken McNuggets, I organized the bus to our hostel, which cost a whopping 20 cents per person for about a 45-minute ride. Since you can't even remotely compare public transport (like everything in Vietnam) with that in Germany, there is simply no way to do it without help. The bus doesn't display any stops or make announcements. There are no regular stops anyway. And hardly anyone speaks English. So how are we supposed to know when to get off the bus in the largest city in Vietnam? That's right: we don't. But the helpful Vietnamese people showed us when we had to get off. So we wandered around with our backpacks until we arrived at the hostel at around 1 pm. Then we went on a scooter tour through the city after overcoming a lot of hesitation, but don't worry, we didn't drive ourselves. That would definitely be the last thing we would do in this traffic. Two guys took us and showed us the city. We visited the Museum of War, two temples, Notre Dame, the Saigon River, the Central Post Office, the market, and the university. After that, when we were looking for our hostel, it started raining as it did every day, and at an intersection, an Indian guy talked to us and said: "It's crazy. I'm from Mumbai, but the traffic here is worse, we can't cross that street." And that's how we met Krishna. A 25-year-old Indian guy who now lives in the Philippines and whom we will meet again in Thailand on New Year's Eve and then fly to the Philippines with him (at least that's the plan). So we spent the day and evening as well as the next day with Krishna, he's really funny and it was great to get to know him. He told us a lot about India and the culture and promised to come to Germany sometime.

So the next day we wanted to go to a big market together. We were there for about 3 hours when Jana said that she was feeling sick. After taking her back home, it turned out that she had a fever. Okay, no panic. Luckily, I had packed this thermometer. 38.2, 38.8, 39.2. After bringing her water and soup, I informed her parents. After taking some paracetamol, the fever went down, thank god. The other problem that came up was that the night before, despite the mosquito net, I woke up with 11 bites on my legs that hurt terribly and itched. After finding out that they are "just" bed bugs, I was incredibly relieved because they don't transmit any diseases. However, it seems that I'm allergic to them. So I tried to plan the next day, take care of Jana, and somehow deal with the bug problem. Krishna came by briefly, but unfortunately only to say goodbye because he's flying back to the Philippines. He's also worried and would like to help. In the end, I spent the night with the light on in the bathroom, as I couldn't use the blanket, etc. because my legs were really hurting. I checked on Jana from time to time, who was somewhat protected from the bugs thanks to her sleeping bag. The next morning, I packed our backpacks, carried them from the 5th floor downstairs, and took Jana to a better hostel that I had booked the day before. Unfortunately, she got worse. It was really incredibly exhausting. Then the check-in didn't work, but in the end, we still got a room. Then the next problem: the bugs. After Jana lay down, I put all our clothes in a bag to bring them to the laundry and somehow explained that they absolutely need to be washed over 60%. Then I took a coffee with me, bought bananas for Jana, and went to a pharmacy for a cream for my bites. Then I went back to Jana to take care of her. After that, I unpacked and cleaned the backpacks. Then my great solo journey through Saigon began. It was incredibly tough, I wandered around the city for three hours, and when I got lost on the way back, a nice man on a scooter took me to near the hostel. That's where I directly witnessed the first accident in front of me. Unfortunately, two scooter drivers crashed into each other. But fortunately, nothing serious happened!

Then I met a travel group from Heidelberg and talked to them. The first Germans I met! Since we still hadn't eaten anything, I got a soup for Jana and me. And I really outdid myself in the city. I got trash bags, two dresses for us to wear because everything was in the laundry, and then the climax... After wandering around three pharmacies and nobody understood me, I finally found a woman who knew what I meant by 'bed bugs' and my gestures. She wrote something in Vietnamese on a piece of paper for me and sent me back to the market, which felt like it was 2 km long. There I showed the paper to everyone and they sent me back and forth about 5 times until I finally got a spray against the bugs for the backpacks!! I have no idea how happy I was about that. About something that I probably would have gotten at a garden center like Dehner in Germany in half an hour. It's amazing how your priorities can change so quickly. When I was back, I was so relieved that Jana was feeling better. She was very weak, but her fever stayed at 38, and I decided not to take her to the hospital, which I had planned to do when it was at 39.

What can I say? Today I have definitely grown beyond myself and I can honestly say that I am very proud of how I managed everything. Let's see what happens next! The most important thing now is that Jana gets better quickly...