Vietnam (Day 85 - 91)

Day 85 Journey to Ho-Chi-Minh

In the morning, I first swam a few laps in the pool, as it was really large and we hadn’t used it yet. After breakfast, we packed our things and checked out. First, we made a short stop at a supermarket and went straight to the bus stop after shopping. Here, we were able to get into the car. The drive to the border took almost an hour. Upon reaching the checkpoint, we first had to get the exit stamp from Cambodia, and then we continued to the Vietnamese inspectors. They stamped our passports with the entry stamp and asked how long we wanted to stay, as one can stay there for 45 days without a visa. The only thing that was a bit odd was that they took our temperature.

With a 'normal' body temperature, we were allowed to cross the border into Vietnam. There, we were picked up by a minivan and taken to a bus stop. Since we had a little over an hour to wait, we went to eat something. Before we could board the bus, we first had to take off our shoes and put them in a bag. Only then could we head to our seats, which were at the very back. However, it was not a normal bus, but a sleeper bus that had only beds and no proper seats. The spots were rather narrow, but I could lay down comfortably. We spent the entire 8-hour bus ride lying down. The only 'problem' was the very cool air conditioning.

After what felt like an eternity, we arrived in Ho-Chi-Minh around 10 PM and took a taxi from the bus stop to our accommodation.

Day 86 Ho-Chi-Minh

Our alarm went off at 8:30 AM since breakfast was only available until 9:00 AM. However, I had to wait quite a while in front of the bathroom, as there was only one bathroom for all guests. After breakfast, we made our way into the city to rent a scooter again. However, we couldn’t find any scooter rentals nearby and decided to simply take a Grab driver (Grab is an app in Southeast Asia that allows you to order a taxi) to the attractions. So we both called a scooter driver because that was the cheapest option. When I wanted to pay him and counted my money, the driver reached into my wallet and took out about €5 and drove away. In that moment, I would have loved to start crying, as I was completely alone. After a short while, Jan thankfully arrived. After that shock, I was of course in a bad mood and didn’t feel like doing anything else. Nevertheless, we looked at the pink church and then moved on to have a coffee. After the coffee, I felt better again and we took Grab drivers to a market. This time everything went smoothly, and my day was saved! At the market, there were many fake clothes for little money again. Afterwards, we walked to a small restaurant to eat Banh Mi, which is a baguette filled with vegetables and usually sausage, in our case tofu. After eating, we made our way to a war museum. Here one truly learned a lot about the war between Vietnam and the USA. However, there were also many disturbing images, for example, of murdered children. Another really shocking fact was the toxic attacks by the USA at that time. Pictures were shown of the people who had come in contact with the poison. The most frightening thing for us was the fact that the poison can cause damage for up to four generations. We saw pictures of people with severe disabilities or many conjoined twins. All of this made us more aware of the cruelty of the USA in that war.

After visiting the museum, we continued to a skyscraper with many cafés and restaurants to get something to drink. To process the images from the museum, we sat up top and enjoyed the view. Then it was already time for dinner.

Our last stop for that day was Riverside Park. It is right by the river, surrounded by skyscrapers. The view here was really beautiful, and the skyscrapers glowed in the setting sun. After that, we made our way home.

Day 87 Ho-Chi-Minh City

That morning, we first made our way to a gas station, where our tour guide picked us up at 8:30 AM. The ride to the Cu Chi Tunnels lasted over an hour. We had a super nice guide who told us a lot about Vietnam during the drive. The first stop led us to a factory-like building where people with impairments due to the war created artistic paintings. We were shown how they made everything. For example, they used eggshells or shells for the pictures. At the end, you could also buy paintings, which unfortunately was not possible for us as we would have to carry them on our further travels. Then we moved on to the site where the tour of the tunnels took place. We saw the different tunnels, which were very small. They also showed us different traps that were set up in the forest to injure Americans. Very interesting was also that they had shoes with soles that were on the wrong way. This made it appear as if they were walking in the other direction. We could have even shot with machine guns, but we did not want to do that. At the very end, we could have also gone into the tunnels. However, we only went through the first section because the others were too tight for us. At times they were not even a meter high.

After the tour, we drove back to the city and went to eat something.

Next, we visited the old post office and the book street. I stood firm on the book street and didn’t buy a new book!

Afterwards, we drank a much too expensive coffee at Starbucks. By the way, there is really a small coffee stand or café on every corner here.

Subsequently, we first went back to the hostel and took a small break. After the break, Jan went to the hairdresser and I jogged a round. In the evening, we went to the city to eat something. We were in a small and very nice vegetarian restaurant, where I ordered Pho, a Vietnamese noodle soup.

Day 88 Journey to Mui Ne

After breakfast, we took a taxi to the bus stop, where we could immediately board the bus. We were lucky because the people after us had to sit on small plastic chairs in the aisle. After an hour of bus ride, we took a short break and had to transfer to another bus. This was again a sleeper bus. The remaining ride lasted a little over 2 hours. After a total of 3 ½ hours of travel, we arrived in Mui Ne. After we brought our things to the accommodation, we went to have lunch. Luckily, there were many vegan and vegetarian restaurants here. So, we had Bahn Mi again. After a short break at the accommodation, we went back to the gym. In the evening, we were back at a night market.

Day 89 Mui Ne

After a delicious Bahn Mi for breakfast, we made our way to the beach. We actually wanted to go surfing here, but the waves were not good enough. So we decided to just go back to the beach. After lunch, we moved on as we had booked a tour. We were picked up by a jeep, and our first stop was the Fairy Walk. There, you walk through a small river until you reach a small waterfall. The path wasn’t really pleasant since there was often a lot of trash on the side. You could also take pictures of snakes. Unfortunately, the waterfall at the end was not very spectacular either. On the way back, we saw a little snake lying by the edge. At the end of the walk, we got a mango shake and it started to rain.

Then we drove on to the Fisherman Village. Here we only stopped briefly to take pictures of the boats. Our path then led us to the white sand dunes. Here you could drive quads over the dunes. However, we decided against it and just walked around a bit. The last stop was the red sand dunes, where we took some pictures and then drove back.

After our return, we went back to the night market.

Day 90 Journey to Da Lat

In the morning, we went to the restaurant one last time for Bahn Mi for breakfast. After that, we made our way back to the bus stop. The bus, again a sleeper bus, arrived a little later. The next 5 hours passed relatively quickly for me as I was able to read a book during the ride. However, the roads were catastrophic again, with one pothole after another. Upon arrival in Da Lat, we were once again harassed by taxi drivers. However, we decided to walk to the hostel, which turned out to be a bit exhausting. It started to rain and we had to walk uphill. When we checked into our hostel, which only cost €4 for 2 nights for both of us, we went to eat delicious Indian food. Our bellies were so full that we had to take a break at the hostel first. In the evening, we went back to the gym.

Day 91 Da Lat

Almost 'traditionally' there was Bahn Mi for breakfast again. I wore short clothes as always but realized right at the first step out the door that I had to change again. So, I put on the only long clothes I had with me. Da Lat was a bit higher and therefore significantly colder than usual. It was only about 20 degrees warm and also cloudy. With a borrowed scooter, we drove to Pongour waterfall, which was over an hour away. Here it was warmer again, and I started to sweat while walking up all the stairs again. To get to the waterfall, you had to walk down several flights of stairs. The view was really worth it, and this waterfall looked truly spectacular.

After that, we made our way to the next waterfall. We were really lucky with the weather here, as one half of the sky was completely dark and the other was almost cloudless. The Elephant waterfall wasn’t that special. However, the huge statue of a Buddha woman was really cool. Afterwards, we went to a small restaurant nearby for lunch.

After lunch, we drove to another waterfall, which, however, was in a resort. Since the entrance price was too high for us, we drove on towards Da Lat.

Shortly before the city, it started to rain. We had rain ponchos with us, but still got a little wet. So, we quickly drank a warm drink in a café and then drove to the hostel. Here, I first took a warm shower as I was freezing. After a longer break, we went to the night market again. I didn’t like this one as it was way too crowded and only sold clothing and small snacks. We quickly walked over the market and then went to a restaurant.