The Power of Water

With a comfortable sleeper bus, we will travel from Ho Chi Minh City to Hoi An over 20 hours from November 15th to 16th.

Hoi An is located in Central Vietnam, where a severe typhoon passed through 14 days ago. Along the way, we see the damages that were caused. In the small town of Hoi An, water still stands in the side streets; not everything has been cleared away, and the bustling activity of the town has not fully resumed yet.

About Hoi An: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoi_An.
An excerpt: 'Furthermore, the old town is the only one that remained intact during the Vietnam War. The old town was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999 because it is considered a well-preserved example of a Southeast Asian trading port from the period between the 15th and 19th centuries.' Hoi An has an extraordinary charm with its old houses, traditional details, and the bustle of small boutiques offering their colorful lanterns, tailor-made clothing, and paintings. Beautiful coffee and tea houses invite for a stay. It all sounds quite relaxing - but it is not (anymore). Thousands of tourists are crowding the alleyways, just how I imagine the Drosselgasse in Rüdesheim. But we don’t mind; we take the quieter side street :-)

AND: the actual topic No. 1 is the flooding. Of the water mass that the river pressed into the streets and houses, much is still not cleared from the last time. Soon, the next rain came from the mountains, raising the level again. From Sunday evening until this morning, we could watch the water rise; we can no longer leave our hotel with dry feet. Even at the sea, signs of the storm can be seen. Debris washed ashore, sandbags that have partially failed to secure the beach, stranded goods, collapsed walls, and buildings. Few tourists, who are trying to adjust to the wet conditions - we initially considered staying close to the beach as well and were glad we didn’t decide to do that.

Now we are making the most of our time, enjoying watching and marveling at how calmly the residents are adapting to the wet conditions. Once you get wet, you simply stay wet; it’s still warm enough - even refreshingly pleasant after the hot days. We switch from the moped to bicycles and take our rounds through the water.

Nevertheless, we hope it won't get worse; we want to be in Hanoi by Sunday, and for that, we need to get to the nearby airport in Da Nang. We experienced two years ago in Central Vietnam that this could go wrong; in Hue, we almost couldn't reach the airport due to flood waters. We have allowed two days of buffer for our onward journey, and the forecasts look good. Now we’ll just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings!