'For here or to go?'

Hello everyone!

Originally, I had written a really long and beautiful text that I wanted to publish, but my phone has finally given up on me and actually wanted to give me a real break. But more on that later. So I'll try to rush through this a bit, because it always takes so long to write a text.

Last time, I raved about everything Hoi An and my next destination was Da Lat. I took the night bus there, which was of course super uncomfortable and not very sleep-filled for me, but the sunrise was priceless! Because Da Lat is located in the mountains in southern Vietnam, the ride was very windy but fantastic. We felt like we were above the clouds right on time for the sunrise and had a breathtaking view over the valley. Once arrived in Da Lat, I really rushed through the next few days and was out and about every day from morning till late evening. I walked so much and explored everything on foot one day, which was quite exhausting because everything was so far apart. I visited the 'crazy' house, which really impressed me because it had a pretty crazy architect. Da Lat is also known as the city of flowers, which is really cute because you see flowers everywhere.

For the next day, I rented a scooter and zoomed around. I was completely overwhelmed by nature, because the route was once again beautiful. I was surrounded by coffee and flower plantations for 45 minutes. After visiting the famous 'Elephant Waterfall', I finally decided to stop at a coffee plantation to taste the coffee and enjoy the view. I could only visit half of the coffee plantation, so 10 minutes later I was sitting on the viewing platform and ordering a coffee. It turned out to be a bit more difficult because they had about 15 different types of coffee. I just ordered something (I think it was Mocca Butter something) and then I was a bit overwhelmed when the woman came with a large tray with my coffee. First, she put a bowl of sugar, then a jug of milk, then a glass cup, then the filter with the coffee, and finally a hot cup of water. I understood everything up to the filter, but the cup of hot water completely threw me off. Cold water would have made some sense to me, maybe for neutralizing or something, but hot water? That made no sense to me at all. So I sat there completely overwhelmed and didn't know how to drink the coffee 'properly'. After a while, I decided to ignore the cup of hot water and just drink the coffee as it is. By that time, the coffee had already cooled down due to my contemplation, but it still tasted good. It must have looked very funny because I just sat there without any movement for about 20 minutes, staring at that cup of hot water. After this very interesting coffee experience, I continued zooming through the plantations and ended up randomly at one of the longest cable cars in Vietnam and thought 'why not?'. So I floated over the mountains for the next few minutes, a whopping 2.4 km long!! And then I had to do it all over again: simply amazing!! Unfortunately, right after the cable car ride, I rode directly into a downpour, so within seconds I was completely drenched. At first, I thought that since I am already wet, I could just drive straight to the hostel. But eventually, the rain got so heavy that I couldn't see anything anymore and I really wished I had windshield wipers for my eyes. So I spontaneously pulled over and ran into a café super fast. There, I was greeted with 'It's raining!'. Dripping wet, I just nodded and had to laugh because I was well aware of that. Anyway, I wanted to order a tea to warm up and wait, and the best part was that the waiter asked me completely seriously 'For here or to go?'. He definitely had a sense of humor, and I found the idea of sitting on my scooter in the worst weather, sipping my hot tea, very amusing. But since my pants were sticking to my legs and I felt like I had peed myself, I decided to go with the 'for here' option. After the rain stopped, I calmly (but still soaking wet) hopped on the scooter and was surprised for 10 minutes that the mirror fell off for no reason in the middle of the ride. I'm really proud of myself because my reaction time was record-breaking: I actually caught the mirror! A mirror to go! Fortunately, there was no trouble about the mirror, so I could leave Da Lat without any entries in my criminal record.

My next stop was Mui Ne, which is located on the coast and is famous for its sand dunes. I met a really nice Dutch girl (Tamar) at my hostel, and we booked a sunrise tour together for the next day. We visited all the important spots in Mui Ne, but we were both a bit disappointed because we had to pay again everywhere, which was really annoying. But since we had each other, we tried to make it fun, and that made it okay. For example, we sneaked into a super expensive hotel together to secretly use the pool and have direct access to the sea. It was a real thrill, but no one noticed that we didn't belong to the hotel (even though I had my stinky travel towel with me). Actually, I still have an embarrassing story to tell about Mui Ne. I was alone in a restaurant there (just before I met Tamar) and ordered a Vietnamese noodle soup and enjoyed it peacefully until I realized that I had forgotten my wallet. In the middle of a bite, I suddenly froze and thought 'Shit! You've already eaten almost everything!'. I was so embarrassed that I ran to the owner all red-faced and explained the situation, and I would have liked to run off immediately to get my money. But she just laughed and pointed at the bowl, as if to say that I should finish eating first and then casually get my money. Of course, at that point, relaxation didn't matter to me because I felt so guilty, so I quickly shoveled the rest of the soup into my mouth and wanted to give her my bag as a 'deposit', but she didn't care at all and just let me go. Of course, I still ran like crazy and quickly brought her the money, but yeah: it was no big deal to her. Really crazy, because if that had happened in Germany, they would have either thrown me out immediately or taken my whole family hostage. I love this laid-back attitude in Asia. I wish I could bring that back home and share a piece of it with all of Germany. Sometimes it's just nice to trust. I have really learned that so well here.

Well, that was another typical 'Philine moment' that I can already laugh about now. So my time in Mui Ne was already over, and Tamar and I then went to Ho Chi Minh City (also called Saigon), where not much happened. It was great to spend my last days in Vietnam with Tamar, but yeah. Then I had to say goodbye twice: to Tamar and of course to Vietnam. On April 18th, I sat at the airport in Saigon in the evening (my flight was at 1 am on April 19th) and I was so incredibly excited. Somehow, it felt like I was going home and I was just so curious about the Philippines. I specifically didn't do any research because I wanted to experience everything live on site.

So yes, I am now in the Philippines and I love it! Everything is similar but still different. The Philippines are relatively well developed, but still quite untouristy, especially in the quieter areas. Manila itself was not particularly beautiful, and I didn't have the best experiences there, but I was warned about that. So I left Manila after one night and took a night bus to Donsol. And now I understand why everyone says that it is so difficult to travel here. Because this journey was so complicated. First, I had to be taken to the bus station by taxi, just to hear there that my bus doesn't leave at 4 pm (as they told me at the hostel) but at 9 pm. Since the bus station was in the worst area ever, I couldn't really go somewhere else. Finally, after 5 hours of waiting, I was on the bus and tried desperately to sleep for the next 12 hours. In Legazpi, the night bus ride was over, and from there I was supposed to take an 'Express Van', but it didn't leave based on time, but only when all seats were fully occupied. So I stood at the bus station for another 2 hours because there weren't enough people yet. Finally, we finally drove off. Everyone was squeezed onto their seats, as everyone even had to hold their backpacks on their laps, which left hardly any space to breathe. Of course, I was then dropped off completely tired in the middle of nowhere, where I had to take a tricycle (Philippine tuk-tuks). So I arrived at the hostel super tired, but fortunately, I could relax there by the pool. Donsol itself is quite small and untouristy, but it is THE spot for whale sharks. And yes, my friends! I snorkeled with whale sharks for a wonderful 3 hours. The beautiful thing is that the whale sharks live and swim there naturally. There is another place in the Philippines (Oslob) where the whale sharks are specifically lured with food for the tourists. The tourists certainly don't care that this is extremely bad for the whale sharks. They just want a nice photo. But the crazy thing is that this feeding behavior naturally changes the swimming behavior of the whale sharks. They always swim up to the surface to get the food. The whale sharks in Donsol, on the other hand, live there naturally. So none of them came to the surface, they just swam peacefully around. It was incredibly amazing, but initially overwhelming for me. Because the tour guide drove around in a boat and then gave us a signal to get ready. Then he shouted 'Go!' and we had to jump in and start snorkeling immediately. At first, it was a bit stressful, but after a few times, we got the hang of it and it became easy. It was really breathtaking because at first, you only see blue water, and then suddenly this huge mouth appears out of nowhere and you have to turn as quickly as possible so that you can snorkel peacefully next to the whale shark. It was so incredibly exhausting, but so worth it! I was swimming with the largest fish in the world! We saw a total of 12 whale sharks, and I couldn't get enough of it. Every time I spotted a whale shark underwater, I screamed with joy and eagerly paddled after it. These giant creatures are so fantastic and elegant. It was the best thing I could do there, and even now, writing about it, it still feels unreal. What an incredibly breathtaking experience! While snorkeling, I met another Dutch girl, and I spontaneously joined her on a boat trip to Cebu because flights are currently extremely expensive due to the holidays. So I'm currently traveling together with her, which is just great. But just before we started, my phone completely fell apart, which I somehow expected all the time, but still, I had hoped that it would last for the last few weeks. The crazy thing is that it still basically works, I just can't see anything on the display, so it seems that only the connection cable is broken. I wanted to try asking at a shop here to see if they can maybe repair it, and if not, I can also get a cheap used one for the remaining time or not. That's why I'm currently not really reachable, so don't be surprised if I don't reply. I'm incredibly happy here and I even enjoy not being reachable in a certain way. So I'll just enjoy the last few weeks here and I don't know if I'll manage to write another blog entry. I'll see depending on how much time I have. Since I'm traveling together with the Dutch girl for the next few days, everything is fine and we have a phone for maps and such. As I said, I feel fantastic and I'm so happy to have flown to the Philippines because the people here are incredible! Everyone speaks English so well, and everyone is super interested. Every single person greets you on the street and wants to help you immediately, without taking advantage of you. Everyone is smiling and has an incredibly great vibe, it's so contagious. So Yentl (the Dutch girl) and I walk around with big smiles on our faces and chat with the Filipinos here and there. All of this feels like a vacation after the loud and sometimes stressful Vietnam. So I will soak up everything wonderful here and then fall into your arms in 2.5 weeks and cuddle with all of you. Oh, and don't worry: you might have heard about the earthquake in the Philippines. But I am not in that area and will stay in the safe zone. So you don't have to worry about that.

Oh well, my dear ones. That's it for now, and maybe I'll write another entry or see you at home. I will continue to snorkel, swim, lie on the beach, and generally soak up this amazing atmosphere. It's so cool with Yentl, as we are quite similar (for example, we both act like children). So we were in the supermarket and found giant soap bubbles and we were both so excited about it and immediately bought them so that we can make soap bubbles on the beach. Oh, that will be so much fun!!!

Whee, I'm really looking forward to coming home and at the same time, I'm really here and enjoying everything. Rest assured, I will be lying on the beach slurping coconut water or secretly following a turtle with my snorkeling gear. In general, just imagine being hugged the Filipino way and getting a little splash of saltwater.

Ps: Pictures will follow later, it's all a bit complicated right now.