I'm going with my lantern

Wow, how long ago is it that I made my own lantern and then walked with a glowing (not burning) lantern singing along behind the police? (I'm talking about a lantern procession, not an escalating demonstration). Probably it was in elementary school and I have to admit that I never thought I would ever hold a self-made lantern in my hand again and burst with pride. But first things first. I recently wrote to you directly from the night bus to Phong Nha and, funny enough, I am sitting in a night bus again now and writing to you. Recently, I have been changing places relatively quickly, so I will now only focus on the cool/interesting events. Otherwise, you will still be sitting in front of the computer reading my blog until the next lantern procession, and you all know that you get square eyes from that. Phong Nha itself was really small, to be honest there was only one big "important" street. The night bus dropped us off at exactly this street at 4 a.m. in the morning, but as a little artist, I actually managed to book a hostel outside this street. There was even a pick-up service, but they only expected me from 6 a.m., so I didn't want to wake anyone up from their sleep and walked 2 km in the dark in the middle of the night with heavy luggage. That was pretty creepy, and I almost shit my pants when a local came cycling out of nowhere. All sweaty, I stood in front of the locked door 45 minutes later and unfortunately had to wake up the hostel owner from his sleep. But he was really quick, because he wanted to give me a tour consultation at 5 a.m. My biggest respect, I probably wouldn't even have been able to open my eyes at his place. A few minutes later, I was lying in the bed and got 3 hours of sleep. Since I was really tired, I wanted to take it easy and wanted to go to the "Duck Farm". My hostel even had free bicycles, so I hopped on the saddle and later realized that you definitely couldn't call it "taking it easy". Because I totally underestimated the way, so I rode through the fields for a whole hour in the blazing midday sun and just wanted to lie down in the ditch and die. With a bright red tomato face, I arrived at the duck farm, where I immediately provided some entertainment. Because at first, nobody really wanted to believe that I really came voluntarily by bike. The way wasn't great even with the scooter. You are probably wondering why I went to a duck farm when I have runner ducks at home, right? Well, yes, it's just super cool there. You do a little program there where you first feed the ducks (they eat directly from your hand, which tickles), then you become the leader of the ducks and make a fool of yourself (like a duck) by waddling around quacking loudly and hoping that the ducks will follow you. Then there is a little foot massage where the ducks eat from your feet (which tickles a lot - I giggled a lot) and the grand finale is duck throwing. Actually, that sounds very brutal, but don't worry, the duck doesn't crash on the ground or hit a wall, it just takes off gracefully and lands in the small pond in an epic way (a bit like in a picture book - apart from the throwing). That was my great duck experience! But that shouldn't be my only winged experience for that day. I actually met two Englishmen there in Phong Nha with whom I chatted a bit and they invited me to the "Chicken Farm". They even offered to take me there by scooter (as generous as they are) so that I wouldn't have to pedal on the bike. I didn't want to miss out on that offer, so I agreed. Somehow, I assumed that they had two scooters, but they only had one, so the three of us drove through the fields in a relaxed manner. When we arrived at the chicken farm, they told me what they wanted to do there. Because it was a farm where you slaughter your own lunch. Okay, I really didn't expect that and stood there slightly overwhelmed because I definitely didn't want to slaughter anything. The duck slaughtering from earlier had already shaped me enough. I was really overwhelmed, especially when the girl came out of the house and asked dryly, "Do you wanna kill Chicken?!". She was maybe 13 years old and had no problem with that at all, and in the next few minutes, she asked who exactly wanted to kill the chicken, how we wanted to eat it, and who catches the chicken. I have to confess that I then detached myself a bit from this matter, but in a way, it was also funny again (the Englishmen lightened the situation with their humor). Simply because it sounded so absurd that tourists actually come every day to kill a chicken. And this desensitized attitude just completely confused me. In the end, the Englishman somehow couldn't overcome himself, so the girl just took the knife out of his hand and yes: she simply killed the chicken without hesitation. Of course, I understand that killing is part of eating meat, but since I didn't expect this action at all, I was slightly confused. I think I will never forget this sentence from her. Simply because all three of us stood there super perplexed when she asked us dryly if we wanted to kill the chicken. Everything was so absurd that we somehow just laughed awkwardly in front of us. Yeah, somehow strange that I wanted to take it "easy" and then ended up on a slaughterhouse at the end of the day. But I have to be honest that I didn't try the chicken because I lost my appetite a bit. It was somehow a situation where you don't know if it's good or bad. But thanks to the two Englishmen, I really had fun, and yeah, it was just an experience. So I sat on the bike on the way back and really wondered if that just happened. In Phong Nha, I also visited one of the biggest caves in Asia, which was really impressive. On the way there, I almost (emphasis on almost) threw myself into a mud puddle. It had rained quite a bit the day before, and I started to skid with the scooter, but luckily I got it under control at the last moment. I know, now you are a bit disappointed and you're sure I would have loved to tell you how I fell into a mud puddle, but don't worry: if something like that should happen to me again, I will take pictures and then it will be much funnier. However, I was somehow very glad that I didn't experience this mud action because it would have been very embarrassing to visit a cave covered in mud. In the cave itself, I only heard my own footsteps at times, which was really dreamlike. Because somehow there is always a constant noise level here in Vietnam, which sometimes gets on your nerves. And so, this silence in the cave was simply priceless.From Phong Nah, I went to Hue, but only as a short stopover. Because from there I wanted to rent a scooter to drive to Da Nang. The route is supposed to be fantastic. And yes, it really was. I sat there like an amazed little child on the scooter and turned my head like an owl to not miss a single corner of this beautiful nature. The ride through the mountains was definitely way too fast in my opinion, and suddenly I found myself in the city traffic of Da Nang. I underestimated the size of Da Nang and thought it was a small town. But nope, Da Nang is an extremely modern city along the coast. Actually, I had sworn to myself that I would never drive in a big city in Vietnam, but well, there I was. In the middle of a three-lane road surrounded by thousands of scooters that drive everywhere. And I was right in the middle! Sometimes I just couldn't believe it and wondered if I was crazy. But no, I merged with the Vietnamese traffic and just crossed the intersection honking wildly or slipped through the cars relaxed. When I think about it now, I get a bit of a shiver because I was really lucky that I didn't get into any accidents in the chaotic traffic. It's a situation that I probably won't even believe in a few months. Da Nang also deeply impressed me because it didn't look like Vietnam somehow. It looked like an American city on the coast (don't know which one, but American). Everything was so incredibly modern and chic. Somehow, it felt like entering a different world because I had never seen Vietnam like this before. For example, there is the Dragon Bridge, which is even illuminated in the evenings (it looks really beautiful) and in general, I really liked this big city vibe. From Da Nang, I went 30 km further south to Hoi An after 3 days, the city that is visited the most by tourists in all of Southeast Asia (or at least that's what I've been told). Or also the city of lanterns! Everything is just beautiful in Hoi An. No matter where you look, it looks artistic and beautiful. Colorful lanterns hang everywhere, and there are small alleys where you can always discover something new. Especially in the evening, it becomes enchanting because everything lights up in colors. Of course, it is unfortunately quite touristy and very crowded, so here and there you have to walk through the crowd with your elbows sticking out, but it still has its charm. So I mostly spent the next few days lying on the beach because it's really nice there, and otherwise, I did a lot of souvenir shopping. All the backpackers told me that I should save the souvenir shopping for Hoi An, and at first, I didn't understand that at all because I definitely didn't want to buy any rice hats or other typical trinkets. But now I understand what they meant. Because there are just so many beautiful alternative things that you really only get there. My hostel owner Lily was just totally enchanting and recommended a lot of nice things to me. Lily is really a darling, she is really dedicated. She even drove me to a special coffee shop on her scooter when I asked her where I could get good coffee. And otherwise, everything is very familial there. So in the evening, there is always a family dinner where everyone sits together and eats together. Lily cooked Vietnamese food for all of us, and a little later, we filled our own spring rolls with greens, rice pancakes with shrimp, and papaya salad with rice paper. And that was so delicious. The fresh spring rolls are really very good here. On her recommendation, I also did a lantern workshop, which is really super interesting. Actually, I felt like I was back in elementary school for two whole hours, because I was so proud of this lantern and would have loved to walk with it in a lantern procession from elementary school (size-wise, that probably wouldn't have been noticed). Now I have my very own self-made lantern that I can hang up in my room later and look at it with pride. You notice that you become a child again through the smallest things. I actually noticed this especially when gluing with liquid glue - I was never particularly good at that, so in the end, much more than just the agreed part was glued on.Now it's really almost time, in a month I will be home. And I noticed that I haven't written the return flight date here properly yet. Next Friday, I will fly for my last three weeks to the Philippines and let my legs dangle a bit there before I fly back into your arms. My return flight is on May 9th at 9:50 a.m. from Manila. Then I have a layover in Singapore for 10 hours, but that's not dramatic because I can even leave the airport there. I will land on May 10th at 7:20 a.m. in Berlin. That still seems completely distant and unreal to me, but soon it will be real!Oh yes, my dear ones. The message of this text is that you can definitely enjoy even the smallest things, like making a lantern. Maybe now you feel like crafting something, and to that I can only say, "Don't let anything stop you!".Feel hugged and go a little way with your lantern, because it also goes a little way with you.