Hello Vietnam

प्रकाशित: 29.11.2017

समाचार पत्रिका के लिए सदस्यता लें

Without having planned to meet, Liz and I ran into each other at the airport in Jakarta, disoriented and tired, and were thrilled :) We went to a café and spent the waiting time at the airport talking about our experiences during our time apart. We both would have liked to stay longer in Indonesia, as two months is definitely too short for this country and we felt like we had just arrived... but we were also very excited about Vietnam. Especially the people, the coffee, and the chay food :)

Arriving in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), we went directly to the neighborhood of the bus station, as we planned to continue to the south, to the Mekong Delta, the next day. We booked a room (unintentionally) in an hourly hotel, and were wondering why the lady initially didn't want to give us a room, even though it was obvious that she rented rooms. We then slept surrounded by mirrors and a sexy poster on the wall.

After a night in this special guesthouse, we agreed to go to the small town of Cai Be in the Mekong Delta as our next destination, and we had a bus ride ahead of us with a breakdown and an unfriendly bus attendant. Arriving in Cai Be, we found accommodation (we named it the ghost hotel, as we were usually the only guests in the huge hotel) and were able to experience Vietnam and its first impressions.

Vietnam, the land of hammocks

The Vietnamese coffee is brewed using this filter, drips slowly into the glass, and is quite strong. It is usually drunk cold and with sweet condensed milk (Cafe sua da).

The national dish is pho, the noodle soup. It is served with various fresh herbs and is a wonderful breakfast. The fresh spring rolls are also popular, and we were happy when we found the first vegetarian ones :)

We noticed in the first few days that it's not so easy to live in a non-touristy place without speaking the language, and we were sometimes frustrated because it was impossible to rent a scooter or bike or find a place to do laundry. The Vietnamese "no" and the shaking hand that emphasizes it were probably the most common words we encountered in the first few days. As a result, during one of our evening market conversations, we decided to buy two motorcycles to be able to travel more freely and flexibly through Vietnam. We also started learning a bit of Vietnamese and remained friendly and persistent when we wanted to buy something or needed help. The Vietnamese people were initially very reserved, but after several visits (to street stalls, markets, cafes...), especially the women started smiling and tried to have conversations with us. In Cai Be, we also met a monk who proudly showed us around the temple complex, had clothes made, were surrounded by karaoke every day (it can be annoying early in the morning or at night :-D ), and explored the many small waterways.