Nha Trang and Da Lat

After a 6-hour delay due to flight delay, we arrived in Nha Trang. With a bus driver who made us feel like we were participating in a race at Mario Kart, we raced into the city without regard for losses. Advertised as the Miami Beach of Vietnam, it quickly became clear to us: we have landed in the Russian Ballermann of Vietnam. All signs, shops, and offers were in Russian. According to the locals, there are cheap direct flights from Moscow, which probably explains this phenomenon.

There was no real relaxation we had hoped for. We thought we would treat ourselves, but we were accommodated in a tourist mass bunker. Beer was already consumed for breakfast at 8:30 am, wild parties were celebrated in the pool on inflatable unicorns, blow-drying and telephone calls were made in the spa area during massages, and people were unusually unfriendly. Not a nice place, so after four long days, we took a bus to the mountains to Da Lat. The journey was another adventure. The two bus drivers didn't speak a single word, no matter in which language, so we didn't even know if we were on the right bus and recklessly drove over the narrow streets, narrowly avoiding accidents several times.

In Da Lat, we stayed at Mr. Rot's Secret Hotel, a small hotel run by locals, very familiar and warm. After the nerve-wracking bus ride, we decided to have a coffee first and ended up in a super nice small coffee shop where people from all over the world work together with locals. So we spent the whole afternoon there with avocado toast, iced tea, coffee, and beer :D

The next day, we took part in Mr. Rot's famous Secret Tour with Australians, Israelis, and an American. According to the American, Mr. Rot is 'a real character' and in the first part of the tour, he took us to a village near his hometown in the mountains. This is not so unproblematic after the Vietnam War because during the war, soldiers disguised as tourists went to these villages and killed the residents there. But Mr. Rot speaks the language of these villagers and so we got a very authentic impression of life there, which kept us busy until evening. The people live in really poor conditions, some with 14 children, but on the other hand, they have so many traditions and common rituals that we could only marvel at this foreign world and also reflected on our own lives. At noon, we ate rice noodles with vegetables in a village kitchen and for dessert, we got typical fruits with an explanation for each fruit, which was really interesting and delicious. In addition, Mr. Rot's cousin (who confusingly was named 'Jessica') explained to us which typical hand signals are (not) used in Vietnam. For example, crossed fingers, which mean 'good luck' for us, mean 'fuck you' here... Good to know :D In the afternoon, we visited a silk-spinning factory, a market, and Vietnam's second-largest waterfall, the 'elephant waterfall'. We climbed the rocks on adventurous paths and were rewarded with spectacular views. At the end, there was a 'dinner': grilled grasshoppers, a specialty of the country - the jungle camp 2020 can come...

In the evening, we treated ourselves to a proper dinner and wanted to have a nightcap in a bar-garage next to our hotel on the way back. There, we immediately fell in love with a little dog, the guardian of the bar. A proud little dog who attentively guards his territory in the penguin walk with his chest out. It must be said that this dog was clearly a male, but was named Sue... Everything's a bit different here... Now trying to figure out the best way to bring He-She-Sue to Germany :D

Today we are flying on to Saigon, where we will meet a group tomorrow with whom we will travel through Cambodia.