The seventeenth week

Day 115-121

On Monday, January 29th We also spent most of our time in bed. In the morning we went for a Bánh mí, a sandwich with a baguette. We met Dat, a young Vietnamese man. He spoke passable English and was otherwise able to help himself easily with the translation app. He called a friend, Sam. He is an English teacher from Morocco who teaches here in Kim Sơn. We spoke to him on the phone for a bit.

We arranged to meet both of them for the next day. They want to show us the area. In the evening we had an oil change done. Next to the workshop there was an electrical shop that was celebrating something. At least there were lots of people, lights and balloons. Some young people came over to take photos with us. We were also given balloons!

Unfortunately Dat couldn't do it anymore the next day. So Sam showed us a temple and a nice café in the mountains. Unfortunately it was quite foggy again so we couldn't see much.

We talked to Sam for a long time and had lunch together. Then Sam had to go home because he still has to prepare lessons.

I also wanted to lie down for once. It's all still a bit tiring, even though my cold is definitely better today!

On January 31st we drove to Ninh Bính. We drove along a cool road in the mountains. There was hardly any traffic. We glided past a reservoir and followed a river. The road was in good condition and extremely curvy!

Shortly before Ninh Bính we unfortunately had to turn onto a larger road for 10 km. We'll add these a little more quickly so that we can quickly leave the trucks and buses behind us.

In Ninh Bính we stayed in a nice homestay. There are only karst mountains around us. Ivar went out to eat alone in the evening. I have gastrointestinal problems. Great, first the cold, now this! Ivar also took away laundry and since we are starting to think about selling our scooters, Ivar bravely approached a few scooter dealers. Nobody wanted to buy scooters. Ivar told the owner of our homestay about it and he knew someone who would probably buy scooters. He's coming over tomorrow.

The next day we drove to Tráng An Nature Reserve. There are many karst mountains here and a system of waterways winds around them. You can take a boat around the area and even go through caves!

There was a German couple in the boat with us who were traveling around the world. So we sailed around, sometimes paddled along and enjoyed the sun that was finally showing again.

We were also let out at a few temples. But we've really seen enough temples now! The Dot Cave, which is 1 km long and leads under a mountain, was exciting. It's so low that we have to keep ducking our heads!

Back at our homestay the man was there who might want to buy our scooters. The homestay owner, his father and the man inspected the scooters. Interestingly, they didn't want to take a test drive! They just let the engine roar loudly. Actually good for us, so they didn't see that the speedometers were broken. Luckily mine started pretty quickly too. In the last few days it has taken longer and longer to get started properly. What else is broken? Ivar's fuel gauge, Ivar's front light, my rear brake is slowly wearing out and apparently my spark plug (when my scooter stopped again in the rain, Ivar wrapped a plastic bag around the spark plug. That did some good at first. Luckily I removed the bag beforehand! ). So you've already rocked a bit. Of course we could have had everything repaired, but it is questionable whether we would have gotten a better price.

On February 3rd Ivar went on a farewell tour with his scooter. Suddenly he becomes very sentimental! I stayed in bed because of gastroenteritis. It was raining lightly anyway. In the evening we went out for something to eat. Then we handed the scooters over to the new owner, the owner of the homestay!

On February 4th we took the bus to Cat Ba, an island off Vietnam. Here is the famous Ha Long Bay, where a James Bond film was once filmed!

After we arrived we took a nap. In the evening we had something to eat and met Markus! We met him in Tuy Hoa, together with Achim. We chatted for a bit and at some point Michael said goodbye.

We walked a bit along the harbor and then soon returned to our accommodation.