Hoi An & Da Lat 🇻🇳

Hoi An, the next city that got under my skin. We took the night bus further south again. This time it was a whole 15 hours on the bus. When I arrived in Hoi An I was greeted with the best weather and 33 degrees. For me, I first went to the hostel and to the pool for a few hours to wash away the bus journey. In the evening we went to the city center, or rather the old town, where I was greeted with a beautiful sunset. From the first moment I just really liked Hoi An, all the yellow houses, colorful lights and liveliness. The city is known for its many colorful lanterns and lights, which give the city a very unique but cozy vibe. In the evenings there are always boats on the river with colorful lanterns and floating candle lanterns in between. It's quite crowded with tourists but it's definitely still easy to endure here. Of course, we also visited one or two bars and enjoyed the live music. The next day we explored the surrounding area on a scooter. Being by the sea for the first time since Sydney was indescribable and then also in Vietnam, a country that surprised me quite a bit. We started our tour in Da Nang at Marble Mountain. It is a huge cave where everything is full of Budda and holy statues. You can then continue up a fairly narrow staircase until you stand on a small platform in the middle of the mountain. From there you have the perfect view over Da Nang and the surrounding area. We continued with a stop at the sea, especially for me, before we continued on to another temple. This one had a huge Buddha statue overlooking the sea. I ended the afternoon on the beach until sunset. In the evening we went back to the old town for dinner. For the next 3 days we changed accommodation so we could be right in the old town. This day we explored the old town a little more closely. There are so many galleries with breathtaking paintings and Hoi An is also famous for its many tailor shops where everyone can have the perfectly tailored outfit made for them. However, I didn't have a perfect outfit made for me, but rather a perfect tattoo! Well, that was how my last day in Hoi An was spent. 9 hours until the perfect piece of art was finished on my shoulder and I was the happiest person in Hoi An. Next evening I took the bus to Da Lat again. When I arrived there, I was initially quite surprised at the size of the city. I was expecting a small town in the mountains, but I ended up in a big city without mountains. I spent the morning in a coffee shop and looked for a hostel. After checking in, I went into the city and got an overview. Then I took a little power nap in a park by the lake. In the evening there was a big family dinner in the hostel. We were really pampered by the owners and the food was, as always, delicious here. Afterwards a few of us went to the famous Maze Bar for a beer. The bar is really awesome and it's pretty easy to get lost with one too many beers. The next day was spent on the scooter again. First we went to the Crazy House. Well this house deserves its name with all the different rooms, roofs, gardens and corners. So it's pretty easy to get lost there. Then we continued to a lake a little outside of the city. There we looked at the ClayTunnel, which is a kind of small city made of clay. We continued along breathtaking views of 3 waterfalls. To get to the waterfalls you have to go down a lot of steps. In theory you could also do it on a summer toboggan run, but that was too expensive for us. On the way to the last waterfall, two nice locals gave us their tickets for the way up on the summer toboggan run. So we saved ourselves the effort and also had the fun of the summer toboggan run. So the friendliness of the locals here is really just fascinating! In the evening at the night market I just happened to meet a couple that I met in Hoi An. We then ended the day again in the Maze Bar. Unfortunately, we're now moving on to my last destination in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh. 🫶🏼