Pubblicato: 28.07.2019
Disclaimer: This post was written under difficult emotional state.
Hoi An is not a greeting, but a city in Vietnam. Haha. After the long train journey, we finally arrived at the hostel and were excited to relax by the pool and stay at a really great hostel. In short: It didn't turn out that way. At 4 pm, we looked out from the balcony at the pool and wondered if we had accidentally ended up in the Amsterdam Red Light District or the Bierkönig in Mallorca. A gang of 18-20-year-old English boys and girls were busy getting themselves drunk to the point of a coma, listening to incredibly loud and ugly music, licking each other's nipples, and even stripping and engaging in dry humping. We were a bit shocked. Well, we thought: Let's make it a 'psychological experiment' and try to mingle with the people. The result: NO CHANCE!!!!! There was only one person with whom we could hold a conversation for more than 2 minutes. The drinking went so far that at 5 a.m., some idiots who had locked themselves out of their room slept on the floor in front and the room had to be broken open with a hammer.
Then more problems arose: The AC didn't work at first, the power went out for a day, and 2 hours later the water also cut off (we couldn't even flush). So our laundry wasn't done either, which had been damp and stinky in garbage bags for 5 days.
So we went to the city.
We rented a scooter and drove to the Old Town of Hoi An, which is really beautiful. Sweet little streets, old houses, small shops, and everything adorned with lanterns. It's even more beautiful at night when they all light up. The city is also known for tailoring clothes and Näthu got a suit made. So now he's a fancy guy.
In the evening, we watched the (cloud-covered) sunset at the beach.
The next day, we wanted to have a beach day because the sky was so bright blue. So we went to a nice beach, ordered lunch, and 5 minutes later it started raining. It seems that it's not possible to have a beach day without rain during this vacation... Well, tough luck for us, but actually it doesn't matter. We then sat in the sea (since we were already wet anyway) for quite a long time, which was warmer than the air outside, and thus we still had our beach day.
In the evening, we met up again with the tour group from Cambodia, some of whom continued on to Vietnam, in Hoi An. We had dinner and had dessert on the street (ice cream and frog meat - yummy yummy) and then got some drinks at Tiger Tiger ('Don't be a pussy, be a Tiger'???!). Finally, we danced to hit songs like Backstreet Boys and Spice Girls - awesome stuff! Satisfied, we went home.
Today, we have been sitting in the bus for hours with the last bit of nerves that we could dig up. The bus is so shitty that we canceled the second bus that we were supposed to take and instead booked a (unfortunately much more expensive) night train.
First, we were driven to the bus by a very unfriendly person in a shuttle bus. So we stood there, not knowing where to go or what will happen, no one talked to us. Okay, eventually a sleeper bus arrived, meaning the seats are lowered so that you could sleep in them. As good as that sounds - IT STILL SUCKS. The bus keeps shaking and shaking and shaking. The staff is incredibly rude. It never stops to let people go to the bathroom or buy something to eat/drink (luckily, there is something like a toilet on the bus - not all of them have it). Also, there often isn't enough space for all the people, so half of the guests just sit on the floor. Fortunately, Näthu and I were lucky enough to get the best seats.
Furthermore, the bus is already very late and no one can tell us when we will approximately arrive (no one speaks English). Then there are the screaming children, the smell of piss, and someone is vomiting loudly - upside: masks the smell of piss.
BUT: Hopefully, we will arrive soon at Phong Nha National Park, where we have booked the coolest accommodation of all time and now have three nights to relax and explore the amazing caves. See you soon with a hopefully much more positive post.
PS: We are fine!!!! So this post should be understood half-ironically.