I am already in the third country within Asia! However, Thailand is the first country that I have not visited before. I started my Asia trip in Bali. Just like last year, I landed in Denpasar on May 1st. So, for me, it can become an annual tradition! I spent 2 weeks in Bali surfing and relaxing on the beach.
During this time, I treated myself to a double room. Anyone who has traveled for a long time knows how good it feels to have your own kingdom for a few days. Until then, I didn't even know that I missed it so much^^. So, if I had had a German washing machine, everything would have been perfect. I don't know why, but nowhere else have I felt that the laundry gets as clean as at home. Who would have thought? :D
I also went on a few day trips with the scooter. I was so excited to drive through the chaotic streets without traffic rules again :D Sounds strange, but since there are hardly any rules, no one gets upset either. In Asia, I haven't even been scolded once when I squeezed through somewhere again or used the sidewalk to bypass the traffic. Leaving Bali is never easy, but I was also excited to meet Laura in Vietnam. I met Laura while picking cherries in New Zealand. Our anger against the company really brought us together :D I had already been to Vietnam, but there were still some places that I missed last time and wanted to see. Female Buddha in Da Nang We started our Vietnam journey in the middle of the country - in Da Nang.We visited Hoi An, which was a must-see because it was one of my highlights from last year. Hoi An has not lost any of its charm since last year. The river, the lanterns, and the delicious food were worth coming back for! In Hoi An, there are many tailor shops, which are frequently used by tourists to have a custom-made dress made, for example.We also had dresses tailored for us. It took less than 24 hours, and the quality did not suffer!Shortly before sunset, the beach in Hoi An is crowded with locals. You can hardly see the sea because of all the people :D Afterwards, we continued to Hue, where we rode to an abandoned water park with the scooter. Fortunately, it rained the day before, which made it a little cooler.In every city, there is a specialty that you can't find anywhere else. In Hue, there were rice noodles with vegetables and peanut sauce. One of the most delicious dishes in Vietnam! Hue is known for its sleeper buses. We traveled from Hue to the capital, Hanoi, which took 14 hours. Hanoi has a certain charm that is different from other cities in Vietnam. We went to my favorite local restaurant there, and it was just as delicious as I remembered. If not even better!! In the past year, I spent 3 days in the mountains in Sapa. It was raining at that time, and since the northern region is said to be the most beautiful in all of Vietnam, I had to go there again. This time, however, I went to Ha Giang in the northeast. From Ha Giang, we started a 4-day motorbike tour that would leave us in awe from the first to the last day!GaOne group left at a specific time to bypass the police checkpoint at the outskirts of Ha Giang. However, after about 1 hour, Laura and I had already lost the group :D But that was fine with us because in a group, you can't stop whenever you want. Since I felt like stopping after every turn, the model of 'riding in a group' was not an option for us :D.But at the end of the day, we always met up again at the next hostel. There, we had the so-called family dinner with plenty of rice wine to wash it down :D Once we reached a certain level (typical Asia^^), we would also start the karaoke machine. We had a great group, and it was always nice to spend the evening together. In total, we covered 420 kilometers. We saw countless rice terraces and rivers, passed by massive limestone mountains, crossed countless mountain villages, and tackled part of the most dangerous road in Vietnam.There were always women and children dressed in their traditional colorful clothes carrying the harvest on their backs.Many children stood by the roadside and clapped with us. Once, a little girl had her hand a bit too close to her face, and Laura accidentally hit her face. The poor girl got a slap in the face.. oops :D The route is not entirely safe, though. As a beginner, I wouldn't have dared to do it. We were in China for a few meters! In the photo, Laura is in China, and I am right on the border. I could even see a Chinese flag in the distance! There was only this one point where you could cross the border unsupervised because at other points, there were soldiers who wouldn't hesitate to arrest you as soon as you crossed the border. Walking from Vietnam to China :D After saying goodbye to everyone and returning the motorbikes (which wasn't sooo difficult in the end because after 4 days, we started feeling some pain :D), we took the sleeper bus to Cat Ba. Cat Ba is an island in the famous Ha Long Bay.We unfortunately had bad weather, so we rented a scooter to reach a viewpoint at the other end of the island.A green ladder attached to a rock led us to the viewpoint. This ladder was sometimes steeper than 90 degrees! This trip proved to me that apparently, I can handle heights quite well. Sweaty hands wouldn't have been ideal^^ On our way back, we unfortunately had an accident with the scooter. A dog ran onto the road out of nowhere, and we couldn't avoid it. I got away with a small scrape on my leg, but Laura unfortunately got more injured on her leg. We then went to a hospital, which can hardly be called a hospital.It looked like a hospital that hasn't been in operation for 20 years. Fortunately, the X-ray showed that nothing was broken. Since Laura only had a few more days until her flight back to Germany, we left it at that and bought crutches for 7! Euros :D In the end, we could laugh about the whole situation. A lot :D Laura flew home, and I explored another part of southern Vietnam.I finally tried the famous Vietnamese baguette Banh Mi! Dalat Fairy Stream in Mui Ne. Here, you walk through the stream for about 20 minutes, passing by the rock formations.The Mekong Delta was certainly my highlight. Now, I am traveling in northern Thailand and enjoying the delicious food here as well! More about that in the next report :) See you soon and best regards!
