3주가 얼마나 빨리 지나가는지

Since we landed in the same district of Saigon again and discovered the places of our excursions through the vibrant city at the beginning of our trip from the car, this became particularly clear to me.

Near our hotel there was a beautiful park with tall trees, water features and lovingly arranged flower beds. Game areas were marked on the ground and the sports equipment in the park indicated that there is a lot going on here in the morning.

Since we are early risers, we want to join in the morning hustle and bustle and become part of the city and its inhabitants. That's what you would call lived integration in Germany.

We put on our clothes, which can easily withstand a few hours of sports, and are amazed that even on a Saturday morning at 6 o'clock no motorbike wants to stand still. I wonder where the people here are going so early in the morning or is it just good manners to be part of the morning caravan?

We find a way across the busy street and are happy about the proximity to some greenery in a sealed city. My shoes turn out to be real running wonders and so we circle around the park, past the many walkers, runners, badminton players, martial artists, girls from the pop gym team who create a huge noise with their giant amplifier - but that doesn't matter - so we continue to the next round before we move on to the equipment and Kerstin even goes into the crocodile, one of her favorite asanas.

We sweat like crazy but it's fun. Part 2 of our sports lesson is planned for the last day.

The breakfast tastes twice as delicious.

A taxi takes us to the bus station after check-out. Next destination: Ben Tre in the Mekong Delta. The small shuttle bus picks us up, a passenger offers us a few spoons from his breakfast box, fish with rice - phew, good thing we've already eaten. After a twenty-minute and hair-raising ride through the jungle of Saigon, we arrive at the bus station right in front of our big bus to Ben Tre. We bravely endure the sales shows of the passing vendors (buns, rice packets, newspapers...) and enjoy the tour. The shuttle from Ben Tre to our hotel is even wilder than the one in Saigon. We jump out of the bus at a street.

We walk the last 10 minutes under coconut trees and a little later we enthusiastically stand in the garden of the hotel directly by the river - oh yes, these will be 2 great days here.

We take possession of our room, an apartment with an open-air bathroom, jump into the pool and then onto the bike. Our extremely friendly receptionist recommends a tour through the rice fields.

And again we discover a piece of home and feel like riding through Gusow or Oderbruch. The residents greet us very friendly, we greet the children with the pioneer salute and return several HELLOS. The village communities seem to function perfectly, somehow everyone has something to do, no one hangs around, except for a grandma who makes herself comfortable in her hammock while her granddaughter sweeps the patio.

Hungry and just in time for sunset, we enjoy it on the terrace with a good meal and happily say goodbye to the day.

Stefan