Can Tho / Ho Chi Minh City 🇻🇳

The first meal in Vietnam is logically a Pho, despite some concerns, I still feel good the next day. After only 4 hours of sleep, we leave at 5 a.m. because we have rented a boat with a driver to go to the Mekong Delta and visit the Floating Market. It's freezing cold and after about 5 stops because of some trash stuck in the propeller of the longtail boat, we finally arrive. The mood is getting dangerous.

The whole experience is fascinating, every boat sells pretty much one product, the boats are full of watermelons, pineapples, ginger, etc. But the craziest thing for me are the people living on the boats, it's worth mentioning that they brush their teeth with the water from the Mekong without dropping dead instantly. And now let's talk about the garbage, which seems to end up in the Mekong from everyone.

We continue our journey, which we didn't really understand before, to a rice noodle factory. But it's not worth mentioning except for the gecko crawling up my leg.

Floating Market number 2 is on the list, and on the way there, desperation sets in about what we're actually doing here. It's still cold, we take turns sleeping, and after about 1 hour of traveling, we finally arrive. About 5 boats mainly selling tourist stuff are waiting for us and trying to sell us things. My mood is getting more dangerous.

As it seems to us, we're on our way back, the sun is slowly rising, and it's not so cold anymore, but we still fall asleep. But since we take a different route, we end up in the countryside. It looks like we're really driving through the jungle, and the mood improves. Out of nowhere, the driver stops, and for whatever reason, we're supposed to get off. We're somewhere in the jungle, have no idea where, but we just walk in the direction that the driver drove. Among palm trees, banana plants, and other fruit trees, we end up on a fruit farm. Our driver is there again and invites us in. By now it's clear that the tour is actually good! There's Pho and hammocks, so everything is fine.

Back in Can Tho, we first go to the hostel where the confused but really nice Vietnamese woman has been listening to the same song for what feels like 24 hours and starts asking strange questions when we return.

Since there are free bicycles at the hostel, I set off to quickly get it repaired. Riding a broken bicycle barefoot, I'm a real eye-catcher for people, and I'm not sure what they think of me, definitely funny. It works relatively quickly though, I pay 10,000 Dong (about 45 cents) for the screw and installation, I think that's okay. But since bicycle number two is also junk, we decide to walk to the city. Here, I visit one of the better value for money hairdressers and get the sides shaved. The fun costs me 20,000 Dong (not even $1), and I'm pretty sure it doesn't normally cost anywhere near that much, as the barber says goodbye to me with a slight giggle.

Now we're on our way to Ho Chi Minh City in a bus with reclining seats, where we will stay for two more nights before our paths separate, as Lippe is going home and I'm flying to Malaysia, hopefully. Because I still haven't received confirmation from the airline.

Two nights in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) behind me, I'm sitting on the plane to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and reflecting on the trip.

The short but intense glimpse into Vietnam has been absolutely successful, and I think it's very clear that I will come back!

For a big city like HCMC, everything is actually quite clean. There is a lot of garbage lying around, but it doesn't stink as unbearably as in Phnom Penh.

We used both days to simply walk through the streets with certain goals in mind. For example, we visited the War Remnants Museum, which I don't want to say much about now, except that I can only recommend it and that I still can't understand and don't want to understand wars! Disgusting!

Everything else has been really great, on both evenings we walked through a park to play some football badminton with the guys who were playing there. It's super fun, and the boys and girls are definitely really good at it!

Furthermore, we're staying in an extremely small hostel in the middle of the epicenter of absolute madness in the form of the "Backpacker Road". Someone walks around with a snake on their shoulders, a child spits fire, people everywhere try to get you into their store, and of course, cars are driving through the street. 🙈

It's interesting to watch how the outdoor area of the restaurant is constantly being expanded and quickly demolished again whenever the cops come. It's constantly changing.

Really up to date! I have arrived in Kuala Lumpur, and the booking worked out!

PS: Thomas, I hope you landed well, it was fun with you! 😏😘