"Sorry, you can't sit here. The man has his luggage" :D (Day 96 of the world trip)

09/12/2019

Since it was our last morning in the accommodation, we stayed in bed until 8:00 or so today ^^ Then we had pancakes for breakfast again <3 This time Jonas ordered one himself and we were both not disappointed again. They taste so delicious :)

After breakfast, we booked our next accommodation (that's still a fun part of traveling because it always feels like planning your next vacation :p) and researched more about what we actually want to see there. In the end, we decided to book accommodation for 3 nights. There's not much to see in Hue, but we can relax, drop off our laundry, and take it easy as always ^^

In the evening at 6:30 p.m., our host would drive us to the bus by taxi, and until then we had some "free time". It was really nice that we were allowed to stay in the room all day because no new guests arrived today. That made it quite comfortable ;-)

In addition to a lot of YouTube, we also took a walk through the Ninh Binh Valley as recommended by our hostess. The people whose houses we passed were super friendly again, and little children waved at us excitedly :)

Our walk was also really beautiful in terms of landscape. I love how the sun reflects on the water of the rice fields - it makes such pretty pictures :D Oh, and we saw some animals again: goats, ducks, and finally a flock of puppies wagging their tails excitedly when Jonas knelt down to pet them through a fence. So cute!!! <3

At noon, we ordered noodles with vegetables again and a crispy tofu, and after eating, we sat down with our hostess for a chat, which was great again :) Whenever we didn't understand each other, she used Google Translate or we tried gestures or drawings, which was really cool!

For example, we learned how her family always travels through Vietnam. From Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh, there are various cities that are typical stops. On the way there, they stop in three cities (and thus always skip other larger cities), and on the way back, they would stop in the other cities. That sounds quite sensible ;-) But it's not very suitable for tourists like us, as we don't drive there AND back^^

The rest of the afternoon was all about relaxing again, and around 5:00 p.m., we made our dinner, which consisted of a baguette with honey and a nashi pear each. The latter is definitely one of our favorite fruits here :)

While we were making and eating sandwiches, we played a Christmas song remix in the background. Together with the sunset outside, it was actually really nice, but also a little bit melancholic. Even Jonas realized that he will miss not being home for Christmas a bit, but at least we have each other ;-)

When the time came for goodbye, it was more difficult than expected. I received a warm hug and even though it is often said out of politeness, I really meant it that if we come here again, we will definitely stay there again :)

Then the man drove us to the city center of Ninh Binh as planned, which we only briefly saw when we arrived at the train station but found to be not bad^^ We were dropped off at the Booking Office, which is also the living room of the family there, as is often the case here in Vietnam^^

An older woman, probably the grandmother, rocked a toddler to sleep while the mother, dressed in pajamas, worked a little. Cool!

Unfortunately, we then found out that our bus was delayed and we would only be picked up at 8:15 p.m. instead of the planned 7:00 p.m. However, we could sit on the couch, drink water for free, and go to the toilet, so it was completely okay. We also got the tip that this is the walking street right here, which is supposed to be really great.

Okay! We left our luggage there and then walked 200m down the street until we reached the walking street. There are lights in all sorts of arrangements everywhere, which looks really pretty. Unfortunately, despite prime time, there was absolutely nothing going on :O

A few street kitchens offered food, in the bars a lonely entertainer played live music, and it was just strange that so much effort was made (especially with the lighting) when there was no one there...

We walked around the block again, where we found a large, abandoned hotel and pondered. Ninh Binh is a larger city and has apparently prepared itself for the increasing tourism with its fancy hotels. Unfortunately, this plan doesn't seem to work out. In Tam Coc, from where you can reach the sights much more easily, there are tourists everywhere, while the city of Ninh Binh itself seems to miss out :(

Jonas wanted to buy something just so they could make a little sales, but we didn't find anything on the walking street that appealed to us ;-) We briefly went to a supermarket that opens with a sliding door. When Jonas wanted to close it again, it didn't work. It just stayed open, even though it was completely closed before, and shaking it didn't help :O That was like in the bathroom of the hostel in Hanoi :D

A little uncertain, we then tiptoed through the supermarket, where you can buy many imports. There's not much organization, and there are boxes piling up in the aisles, so you sometimes can't go any further and have to turn back. The same products are also available in completely different places in the market... But yes, it was interesting ;-)

Unfortunately, we didn't find any chocolate cookies that we have been missing since our arrival in Vietnam, but when we went to another supermarket on the way back, we finally found them! Wow! They actually had chocolate double cookies :D

With the new provisions, we returned to the Booking Office, and at around 8:00 p.m., the bus actually arrived :) As expected, it was another sleeper bus, and when we boarded, some seats were occupied by backpacks. Since Jonas and I wanted to have seats next to each other, we packed the bags from the unoccupied seats into the aisle and shook our heads internally :D

Then we made ourselves comfortable (I'm slowly getting used to this type of bus! :)) but after an hour, we already stopped for dinner break. Jonas and I didn't want to eat anything and returned to the bus after a short pit stop. Half an hour later, it suddenly became a bit hectic.

A few people were supposed to change buses because they wanted to go to Hoi An instead of Hue. Jonas and I could stay seated, but the mentioned tourists were urged to hurry a bit. They could have announced the whole thing at the beginning of the break and they would have had enough time to pack everything together, but yeah... that would have been too easy^^

Just when we wanted to continue, a grumpy-looking man came to the places where Jonas and I were lying down together with one of the bus attendants. He then informed us that Jonas and I should please vacate our seats because the grumpy-looking man wanted to place his bags there :D :D

The explanation was so obvious that Jonas and I shook our heads and then giggled a bit while both of us took our new seats. This time the seats were above and I was in the middle instead of at the edge. Up there, you had a lot less space and unfortunately, it was much more uncomfortable than the previous seat. From time to time, I looked at my previous seat and every time I looked, it was empty!!!!

I found that a bit cheeky, but well. Maybe the man did explicitly book three seats - one for himself and two for his bags ;-) :D

It took a bit to find a good lying position, but we found a bit of sleep in the sleeper bus anyway :)