Woche 16 - I'm Not Afraid

Oh, 4 months have already passed! An eventful week that rounded off the fourth month well. Starting with the bus ride from Saigon to Mui Ne. It took 6 hours instead of 4, but that's why we had the sleeper bus. 3 rows of double bunk beds, where the compartment for the feet is almost always under the head of the person in front:

The seats/beds are also well calculated, as they are all a bit shorter here. But it was just right. And I no longer get sick lying down on the bus, great! The hostel owner arranged everything for me in Saigon, bought tickets with me and drove me to the bus station in the morning. And with the scooter and with the huge backpack not on my back as usual, but between him and the handlebars like a third person over whom he could hardly see 😂

On the bus I met a nice Dutch woman with whom I arranged to meet for the sand dune tour the next morning. Since I somehow always tend to book very well-rated hostels a little way outside the city center, the first thing I did was rent a moped from the hostel. Mui ne is a long strip that stretches along the coast. I drove relatively far down this road in the evening and picked up the Dutch woman on the way. At sunset the beaches and the fishing village looked really beautiful but we couldn't really find a beach to swim in... Mui Ne is ultra windy and therefore attracts kitesurfers from all over the world (mainly Russia, strangely enough). The beaches are completely covered with kites, which is a beautiful sight and where I watched for hours the next day:

In the morning I was booked in for the sunrise tour, which I had actually booked through the Dutch lady's hostel. So I'm picked up by the jeep at 4:10 a.m. and after 3 minutes I get a message saying 'they can't pick you up because your hostel is too far away' I: 'huh, I'm already sitting in the jeep?!' well, typical Southeast Asian action again. I half-heartedly asked the driver if he was from the hostel and he just said that 👌🏼 but I don't think he understood anything 😂 It was definitely the wrong jeep because someone else from my hostel had booked the tour online and I was in her When I jumped in the car😂😂 everything became clear to me relatively quickly but I didn't say much because I didn't want to not be picked up after getting up so early... by the time they noticed the mistake we were already halfway to our destination and then we had She simply organized for my organization to pick up the other girl😁 Everything always works out! Then I was in a jeep with two Vietnamese tourists who were super chatty (4am) and two huge Dutch guys (they are everywhere) who were still half asleep just like me. We drove 40 minutes through the dark and cold with a strong wind in the open jeep to the white sand dunes. Jumped onto quad bikes back there and let them ride 3 meters onto the sand dune. The sunset could have been a bit more exciting, but the sand dunes were really beautiful and it wasn't quite as crowded and hot in the morning. Afterwards we went down the dunes on the quads (very fun) and to various spots on the dunes. Enough time for extensive photo shoots by the Asian tourists present who have a penchant for posing pictures. The next stop was the red sand dunes where you could rent a slide. At first we used it completely wrong, so a little Vietnamese woman positioned us on it and quickly pushed us down the dune one after the other. Then she had my cell phone in her hand and started a photo shoot in no time. Everyone was just confused by the poses and I found it extremely funny:

Afterwards, everyone ate a banh mi in the fishing village for 50ct!, while one Vietnamese vlogged down on the beach and the other diligently collected mussels. The last stop was the Fairy Stream, which I also really liked. Then it was just 9 a.m. and the rest of the day was spent chilling out.

The next day we went to Dalat bright and early at 6 a.m. Except of course the bus didn't come until 6:30. Another sleeper bus but this time I had the upper bed, unfortunately you can't rest your long legs on the floor. Dalat is located inland and lies at around 1500m. That's why there are pleasant spring temperatures all year round and pretty much anything can be grown there. Since I've been used to hot temperatures for almost two months now, which I really like, it was of course absolutely cold at 25 degrees. And the further north you go, the colder it gets! My hostel 'Mr. Peace Backpackers' was super cute there. The owners Peace and Strawberry😅 (he also had both tattooed, Vietnamese people always come up with English nicknames because we can't pronounce their names) were extremely in a good mood and organized everything very well. In the evening there was a family dinner, where you could meet everyone else from the hostel. In the evening I went with them to the night market and to a bar that somehow had a whole labyrinth in the back (?). The next day I booked an expensive tour (Mr. Peace Motorcycle Tour) for once. This went through the country side of Dalat for a whole day. I decided to ride in the back, even though it probably would have worked there on my own. The drivers were all super sweet old locals who do this tour every day and give out cool information at every stop. They packed so much into this tour that it was definitely worth it:

• Flower Farms
• Viewpoint
• Coffee Farm (weasel poop coffee)
• Cricket Farm (snacked on some crickets and drank rice wine)
• Bamboo makers (how is bamboo processed)
• Silk Factory (silk production, super interesting, all leftovers are completely recycled, here the dead maggots are sold to restaurants at the end and eaten, they taste good!)
• Lady Buddha (70m tall and the first female Buddha I have ever seen, she is the mother of Buddha)
• Elephant Waterfall
• Pongour Waterfall
• Pepper Farm
• Passion fruit farm
• Local market, where we were shown lots of new fruits and vegetables

What you can't squeeze into a single overnight stay! When I got back, my bottom hurt but there was no time to rest because we went straight to the three-hour bus to Na Trang, from where we took the VIP sleeper bus to Hoi An. I was actually able to sleep so well in it that I literally had to be shaken awake in Hoi An😂 At 6 a.m. I drove to my super cute hostel (outside again) and was actually able to check in straight away (a rarity!). So I was able to rest for a few more hours and basically had a whole extra day in Hoi An.

Hoi An is super touristy but also super beautiful. This is the only city in Vietnam where the great lanterns are made. The old town is a UNESCO cultural heritage site and is motorbike free. So for the next three days I strolled through the old town, went to the beach one last time and, above all, went shopping! Because Hoi An is known for all kinds of tailoring. In the end I ended up with a pair of leather sandals, a long, chic dress, two silver bracelets and a homemade lantern (see pictures!). I'm really excited and was only able to buy so much because Mom and Rudi are flying everything home safely in a few days🤭 I also noticed that there are extremely good fake brand clothes here. In Thailand there are always a lot of spelling errors in the logos, but here I have the impression that they use the correct logos from the actual production plants😅 Only the quality of the material is of course not of the same level... In Hoi An I was also impressed by the Banh Mi Baguettes hit the jackpot. They were really extremely good here. Most of the time I went to 'Big Mom' 😂 There is usually a choice between pork with a crispy crust, chicken, paté and omelette. There are also a few vegetables, always in different amounts, and coriander (which I don't really like, but it just works here), and a secret sauce that is always a family recipe and therefore always different. A good Banh Mi has a crispy baguette, lots of fresh stuff, Juicy meat or egg and a nice hot sauce. But most of the time you need two to fill you up😂 In general, the portions here are quite small, which is how it is for many travelers here.

Sooo and now we're off to Hue, this time by train!