From the outback to the urban jungle

The morning started early again - once again we wanted to hear the lyrebirds, which only present themselves in the dawn. So the alarm clock rang again at 5.30am and we were once again delighted by the beautiful sound of the many bird songs.

The awakening day here in Vietnam is always very beautiful, as we now know - it starts around half past five with delicate activity and is fully underway an hour later.

Our departure day from the national park starts after listening to the bird concert with a small breakfast and the crossing over the river. The driver, with whom we want to drive to Ho Shi Minh, was waiting on the other bank at 8.30am. We had a three-hour car ride ahead of us. We made ourselves comfortable in the back of the car and let ourselves be shaken again for 150 km through the adventurous Vietnamese traffic. I was once again amazed by the many ways things can be transported on mopeds: chickens, wooden slats, barrels, fruits and vegetables, sleeping babies, women talking on the phone, passengers taking a nap.... At a maximum speed of 100 km on the highway, there is plenty of opportunity to observe the traffic and life on the road. The roads in this country are the lifelines - everything happens here - selling, buying, eating, sleeping, dozing at noon, screwing, sawing, cooking, chatting, drying rice and coffee...

So the journey is not boring and I write down a few suitable contrasts for this crazy country:

- loud, dirty / luxurious, spa

- emerging business (thousands of self-employed) / anarchy

- pure nature / pollution and waste

- tradition and high tech

- mopeds / strollers

- beach sellout / careful tourism (eco lodges)

- a lot of work / hammock.

Arriving in HCM city, I was initially stunned - when we left the highway, a gigantic city lay ahead of us in the midday haze. 11 million people live here - welcome to the urban jungle!

Our driver takes us through this city confidently to our hotel. We are glad that it is located in a side street and near a park 😀 Green and tranquility is more our thing after all.

The hotel is super nice - in terms of furnishings, it reminds us a lot of Wieck (do we miss home???). We are already looking forward to the autumn coolness of the Darß forest and the sauna afterwards 😀

For now, we are happy to have a bath here - and Stefan is particularly happy about the hammock bathtub. So after three days in the jungle and traveling, it's time to clean up.

Secondly, we strain the internet - the pictures of the last three days are waiting to be downloaded.

And we eat a piece of fruit cake in the hotel cafe - there are a few things we can't do without 😀😀

We use the last remaining bright hours (it is pitch dark at six o'clock) for a stroll through the neighborhood. We walk through the park, watch a few young people rehearsing a dance choreography, stroll past Notre Dame and the beautiful old post office, stick our noses into one or the other shop, and in between, we try again and again to get some money out of an ATM with our card. And then it happens - the last machine swallows the card and simply doesn't give it back 🤔

Mmm!!!

With the calmness that we have acquired, we take the ticket that the machine spat out and told us to contact the bank.

Ok - that's what we'll do - Stefan's dear office girls have the card blocked. So there! 😛

Back at the hotel, we enjoy the evening in the hotel restaurant on the 11th floor, with a great view of the skyline of HCM, and philosophize about God and the world and about our trip to the Mekong Delta tomorrow. We are looking forward to this final adventure here.

Kerstin