Dong Hoi & Ninh Bin

Xin chào you Zuggerschnuden!

A double post today.

From Da Nang we took the bus to Dong Hoi. I'm starting to get confused with all the names myself, haha. Unfortunately there isn't much to tell about Dong Hoi. We actually only wanted to go there because there is one of the largest caves in the world that we would have liked to have a look at. Luckily we only booked two nights in Dong Hoi as it quickly became clear that a tour to these caves would cost $50 PER PERSON. Do we look like cash cows? It would definitely have been a nice experience, but the price was a big turn off for us, so in the end we just didn't go. There isn't much to say about Dong Hoi as we didn't really do anything there other than ride a bike and walk on the beach. We just didn't feel particularly comfortable there, which was perhaps partly due to the windowless room in which neither of us could sleep well. Without further ado, we booked a train to Ninh Binh to get to the north of Vietnam more quickly.

A day later we set off for Ninh Binh at 7:00 a.m. The train was extremely uncomfortable because the beds were so low that you couldn't sit. After 7 hours our backs hurt, so we tried to walk a little through the train. It is very strange to see people smoking on the train and only locking the doors with padlocks. Here, however, it's completely normal. After 9 hours we arrived in Ninh Binh and took a taxi to our accommodation, which had a bed so incredibly comfortable that I wanted to send it home. Unfortunately it rained the entire time we were there so we only managed to do a short hike and walk through the beautiful countryside, but it was still a wonderful experience. Here we were extremely happy for the first time with our incredibly great regatta rain jackets. Ninh Binh is a wonderful place and is definitely worth seeing! The area is also very busy with backpackers, which made the whole thing even more appealing. We found a really cute bar where we felt extremely comfortable (probably due to the owner who kept calling me honey or sweety, haha). We met dear Romy from Frankfurt and her dear partner Victor, with whom we fought relentless battles in Jenga. It was just great. We also wanted to go to a national park that was closer, but we would have gotten so wet on the way there that we would have just continued to be soggy the rest of the time. The biggest problem would have been that we wouldn't have been able to get our clothes dry, because due to the constant rain and the still high heat, it was always a bit damp even in our room, and dry clothes were always slightly clammy after a night. (I can already hear Dad faintly in my ear with his “Ohhh mimimimi”. Thank you, Dad. 😂)

Our next stop will be Cat Ba, an island in the north. We are excited to see what awaits us there!

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