Lolomiina: 29.10.2023
With Ivar's new hairstyle we drove further to the town of Long Xuyên. We were back in a homestay on an island on the Mekong. Thanh Truc and her family warmly welcomed us! There was delicious mango and pineapple.
Last week we were in the realm of coconuts and now in the realm of mangoes. There are mango trees everywhere! In the evening we cooked with Thanh Truc, her sister Ân and their mother. There were shrimp, green mango salad, tofu and much more. Ân then showed us how to make summer rolls without them falling apart again! The next day we had delicious soup for breakfast! Today we wanted to do laundry. The mother took the dirty laundry from us. Since she doesn't speak English, we communicated through a translation app. According to the app, she told us "Leave the laundry to mom and go outside to play!" Although there was our underwear in the laundry, which made us a little uncomfortable, but okay! So we went to play. In German. So take a walk. In the midday heat. Not the best idea. At a place where women were packing mangoes for further transport, we were given 3 mangoes. At some point we took a break and drank juice. There we were also given mango to eat and another mango. Of course we accepted everything gratefully, knowing that we would be carrying the fruit with us for a few hours! By the way, you can not only eat the ripe, yellow mango but also the unripe, green mango. It is a bit sour and is dipped in chili and salt. The island is very beautiful! We walked in the shade of the mango trees past fields where unfamiliar plants grew. Back at the homestay we were exhausted and slightly sunburned (despite SPF 30). Some people really live on the water and have their floating cabins there. Including dogs. A dog jumped into the soup boat, probably hoping for a snack. Then he cleverly climbed around on our boat and then jumped back to the soup boat. The people on the soup boat had a hard time chasing the dog back to his hut. The soup boat tried to row quickly away from the floating hut. The dog didn't give up so easily, jumped into the water and swam after the soup boat!
Apparently we drove through the realm of jackfruit. In any case, we saw many houses where the huge fruits were being loaded.
Our new accommodation was the cheapest so far! For 6€ (150,000 dong) a night! On October 27th we visited the nearby Rúng tràm trà sư National Park. More like a huge lake with lots of trees, aquatic plants and even more birds! A bamboo bridge leads through the park. Said to be the longest bamboo bridge in the world. We walked along the bridge in wonderful German until it suddenly ended after about 40 meters. We were told that it was currently being repaired. All right! A boat took us further into the national park. We were allowed to get out in the middle of the park. There was also the other end of the bamboo bridge. We climbed up a lookout tower. The stairs were not installed on the inside of the tower as usual, but on the outside. The stairs were only attached to the tower on one side. As I climbed up, Ivar asked the wrong question "How do the stairs hold up?" Thanks for the thought process! Knowing full well that the tower was built by the state, my mantra when climbing up was "The tower has been standing for a long time without collapsing. So why now?.... Because at some point the material will get tired. Rest, brain!!" you have a great view! Unfortunately, the cool breeze that we had hoped for didn't materialize :(A day later it was particularly hot and humid. We didn't do much. In the evening a thunderstorm passed over us. So we thought of watching a movie. But we only went with headphones because there was the typical corrugated iron roof above us.
Today, October 29th. we continued to Há Tiên. The way there was stupid: very straight, poor road conditions and it rained halfway along the route. We did make ourselves more waterproof with rain covers over our backpacks and ponchos over us. But fun is something else. In the evening it stopped and we went to the sea in the dark. Looking forward to seeing the sea in the light tomorrow!