Chapter 5.4 - Next Stop: Phong Nha

8:00am

My alarm clock rings. I head to the breakfast buffet. Fried egg, baguette, calamari rings, watermelon, and pho. This time I don't eat the meat from the pho. It tastes disgusting.

10:31am

I lounge in bed a little longer. Packed my backpack, took another shower, and then checked out at 12pm. I went to withdraw some more money and got startled again. My scooter was gone again. But this time I found it right away. It's now in the hotel's garage. I wanted to ride around a bit more, but the weather doesn't cooperate. My bus to Phong Nha leaves at 1:30pm. Let's see how the journey goes and if I can find my bus on my own today. We will see.

12:53pm

I'm sitting in a cafe near the pickup spot. 45-minute delay from the time stated online. I had lunch and now I'm drinking my coffee, then I'll walk to the beach. I hope I can sit there and watch the sea for a bit.

3:00pm

In the bus with an aisle seat. Unfortunately, no window view...

Before I arrived at the pickup spot, I walked along a waterfront promenade for a while. It was very peaceful. But finally, we're heading to Phong Nha. 1.5 hours later than scheduled, but it's okay. If everything goes smoothly now, I'll be there around 7 or 8pm. Then just a quick Grab car ride and I'll be at the accommodation...

8:18pm

We stop. Break at a rest stop. I have in mind the story Julian told me.

When he went to Phong Nha the day before, he had a dinner stop where there was dog meat to eat. Horrible things I imagine from his stories. I spare you... In Vietnam, unfortunately, dog is considered a delicacy...

Impacted by his experiences, when the waitress brings me my plate, I question which types of meat they are. One is definitely chicken. She confirms it when I show her the translated word in Vietnamese on Google Translator.

She says the other one in Vietnamese, but when I try to use the voice recognition feature of the translator, she takes the tray and disappears. Brings me the tray again. Now everything is chicken...

And my omelette is gone too?

Doesn't matter, as long as it's not dog!

11:48pm

I'm finally in bed. The journey was quite exhausting in the end. No windows and the tight cabin are just not my thing. When I arrive in Phong Nha around 10pm, I see and hear discos and bustling bars. I think I'm already in front of the hostel where Julian is. But first, I want to drop off my things and go to my accommodation. This time on foot. 3 minutes, I was going to book a Grab bike... It's good that my order was rejected.

A young woman greets me in the homestay lobby. She looks very nice and smiles the whole time when I look at her. 2nd floor, room 302. Before she hands over the room to me, she takes a photo of my passport.

I unpack my backpack and go straight to shower. Feels good. Now I'm ready to have a beer with Julian. I'm excited to see him again.

In the backpacker hostel, I meet some of the people Julian was with today. A couple from England and Ireland. They seem nice at first. We talk about their travels and experiences.

After about an hour, everyone disperses. Julian still has to ride his bike for 5 minutes. He takes me a bit closer to my homestay.

Best guy

That's the end of the day

Photos of the homestay will be added later

Peace out to everyone reading this

Good night 🛌💭💤