Es kann ja nicht immer alles nach Plan laufen^^ (Day 98 of the world trip)

2019-12-11

The alarm clock would have rung at 6:00 am (but of course I woke up before that :D ) and then we got up because we would be picked up at 7:00 am.

While Jonas took a shower, I started the "Dragon Fruit Project" ;-) As it turned out, cutting the fruit was pretty easy and completely unspectacular :D :D Still, I took some pictures of it :p

Packed with a backpack full of snacks, this time also healthy ones, we went down to the entrance of the hostel at 6:55 am. One of the women was already there and offered us coffee. We politely declined and told her that we would be picked up for a tour anyway.

She nodded and then called someone on her phone. After that, she knocked on one of the doors, where a teenager (probably her son - I think everyone here is one big family) came out a few minutes later, looking very sleepy. He talked to his mother, there was some more phone conversation, and at 7:10 am the young man approached us.

He said that there was a problem with the tour. First, he mentioned something about the weather (or at least that's what we understood^^), but then he explained that only three people had signed up for the tour and that it wouldn't take place because of that :(

Since we will also be in Hue tomorrow, we hope that it will actually work then!!! Otherwise, it would be a shame :/

Well. Since it was just after seven, we laid down for another hour but then we started planning our further journey. If the tour really takes place tomorrow, we still have to book a bus and possibly accommodation for the next place!

Originally, the plan was to stop in Hoi An for another 1-2 days. The city is about 5 hours away from Hue by bus and is known for its architecture and beautiful old town. After some back and forth, we decided to skip Hoi An and go straight to Nha Trang.

Hoi An is similar to Hue, it's a city and we don't find cities that exciting :p Besides, I don't want to constantly travel long distances by bus and only stay a few days in the new place. I find that somehow exhausting ;-)

Nha Trang is a beach resort in the south, about 15 hours away by bus. That means another sleeper bus, but the plan is to stay in Nha Trang for a whole week and just relax :D Unfortunately, it's still the rainy season there, so we'll see how long we really want to stay depending on the weather^^

To book the bus ticket to Nha Trang, we walked to the provider we found online. The way there was quite funny because suddenly we were in a real backpacker area :O Our accommodation is not part of this area, but that's also completely okay ;-)

After booking the ticket (which saved us a few euros compared to booking online :D ) for the day after tomorrow from 1:30 pm until about 5:00 am in the morning, we treated ourselves to the first meal of the day - a baguette with freshly prepared scrambled eggs, salad, butter, and cheese. These baguettes are available everywhere here in mobile kitchens and to our delight, they were really delicious <3

Back at the hostel, we also devoured the dragon fruit, banana, and yogurt-strawberry drink - a little contrast to yesterday's pure candy breakfast :p

Since we had to plan the day again, we decided to go with the plan we had for tomorrow - in Hue, there are many tombs of former emperors, which are supposed to be very cool to see :)

The first tomb was only 1.7 km away from us, but when we arrived there, we unfortunately found out that it was closed :( We could peek into the construction site a bit and look through a gap in the gate, but yeah. We had a little bad luck there ;-)

Another 5 km later, we would find the next tomb. On the way there, we walked through small alleys where there were only minimarts and residential houses. Children and older people greeted us friendly and cheerfully and yeah. The way was pretty cool because there were no other tourists walking there, only locals, and we could see a bit how they live :)

Shortly before we reached the second tomb, we passed by another one, but this one was also a construction site and therefore not accessible. Two out of three didn't quite work out as planned - a sign? :D :D :D

But the third tomb was accessible, although there was no one there. Okay - maybe walking by foot for 6 km round trip is a bit discouraging, but you could find a handful of tourists on rented scooters on the premises. And later, a tourist bus and a few vans with tour groups arrived as well :)

Outside the entrance, there are one cafe after another. They advertise with "Free Parking" (which reminded me of the situation at Am Tien^^), toilets, and cheap food, but still, all of them were empty...

The entrance fee for the premises was almost as high as for the Imperial City and it’s similar. The buildings, temples, and garden come from a similar time, so there are not many architectural differences ;-)

But that doesn't mean that the buildings weren't beautiful! Especially the grave with huge columns next to it or the actual tomb were pompous and extensive, built on a small hill. There is a small pond with a few bridges and spots to relax and - perhaps one of the most positive things - some of the decayed buildings and ruins were untouched in their original state :)

After about an hour, we were done with the tomb and then started the (quite long-looking for me^^) journey back. Passing by greeting locals who produced and sold colorful incense sticks in masses, we walked over a hill, where "normal" graves were on the left and right, and then through a quite noble-looking neighborhood.

The street didn't look much different than before, but the houses were bigger and looked quite expensive ;-) Next to one of these new buildings, Jonas noticed a dead snake :O

The last hour of the way led along a main road without a sidewalk, so it wasn't that exciting :D When we arrived back at around 4:00 pm, I was glad to put my feet up :D :D

We're going to eat soon - probably in an Indian restaurant that we saw and that is nearby^^ Yeah - I would voluntarily eat Indian food again :O :p Time heals everything :D

So - if the tour works tomorrow, that would be great. If not, we will surely find something else (as always^^), but we don't know ourselves what that would be yet :D