The round trip begins

Two nights ago we moved from our hotel to the hostel, the meeting point and starting point of our round trip.

After the first night, separated by gender, we were able to spend another day in HCMC before heading to Nha Trang together.

The night train ride was a highlight for Jakob.

But Jakob promises that we will be done with train travel after the tour - with the included 4 night train rides. There are other travel options that we can try. 😁 The tracks are bad and the train rides are therefore rather noisy, bumpy, and relatively slow. But there is air conditioning, good pillows and blankets, and hot water to "cook" the instant noodles. The onboard service is equipped with cold beer and ice cubes. And not to forget, the Christmas decorations!

The people on our tour are all in a good mood and rather relaxed.

Our guide also explains everything to us very well and makes sure we get from A to B and don't starve in between. His tips have been useful so far. But we prefer to choose our own food 😆.

After the sleepless night on the train, we relax at the beach. It's a bit cooler here in Nha Trang, cloudy, and a wonderful change from the lively city of Ho Chi Minh.

This evening we went out to eat on our own instead of with our group. The barmaid at our hostel gave us a good tip on where to eat. She said only locals eat in this street, and we should definitely try Bun dau mam tom.

Sergej, our Canadian travel buddy with Russian roots, and we set off. Unfortunately, we didn't find the restaurant. But we found exactly what we wanted!

A restaurant where only Vietnamese people are, there are no pictures in the menus and no English translations, and we eat excellent food at a great price. We sit at an empty table, a lady comes up to us and points at several plastic bowls. We choose a fish that will be cooked for us. In addition, we take calamari, oysters, and snails. Once back at the table, everything was set and we order beer, just like the others.

Now the dishes come one after another. Snails first. But how do we get these things out of the shell with chopsticks and spoons? When the grilled oysters garnished with spring onions and peanuts are served, they show us how to do it. You use the toothpick to remove the snail from the shell. 😆

The whole meal was amazing. When each dish was served, they showed us again which sauce to use or how to eat it. It was really great and it didn't even cost us €10 per person!