Caught up in the travel blues

Wednesday the 29th of January til Saturday the 1st of February: I picked Dong Hoi as a base to do tours into Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park and because I could reach it easily by train. It was not a good decision, as the city is quite ugly and with Tet, a lot of restaurants and spas were closed. Also my hostel was not very social, I didn't really get to know anyone. I had planned to take a motorbike into the national park, but when I arrived, the weather was grey with a bit of drizzle. As I didn't want to drive in the rain, I decided to have a chill day and then just do an organized tour to Paradise Cave. Strolling through Dong Hoi to find an ATM and something to eat, even that was a problem, as it took me ages to find a working ATM and a restaurant, that seemed quite clean. I didn't succeed with the last task and just settled for a little eatery, where I got served a local specialty (that was the only thing they had, so no choice but to try it), Banh Loc. It's a form of rice flour cake filled with shrimp and spices, wrapped in banana leafs. It was quite nice. The tour to the Paradise Cave the next day was a bit disappointing. The bus was not made for people over 1,60m and the tour guide was nice, but didn't give us any information about the sorroundings or the structures in the cave, unless you asked. But as the group split up a bit and he didn't go into the cave with us, I didn't always wanted to go searching for him, to ask my questions. I was wondering for example, why there were so many Christian churches in the area around the cave. Also the tombs in the regional graveyards were build like the traditional Vietnamese ones, but had crosses on top of them. I'll have to look it up online. The different structures in the cave where fascinating and the cave itself seemed like a natural cathedral. These kind of things always make me feel very humble and I would have loved to sit there and just marvel at this wonder of nature. But there were a lot of tourists groups in there that were very loud. Soooooo annoying, it really spoiled the experience. There was a path back to the bus, that we were supposed to be driven back on with golf charts. I got out of the cave early to be able to walk back and have some quiet. It was lovely walking through the jungle and finally being able to hear the insects humm and the birds sing. On the first of February I left for Hoi An, hoping for better weather and a town I could enjoy more. By now, I feel a bit caught up in the travel blues, but I heard Hoi An is very nice, so fingers crossed.