Cambodia

Hi guys! :) 

As I already wrote in my last post, we have continued our trip and are now in Cambodia. But let me start at the beginning. 

On December 10th we boarded a bus to get from Saigon to Phnom Penh, the capitol of Cambodia. We had done some research about the boarder crossing previously and had found out that quite often, travellers have some issues getting through (like for example having to pay more for the Cambodian Visa than it actually costs, etc.). We wanted to avoid that and found a bus company called "Giant Ibis" that is supposed to be the best one and get you safely through the boarder. 

We left Saigon right on time and drove about 2hours to the boarder. During the drive, a guy from the bus company handed out the visa forms which we had to fill out and give back to him along with our passports and 35$. When we arrived at the boarder, we were a bit confused because the guy still didn't give us our passports back. And you need your passport to cross a boarder, right? But he looked like he knew what he was doing, so we trusted him. He told us to get off the bus and go into a plain, empty hangar. At the one end of it, we saw the Vietnamese boarder counters. Our guide told us to wait there and walked to a counter. He handed the passports (it was a big pile because we were like 20-30 people on the bus)  over to an official behind a counter. Then we just waited. In a huge empty hangar with no passports in front of a boarder... after like 30 minutes, our guide started calling names and one by one, we were allowed to go through the boarder. Ufff, made it through the Vietnamese side of the boarder, now we only had the Cambodian one to go. 

We got on the bus and before we reached the Cambodian side of the boarder, we made a stop at a restaurant, literally in no-mans-land. :D after the lunch break, we continued our way to the Cambodian boarder. Again, we got off the bus and this time, our guide handed us back our passports. The visa was already done and glued in, so we only had to walk up, give our finger prints, and walk through, easy-peasy. :) 

Even if we were confused at first, we were glad that we booked a bus with this company because in the end, everything went very smoothly and we didn't have any problems. 

We drove for another 4 hours and reached Phnom Penh around 5:30pm. We walked a good half hour to our hostel, the Billabong Hostel. We were pretty tired, so we made a picnic on the floor of the dorm (we've done that a lot lately ;D) and went to bed. 

On our first day in Phnom Penh, we walked around the streets near our hostel. We found an amazing bakery and a huge market and bought some stuff. In the evening, we went to a small cinema. We had read online that this cinema offered sofas on which you could lie down and watch multiple movies on one day for only 3,50$! The cinema was actually super small, but very cozy. We watched "Bridget Jones' Baby" and "Snowden" and had a great time. :) As it was already 11pm when the movies were over, we decided to take a tuktuk back to our hostel. Our first tuktuk ride!! Pretty cool :D 

On the second day in Cambodia's capitol, we rented a tuktuk for the day and went to the killing fields Choung Ek. (If you don't already know: Cambodia has a really dark history. In the late 80s, the Khmer Rouge, a radical communist group under the lead of Pol Pot had taken over the country. They believed that all the intellectuals and people who lived in the cities were traitors and worked with western forces. Within a few years, they had murdered over 3million out of 8 million Cambodians. Similar to the concentration camps in Germany, the Khmer Rouge had set up camps where they brutally killed thousands of people. )

I had actually never heard of this horrendous genocide before and was shocked when I learned about all the atrocities that had happened here only about 40 years ago...

One of the so-called "killing fields" was transformed into a museum, so that people could come and learn about Cambodia's history. When we entered the museum, we got an audio guide that explained everything to us. We walked around the site and listened to the audio guide's explanations. The whole area was covered with grass-covered, large holes in the ground. The mass graves that had been dug out. One grave contained 450 corpses, another one soldiers that had been beheaded and a third one children and women. But those weren't the only mass graves. Many others had been dug out and a lot more had been left untouched to let the victims rest in peace. 

I was shattered... Again, I couldn't believe how people could remorselessly murder and torture so many other human beings... other than that, I couldn't believe that all of this had happened only 40years ago and that I had never even heard of it before coming here.

After we had finished our visit at the museum, our tuktuk driver brought us to the S21-museum, also called Tuol Sleng museum. That was a former prison where the Khmer Rouge had held and tortured many innocent civilians before bringing them to the killing fields. The prison was set up in a former school building and again we got an audio guide that led us through the different buildings and explained what had happened here. To me, that museum was even harder to visit because you could actually see the small and cold cells where the prisoners were held and dark stains on the floor (probably blood). They had also put up images of all the prisoners (among them women and children), the instruments used for torture, handcuffs, etc. It was just oppressive and almost unbearable to walk through the corridors knowing what kind of brutal things had happened here... 

After finishing the audio guide tour, we left the museum and went back to our hostel. 

On the next morning, a bus from Giant Ibis picked us up at 8:30am to go to Sihanoukville.

The drive was about 5 hours long, not bad after our endless bus rides in Vietnam! :) 

We arrived in Sihanoukville in the afternoon and went straight to our hostel. After taking a short break, we walked along the Main Street and organized tickets to go to the island Koh Rong Sanloem by speedboat for the next day. Then we walked in the other direction where we found an actual supermarket! (It was a real one, not like the tiny shops that seem to be everywhere in Asia. They're usually just one room and don't have a lot of variety.) so we were really happy that we found this one and bought lots of food for our stay on the island. (We had booked a hostel with a kitchen, so we wanted to use the chance and cook as much as we could.) we had so many heavy bags and the way back was pretty long, so we rented a tuktuk to bring us back to the hostel. 

We went to an Italian restaurant called "Olive&Olive" for dinner that night. Sofie and I both had a pizza. It was the biggest pizza I have ever seen and it was so good!!!! 

The next day, we went to the harbour of Sihanoukville and boarded the speedboat that brought us to M'Pai Bay on Koh Rong Sanloem. After stopping at another beach on the island, we arrived in M'Pai Bay. It was a small, very cute bay with a little fishing village in its center. 

After spending the first night in a hostel we didn't really like, we switched accommodations and rented a small wooden bungalow closer to the beach. We spent our days realxing on the pier or on the beach, drinking freshly made fruit shakes, and just enjoying the tranquil and amazing atmosphere here. What a paradise!!! <3 

In the evenings, we always went to a restaurant called "The Fishing Hook" on the pier. It was absolutely amazing because they had an all-you-can-eat buffet with different vegetarian dishes every night. The food was just too good and we ate way too much! :D 

The best thing about the buffet though was that they always give out the leftovers to locals or "hungry backpackers", so no food is wasted. So cool!!!! 

We spent 4 nights here in M'Pai Bay, but we also wanted to see the other beach, Saracen Bay. So on the fifth day, we packed up all of our belongings and took a boat there. The ride was pretty shaky, as a storm had hit the island the other night, but we arrived safely at Saracen Bay. We hadn't booked an accommodation yet, so we walked along the beach and asked the different hotels about availability and prices for the next few days. To our dismay, most of the bungalows were super expensive... Luckily, we found a hostel with dorm beds that was affordable. 

We had originally planned to spend a few nights here, but we just didn't like it as much as M'Pai Bay. Saracen bay was basically just a really long beach with many expensive bungalows and restaurants along the beachfront. There weren't any shops, and there  were very few locals. It was clear that this was a tourist destination for people who just wanted to spend some time at the beach... we didn't like the atmosphere at all, so we decided to go back to M'Pai Bay on the next day. We bought tickets for a boat ride which also included a snorkel trip on the way. 

So on the next day, we ate breakfast and relaxed on the beach until it was time for the boat/snorkel trip at 3pm. The boat didn't stop at a pier, but just anchored close to the beach. We had to lift up our backpacks and wade through the water to get to it. Luckily, everything was still dry when we got onto the boat. (We couldn't imagine what we would have done if all of our belongings fell into the water. The thought was just too horrible XD) 

We picked up a lot of other tourists along the beach. Every time a new person boarded the boat, the whole boat tilted to one side. It was super scary!! (Because again the thought of all of our stuff falling into the water haunted us...) 

When we finally got everybody on the boat (it was pretty full!) we drove to the snorkeling spot. We got fins, masks, and snorkels and had one hour to explore the riff along the shore. The corals were huge!!! Again, I was struck by their diversity, so beautiful!! Additionally, I spotted several fish and scary-looking sea urgents. Amazing! 

Everybody got back on the boat and we continued our way to M'Pai Bay. When we arrived at the pier and left the boat, we almost felt like coming home. We had missed the local village and the beautiful bay! :) 

We went back to the same accommodation we stayed at before, but this time we slept in a dorm right on the beach rather than a bungalow. When we opened the door, we were literally right on the bach and could overlook the bay. 

We stayed in M'Pai Bay for another three nights. Like before, we just sunbathed on the pier, read, listened to music, drank fresh smoothies, and enjoyed life. In the evenings we couldn't resist the incredible buffet at "The Fishing Hook". :D 

On our last night, we waited until it was 10pm and went to a beach a little further outside of the village because we wanted to see the glowing plankton. We went into the water and couldn't see anything at first, but then we moved our legs and there they were: tiny little glowing spots moving around in the water. They looked like little stars. I don't know why they are glowing in the dark, but it just looked fascinating! I have never seen anything like it before. Additionally, the sky was really clear and we could see hundreds of stars. It was truly a magical moment and a perfect ending to our stay on this beautiful island. :) 

Today, we enjoyed one last breakfast at "the fishing hook" and went back to Sihanoukville by speedboat. 

Tomorrow we'll go back to Phnom Penh where we will stay in a nice apartment we booked on Airbnb for Christmas. On the 25th we'll continue our itinerary to Siem Reap where we'll visit the famous temples of Angkor wat. I can't wait!! :) 

I hope all of you are doing well and that you have a blessed and joyful Christmas! 

Lots of love,

Annette <3 

 

 The supercool cinema in Phnom Penh 

 Our first ride with a Tuk-Tuk 

 

Bracelets decorating the mass grave at the killing fields 

 

Graves at the killing fields 

Killing fields 

 

The S21-museum

 

Arriving in Sihanoukville:D 

 

Giant pizzas 

The main pier in M'Pai Bay from afar 

 

 Paradise on Koh Rong Sanloem <3 

 

<3

 

Our favorite pier to relax

 

 Favorite travelmates <3 

 

Restaurant "The Fishing Hook" 

 The most amazing pancakes I've ever had!!!

 Laundry-time in our bungalow :) 

 

Makeshift breakfast bowls XD 

 

 

Boat ride to Saracen Bay 

 Saracen Bay

 Our dorm back in M'Pai Bay 

 Sunset on our last evening on Koh Rong Sanloem 

Vietnam 2.0

Hey everyone! :) 

We survived the 20-hour-long bus ride and arrived safely in Da Lat on December 5th. It was actually not that bad because we drove overnight to Nha Trang where we had like one hour break and switched buses and then had to drive for another 5 hours to get to Da Lat. 

Da Lat lies in the mountains, so the bus took us up a long and curvy road from where we had an amazing view over the surrounding mountains, the valley, and the rainforest. 

When we finally arrived in Da Lat, we were surprised. Yet again, Vietnam showed us a totally different side from what we had already seen. The hilly landscape surrounding the city were filled with greenhouses and farming land, and along the road we saw some pretty big and expensive-looking houses. All in all, the city looked a lot wealthier than the other cities we have seen in this country. We figured that it must be because auf the large scale agriculture here. 

From the bist station, we took a cab to get to our hostel, the Dalat Backpackers hostel. It was pretty cool because we had our own room on the 4th floor (that was the only bad part: you really don't wanna climb four stories with a heavy backpack on). It even had a small balcony with a cool view over the city! 

So after taking a short break in our room, we went out to eat something. We found a local restaurant across the street that the receptionist had recommended. The owners didn't know a word in English, so they just have us the menu. The only problem was that we didn't know a word (except one: chay= vegetarian) in Vietnamese, so we had absolutely no idea what all the different dishes were. We finally just pointed at one dish that had the word "chay" in it and hoped for the best. We actually got a really delicious noodle soup with some salad, success!! :D 

Later that day, we decided to explore the local market in the city centre of Da Late. The market was huge with small booths and stall on the streets and a lot more in two different market halls. We bought fruit and some snacks, strolled around, and went back to the hostel, because we had a welcome dinner at 6:30pm. The dinner was great! Along with some other guests from various countries, we sat around a big carpet in the lobby. The carpet was full of little dishes filled with rice, tofu, soup, spring rolls, veggies, and omlettes. During the dinner, we chatted with the others and exchanged our travel stories. (When you first meet someone in the hostels here, it's always the same conversation. "Where do you come from? How long are you traveling for? Where?" ... it's always so interesting!) 

On the next day, we had booked a "waterfall and countryside tour" around Da Lat. Another guest from our hostel, William from Canada, accompanied us. The tour was great! We had our own guide, Bella, and our own driver. First, we stopped at the oldest flower farm of the city. Bella told us that the city and its surrounding farmlands provide 80% of all the fruits and vegetables of Vietnam, that's why the people here are richer than in other parts of the country (the farm owners at least). She also told us about the different kinds of flowers planted on the farm and showed us avocado, Papaya, and mango trees. So cool! 

After the flower farm, we went to a minority village. They have 54 different ethnic groups here in Vietnam, hence a lot of minority groups........ We only visited one house in the village because Bella told us, that we have to respect their life and privacy, totally understandable!! She showed us the simple wooden houses and explained how the people here live and told us about some of their traditions. She also showed us the four different kinds of coffee plants that grow in this area and how the locals collect the coffee beans. 

Our third stop was a coffee plantation with a shop and cafe. First, Bella explained to us, how the special weasel coffee here is made (the weasels eat the coffee beans, digest them, and excrete them. Then the beans are collected, dried, and roasted. So yeah, the coffee is basically mad of weasel poop XD). Afterwards, we went to the cafe where we could try the coffee. William and I  gave it a shot and tried the weasel coffee. It was not bad, but I would not order it again. It was worth trying though! :) 

The next stop on our tour through the countryside was a cricket farm. First, Bella explained to us how the people here produce rice wine and then she showed us the inside of the cricket farm. As we entered the room the sound and smell of thousands of crickets, sitting in multiple concrete basins, hit us. They looked (and smelled) just gross, so we left the room pretty quickly. Outside, Bella told us to sit down at a small table. We each got a small glass of rice wine and Vietnamese tea. She also gave us a small plate filled with roasted crickets. Bella told us that those are a specialty here and are sold at all the local markets. Sofie, William and I brought ourselves to try one. It was actually not that bad: crunchy and tasted like lemongrass (the marinade). You just had to ignore the fact that they looked absolutely disgusting. 

After our small lunch, we drove to a silk farm where we were able to watch how the silk strings are farmed. Bella showed us a little house in which the silk worms can weave the cocoon around themselves. After they have finished doing so, they are boiled in hot water and then, special machines pick up the fine threads and extract them from the cocoon. Pretty cool! :) 

Our next stop was a beautiful pagoda with a large silver Buddha statue in the surrounding gardens. The Buddha is very fat and looks super happy. We learned from Bella that people stroke his belly to get wealthy and for good luck. 

Next to the Pagoda was the first waterfall, called "elephant waterfall". We had to climb down pretty steep and slippery stairs and rocks  to get to a platform dome where we had a great view on the beautiful waterfall. 

Then we had lunch in a Vietnamese restaurant and continued our journey to our last stop: the Pongour waterfall. That one was even prettier than the first one. (See on the pics below) we stayed there for some time before we drove back to Da Lat. 

In Da Lat  Sofie, Taddi and I decided to make one last stop at the so-called "crazy-house". The crazy-house was an array of oddly shaped buildings with all kinds of different paths and stairs leading from one roof to the other, around the houses, through the houses, ... it really did look totally crazy and was so cool! I felt like I was in a animated movie :D.

What an amazing day!!

On the next morning, we packed our stuff and took a cab to the bus station from where we would continue our itinerary to Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City. The bus ride took about 8 hours, shorter than the rides we've done before, but to me, it was worse because it was during the daytime and I couldn't sleep... we arrived in Saigon in the late afternoon. Luckily  our hostel was right around the corner, so we only had to walk like 5mins to get there. We put our stuff in the dorm room and went to a nearby restaurant to eat. After that, we walked around the streets and booked a tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels, remnants of the Vietnam war, for the next day. 

So on the next morning, we were picked up by bus at 8am to go to the tunnels. On the 2.5-hour long bus ride, our guide told us about the history of Vietnam and about the war. When we arrived at the museum, we first watched a 15-min video about the war. The video was pure propaganda, for example the US soldiers were called a "crazy bunch of American devils" and the Vietnamese soldiers were presented as war heroes.... after this short and pretty onesided video, our guide led the way to our next stop. While we were walking through the jungle our guide pointed out the craters that were created by all the bombs. They were everywhere. 

We made several stops, one next to an original American tank which was left behind after it was damaged, one at a model of an entrance to the tunnels (it was tiny!!!! A staff member of the museum showed us how the Viet cong got in and out of the tunnel and how they hid the entrances with leaves), and one at a series of different trap models. Our guide showed us how the Viet Cong had set up the traps and how they worked. The imagination of stepping in one of them was just horrifying! I couldn't believe how people could do something like that to others human beings...

After the trap models, we went to a shooting ranch where the tourists could buy bullets and shoot with some of the guns that were used during the war. To me, that was just ridiculous and so morbid! The three of us were so moved by all the brutal things that had happened here during the war, we would have never thought about shooting with guns, especially not here, right where the actual battles had taken place. Where actual people died because of these guns.... 

When all the other people from our group who had decided to shoot were done, we continued our tour. The next stop was a tunnel which served as a model for the real Vietnamese tunnels. It had been enlarged so that western tourists could fit through. It was 100 meters long with exits after 25, 40, and 60 meters. One after the other we went inside the tunnel. It was hot and humid which made it really hard to breathe. Additionally, it was very dark and only 1,2m high, so we had to almost crawl. After 25m it was just too much for me and I left the tunnel. I could have never stayed in there for much longer and I cannot understand how the Viet Cong actually lived in there...  

After everybody got out of the tunnel, we continued our tour. The guide showed us how the Viet Cong cooked without showing their position to the American helicopters and how they had developed a whole ventilation system for the tunnels. It was really interesting and I have to say that they were actually really smart! 

All in all, I was shocked by the brutality of both, the Viet Cong and the Americans, with all the different traps, the bombings, etc. At the same time, I was amazed by the different strategies and systems the Viet Cong had developed. Everything was so well hidden and thought through. Doesn't make it any better though. Their actions were still atrocious and I can't believe how people are capable of treating each other in such horrific ways. Even if it's war... 

After the tour was over, we drove back to Saigon. We were pretty exhausted, so we just went out to eat and returned to the hostel. 

On the next day, we decided to visit the "Ben Tanh Market". It was really big and set up in a market hall. The stalls offered different goods including clothes, food, souvenirs, etc. After we had strolled through the tiny aisles, we went to a nearby street food court for lunch. 

Then we walked to the War Remnants Museum. It was really good! There were a lot of pictures and documents explaining the war. One of the sections (the whole museum was divided into sections) was about the herbicide "Agent Orange" and its consequences. They had set up a gallery of pictures of mutilated people and descendants of people effected by the chemical. It was horrifying and shocking. I couldn't look at them. Again I was shocked how human beings could do such things, and allow such things to happen... 

After the museum, we went to a bakery and some shops to buy provisions for our bus ride to Cambodia on the next day. 

You can see that our trip to Saigon was all about discovering the history of the Vietnam War. That was really important to us because we wanted to use the chance and find out more about the war where it had actually happened. And how the local people handle their history. It was well worth it! If you ever get a chance to visit Vietnam, go to the museum and the tunnels. It's horrrifying and eye-opening at the same time. 

We are now (December 9th) at the end of our time in Vietnam and will continue our journey to Cambodia. Vietnam was my favorite country so far. It's nature is incredibly diverse, the people are friendly (the majority at least), and we had an amazing time, although it was way to short! :) 

If I ever get the chance, I would really like to come back here some day! Especially since we had to leave out a lot because of our limited time here... 

I am writing this post from the island Koh Rong Sanloem in Cambodia where we are at the moment. Please forgive me for not updating my blog sooner, we are just so busy with all the traveling and didn't have wifi on the island :D. 

Hope you guys are all doing well and enjoying the Christmas season! 

Love, 

Anne <3

 The flower farm in Da Lat

 

Building in the minority village 

 The weasel coffee 

 The weasel coffee when it's ready to drink :)

 

The cricket farm

 

Lunch :D 

 

Evidence that I actually tried one!! :D 

 

At the silk farm

 

The happy Buddha at the pagoda

 Way down to the Elephant waterfall

 Elephant waterfall :) 

 

From the top 

 

Pongour waterfall 

 Crazy house 

Crazy house 

 

Market in Da Lat 

Saigon: 

 

At the Cu Chi tunnels 

 

Entrance of the tunnels

Vietnam <3

Hey y'all! :)

I'm sorry for not writing for so long, but I just didn't have th time during the past few days. That's due to the fact that we can only stay in Vietnam for 15 days and have a lot to do and see in this short time. So this post will be a little less text and more pictures. ;) 

Anyways, we arrived safely in Hanoi on the 25th of November. We were picked up at the airport and brought to our hotel. We stayed in the An Hotel (we had met a Vietnamese Au Pair in Germany and her friend Clark works in that hotel , so he arranged our stay there). Clark was so friendly and helpful and even spoke some German! 

On the first evening, we met with a travel agent, Ms. Hoa, with whom we had texted on facebook previously. She had arranged a tour to halong bay and a 2-day trekking tour in Sa Pa for us. 

The next day, we were picked up from our hotel by a mini bus. We drove towards halong Bay, and in the middle of the way there, our bus stopped and we were told that,  unfortunately, the trip got canceled because of bad weather conditions... so we drove all the way back to Hanoi. Luckily, we have a SIM card here and could text Ms. Hoa right away. she managed to get us on a tour to Sa Pa which left on that evening and told us that we could go to Halong Bay afterwards. 

The rest of the day we spent with Clark and a friend of his. We went to the museum of ethnicities, which was really interesting! We learned a lot about the culture and traditions of the Vietnamese people. Afterwards we had dinner on the side of a street. We sat on tiny plastic chairs around a tiny plastic table and had some typical rice noodles with veggies, it was delicious!! 

In the evening, we were picked up by a sleeper bus which would bring us to Sa Pa, in the north of Vietnam. The bus ride during the night was pretty ok because the seats were somewhat comfy and we could actually sleep. :D 

When we arrived in Sa Pa in the morning, we were dropped off at a hotel where we had breakfast. Then, a young Vietnamese woman, wearing traditional clothes, introduced herself as our tour guide for the next two days. Along with 13 other tourists and some more local young girls and women, we followed her on a muddy trek through the rice fields. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous!!! The mountains surrounding us were so green and covered by rice terraces. 

Unfortunately, it had rained the day before and the path was very slippery. Even though the locals helped us a lot, Sofie and I decided to play Domino and slide downhill in the dirt. Our clothes got dirty, by luckily, we didn't hurt ourselves. :) 

After an exhausting hike, we arrived in a small village where we had lunch. Then we continued our hike to the next village were our accommodation for the night was located. We stayed in a homestay, run by a local family. It was very nice! 

On the next morning, we had breakfast at the homestay before we continued our hike through the rice fields. This time, we didn't walk as much and arrived around 12:30pm in a little village. After we had a very good noodle soup for lunch, we were picked up by a mini bus and brought back to Sa Pa. From there a large sleeper bus took us back to Hanoi. 

The trip to Sa Pa was amazing and so worth it! The nature is just gorgeous!! :) 

We spent one more night in our hotel in Hanoi, and on the next morning, we left for our cruise in Halong Bay. A mini bus drove us all the way there and luckily, the tour wasn't not canceled like the first time. Yay! ;) 

We arrived at the harbour and got onto our cruise ship. It was not very big, it had room for like 30 people.  The three of us got the nicest room on the top deck (thanks to our dear Ms. Hoa!!). 

First of all, we had a delicious lunch in the board restaurant. Tofu, veggies, rice, fish, meat, salad, and extra for us vegetarians: some weird-looking purple and white balls (later we found out that those were rice cakes XD). 

During the lunch, we were already driving through the gorgeous bay with its thousands of little islands. It was so beautiful! I have never seen anything like it before. :) 

After enjoying the amazing view on the sun deck, we went with a little boat to one of the islands. There was the so-called "surprising cave". The cave was really nice, but packed with tourists... 

Then, we had some time to kayak around the islands, which was a lot of fun! 

In the evening, we enjoyed a dinner buffet and watched the lights of the many other cruise ships that had anchored around the same spot. 

On our second day in Halong Bay, we had breakfast on the boat and went to a pearl farm afterwards. There, we had a little guided tour in which we learned about the different kinds of oysters and how pearls are farmed. Interesting! (Except for the fact that 85% of the oysters die during the process...) 

After visiting the farm, we had lunch and drove back to the harbour where we were picked up by a mini bus to go back to Hanoi. 

I liked the trip to Halong Bay even more than the trip to Sa Pa because the scenery was just so breathtaking! I could have spend several days there, just driving through the bay on the boat. <3 

We arrived around 6pm in Hanoi, went to the hotel, relaxed a little, and then we met up again with Clark and some of his friends. They were all studying German at the university here in Hanoi, and it was fun to talk in German with them. :) Together, we went to try out some more typical Vietnamese food on the street. During the meal, we told each other about different aspects about German and Vietnamese culture, people, etc. it was so cool!!!

On our last day here in Hanoi, we went with Clark and Ly, one of his friends, to the literature temple. The temple was very nice and filled with young Vietnamese people, dressed in traditional clothes. Our friends told us that those were university graduates who would always come here to take yearbook pictures. And the temple sure does provide a nice background for good pictures! :) 

After we finished walking through the campus of the temple, we went to a little restaurant where we (again) ate some typical Vietnamese food. For desert, we went to another little cafe. We had literally no idea what they even had on the menu (everything was in Vietnamese), but luckily our friends translated for us. We decided on sticky rice with a caramel sauce which turned out to be an amazing choice! 

We then returned to the hotel, packed our stuff, and said goodbye to our friends. They have made our stay here even better, we were so thankful!! 

A taxi brought us to the bus station where we had to wait for some time until the sleeper bus arrived at 9pm. We only had to drive about 1,5 hours to our next destination, Ninh Binh. 

There, we took a taxi to get to our homestay in a village called Tam Coc. The homestay was amazing, we had our own room and bathroom, free breakfast and free bike rental. For $7 each!! 

On the next morning, we enjoyed a delicious noodle soup for breakfast and then took bikes to drive to the harbour of Tam Coc. There, we got into a tiny boat made of tin. A Vietnamese man sat in the back and paddled us (with his feet!) along the river. The river flowed through a valley that looked a lot like Halong Bay on land. We were surrounded by huge boulders and rice fields, awesome!! On the way, we drove through three little caves and saw many different animals, including pigs, goats, and ducks. The locals drove around in tiny tin-boats as well. Some woman had a range of snacks set up on their boats which they tried to sell to the tourists. Luckily, we were early and didn't see a lot of other tourists. The drive was very peaceful and quite, we loved it! :) 

After getting back to the harbour, we rode our bicycles back to the homestay where we had lunch and relaxed a little. Then, we picked up the bikes again to go to the Mua Temple which was about 2km away. The temple was located atop of one of the tallest boulders. We had to climb 459 stairs (we counted) to get there. It was really worth it because we had an amazing view over the valley (from this morning) and over the city Ninh Binh. The temple itself was small, consisting of a hut with a statue inside and a stone dragon on the rocks. It looked really cool though! :) We stayed up there for some time and enjoyed the fantastic view before we climbed down and visited a small cave on the foot of the little mountain. It was nice, not very exciting though. 

When we got back to our homestay, we had some time left before we had to go to the bus station. So we used the time to plan, relax, and have dinner. 

At 7:30pm a car brought us to the bus station. Our bus to Hoi An departed around 9pm, so we had to wait on the pavement until then. 

When the bus arrived, we were glad that we got good seats right away because we had a 16-hour long drive ahead of us. Sounds horrible, but we actually were able to sleep during most of the time, so it wasn't that bad. 

We arrived in Hoi An around 1pm the next day. We got out of the bus and got a little shock because it was very humid and hot! (In the north, we had around 10-20 degrees...)

First, we walked to the Cloudy Homestay (we hadn't booked in advance, but luckily, they had three beds left for us), where we unpacked and rested for a while. 

Then, we went to an amazing vegetarian local restaurant for lunch. We were in foo heaven and overwhelmed by all the different dishes. ( so far, it proved to be kind of difficult to get vegetarian food here in Vietnam) I had a traditional noodle soup with wonton dumplings, so yummy! :) 

After we finished our lunch, we took our bikes and drove toward the city Centre of Hoi An. We parked the bikes, and walked around the old quarter which the city is famous for. The streets were packed with souvenir shops, street food stalls with all kinds of fried delicacies, and tailor shops (another thing Hoi An is famous for). 

Originally, we had planned to cross the river and walk around the other half of the old quarter. However, we found out that the streets near the river and the bridge were completely flooded. The ground floors of entire shops and restaurant were underwater, but the locals didn't seem too concerned about it. (Apparently, they face floods very often during the months of October-December.) 

Instead of crossing the river, we continued to walk around the city centre and shopped in the local stores. Everything was so neat and inexpensive! If we didn't have to think about space and weight in our backpacks, we would probably have bought a lot more. :D

In the evening, we went to a small restaurant were we ate "Banh Mi", a traditional Vietnamese dish. Banh Mi is actually a baguette with various veggies, optional meat, egg, cheese, and a sauce. Doesn't sound very Vietnamese, however, its existence dates back to the colonial times when the French occupied Vietnam. 

On our second day here in Hoi An, we had planned to participate in a free bike tour around the city, run by local college students. Sadly, the tour was cancelled due to the flooding... Since there wasn't a whole lot to do here, we slept in, ate breakfast at our homestay, and went to explore the old quarter again. On the way, we discovered a small market and food hall, where we tried "Mi Quang" and "Banh xeo". (See on the pictures below) 

Afterwards, we strolled through the streets and bought some souvenirs. Taddi actually went into a tailor shop and got a jumpsuit. The lady took her measurements and sew the jumpsuit for her in just one hour, so cool!! :) 

Before we had to go back to the homestay and pick up our backpacks, we went to the same vegetarian restaurant as yesterday. Sofie and I had a local foods menu with fried wontons, cao lao (a special noodle dish), white rose dumplings, and spring rolls. Delicious!!! :) 

Back at the homestay, we grabbed our back packs and our now on the way to the bus station. Our next stop will be Da Lat, a 20-hour drive from here... hope we'll survive that XD. 

Talk to you soon! 

Love, 

Annette 

 Sa Pa

 Sa Pa

 

 Sa Pa

 Ha Long Bay 

 Ha Long Bay 

 Temple of literature in Hanoi 

 Temple of literature in Hanoi 

 Streets in Hanoi

 

With our Vietnamese friends in Hanoi :) 

 

Bike tour in Ninh Binh

 Tam Coc,  Ninh Binh

 

Tam Coc 

 Vendors on their boats in Tam Coc 

 

On the boat :) 

 Stairs to the Mua temple

 Mua Temple 

 Mua Temple 

 View over the valley 

 The sleeper bus 

 Hoi An

 Taddi buying street food :) 

 Flooded streets and houses 

 Lanterns in Hoi An (another thing that Hoi An is famous for) 

 

Banh Xeo, rice pancakes 

 

Cao Lao, rice noodles 

 

Cao Lao, fried wontons,, and spring rolls in our favorite vegetarian restaurant after 

 White rose dumplings