A big dream and a big world: 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