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Fast forward Vietnam!
It's been a while since my last update, mostly because the past 3 weeks have been filled with so many things to do, that sleeping and eating was prioritized over blogging.. I just said bye to Sophie, and it's time to look back on an amazing 3 weeks.
Yes, I was robbed last week, by a guy who yanked my purse off my shoulder and breaking the straps, while we were waiting in front of our hostel to get in. A real case of bad luck. I comfort myself with the thought it could have been a lot worse, but it does leave a nasty feeling. My camera and creditcard were in my purse, but luckily Sophie still has her pictures of our weeks together and I had backed up my pictures of Australia thank god.
But on to nicer things! Our first stop in Vietnam was Hanoi, where traffic is madness and everything happens on the streets. I loved it. It drove me crazy multiple times a day, and the constant honking seems to linger in your ears for much longer. We met such cool and fun people, with whom we visited Ho Chi Minh's body, the Waterpuppet show and did a very interesting food tour with. Food wise Hanoi is great, with delicious dishes served simply on the street on tiny plastic stools. Leave all your healthcare and hygenic rules behind and enjoy! Their street bars are even more fun, where you get beer for 0.20 eurocent and sit on the same tiny plastic stools. When the police comes, the old lady serving the beer takes away all stools and changes your glasses into plastic cups, and you all continue drinking standing. Works for me!
Together with 2 norwegian friends we went to Cat Ba island to cruise around in Halong Bay, which is like the scenery of Pirates of the Caribbean. The weather was quite chilly and it rained a little bit, but the bay was so beautiful that the weather was easy to forget. We kayakked around fishermen houses and saw a glimpse of how people lived on the water and spent their days fishing.
Next stop was Hué, where we arrived after our very first sleeper bus experience.. Picture a normal bus, but take away all chairs, and instead picture chairs of mattresses that fold back almost flat, and are organized in two rows on the side and 1 in the middle until all the way in the back. There are two levels, and your feet are placed in the headrest of the person in front of you. And surprisingly enough I fit with my 1.83 mtrs!
From Hué we did a tour through the DMZ, the area around the border of North and South Vietnam where most of the Vietnam war (or American war as they call it here) took place. We saw the original tunnels, and we were surprised at the professionalism of these tunnels, seeing as they were dug with their bare hands. We went in the tunnels for 20 min and down to 23 mtr deep, and all I can say is that I was relieved coming out of them.. Crazy to think entire families lived here for periods of sometimes up to 10 days during years and years while the area above their heads was heavily bombed..
Instead of another Asian bus ride, we took 2 motorcycles with 1 guide to drive from Hué to Hoi An. Driving through the mountains and passing all the rice fields was absolute joy, and I was very comfortable on the back of the Harley with my bag strapped on the back, creating a comfy lounge chair!
Hoi An is a wonderful city, with lanterns all over town and old traditional buildings in every street. Everything is nicely decorated in Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese style, and there are street vendors every meter selling you something delicious to eat or drink.
Highlight was our private cooking class, that started at 7 am at the market with buying all ingredients, and was only finished 6.5 hours later when all was prepared and eaten. Our chef was amazing, guiding us with everything and teaching us so much! I never felt so stuffed in my life, and I thought I was going to cry trying to eat our last dish. We ate nothing for the rest of the day!
Hoi An is also famous for having clothes, shoes and bags tailor made, and I got a beautiful pair of leather lace boots made.
After all the activities, tours and sight seeing, we had to spend a day on the beach. And that is exactly what we got, 1 day ;) We arrived in the morning in Nha Trang, after our second sleeper bus, and went straight to the beach. Ofcourse some parts of our body were heavily sunburnt we discovered in the evening, stupid!! But we were able to forget our pain over dinner, as we had Vietnamese hot pot, a traditional dish. Its like a big pot filled with hot water, and underneath is a fire to boil the water. And than you throw in your veggies, meat and noodles ofcourse, and have a really nice dinner :)
Next morning we moved on to our last stop in Vietnam, namely Ho Chi Minh City. And well, that didn't bring us much good.. During the 20 hours we were there, I got robbed and Sophie got sick from our dinner. We had definitely planned a different way to close off Vietnam!
With one more week left on Sophie's agenda, we went into Cambodia to visit Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. I will tell all about this and more of Cambodia in my next blog, and can now only say how sad I am that Sophie left this morning. It is so easy to get used at having a travelbuddy, someone who is with you for the whole route, and I will miss her very much...
At this moment I have another 5 weeks left, which I am planning on spending in Cambodia, Lao and a bit of Thailand. So, lots to see and lots to do still :)
Byeee!
- comments
snoek Wooooo, je bent wel echt heel Vietnam door geweest zo te zien! Het klinkt zeker alsof ik ook ooit naar Vietnam moet gaan, ik bedoel maar.. iedereen die een beetje van eten houdt zou het daar fantastisch vinden als ik jou zo mag begrijpen. (Ik ben nogal onder de indruk van het feit dat je daar het meeste OOIT hebt gegeten als ik bedenk dat je al duizend croissants, poffertjes en wentelteefjes als ontbijt kan verorberen..) Nou goed, geniet nog van je laatste weekjes en ik verwacht natuurlijk een uitgebreid Vietnamees diner voorgeschoteld te krijgen als je terug bent ;) LAPPERRR