Back in `Nam

Finally found some time to update my blog. This will be a long one, so hopefully you've got some time:

After two weeks in Laos I returned with a sleeper Bus to Dong Ha, where the front-line of the Vietnam war was at the end.  

After arrival I found a guesthouse for $10 a night. Unfortunately I don't recall the name. The nice guesthouse owner offered me and another girl which was staying there, to take a tour to the DMZ (demilitarised zone) for free. The tour was on the back of their motorbikes, which was pretty exciting but also scary because of the crazy driving style of our guides. 

First we went to the famous, north Vietnamese tunnels, which they used to wage guerrilla war on the invading US forces. The tunnels were really impressive and we saw some strange scorpions and also a big snake during our time down there.  It is crazy to think that the Vietnamese had to live in these tunnels for years, given how narrow and low they were built...

Next, we visited the graves of unidentified soldiers, killed by the Americans. It was really something what made me feel sick, it was only one of dozens graveyards, but it made me realise, just how many people the Americans killed during this war (5 million people, including 3 million innocent civilians).

The next day I tried to find a motorbike to buy, with the help of the guesthouse staff. Unfortunately they tried to rip me off and sell me a Honda Win for $400+. I refused to buy and wanted them to book me a bus ticket to Hue, the next bigger city. When they tried to charge me $20 for the ticket, I again got suspicious because it shouldn’t be more than one dollar to drive there by bus. 

So I did my research about the ticket prices and found out that the train to Hue would cost  only $1. Funny thing, the taxi to the train station and back was $2. 

The One-Way-Ticket itself was also $2 instead and it was printed “foreigner” on it. The famous two price system of Vietnam (double price for foreigner) is, like I found out, not just big business for little stores but also implemented by the governmental institutions. 

Later this evening I went to the restaurant next door with the owner of the guesthouse and asked him what I can do in the city at nighttime. He said there is simply nothing other to do than going to karaoke. 

I told him this would be boring on my own, and his reaction was to ask the girls who worked in the restaurant to take me out for Karaoke. They agreed which was quite funny, but I had to make a call so I told them I will meet them later. The call took a little longer and and I couldn't go out with them after all.

The next day I left early to experience a nice train ride to Hue, the cultural heart of Vietnam. It is the university city of Vietnam and is full of museums and art galleries. When I arrived I found out that there was the Hue cultural festival ongoing and the city was very crowded because of this. I met up with a friend from Couchsurfing and had quite a nice day; he showed me the city, nice little places to eat. I tried food I never saw before and it was delicious! 

I figured that I could also ask them for help to buy a motorbike and on the next day they took me to a street with a lot of bike shops. We found a  "Tender" bike (A fake Honda Win) only two years old and in very good shape, for $300. 

My friends helped me bargain and after that they also thought me how to drive it. Very lovely people indeed!

We went for food in a little restaurant and because one of them had to go home, I had to stay there for a while alone. Next to me where a few old men drinking beer and smoking cigarettes and they gesticulated  me to join them. 

I got free beer and a cigarette and they tried to talk to me. Of course I didn’t understand a single word but it was fun. It just once again showed me the big hearts and openness of the people here!

A few days later I went with some friends of the hostel (Staff!) to the nearby beach where we managed to catch some little crabs and in the evening we went to one of the shows at the festival. It was a 
very impressive performance 
of about 30 Vietnamese acrobats.

After that I went with some English guys to a nearby bar (Brown Eyes Bar - best place in town). Hue was a very nice place to stay, especially because of my friends from Couchsurfing and the very nice staff at the Hue Backpackers (http://www.vietnambackpackerhostels.com/). 

I went, again with the hostel staff, to the biggest show of the festival, 90 minutes of music and dancing performances on a stage in the river, another day they took me to swim in a river two hours out of the city and we also went to karaoke together.

I was sad to leave the place after nearly two weeks with those amazing people.

During my stay there, I also met three guys from England who were travelling from Hanoi to Saigon on their Motorbikes. I decided to join them and the next day we hit the road in direction Hoi An. 

This first part of my journey was an adventure, a fast ride while taking over crazy bus drivers and trucks and all the other bikes on the road. 

Unfortunately we then got stopped at a tunnel entry by a few security guards who showed us to take the longer pass road. This wouldn’t have been such a big deal but in this moment it started raining like I never saw it before. 

We decided to wait at the guards house till the rain ended. After that we had a very nice run up the mountain before we caught up with the thunderstorm. It was so bad we had to take another break at a little street food corner. 

I have to say, I never ate bad street food expect for this time. It was horrible and I couldn’t eat more than a few bites. In the heavily crowded streets of Da Nang we lost our track and had to struggle a little to find our way. The delay forced us to drive in the night to reach our destination. 

This was a terrible experience because you could barely see a thing because all the cars and bikes which had their high beam on, and our own lights were not very good. 

Luckily we arrived after one hour save in Hoi An and could find a room and a hot shower, which was a blessing!

Afterwards, we  went to explor the village, and I didn’t like it very much, it is just very small and very touristy.. 

I went on my own to a nightclub where usually no tourist head to. One guy invited me to his table and tried to introduce me to the waitresses. He told me one of them is his sister and he gave me his card with the words “If you want her, call me later, OK?” Not a nice brother, this guy. I thanked them for the 5-6 free beer and went home – without ever calling him. 


After two days there I just wanted to leave the place, it was just very boring there and the nice beach couldn’t convince me to stay. We decided to definitely leave on the next morning to Nha Trang but the English guys couldn’t stop drinking in the evening, what did I expect? I tried to wake them up in the morning but I wasn’t successful, so I left on my own. 

The trip was nice but after lunch it again started to rain and I had a horrible four hours trip before I stopped in a little village. The rain makes it feel freezing even though it still is about 30 degrees.. I found a nice little hotel in the middle of nowhere and had a delicious dinner and a nice Vietnamese coffee before I went to sleep. 

The English guys texted me they were also driving with a few hours difference, and we would meet up in Nha Trang. At 5.30 AM I hit the road again, a fast and nice rain free trip this time, the scenery was just beautiful, I stopped a few times to take pictures but you can’t really describe it if you don’t see it for yourself. 

The green mountains cowered in jungle, the rice fields and the beautiful beaches with bright blue water.. I felt like in paradise! I was thinking about taking a break to swim in the sea  just seconds before something else took my attention. In front of me where like twenty bikes on each side of the street and lots of people. 

I thought maybe a wedding, or some other festivity was going on, but then I realised just five meters in front of me on the street was a body… 

A young woman, maybe twenty - twenty-five years old and definitely dead. I didn’t really realise what happened till a few hundred meters after. I wanted to stop and help because nobody seemed to help but I was already to far away. I felt  quite bad for a few days because I didn’t do anything..
 

Anyway, an hour later I arrived in Nha Trang, a beautiful city right on the beach with palm trees everywhere. After a crappy meal at KFC I met up with my English friends who told me some stories about their ride..

Unfortunately two of my English buddies, Dennys and Jack had to leave with a Bus to Saigon a few days after that because they had to meet a friend in Bangkok on a specific date. 

Nha Trang was fun, we went to the beach, explored the bars and also went with a cable car ever the sea to one of the most famous water parks in Vietnam; Vinpearl. The day over there was a lot of fun even if all the other white people there were Russians.

Nick (the only English guy left) and me decided to leave after four days and drive to Da Lat in the mountains where we would meet up with an Australian couple and some other people we met on our trip. 

The ride was amazing, no traffic, beautiful scenery and perfect weather. We stopped once and I just jumped in the next river with all my clothes.. A little bit later in middle of the mountains Nick`s bike stopped working. We wondered what it could be, because one day before we filled up the tank so there should be more than enough fuel inside.  

It turned out that somebody stole his gasoline during the night and because we didn’t check it, we were a bit fucked. There was no gas station in a 20km radius and I had no big hopes to find some when I drove off. But I was lucky, after five minutes I found a very tiny building next to the street and five sleeping workers inside. 

It was fun to try to explain them what I needed but it worked out and I headed back with 1.5 liter of gasoline. When I arrived I found Nick with about five Vietnamese people, two cars and a motorbike stopped and tried to help him somehow. It was once more proof of how social and helpful the local people can be (without wanting anything in return)!

We continued our drive and because we are so lucky, we drove directly into a heavy thunderstorm. Burst trees and energy lines on the street, lightning’s near us and immediately heavy traffic with crazy bus drivers nearly killing us several times. Finally we found a gas station were we could take an hour rest till the rain ended. We got some free tea and cigarettes right next to the gas pump – safety first – and then drove the last part.

The first evening was a lot of fun, we were tasting all the local wines and got a bit drunk therefore.. The next day it was raining again so we decided to stay another night and then make our Way to Mui Ne beach. And again our trip started great with nice weather before we caught up with a thunderstorm. 

When I tried to pull over at a gas station I had to pass a little lake of rainwater (At least it looked like it). Lucky me, there was mud under the water and my bike slipped away. So I fell into this mud and couldn’t get up alone anymore because the bike was on my leg. Fortunately Nick was there to help me and the gas station had a shower. 

Two hours later we continued our trip and drove through very nice little villages and a mountain road in middle of a jungle. 




We wanted to meet up with the Australian girl in Mui Ne and it took us a while to find the hotel at the beach. But turned out she chose our accommodation well! We paid 8$ for single bungalows, very nice with TV, AC and fridge.

In Mui ne we met some fun German guys and spent some nice days at the beach. After three days we left the beach and I was looking forward for some good food, because in the three days there it was simply not possible to find proper food. The ride on the Highway one to Saigon was terrible, we drove there on Independence day which increased the traffic even more. 

I nearly crashed three times and we decided then to take the ride slowly even if we lost time. About 50 km before the city, the traffic went crazy. The road was so crowded, you could only drive around 2-4 km/h and I lost Nick four times. Finally we arrived in the city centre and found a little hostel for $10 a night. 
 It was a really dirty place and I insisted to change it the next day. 

The whole city was full of lady bars where you see ugly old men and young Vietnamese women making out before they leave together in direction hotel, I also saw a bunch of barber shops where you never see anybody cut hair but always a bunch of nice girls sit inside wearing miniskirts and looking for customers. And of course every night in front of the hotels I get asked hundred times if I want a “Massage Bum Bum”. 

But apart of that the city is really nice, really good food, even “Zürcher Gschnetzletes” and I met so many awesome people. We went to a very nice water park on a hot day and visited the War remnants museum. 

The museum was very impressive. Definitely recommended. when we came out we felt terrible and had a deep hate against the US for what they done to this country and the people living here. 

After this, we needed to get some drinks and went to a local Club. Like always here it was very very loud inside and incredibly expensive but they had a game to win a bottle of Vodka, and my friends managed to win this game.. So we saved some money, which was good. 

After one week of fun, my friend Nick had to leave because his visa expired, but I will meet him in Cambodia and we continue our adventure together. Also the others all left, so I’m alone in Saigon now, but that’s not a big deal, I need a little time now to myself to calm down and relax.

I LOVE VIETNAM!