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Published: November 25th 2010
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Now we have spent 10 days in Vietnam and we are liking the country so far. Last week we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). After a day in HCMC we went the next day to the Mekong Delta to see the floating markets. Well, it was nice to see but that’s about it, nothing special.
So we left Wednesday, the 17th to Mui Ne and stayed in nice Resort for little money with access to the beach for four nights. In the bus and at the reception we met 2 couples, with whom we spent the next days. It was great to share travel experience with them as Juliane and Marc have been travelling for 4 months. The other couple, Moni and Philip went to Vietnam for their vacation. During the day we relaxed at the beach under palm trees =) and at night we enjoyed fresh BBQ seafood – delicious (and soo cheap!) and the favorite side dish was French fries! After lunch we got more drinks at the Pogo and played pool. One day we went to the red sand dunes….(where the hell comes all the sand from???) to see the sunset, actually clouds where in
the way but the view and atmosphere were tremendous.
On the 21st we took a bus to Dal Lat – supposed to be a favorite place for the Vietnamese to go on vacation. However, getting there was a bit troublesome. First of all, we got picked up at 7 am from the hotel, Marc an Juliane have an “open-tour-bus”-prepaid- ticket, so they just call the company and get picked up . Moni, Philip and us had bought the ticket the day before. So apparently we all got picked up at the same time on the same bus. The minibus got crowed, where 3 people were supposed to sit, we sat with 4 people. Then all of a sudden, we were still in Mui Ne, the bus stopped and the bus driver wanted to get Juliane and Marc off the bus because they didn’t have the right ticket (not from the same company), however, the bus driver and his assistant looked at the ticket and said, it will be ok! So the 6 of us where arguing and screaming because it was not Juliane’s and Marc’s mistake, as they had asked twice if the bus was the right one. At
the end they paid the ticket fee as it was already too late for them to get their right bus. So being all tight up in the bus we started to leave Mui Ne…then in another village we stopped and we had big questionmarks in our face “ How the hell can fit more people + luggage in the bus?” Well, it did but we were packed like sardines. On the way to the mountains the Vietnamese passenger got sick…what an experience but we were fine besides that we could not move our legs.
Once we arrived in Dal Lat it was raining cats and dogs…horrible! It stopped a bit later the afternoon so we could go for a walk there but it was also sad that we could not see anything outside of town, especially for Moni and Philip who had to continue the next day to HCMC. However, we still had a nice evening together.
The next day in Dal Lat we hired two motorbikes and went to see the surroundings of Dal Lat. Everywhere they grow flowers, vegetables, herbs….. We also went to see a waterfall which was integrated in an amusement park. The way
down we took an alpine rollercoaster - that was real fun! In the afternoon we did some more sightseeing of Dal Lat. There was a lake with plenty of new roads but the roads sometimes end in the middle of nowhere. It seems that Vietnam will became much more than now a tourist country.
The next morning we left to Nha Trang (just the two of us, Marc & Juliane wanted to stay longer). It was a hell of a ride, once again! This time we had a seemingly proper bus, however, just 7 passenger (which can hold at least 40 people) on the bus to Nha Trang. As we went out to the mountains on the new road to Nha Trang, the brakes of the bus were working but not well….as we stopped for a 20 minutes break half way, the brakes where steaming….but reading the driver’s mind: “All right folks, you don’t have to worry…! “ After 20 minutes, we boarded the bus again, however, the bus engine did not want to start and the gears were broken. Mhhm, not so good, if you are in the middle of nowhere in the Vietnamese mountains. The bus driver
and his assistant took of their good shirts, grabbed some tools and went to the back of the bus to repair the engine or the gear. After a while it seems the bus still would not work. We tried to figure out, how we would get to Nha Trang, not having proper transportation. Unfortunately, the bus driver nor his assistant were able to get out a straight sentence or let’s say some words in English for us to know what was going on and how the hell we would get to Nha Trang. Another bus driver, which came from Nha Trang could speak a bit of English and told us, that we have to wait for another bus which would come from Dal Lat on which we might could get on….haha….
A miracle happened and the bus driver fixed the engine so that we could leave after 1 ½ hour break, however, the bus would only work in the first and second gear, so the maximum speed was 40km/h! On top of that: It had been raining a lot in Vietnam and parts of the road were washed away by flooding so that the bus driver and his assistant
had to put stones on the ground so that we could pass on the remaining asphalt with the bus. All in all it took us 7 hours for 150km!
We had a few hours in Nha Trang before we had to catch the night bus. So we had dinner and a stroll along the beach.
At 7pm we got on the bus…which is not designed for people taller than 1,80m. So Thomas had a hell of a night in cramped positions, because it was a sleeping bus.
Now we are in Hoi An: A beautiful little town with an old city centre. It seems so relaxed and we are glad to stay a few days here.
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