In Saigon I went to the travel agency for my bus to Mui Ne in the morning and a moped took me to the bus.
It is quiet exciting being on a moped with my backpack in the traffic of Saigon.
Luckily the Mui Ne backpackers still had room and I met a german couple who I went to the beach with.
In the evenings we had beers at Joe's - a very relaxing place, couches, chilled live music.
The other day I went for a tour. A jeep took us to the waterfall called Suoi Tien - Fairy Spring which wasn't that special although the walk there was pretty cool.
Afterwards we headed the fishing village and the white sanddunes which were just really impressive and fun to walk up.
And then there was the breathtaking sunset at the red sanddunes. I could have stayed there all night long.
When we came back home in the evening my back was very sore and looked nasty. The infection became as huge as a ping pong ball and the surface was yellow and black.
The security guy of the hostel took me to a local doctor immediately when he saw it.
Luckily I went there. The infection was very close to the spine already so I needed an operation.
They cut out everything and didn't give me anything for the pain before. Honestly, the worst pain I have ever felt in my life. The next day I had to come back. I expected them to clean it but the infection was much deeper than they thought. So I had to come back everyday and suffer.
After one week I finally got my back stitched!
I was very happy to move on although I liked Mui Ne a lot.
I had relaxed nights at the bonfire on the beach and a day on the motorbike through the next city - no tourists at all! - and the fishing village. And I actually drove myself for a while. I was scared in the beginning to drive a motorbike for the first time of my life in such a hectic traffic but then noticed all you have to do is honking and overtaking.
I didn't like Nha Trang when I first got there. Maybe I didn't have a good start by forgetting my passport in Mui Ne. No worries, they sent it with the next night bus. It's hilarious how relaxed I am here. I cannot be bothered with anything.
Plus the nights are big fun in Nha Trang! Main course goes with a free bucket, you can imagine the rest of the night!
Eventually I got offered to get taken by Chris from England to Dalat with his motorbike.
The ride the next day was very exciting - shitty roads, awesome view though.
Apart from the market in Dalat my highlight was definitely the Canyoning Tour. We slid down waterfalls, did abseiling and jumped down a 11 metre high cliff. One of the best things I have ever done in my life!
Chris has the better pictures though.
Luckily Carmen - a lovely dutch girl I met in Dalat - noticed my visa was running out. So I had to extend it and wait for my passport for some more days.
Well, I kept on having crazy nights with Sean from Canada, Tim from the Isle of Men, Nathalie from England, Carmen, the Windman..
We were an amazing crew and it even got better when we went on a booze cruise the other day.
Basically that's getting wasted on a boat, you still get to see heaps of stuff though. We went to three islands with marvellous beaches and the clearest water I have ever seen, went snorkelling. The aquarium was depressing because it was much too tiny for the fishes, sharks, turtles and whatever was in there.
Not a cool thing to see for a vegan!
In the end we jumped down from the boat and swam to the floating bar for a free drink. Great day, great night afterwards!
I will definitely not forget my last night in Nha Trang. It started with deliscious indian food, continued with partying and kind of ended with Sean and me being surrounded by heaps of prostitutes and scooter drivers trying to sell us drugs on the street and me getting robbed.
Fair enough, one minute later a scooter drove past us throwing my wallet at me - obviously without my money. I felt like chasing the scooter driver and giving him abig hug for returning my credit card. Vietnamese people are so friendly, even the thieves are lovely!
We ended up at the beach painting each other, went for a swim and had our goodbye breakfast with Tim.
Since we hadn't slept at all I passed out on the night bus and slept the entire drive to Hoi An. When I woke up I had a very strange feeling and guess what? All my money was gone. Again!
I blamed getting robbed twice in one day on Karma. I had stolen some fucking instant chopsticks.. I was going to return them but wise Mr. Sean convinced me of the opposite.
Fuck karma, I'm keeping the chopsticks!
It's pretty fucked up though having no money, especially because I asked my bank what to do and they blocked my credit card..
Hoi An is stunning, probably the most beautiful place I have seen on this trip.
The first day we rode bicycles to the beach where I randomly met Liz again! The other day we rode our bicycles to a beach which is like 5km from the city. I could have stayed there forever, it was breathtaking!
The other day we went to see the old town- very colourful and full of culture.
At the market we had nice vietnamese street food and I got the prettiest dress and sandals made - pictures will follow for sure!
And I met a male nurse who took out my stitches on the floor of a dorm.
I wish I would have stayed in Hoi An for longer - it wasn't that expensive for me neither sneaking in the hostel for free breakfast and spending nights on the beach.
Mr. Wind, Frank and Sean rented a motorbike each and drove to Hue. I'm so lucky they took me for free.
The drive was beautiful in the beginning and then the traffic got really hectic. It was especially very exciting because I drove for a while. I had my scary moments, enjoyed it so much though.
Hue was pretty boring, nice river front, tiny party street. We decided to get smashed.
Since I got robbed and my credit card is blocked I can't really afford the buses anymore. So I decided to hitchhike to Dong Hoi by myself.
I walked about 7 kms to the highway holding my sign saying 'Please give me a ride to the North. I want to got to Dong Hoi. Free. Thank you.' in Vietnamese.
I had just lit my cigarette expecting it would take ages to get picked up when a man on a scooter offered to take me - he wasn't really able to speak english, we kind of understood each other though.
He started to drive towards the highway but then turned into a small street and took me to his house. I know - I just kept on thinking 'What the fuck is happening?!'.
I met his lovely family , two sons in my age, one 12 year old daughter and friends came over.
We had such a nice time sitting together - using the translating machine on their computer. The man was buddhist and showed me where he prays and told me about the thought of helping people and that my positive aura made him help me. He gave me a book about buddhism as a gift and the daughter gave me her soft toy. The son asked me for my helmet so he would remember me and I also gave my teddy to the daughter.
Then the man took me to a local minivan going to Dong Hoi. I had tears in my eyes when he dropped me off, I felt so blessed. The drive in the minivan was just the same. I was sitting in the middle of locals, nobody was able to talk to me, but they all offered me food and a jacket because I was so cold.
Once I got to Dong Hoi I tried to find a place with internet to check where Sean and Frank would be. It was very hard to communicate, there weren't any tourists and nobody understood me.
After such an exhausting journey I finally found the hotel and met the other two hours later - in the meantime I was playing with a small girl, she was lovely!
The next day we went to see the caves which were pretty impressive although I couldn't really enjoy them after paying so much money I actually don't have.
From Dong Hoi we caught the sleeper bus to Ninh Binh where we arrived at 5 or 6 in the morning. It was pitchblack and we had no idea where to go. A guy took us to his hotel, gave us coffee and let us use the computer.
Sean and I went to the market to buy some helmets so he could join me for hitchhiking - most of the time scooters would take you, so you should definitely have a helmet.
The market was quiet a mission, a funny one though. Everybody stared at our signs and laughed about it.
The highway wasn't too far and we got picked up by a car after not even 10 minutes. They took us to Hai Phuong and organized a small local bus for us from there. I have to admit that I was quiet terrified on the bus. They told Sean to sit somewhere else so that creepy guy could sit next to me and touch my hair and my leg all the time. The other guys were just staring at me.
Long story short we made it to Halong City and even got a free scooter ride to a hotel.
At the nightmarket we met two guys from Estonia - Oskar and Gert - who we spent the next day at the beach with - beach as in dirrty area of sand and shitty weather.
We were glad to leave for Halong Bay. I couldn't have afforded a big tour and the others didn't want to spend that much money neither. So we just went to the harbour and booked a small cheap tour through Halong Bay and ended up on Cat Ba. The tour was beautiful and we also got to see caves and made our own little booze cruise out of it.
Cat Ba is a very nice island, the other day we drove around on scooters.
In the evenings we always went out and met nice people. Unfortunately our hotel was locked the other night and Sean and I were forced to sleep on the street. I actually got quiet angry about it.
We were so cold and tired I just had to treat myself with a gargantuan breakfast - fried noodles with vegetables and tofu.
For the last night we didn't book a room but Mr. Wind let us sleep in his room - for two hours.
We woke up at 7.55 but were supposed to be at the bus at 7.30. So we ran there, I quickly got my backpack and we made it to the boat to Halong City on time.
From Halong City Sean and I went to hitchhike to Ha Noi. A group of young people felt so sorry for me that they paid for a local bus for me. Another moment with tears in my eyes.
The local bus was insane. Crowded - they even put tiny chairs between the rows. Then they suddenly start to show a fashion show on a TV in the front, played awful techno music and put on a kind of green disco light.
So now we are in Ha Noi where we were really looking forward to party. Yesterday night everything was dead though. I just hope the ghost city will wake up tonight! Ha Noi is meant to be wicked.
