Nearing the end
Door: Jeroen
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Jeroen
14 December 2017 | Vietnam, Ho Chi Minhstad
Hello my readers,
It has been a while since I have written, and it seems that procastination is still a thing in my life. I've had a little less to do than usual since my last time posting and it immediatly made me lazy. A well, I have the time now since I am at Kuala Lumpur airport waiting for my flight to Auckland. Its not the best writing position since the keyboard is too low and the screen is also tilted downwards. But it beats sitting still for another 3 hours with a 12 hour flight to go.
Anyway, last time I had posted I was just arriving in Hue. Hue itself wasnt all too interesting, but it had an amazing old city (Imperial city) with lots of history behind it. I've also visited a abandoned waterpark, which had finished only 3 locations so far and I'm sure that if it would be open, it wouldn't have been a good park. But the whole abandoned thing was pretty interesting. And now I remember that i should still post pictures online....
After Hue I went through the famous Hai Van pass, which you might know from top gear. Unfortunatly it was raining so that kind off spoiled the drive. It was nonetheless a breathtaking route on a mountain along the coast. The weather cleared up as I was riding away from the pass and looking back the clouds hang all day over the pass.
Hoi An was a very nice small city that had no skyline but just consisted of little old buildings which were, along with the streets, alight with lanterns. I had already decided that I would spend some time in Hoi An. at the first week I asked around for a job and got one on the 3nd day at my 2nd hostel. I would start within a few days time because I still wanted to spend time with my travelling buddies.
Half of my travelling buddies left within a few days, but we were still all together to enjoy a good night going out on halloween. After they left I started my job as a bar tender at Tribee Bana. My coworker was Param, an Indian American whom I shared a room with in another Tribee. Param and I hit it off pretty easily and we always had a nice laidback atmosphere.
The job consisted of standing behind the bar between 6 (always actually started at 7, therefore showed up at 6.30) and 10 pm. Strange thing was, they had a Vietnamese bartender employed who was there every night and only he was allowed to handle the money. Since beers were in a fridge where people could just grab it themselves, the only thing left for Param and I to do was making mixers and playing music. People barely ordered mixers, so at some point I was on ''social job''. I'd just talk to people and take them to the bars afterwards. Param and I also needed to take the people out on tuesdays and on saturdays. Lucky for us, booze was free at all the pubs we brought the people to.
I had free accommodation, breakfast, lunch and drinks with this job. Didn't feel like working at all but more like drinking for free. But at some point it started to get boring, which was the reason why I left. It just got a little bit monotomous and it was kind off shit that I needed to be present somewhere every single day.
My first night of working was interrupted by rain, so Param and I couldn't take the hostel guests to the pubs for a pubcrawl. Little did we know, but this turned out to be the typhoon Damrey and ended up getting flooded big time. I woke up the next morning and decided to scour about the city and see how bad the floods had gotten in a night. It was raining all day and some parts of the inner city were slightly flooded. Ate some lunch and headed back to the hostel I was staying at and saw that now the street was under water by 10 cms. At that point I moved my motorbike from the other side of the street (which was already 30 cms) to the higher side of the hostel. A few hours past by before I checked again and now on the higher side of the hostel the water had raised to 60 cms. I couldn't get my motorbike to a dry area anymore without getting it flooded, so I moved it inside the hostel. Param and I went to check out how Tribee Bana was doing and saw that it wasn't as flooded as our Tribee. So we grabbed our stuff and took a carton of beer with us to drink with the remaining people of Tribee Bana.
The floods got worse after that night. Everyone from the hostel decided to move to the dry area and wait it out. Eventually the floods lasted for 5 or 6 days. My motorbike was fucked afterwards, brought it to a bad mechanic and that in turn costed me 2,5 million dong in total, which is fucking expansive for this country. After the floods I actually wanted to leave Hoi An already, since it was only raining up untill that point. I couldn't since I still wanted to get a suit tailored and still hadn't found out that my motorbike wasn't good.
Anyway, I said goodbye to my German buddies after the floods. Since Hoi An I haven't found anybody that travelled south with a motorbike so from that point on I took off by myself. At first I thought that riding by yourself was shit, but after a while I realised that it wasn't too bad.
My next destination was Quy nhon, a city with nothing to do but a very nice hostel, Life's a beach backpacker hostel. The hostel itself had no beach at the time since it was typhoon season. The strong winds blow away the sand for 3 months of the year and I so happened to be in that season. The hostel was amazing nonetheless. It looked like a proper resort and it was affordable. I spend 3 nights chilling around in Hammocks and playing games with people.
Next destination was Dalat, which was my furthest drive (330km). The road towards it was a combination of nice coastal highways and beautiful mountain roads. It started getting colder in the mountains and it didn't stop in Dalat. Appearently, 18 degrees at night feels like its freezing.
I spend a couple of nights in Dalat and ended up doing not too much. I went on a day of canyoning and abseiling which was pretty awesome. Although my experience in France (years and years ago) was better, it was still really nice to do some outdoor physical activities again.
On another day I went to see the waterfalls in the area and also the weasel poo coffee farm. Its one of those coffees where the beans dont get entirely digested but rather fermented and people like it. If I remember correctly, I believe that the most expansive coffee in the world is cat poo coffee from someplace. Anyway, the coffee tasted a bit special, but then again, vietnamese coffee itself wasnt my favourite. The weasel poo coffee were arabica beans and had a combination between Italian and Vietnamese coffee. So it wasn't all too bad or good.
Waterfalls were meh btw.
Short, Dalat had a mazebar! It was a maze and a bar in one! it had something like 6 floors. There was a bar on the top floor (and a shortcut too it) and there were lounge areas everywhere in the maze. Appearently there was also a garden, but nobody I went with, found it.
Next up was Cat Tien national park, which was appearently leech infested. People said you could get some leech socks for free at the reception so it would probably be fine. Guess again >.>
Leech socks were out, and there were a shit ton of leaches! I wore my shoes, long socks and long trousers, which were tucked in my socks. Those little shits were everywhere when I entered the wet roads. I was walking with 2 Brits and we all stopped every minute to scrape of 4/5 leeches. We decided to call it a day after we walked for 8kms in one direction. The views were meh.
After that day I realised that I was done with South-East Asia. Nothing really impressed me anymore and I was done with Vietnam. I had already booked a flight from Saigon to Auckland on the 14th of december, and I was worried i might not sell my shitty motorbike in time for a decent price. So I had arrived on somewhere the 28th of november in Saigon, where I met Phil again.
Phil and I went to Phu Quoc for 3 days. The island was kinda nice, but I enjoyed my time at the beach with the clean air and nice warm temperatures.
On the first day back in Saigon I already sold my motorbike for 250 usd (my aiming price, at which I also bought it for, but it is far less worth than that). Next day the guy asks me if he can sell it back for 225 usd because his buddies wanted to rent a motorbike and he wanted to join them. Sure thing, I took it back. Sold it 2 or 3 days later to another guy for 235 usd, so I made a small profit of 10 usd on it! But then it struck me, I still had something like 9 days left to spend in the city.
I liked the city way more than Hanoi. It felt less busy (probably because the roads are twice as large), buildings were more modern and it had less smog. Whatever I did in that city became a haze after a few days. Didn't drink a lot but I spend a couple of days reading and watching series. I have seen the war remnants museum and that was really interesting. I realised I hadn't spend a single moment on history tourist attractions in Vietnam (in the end good though, now I enjoyed something touristy again). Also went to a couple of movies in the cinema, quite entertaining to be in a cinema again.
Ah well, now I'm on my way to visit my sister in Auckland. I have booked a flight on the 14th of january and will arrive on the 15th of january in The Netherlands. Im really looking forward to my time in New Zealand, and also to coming home (I'm so getting a motorbike license back home!). I have had a wonderful time so far, didn't really learn a lot, but I have enjoyed myself greatly.
I shall write one last time after this, either home or the last week in kiwiland. Take care!
It has been a while since I have written, and it seems that procastination is still a thing in my life. I've had a little less to do than usual since my last time posting and it immediatly made me lazy. A well, I have the time now since I am at Kuala Lumpur airport waiting for my flight to Auckland. Its not the best writing position since the keyboard is too low and the screen is also tilted downwards. But it beats sitting still for another 3 hours with a 12 hour flight to go.
Anyway, last time I had posted I was just arriving in Hue. Hue itself wasnt all too interesting, but it had an amazing old city (Imperial city) with lots of history behind it. I've also visited a abandoned waterpark, which had finished only 3 locations so far and I'm sure that if it would be open, it wouldn't have been a good park. But the whole abandoned thing was pretty interesting. And now I remember that i should still post pictures online....
After Hue I went through the famous Hai Van pass, which you might know from top gear. Unfortunatly it was raining so that kind off spoiled the drive. It was nonetheless a breathtaking route on a mountain along the coast. The weather cleared up as I was riding away from the pass and looking back the clouds hang all day over the pass.
Hoi An was a very nice small city that had no skyline but just consisted of little old buildings which were, along with the streets, alight with lanterns. I had already decided that I would spend some time in Hoi An. at the first week I asked around for a job and got one on the 3nd day at my 2nd hostel. I would start within a few days time because I still wanted to spend time with my travelling buddies.
Half of my travelling buddies left within a few days, but we were still all together to enjoy a good night going out on halloween. After they left I started my job as a bar tender at Tribee Bana. My coworker was Param, an Indian American whom I shared a room with in another Tribee. Param and I hit it off pretty easily and we always had a nice laidback atmosphere.
The job consisted of standing behind the bar between 6 (always actually started at 7, therefore showed up at 6.30) and 10 pm. Strange thing was, they had a Vietnamese bartender employed who was there every night and only he was allowed to handle the money. Since beers were in a fridge where people could just grab it themselves, the only thing left for Param and I to do was making mixers and playing music. People barely ordered mixers, so at some point I was on ''social job''. I'd just talk to people and take them to the bars afterwards. Param and I also needed to take the people out on tuesdays and on saturdays. Lucky for us, booze was free at all the pubs we brought the people to.
I had free accommodation, breakfast, lunch and drinks with this job. Didn't feel like working at all but more like drinking for free. But at some point it started to get boring, which was the reason why I left. It just got a little bit monotomous and it was kind off shit that I needed to be present somewhere every single day.
My first night of working was interrupted by rain, so Param and I couldn't take the hostel guests to the pubs for a pubcrawl. Little did we know, but this turned out to be the typhoon Damrey and ended up getting flooded big time. I woke up the next morning and decided to scour about the city and see how bad the floods had gotten in a night. It was raining all day and some parts of the inner city were slightly flooded. Ate some lunch and headed back to the hostel I was staying at and saw that now the street was under water by 10 cms. At that point I moved my motorbike from the other side of the street (which was already 30 cms) to the higher side of the hostel. A few hours past by before I checked again and now on the higher side of the hostel the water had raised to 60 cms. I couldn't get my motorbike to a dry area anymore without getting it flooded, so I moved it inside the hostel. Param and I went to check out how Tribee Bana was doing and saw that it wasn't as flooded as our Tribee. So we grabbed our stuff and took a carton of beer with us to drink with the remaining people of Tribee Bana.
The floods got worse after that night. Everyone from the hostel decided to move to the dry area and wait it out. Eventually the floods lasted for 5 or 6 days. My motorbike was fucked afterwards, brought it to a bad mechanic and that in turn costed me 2,5 million dong in total, which is fucking expansive for this country. After the floods I actually wanted to leave Hoi An already, since it was only raining up untill that point. I couldn't since I still wanted to get a suit tailored and still hadn't found out that my motorbike wasn't good.
Anyway, I said goodbye to my German buddies after the floods. Since Hoi An I haven't found anybody that travelled south with a motorbike so from that point on I took off by myself. At first I thought that riding by yourself was shit, but after a while I realised that it wasn't too bad.
My next destination was Quy nhon, a city with nothing to do but a very nice hostel, Life's a beach backpacker hostel. The hostel itself had no beach at the time since it was typhoon season. The strong winds blow away the sand for 3 months of the year and I so happened to be in that season. The hostel was amazing nonetheless. It looked like a proper resort and it was affordable. I spend 3 nights chilling around in Hammocks and playing games with people.
Next destination was Dalat, which was my furthest drive (330km). The road towards it was a combination of nice coastal highways and beautiful mountain roads. It started getting colder in the mountains and it didn't stop in Dalat. Appearently, 18 degrees at night feels like its freezing.
I spend a couple of nights in Dalat and ended up doing not too much. I went on a day of canyoning and abseiling which was pretty awesome. Although my experience in France (years and years ago) was better, it was still really nice to do some outdoor physical activities again.
On another day I went to see the waterfalls in the area and also the weasel poo coffee farm. Its one of those coffees where the beans dont get entirely digested but rather fermented and people like it. If I remember correctly, I believe that the most expansive coffee in the world is cat poo coffee from someplace. Anyway, the coffee tasted a bit special, but then again, vietnamese coffee itself wasnt my favourite. The weasel poo coffee were arabica beans and had a combination between Italian and Vietnamese coffee. So it wasn't all too bad or good.
Waterfalls were meh btw.
Short, Dalat had a mazebar! It was a maze and a bar in one! it had something like 6 floors. There was a bar on the top floor (and a shortcut too it) and there were lounge areas everywhere in the maze. Appearently there was also a garden, but nobody I went with, found it.
Next up was Cat Tien national park, which was appearently leech infested. People said you could get some leech socks for free at the reception so it would probably be fine. Guess again >.>
Leech socks were out, and there were a shit ton of leaches! I wore my shoes, long socks and long trousers, which were tucked in my socks. Those little shits were everywhere when I entered the wet roads. I was walking with 2 Brits and we all stopped every minute to scrape of 4/5 leeches. We decided to call it a day after we walked for 8kms in one direction. The views were meh.
After that day I realised that I was done with South-East Asia. Nothing really impressed me anymore and I was done with Vietnam. I had already booked a flight from Saigon to Auckland on the 14th of december, and I was worried i might not sell my shitty motorbike in time for a decent price. So I had arrived on somewhere the 28th of november in Saigon, where I met Phil again.
Phil and I went to Phu Quoc for 3 days. The island was kinda nice, but I enjoyed my time at the beach with the clean air and nice warm temperatures.
On the first day back in Saigon I already sold my motorbike for 250 usd (my aiming price, at which I also bought it for, but it is far less worth than that). Next day the guy asks me if he can sell it back for 225 usd because his buddies wanted to rent a motorbike and he wanted to join them. Sure thing, I took it back. Sold it 2 or 3 days later to another guy for 235 usd, so I made a small profit of 10 usd on it! But then it struck me, I still had something like 9 days left to spend in the city.
I liked the city way more than Hanoi. It felt less busy (probably because the roads are twice as large), buildings were more modern and it had less smog. Whatever I did in that city became a haze after a few days. Didn't drink a lot but I spend a couple of days reading and watching series. I have seen the war remnants museum and that was really interesting. I realised I hadn't spend a single moment on history tourist attractions in Vietnam (in the end good though, now I enjoyed something touristy again). Also went to a couple of movies in the cinema, quite entertaining to be in a cinema again.
Ah well, now I'm on my way to visit my sister in Auckland. I have booked a flight on the 14th of january and will arrive on the 15th of january in The Netherlands. Im really looking forward to my time in New Zealand, and also to coming home (I'm so getting a motorbike license back home!). I have had a wonderful time so far, didn't really learn a lot, but I have enjoyed myself greatly.
I shall write one last time after this, either home or the last week in kiwiland. Take care!
Reageer op dit reisverslag
Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
