The first thing you‘ll notice while visiting Ho Chi Minh City/ Vietnam is surely going to be the large amount of motorbikes, driving crazy, like they‘re cats (yk cats have lives). Crossing the streets – always a thrill… just don’t stop. And it seems like the Vietnamese can literally transport everything on their motorbikes (dogs, furnitures, whole family’s, even motorbikes…).
First thing we did was a motorbike tour sitting in the backseat (of course) of our two guides to get to know Ho Chi Minh City. Lots of the sights they showed us were from the French colonialization period, e.g. the Postoffice or the Cathedral… But it was the markets with all the street food we fell in love with.
Part of the tour took place in a cafe house with an underground bunker from the Vietnam-American war. Being interested in such historical events we afterwards also had to go and check out the war memorial in Ho Chi Minh City as well as the Cu-Chi-Tunnels and the military zone 9 museum. It was interesting and terrifying to see what happened during this bloody time.
We crawled through (only) 100m of the 250km of the tunnels in the Cu Chi Area that were made bigger for tourists – but still very small… The Vietnamese allow this kind of experience to keep the memory of this horrible time. We‘ve also got lots of info about the construction of the tunnel systems and the guerilla tactics/ traps used.
We then went south to the Mekong Delta. We booked something recommended by the other two tour guides. The new tour guide (a friend/colleague of them) took us to a wonderful homestay in Vinh Long. He did bicycling with us as well as driving riding a boat through the river and visiting fabrics for noodles and stones/pottery. Lutz had a not vegetarian drink you can see in the pictures. To Can Tho, the next stop, we took the public bus, which is an adventure and an experience in itself.
One of the things we were looking forward to in the Mekong Delta has been the floating market. The best way to experience it is supposedly in Can Tho, where we went really really early in the morning. We did a tour starting 5:30 AM. The merchants boats were bigger than expected and when it started to rain we knew why most people do the markets under a roof not in the water nowadays. Anyway, it was great especially the delicious breakfast we had on the boat in the river.
Hoi An located in the middle of Vietnam and also our next stop presenting even more photography highlights. There are lanterns everywhere even on the small boats (lightened not only during the night).
Our homestay let us use their bicycles and motorbikes so we were keen on driving on the scary roads by ourselves. We explored the rice paddies, the beach and the marble mountains all around Hoi An and Danang. You want to know what the best thing on this thrilling motorcycle trips is? Surviving an giving the bike back without having had any accidents.
We also did a 7 dishes cooking class, trying to bring some recipes for the incredible food back to Germany. Any volunteers who‘d want to cook with us?
We spend some days in Danang visiting Museums, Art Galleries, Cafes and the wonderful dragon bridge.
Kohl World 