It’s been over two weeks since I burned myself. The wounds are healing super well and I tried to cycle a bit in between. I am very proud of my body.

We took a total of three buses to travel around the country and rented a scooter in between to have more freedom and to travel around with it. The bus rides are generally not fun because we have bicycles with us. The people who load the bus often say at first that it will not be possible to take the bicycles with them, even though we have paid double for the ride. When we finally load the bikes, they treat our stuff badly. Sometimes they get angry or even a bit aggressive towards us and our stuff. After two of the three rides I have damage to my bike.

Every time we travel by bus we discuss that we never want to do this again and every time we do it anyway. Well, we don’t have much of a choice right now. But the damage can be overseen every time and after some argument we are still on the bus every time and we arrive at our destination.

And the destinations are great. It takes some getting used to traveling through a country with such big steps. We often notice a lot of change, but for the rest it is more a matter of feeling, which is difficult to fathom what is so different. We have been in Hanoi for a while first. We have closed this city into our hearts. Although it is a very touristic city, it remains authentic and we still have nice contact with the local people. Even though we were only there for six days, it felt like we lived there for a while.

Then we travel to Da Nang. First time on the coast since being in South East Asia. When we get off the bus we immediately smell the sea air and immediately feel at home. In the Netherlands we live near the coast, we have a great love for the sea. Da Nang is a big city but still a relief from the chaos we left behind in Hanoi. Here everything is more spacious and in many places you can just walk on a sidewalk.

From Da Nang we go to Hue with a rented scooter. Hue has been the imperial capital of Vietnam from 1802 to 1945.It has a beautiful old center with the old Citadel. The area is also beautiful, green, many tombs and it is not too busy.

The trip back to Da Nang to cycle to Hoi An was intense due to the pouring rain, the cold and the busy roads. But we made it. Hoi An overwhelmed us a bit. It’s like an amusement park. There are so many tourists and it’s hard to escape. We were planning to stay longer but decide we want to leave earlier. So we take the last bus, of the three to Ho Chi Minh City or how the locals still call it.. Saigon.

Now, after more than two weeks in which we have visited many beautiful places, we are ready to get back on the bike. My wounds still need some love but we have to leave the country in four days so on to Cambodia!