Vietnam - Nimh Binh bicycle tour

from the caves to the caves one could think. Equally important and also know for its boat trip to caves, we visited Nimh Binh with the intention to once again see it from a different side. Therefore we skipped the main attractions and spent the day cycling through the countryside - wonderful. highlights were the climb to the pagoda at Mua - and our first real encounter with the rain seasons!! rain, sun, rain, sun.. without warning a change every 30 min... until the sun won and we were lucky for the rest of the day..

after declining to take expensive "Giant" Mountainbikes, we got the absolutely ausreichenden two beauties you can see on the picture

Vie from Mua

Vietnam - Phong Nha to Dong Hoi

2 pictures that come directly after each other on our camera - or 2 pictures that show the diversity of Vietnams landscape.. only 30 km from the caves and rice fields in Phong Nha we stopped our scooter at the beaches from Dong Hoi...

Vietnam - Dong Hoi

On the way down from the 2nd cave

Enjoying the flat once again

Scooter backseat experience

waiting for food in dong hoi

Vietnam - Phong Nha III

Vietnam - Phong Nha II

Vietnam - Phong Nha I

without english we still managed to get a boat full and drive down prices.. this is our crew, in orange Troung Toan Tuan and his brother in law and friends (whose names I cant remember) from Ha Noi

Vietnam - Dong Hoi Phong Nha

Entry of the Phong Nha Ke Bang national park - world heritage

First time on our trip in Vietnam that we were really off the beaten track - at least regarding Westeners... while still surrounded by Vietnamese tourists.. our trip from Dong Hoi to Vietnam biggest caves at Phong Nha was a 24h "no english speaking" experince..

Vietnam - Hoi An Hoa's place

Famous Hoa! since 1970 he runs a remote hostel between Da Nang and Hoi An. We liked it so much that we took a scooter everyday to get into Hoi An, which is 25km away!! But living directly at a remote beach with the freshest and best seafood, many other travellers like us and cool and cheap beers.. who wants more??

Community area with open fridge... something that many hostels in Vietnam are missing... cause it brings people together.. havent met that many people in the rest of the trip so far like we did in only 3 days here..

But we left when it was best (some people got stuck there for >10 days!!) and took the train along the scenic coast up north to Dong Hoi

Original Moccachino... Ca phe sua da - cafe with milk and ice - nice

Vietnam - Hoi An Phatties

One night at Phatties... the crowd from Hoa's decided to hang out at Phatties for a change.. but basically beach beer and (fish) bbq. Same same...

Phatties

The others from Hoa's

Vietnam - Hoi An and beach

Vietnamese food in a little open air food court at Ms An's. Despite our initial plans we refused to do cooking classes in Hoi An since price have risen from 10 to 22 $US per person!! So eating and chatting with/at Ms An was a nice substitute.

Locals at the beach in one of the typical circular shaped boats.

Volleyball and Badminton are played everywhere... more than soccer!!

Vietnam - Hoi An

Hoi An trapped us for a couple of days with its beatiful lanterns, its incredible food and cheap tailormade clothes. Yes, we actually went shopping for clothes at 35 degrees... so much that we had to ship it home :)

While Kati is (un)dressing I am craving for cold air - or checking on fabrics in case I might get a shirt for myself...