Top 10 experiences
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Slurping vegetable noodle soup at a street food stall.
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I counted 4 people crammed on a motorbike and 11 chickens bounded together hanging at the front of it.
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Canoying in waterfalls and doing a 7 meter free jump.
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A visit to Cuc Phuong National Park where I got the chance to talk with one of the park rangers.
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Crossing a street in Hanoi: Just walk and motorbikes will just go around you! Just do as the locals do and cross your fingers.
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Seeing the sunrise over the South China Sea from Nha Trang beach.
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Mountain biking in the country side around Sapa and meeting the minorities on the way.
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Sitting in an old train carriage full with school kids singing songs for me 🙂
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Indulged in one of the charming old town of Hoi An.
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Not yet visited, but very likely: The Mekong Delta)…. and maybe cruising the sublime water network of this Delta.
Top 5 culinary adventures
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Nem (springrolls)
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Pho rau (vegetable noodle soup)
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Baquette with omelette (very good as breakfast)
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Fruit smoothies
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Banh xeo (stuffed rice crep with lettuce and herbs without fish sauce)
My favourite poem
I would like to finish about Vietnam with a poem. It describes the people, the history, and the current situation of most youngsters here.
“When I was a child
I spoke as a child
I understood as a child
I thought as a child
But when I became a man
I put away children things.”
What next?
I’m heading to Bangkok to meet Peter on the 6th of July. From here we’ll travel together through first Thailand, later Laos and finishing in Cambodia. From here I’ll visit the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. In the end I need to finish in Bangkok to catch a flight to Myanmar. As I estimate now, I should be in Malaysia by early september. And for the rest? We’ll see.
Ciau!
Note: Click here to read the Ecopod news letter about primate conservation in Vietnam.