After attending fitness retreats at the Wanderlust Fitness Village in Bali and the Tiger Muay Thai camp in Phuket, I am ready to compare these two very sporty activities.
The ancient world of Bali
For my weeks in Bali, I decided to focus on “doing nothing”, just working out once a day and eating, drinking, sleeping, and relaxing before I repeated the same the next day. But being in Bali, I had to visit at least the most iconic spots. Therefore, here are my achievements 🙂
My Laotian Adventure:Â Where the Highlight Was Helping an Elephant
A week in Laos Being in Vietnam, I saw the chance to at least “scratch” Laos. As I only had eight days, I planned to fly to Luang Prabang and take the train to Vientiane to fly further on my trip. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen that only a few significant airports are directly connected to Laos (i.e., Bangkok, Hanoi, and Singapur). So, flying in and out was always via a connection flight. I don’t particularly appreciate connecting flights, but the trip to Luang Prabang made everything worthwhile.
Da Nang and my end of Vietnam
If you stay in Da Nang, you should focus on the beachfront of Da Nang. The beaches are pretty beautiful, better than Hue. The hotels are more expansive than Hue, but life at the beachfront also has an ocean-drive vibe with many restaurants and bars for day and night drinking.
How to get to Da Nang?
Even though there are many flights and I love being in the air, it seemed wrong to fly the approx. 100km from Hue to Da Nang. I found a better way: using the private taxi (Live Long the King 🙂 ), and used that as a chance to see some significant essential stops on the way to Da Nang.
And damn, that was a good idea 🙂
Two spots I decided to see: The Hai Van Pass and Ba Na Hills.
Palaces, Pagodas, and ‘Funny’ Smells: My Adventure in Hue
In Hue, you might have to decide if you want to be in the city center, with bars, restaurants, and a Ballerman-ish party scene, including the noise and the big-city nuisances like dust and Smog, or if you want to live at the waterfront, 30 minutes away via cab. As Hanoi already had a lot of Smog, and I am not a party animal, I decided on the calm area at sea. The only drawback is that you must take a cab to the city center.
And the answer is yes…
… I am just traveling for Food. Vietnamese Food was already one of my favorites at home, so I was not surprised to live the good life in Vietnam. The only thing I don’t get is their obsession with Coriander – the soapish green leaves… disgusting… Besides drinking a lot of coffee in Vietnam, I will show you my favorite dishes.
The nature of Ninh Binh and Ha Long Bay
Leaving the dust from Hanoi, I decided to book a tour via GetYourGuide. It was a 3-day / 2-night tour, 1 night on a lodge in the middle of nowhere, and one night on a cruise ship at Halong Bay. And the itinerary got more exciting than I thought.
Vietnamese Art of Coffee
Besides Gin, Coffee is my favorite drink; luckily, I drink more Coffee than Gin. I encountered famous coffee countries like Colombia and Bolivia during my world trip. But Vietnam smashed it; I learned so many new types of coffee, so many new tastes, and so many new ways to serve it.
Surprisingly, all coffees, like a cappuccino, can be ordered hot or cold, even those you won’t imagine drinking cold.
When the train is on time
It was a cultural shock to go from Chile to Japan, and I immediately got a second one from Japan to Vietnam. Vietnam has something special: remarkable nature, even more excellent food, a fantastic coffee culture, and very friendly and serving people. But for sure, there is no light without dark… but let’s start from the beginning.