Balcony breakfast, free eggs, toast and Beroccas with two German’s that love Vegemite more than I do! Backpacker living at its finest!

I met Barbara (middle) and Olivia (right) who are both from Germany in Ho Chi Minh one night in the lobby on our way home from a night out. They joined the gang and have been venturing with me ever since, and I could not have been more thankful to have met these two precious souls. They have taught me a few German words and have been the most outstanding and fun company, though we’ve all been sick little puppies together we’ve all been there to nurse each other. After the worst, most terrifying but amazing (scenery-wise) bus ride of our lives, the three of us have made it to Nha Trang, or the Miami of Vietnam…invaded by Russian tourists. But there is a beach, warm weather and we have a beautiful private room and incredible bathroom and kitchen for $6.50 a night, balcony included and the gang will be reforming from here on.

Shortly after this photo was take of our amazing and cheap and chips meal (literally 3.50 for all of us) I picked up chilli to add to my amazing wonton noodle soup (shock horror!) and then blew my noes, just touching my noes so for this entire meal just under my noes was on FIRE and Olivia had to go all mother-like on me so that I stopped touching it and making it, if it was even possible, worse! This cafe has been our budgets saviour here, we’ve returned at least 4 times since bing in Da Lat, and who wouldn’t when you can get $1.50 plates of piled high (unusual) Vietnamese vegetarian goodness, $1 soups and 4 fresh vegetarian spring rolls for 50 cents. Winners are grinners!

We had amazing weather for the entire day, bar the last 20 minutes of our ride, in which my driver insisted that rather than my own rain jacket, I wear this…probably the best and most protective poncho I’ve ever worn

In every which way that you looked the scenery was gobsmackingly beautiful. For Olivia it reminded her of home, and was no where near as impressive, but for me it was everything I imagined Vietnamese hills and countryside too look like and more and I spent the day in absolute awe!

From the grass harvested here, the cut and dry these long pieces and weave and bind them together to make these brooms used for the home of Vietnamese people (Cambodians use these too), a very effective way to use their local resources. Once the brooms are tied together and sew, this man very speedily winds nylon tape around the the Handel and trims the excess parts off. Then shipping them off to the markets to make their families income.

This was an interesting but as slightly saddening part of the trip. The cocoons from silk worms can be used to make silk thread that is 1km long. These ladies, use the collected silk worm cocoons and spend their days with their hands in boiling water, threading the cocoons onto the machines, and discarding the poor silk worms and excess parts that can’t be used. These threads are wound onto the machine and with a specific pattern hooked up to it the machine clamps down and up all day to create rolls and rolls of patterned (or plain) silk material. Amazing to see as I learnt about this at school, but a little confronting too!

Lunch with a view..

These guys were legitimately carrying these huge logs on their motorbikes, on the same stretch of road that we were riding on too!