MRT, motorbike, ferry, train taxi, bus, airplane

Hello Everybody, sry for the long blog
By now I’ve arrived in Vietnam and I’m in the bus on my way to Mui ne to meet my Vietnamese “family”.
I have a lot of time to kill at the moment so I’ll write what I’ve been doing the past few days.
Friday my friend Hanwei and I went to a place called Kenting. This is a beach place in the south of Taiwan, the weather is a bit warmer but there is more wind which makes it more comfortable to stay then the city of Taichung.
We went by high speed train to Kaohsiung, one of the biggest cities in Taiwan and after that we took the bus from here to Kenting.
The beach itself was a bit small compared with the Dutch beaches but it was a lot more beautiful, there is coral in the water and rocks on the side, besides that it’s very green.
It was fun and more importantly very relaxing.
After enjoying the beach we went to the main street where there is a lot of Taiwanese shops. We bought souvenirs for my Vietnamese ‘family’ and had some pretty good Thai food (pad Thai and curry)
After that we headed back to Kaohsiung where we stayed in the 85 building, as the name says it has 85 stories and there are small agencies that rent rooms on each floor.
Most of the rooms have a theme and the theme of our room was Indian. Which made the room very red and gave it a cozy atmosphere. And of course the view, was awesome!
After we unpacked all of our stuff we went up to the 79th floor to the viewing area, It was obvious it wasn’t the tallest building in Taiwan anymore as there were only a view visitors and not everything was as well maintained as it would be if it was the main tourist attraction.
After that we went to walk along the “love river” which kind of is a normal river with a small boulevard next to it. The view from one side of the river was very nice as you could see the city with all it lights and people.
On Saturday we had a late brunch in a nice restaurant and walked around in Kaohsiung and qijin.
Qijin is one of the islands on the end of Kaohsiung. Here we rented a crappy motorbike to drive around.
The view from the pier there was really nice, a lot of big ships and waves that crashed against the coast. (only the waves crashed, the ships where far away in the ocean ).
We had a snack after touring and then went to another place by train where an old classmate of Hanwei lived. Here we had dinner and the local specialty shaved ice (Hanwei had peanut flavor which kind of is peanut butter ice cream).
After finishing our dinner we went back to get our luggage from the storage and headed to the high speed train.
However, the last train had gone 10 minutes before we arrived at the station…
Normally it wouldn’t be much of a problem but since I had to check in from all the way f the other side of Taiwan the next morning (5 am. ) we were in a bit of a rush to get back to Taichung, get my things and go to the north.
The earliest bus would be at 0:30 a.m. and take 3 hours. It would arrive too late for me to be on time.
So we had to take a taxi to there… this little mix-up cost about 75 euro. Which, for a 2 hour taxi ride isn’t that much but still it’s a lot of money.
In the taxi Hanwei called a classmate to buy my bus ticket to the airport and as soon as we arrived in Taichung we packed my backpack and went to the bus which would take me to the airport in about 2 hours.
After check in I bought a last souvenir for my Vietnamese family and friend. And then I headed to Singapore.
In Singapore I had to wait for 5 hours until the next flight
Because I didn’t want to be stuck at the airport for that long I put all my luggage in a storage and went into Singapore to have lunch. It was nice to experience Singapore again even though it was short, and I hope to come back here again when I have more time.
After lunch, back to the airport to play computer games (for free) until my flight would leave to Ho chi Minh.
After arrival I was newbie enough to take a taxi ride from one of the agencies to bring me to Hau’s work. After arriving there we talked about what has changed in the past 3 years and he helped me to buy a bus ticket and find a cheap accommodation.
And, after buying all the things we went to have dinner… I can’t remember pho bo tasting so good, and I suddenly realized how much I missed the Vietnamese food, drinks and culture
I forgot a lot of things about Vietnam as I used to be able to speak basic Vietnamese with my family and friends. And I also forgot that traffic is absolute suicidal.
There is a constant stream of motorbikes and cars, and you just kind of dive into it and walk steadily to the other side of the street.
As long as you don’t stop or run you’ll be ok but that doesn’t really make it less scary.
The next morning we had brunch in a very noisy (good music) coffee shop /bar and watched pictures of the Netherlands, Taiwan and Vietnam. After brunch I took the bus so I’m back to where I am now.. in the bus on my way to my “family”
I’m curious how it will be to see them again and I assume it will e a good 5 days here in Vietnam.
Hau had changed a lot after 3 years, and I wonder how much mui ne (the place) and the people there have changed.