Can anyone imagine in faded old DDR “königliche Nahrungsmittel”?
Because of recently writing “I should have taken a photo”, today I took two in the Hotel Tokyo. The name is bigger than reality. It is like in most hotels here: the lobby is promising, sometimes also the stairs and corridors look solid and tasteful or even a bit too grandiose. Then, you come to the room and in 95% of the cases the first symptoms of decay are to find here. The door handle, the lock, the bolt… at least something is nearly always ruined or never had been viable. Ok. I am not sure if I had mentioned before those toothbrushes that you always find in the bathrooms (whereas toilet paper sometimes only comes on demand, that’s why in my check-in routin
e, I take a short glance in the bathroom to find it, or not). So, on my Vietnam tour I could have built up a collection of 20 single-use tooth-brushes. My collection of single-use combs would be smaller, but at least there is always one….
Today was a comparably easy tour, because the wind was no problem, it was dry and mostly flat.
first time that I saw an ox working on a field… 
…so I zoomed between the leaves, getting a blurred image, but better than none!
My new structure (I always structure things) is to divide the 100km in 3 portions, making the first 10km longer and the last 10km shorter, that is now 45+35+25km. The first part can be longer, because I am fresh and not hungry for a while (that has changed, I remember that in the first weeks, I could hardly go for an hour without eating). Often, I have a kind of muesli then. I got Vietnamese oat-flakes sometimes, then I add (soya-)milk and bananas. Still I see many banana trees, but it is harder to get some. Now, I could get lots of oranges, but they are “to cool” for me and not good in my muesli anyway. The muesli-break is not long, because I prepared it in the morning and just fill it in in me. The 2nd break is for rice or noodles. Today, I went to a big restaurant in a rest area along the street. This is also a reaction to yesterday. I wanted to get a soup in a street restaurant. The price is normally 10000, but I would also accept 20000. The owner wanted 30000d. I tried to discuss that, he insisted, and I turned to leave. In this moment his wife came back with products from the market. She offered the soup for 10000, but he didn’t want to give in and I was ready to leave anyway.
So, today a restaurant with fix prices. Well, the price was higher, 40000d, but I could hardly finish it, the bowl with rice would normally be enough for 3 people. (I saw that people normally just take a third or even less. The rice seems to be too normal. It is their staple food and at the same time not valuated high enough.) I saw more than once people being surprised or amused when I finish my plates/bowls completely and so I did it again.
Now, only 20-25km were left to reach a hotel in the middle between Vinh and Binh Minh where I again have made a reservation. I found an interesting looking motel, narrow but high with big windows, only the entrance was hidden. Finally, a woman from a booth came and opened a small door leading only to a lift. She showed me a room and to banknotes summing up to 150.000d which is a good price. (the range so far was between 80.000 and 250.000 for a room and that doesn’t say much about the quality). We went down again, and on my phone, I wrote that for me it would be ok to take the room for 150.000. She showed the message to a man, maybe her son, and he said, no it is 300.000. I wanted to question that, he insisted, I smiled and said good-bye. He maybe was not impressed, just again dealt with is phone. I had not drive far, only 1km to find the next hotel. There, a list with prices and (Vietnamese) explanations hang at the wall. The cheapest room was 250.000 and that is my price limit, so I took it. And had saved $ 2,10… or 1-2 meals to make another comparison. But as I said in other posts before, I am willing to pay a bit more sometimes, because I am the rich tourist and I am not interested in negotiating and bargaining. But they should be a bit less offensive and clumsy. So, it is not about the money, it is about learning (and maybe teaching?) a lesson.
What I could tell about the new hotel, is more or less a variation of things I had said before. A look at the bed, and I decide whether to use my thin sleeping bag or not (I use it). And as an affirmation for this decision, I found a box with condoms in the bed chink. That can mean, they didn’t change the linen after another guest or they discreetly put it there for a special clientele. I stay in my sleeping bag…