TRAVERSE Issue 07 - August 2018 | Seite 95

giggling out loud. Climbed often was the exact term as they couldn't reach the ground while the bike was on the side stand. It's quite funny how many people we have met said how danger- ous these bikes are and yet they can- not hide the urge to try them out. For us Vietnam felt like it had it all and at the same time it didn't. From north to south everything changed. Mountains in the north with hidden smaller tracks. A coastline filled with small karst islands popping up as far as the eye can see. Rice fields covering the land and the typical pointy straw hats of people working in the fields. Yet, the roads often felt too big and as such created a distance between your- self and the surroundings. The food just wasn't all that tasty compared to what we were used to in India and Nepal. Going south though, the food got better with a little more spices. More children started waving when driving along and palm trees started popping up. With this the roads seemed to get even bigger, cre- ating the urge to get off the road and TRAVERSE 95 jump inside the beautiful film of life that was playing next to it. One time we were drawn into the film playing around us, as we stopped to take a highly needed sip from our bottles of water. An older man sitting upstairs in front of his window started calling us. Not understanding a word, we went closer and suddenly pieces of grapefruit came down. Thankfully we ate them, but the kindness didn't stop there. He gave us no other choice than to leave with two enormous grape- fruits and a memory to cherish.