Katoum seems rural enough!

As the title already gave away I have arrived in Katoum. This rural area lies to the Midwest of Vietnam. It is relatively close to the Laos border (can be reached in just a few hours, in case one needs to leave the country in a hurry haha). Just kidding though. It is a quiet town where most people are not so familiar with westerners yet. This is immediately noticed once you enter the bus. Contrary to the busses which go to popular tourist destinations these “rural” busses have no English speaking guide nor driver. Which is interesting once you really NEED to go to a toilet during the nighttime, trust me on that one. After arriving to the hotel with directions given to me by pretty much everyone I met on the street I had a short nap. In the evening it was time for a well earned snack;

Rolled ice! This ice cream starts out as just some juice in a flavor you like. You can think of traditional flavors like vanilla or peach or strawberry. But also Oreo, salted caramel, or cheesecake or possible. The juice is poured onto a “cold plate” which is as the name says very cold. The ice maker then uses two spatula in some Kung fu like motions to freeze the juice in an equal manner without having it fully crystallized. Think of it as a kind of snow, just for you. I had caramel and it looked like the picture as the ice is rolled up as a final step. Afterwards it was time to take in the nighttime scenery.

As I strolled out of town to take in the sunset it became immediately clear that I had left the big cities. Once you leave the sound of buzzing motorbikes it gets quiet. Like real quiet. Every sound of nature becomes like music in your ears. It is truly a wonderful place to be with the mountains in the distance and the rivers close by. As I was standing on a big bridge I heard the river flowing below me as well.

Here you can see the splitting of the river with some more mountains in the background. I stayed here until the sun had fully set before walking back to my hotel being quite content and also with a very full belly haha. You do have to be careful here that you do not get fat because every meal contains soooo much food haha