Hanoi - Our Start in Vietnam

FREE BEER. With that, I finished my last post. And yes, in our hostel, like in many other hostels, there is a free keg every evening. Background: Vietnam is the country of the cheapest beer, called Bia Hoi. It is brewed fresh every day, is only good for a few days, and is offered very cheaply (or even for free) in local restaurants, street stalls, and low-budget hostels. And that's the fact we can't understand: We pay €4 per person including a warm shower and clean bed, plenty of free beer, and a rich breakfast. Crazy, right? The 'catch' is that we sleep in a 10-bed dormitory in bunk beds, but the people in our room are cool. We are a diverse group consisting of a few Germans, a Frenchwoman, a Spaniard, and a Romanian.

Right at the beginning, we get a short introduction to the topic 'crossing the street in Vietnam'. It's actually different in every country, and in Vietnam, it means: just walk and don't look or slow down. In Hanoi, the traffic is so dense that there is NEVER a gap to quickly cross the street. You just have to walk and the scooters and cars drive around you. It works.

Together, we spend the first evening running around, drinking beer, eating, jumping rope, and playing footbag. Yep, the kids here have different leisure activities, and I think it's totally awesome! On the weekends, the area around the central lake turns into a huge outdoor playground and market. The teens bring big speakers, turn up the music, and jump rope. 3, 4, 5 people at the same time with one or two ropes. Some of us also try it and fail miserably. Including me. Childhood must have been too long ago. In any case, we have a very fun evening together, which ends with laughing gas balloons from the doner kebab stand. Interesting city...

The next day, Max and I have sightseeing on our agenda. And we have to get used to the cool climate again. With 21 degrees, it's already much warmer than the last few days. First, we head to Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum. There you can also see his residence, etc. Unfortunately, o surprise, it's totally touristy, and every few meters there's a soldier dressed in white who urges you on if you go too slowly and want to take a closer look. Ridiculous xD

Afterwards, we experience the total contrast in the bustling old town, where you can only speak of chaos. But we already know that :) Food (fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, sweets) spread out on tarps on the ground, behind which a lady with a rice paddy hat sits, small fires with a wok or pot hanging over them frying various dough products. You can often see a kind of muzen that are filled with pork and onions, or sweet fillings. So, as always with street food, it's a matter of luck whether you get the wicked or delicious version. Small children's tables and plastic chairs are everywhere, where people squat and slurp their Pho (noodle soup). Some smells good and makes you hungry. Others smell so much like the underground that your appetite quickly disappears. If you look closely, you may see a few rats or cockroaches disappearing behind a corner or under a pile of garbage. All of this is accompanied by the calls of the market women and the rumbling of the scooters squeezing through even the narrowest alleyways. I hope I could give you a little impression of a Southeast Asian metropolis. Either you're totally fascinated by it and could watch the spectacle forever, like me, or you're annoyed and just long for a quiet park.

After visiting Ho Chi Minh Park, we continue to an old prison that was built by the French at the end of the 19th century to imprison Vietnamese revolutionaries and communists. During the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese locked up American soldiers there. The soldiers called the prison Hanoi Hilton. Due to a film of the same name about the history, the prison, which is now a museum, is still called that today.

In the evening, we are back at our hostel on time for the free beer and plan our onward journey a bit. We also get to know a backpacker from Switzerland, have a few more Bia Hoi with him in the hostel, and set off together to the night market. Unfortunately, there is more junk than food there, but luckily we don't have to starve.

The next day, we take the morning to stroll around the city a bit and see the famous train that runs through the middle of the city. A train running through the city is nothing special, right? That's correct, but in Hanoi, the train that connects Hanoi with Ho Chi Minh City in the south runs for several hundred meters through a narrow alley. You actually have to squeeze against the wall to avoid being hit by the train. And not just sometimes, but 6 times a day. When we arrived in Hanoi, we had already walked through that alley because it was the shortest way to our hostel. But I didn't know that there was actually still a train running there, and not a narrow tram, but a damn wide train. Just before the train is supposed to come, some people gather in the alley to watch the spectacle. And then everything happens very quickly. A few Vietnamese people put on orange vests, block the road, and less than a minute later, the train is already speeding through the alley. It's really tightly timed! I'm still getting my camera ready when the train suddenly reaches my height and I quickly press myself even closer to the wall. Holy crap, that was close... and fast! There's no big brake. I was really blown away xD It's no wonder so many people want to watch it. And as soon as the train has passed, the old lady puts her plastic chair back on the tracks and continues chattering with her friends. That's everyday life for the people and animals living there. Another thing that would be unthinkable in Germany.
Back at our hostel, we book a Grab and have ourselves driven to the bus station. We've had enough of regular buses.