Hanoi

I took a bus from the airport to the capital of Vietnam. Around 8 PM, I reached the bustling Old Town and made my way through the streets filled with motorbikes, street kitchens, and tourists to the 'Little Charm Hostel.' After getting cash and a SIM card, I strolled through the Night Market, a long street full of stalls selling grilled food, fake branded clothing, and handicrafts. At the (original) Dong Xuan Market - my East German and Berlin readers will know - I left the tourist hotspot and treated myself to the first Banh Mi¹ of the trip. I spent the rest of the evening wandering aimlessly through the crowded Old Town alleys, under countless Vietnamese and hammer-and-sickle flags. After a good night beer, I headed towards the vertical.

After a desperately needed 10 hours of sleep, my morning started with a Pain au Chocolat and a Cocos Latte at a tourist-overrun café near Hồ Hoàn Kiếm Lake - my own fault for following the guidebook's recommendations. As I walked along the lake, the tourist crowds gradually thinned out and I passed a monument to martyrs honoring civilian victims of the Vietnam War, along with several groups of women apparently posing for photos in elegant attire with flowers on the occasion of International Women's Day. In Vietnam, the election of the National Congress and the People’s Councils is approaching, hence numerous campaign posters with socialist aesthetics of the old schools remind citizens of their civic duties - a pseudo-democratic deception in a one-party state.

After fortifying myself with Phở Lườn (chicken soup) and Trà đá (iced lemon tea), I strolled to the famous Train Street, which gained fame through Instagram and co. Here, multiple times a day, a massive diesel train squeezes through just inches from cafés and people on the street. Coincidentally, shortly after my arrival, a train also came, and during a first beer break, I witnessed this social media-worthy spectacle. Just after the train left, all café owners hurriedly moved their chairs inside and commanded their customers to go indoors, as three cops showed up. Apparently, the whole deal isn't quite legal...

Booked through Grab (Vietnamese Uber), I had an entertaining scooter ride through the 8 million metropolis to Uncle Ho's mausoleum. The corresponding museum about the life of Ho Chi Minh and the resistance associated with him against French occupation and later American invaders felt pedagogically outdated and unstructured, but it was still worth a visit. At the actual mausoleum, I only briefly stopped for a photo before taking another Grab ride to the imperial citadel of Thăng Nội. The area, located in the middle of the city, temporarily served as a royal seat and housed important underground command rooms during the Vietnam War. Afterwards, I also visited the Chùa Trấn Quốc Pagoda, a Buddhist sacred site situated between two lakes.

After a pit stop at the hostel and booking the tour to Ninh Binh for the next day, I stylishly rode on a scooter to the largest sports venue in the capital, the Hang Day Stadium, for the capital derby Hà Nội FC vs. Công An Nhân Dân (CAHN). The ticket was purchased for three euros from a random woman on the street, there were no security checks, but there were cold canned beers for 60 cents. The stadium presented itself as an honorable concrete bowl, with the back sides open to the city. On the opposite side, the fan groups of both clubs were in good spirits and loudly cheering. After the Vietnamese national anthem, the match kicked off, and it developed into an entertaining game. With some fireworks, the fans of Hanoi FC eventually celebrated the somewhat lucky 2:1 victory.

Back in the Old Town, after a Bùn riê, a soup with mussels, beef, shrimp, and sausage (!?), I finally went to bed to get enough rest for the next day (the alarm was set for 6:30 AM).

___________________

1. A sandwich influenced by the colonial occupation by France, originally including liver pâté.