Off to Vietnam

So we flew from Luang Prabang to Hanoi by plane. That was a hop, skip, and a jump - we were there in 40 minutes flat. We were then taken to our hostel by a small bus, and the first impression of Vietnam was mind-blowing. The traffic is almost indescribable...
Please note: The horn of a vehicle is not meant to insult or tell others to drive off, as is more the case in Germany. But here, the horn is used to let other road users know that you're there or you're overtaking. Example: the driver of our minibus doesn't want to wait 10 seconds at the traffic light and waste time, so he honks like crazy, revs up, and crosses the street. My heart skipped a beat. I'm fine now :D The second impression was freezing cold. It was 14 degrees Celsius during the day! What else do you do? Exactly, buy a down jacket. Please don't laugh at this point, if you haven't already.

We stayed in Hanoi for a total of 2 days and then went to Cat Ba Island. It is an island located in Halong Bay and is a World Heritage Site. There is the option of taking tours from Halong City, but it is terribly touristy there. Around 800 boats or rather ships leave daily. That's why we decided to go to Cat Ba and take a tour from there. I opted for a 2-day tour and Jule for a one-day tour. This was the first time we did something separately for a 'longer' period of time - and it was good for both of us :)

My tour started on Friday, December 14th, and at 10 am we boarded with only 7 other people and a local tour guide. It was a super cool group - a Dutch guy, a Viennese couple, a Frenchman, an American woman, and a couple from Luxembourg.

We drove along these huge rocks, past the floating village - where about 4,000 people live! - and couldn't believe we were here.

After half an hour of driving and the first introductions, we stopped and were allowed to go for a swim. Since it was quite cold outside, it took a lot of courage to jump into the water. But Tommy, our guide, left us no choice: 'no swim, no lunch' :) Actually, the water was warmer and quite pleasant, and it was a really cool feeling to swim among these rocks in the sea.

After a hot shower, we had lunch and then got into the kayaks for the first time and went through caves to reach hidden lagoons. As the water drops up to a meter during the day, it's only in the afternoon that you can go through the caves. Before the first cave, we were given flashlights because it was pitch black inside. We let the kayaks drift into these lagoons and simply listened to nature. Silence. Some bird chirping. Nothing else. No honking. No motors.

Back on the boat, the others ordered the first bottle of rum. I didn't drink anything alcoholic because I still had stomach problems, but it was wonderful to watch everyone getting drunk one after another. After dinner, or rather for the rest of the evening, we danced and sang (eventually karaoke). I had really great and interesting conversations and had a lot of fun!

The next morning... I felt great! Everyone else had a terrible hangover :D After breakfast, we got into the kayaks for the second time, went through more wonderful caves. We even saw monkeys! Unfortunately, there are only about 60 of them left. But it was a great feeling to see them in the wild and not in a zoo!

Although this place was more touristy, Tommy guided us so that we didn't end up in the middle of the massive crowd of tourists. That was really cool!

On the way back to the harbor, we were allowed to go for another swim before heading all the way back. In a nutshell: this was one of the most beautiful experiences I've had on this trip, as well as in my entire, super long life!