Halong Bay, Ninh Binh, Hue, Hoi An, Saigon and off to Cambodia

Since we spent more than two weeks in the north, we had to pick up the pace and head south!

From Sapa, we went directly to Halong Bay. Again on the sleeper bus, but this time we were dropped off in Halong Bay City in the middle of the night, at three o'clock, and found ourselves a little clueless.

Fortunately, we were near a hotel and after a short consultation with the reception staff, we were allowed to sleep the rest of the night on a couch in the lobby. After being woken up early in the morning by a group of extremely loud Chinese tourists, we set off to the ferry to sail to Cat Ba Island.

On the ferry, we already had some wonderful views of the famous rock formations that rise out of the emerald green water and were looking forward to a boat tour through this beautiful area. What we were not prepared for was the huge number of tourists from all over the world who come to this island for day trips through the bays! So, after arriving at the guesthouse we had chosen, we were clueless again: everything was fully booked. After searching through all the online booking systems, we had to realize that apparently there were no available beds anywhere; it seemed like the whole island was rented out! Once again, we were helped in an unconventional way: the owner of the guesthouse brought a mattress with a mosquito net and fan to the garden - a "hotel room" under the stars that we were envied for by the other guests!

We then explored the Halong Bay attraction as planned by boat and canoe, along with I-don't-know-how-many other tourists; I was a bit overwhelmed by the crowds... the best way to escape the masses was when we explored some hidden, secluded caves and bays by canoe. But we couldn't escape the masses while swimming and jumping from the boat, nor in the evening when we visited the overcrowded city square after dinner with some people from our guesthouse. The whole city was alive and we joined Vietnamese tourists on a stage where a dance class was taking place, which later turned into a karaoke session. When it comes to Vietnamese evening events, there are only two things to consider. First: it has to be loud! Second: it has to be colorful and kitschy! We had a lot of fun dancing and despite some karaoke atrocities for our ears, we enjoyed the evening with the locals and our friends from the hostel!

The hike we took the next morning at 6 o'clock was much quieter! First, it was less hot because we started so early and second, we were the only hikers around! So we walked through the beautiful national park from the northwestern side, accompanied by birdsong and butterflies. We went in all directions through the Vietnamese island jungle, partly on rocky paths, partly on soil, roots, or sharp-edged rocks formed by water, passing bamboo forests or a frog pond where the frogs barked as loudly as a pack of boisterous dogs. Completely sweaty and scratched by thorns, after seven hours we reached a village on the southeastern side of the national park, from where we made our way back on a boat, sailing through the bays, and immediately jumping into the pool once we were back at the hostel!

For the same afternoon, we had booked a bus that would take us back to Hanoi to pick up our big backpacks. And off we went...

Before saying goodbye to Hanoi, we went to see a traditional water puppet show in the evening, accompanied by live music on classical Vietnamese instruments. What was nice to watch and interesting to listen to for us often caused our Vietnamese fellow audience members to exclaim "Oooooh