Hanoi & Cat Ba 🇻🇳

After almost a week of waiting in Vientiane for my Vietnam visa, I finally got on the next possible bus and off to Vietnam. After 24 hours on the bus, including hours of waiting at the border, I arrived in Hanoi. It's quite unusual to be in such a stressful and loud Asian city again, but I'm just really looking forward to it! To be honest, I didn't really know what to expect or didn't have high expectations, but Hanoi and Vietnam surprised me very positively from the first moment. There is something different to see on every corner in Hanoi. So many nice little coffees, shops or markets. We arrived in the evening and were dead tired, but we still didn't miss the opportunity to make the most of the evening. So we just took a quick shower and then went exploring. We decided to watch the famous water puppet theater. Unfortunately I didn't understand anything because it was in Vietnamese, but it was still pretty cool to see and really experience the local music. It was very exciting. Afterwards we tried the famous “Egg Coffee”. It was definitely pretty tasty even for me as a non-coffee drinker. But the evening wasn't over yet; we continued with a beer in the city center. That definitely ended the evening on a great note. I was really looking forward to a real bed and a few hours of sleep. The next day was spent sightseeing. Hanoi has a lot to offer there too. Of course, like everywhere in Asia, endless temples but also the government buildings are worth seeing in the capital of Vietnam. In the evening we were looking forward to the train on Train Street. That can really happen if the train suddenly drives through the middle of a mega narrow alley and I'm in between. Even though the train was unfortunately only short this time, it was a pretty cool thing! Walking through the streets of Hanoi at night is really fun, not only because there is something going on everywhere and music can be heard from every corner but also because everything is lit up with lanterns and lights. At night we also tried out the bars on Beer Street and were not disappointed. Because last night was a little longer, the next day was taken more leisurely and we only looked at one or two sights again in the afternoon. But that evening too I didn't miss the evening walk through the city. Unfortunately, the next day was my last day in Hanoi. So it was really used again. In the morning we walked a bit through the streets and did some shopping, in the afternoon we looked at the lake in the middle of the city in daylight and drank an EggCoffee. Since the nightlife here is really incredibly fun, we didn't miss the opportunity to spend the night in Beer Street again. But this time not too extensively, as I was on the bus to CatBa again at 7 the next day. Cat Ba is a small island next to Ha Long Bay, which was made famous by a James Bond film (at least I think so). Unfortunately, since the weather wasn't really that good and was rather cold and rainy, I decided to only stay there one night. But I wanted to use these 24 hours to at least take a look at the island. After a 4 hour bus ride including ferry we arrived. I first looked at the harbor and then hiked to one or two viewpoints. But I had to realize right away that there hasn't really been much going on since Covid (at least my guess). A lot of hotels and restaurants are closed and you have to find and think of the paths to the viewpoints yourself. Which I personally think is a shame because the views and the island itself are gigantic. In the bay there are hundreds of rocks just sticking out of the sea. I wish I had seen all of this when the weather was nice but well, you can't have everything. Now we continue to the island with the next night bus to Ha Giang! Vietnam impressed and surprised me from the first moment and I can't wait to see more! ☔️