Hanoi (Vietnam)

When I landed in Hanoi, I was initially disappointed with the weather...gray gray gray. And no sun:-( I haven't seen the sun once so far. I took a taxi for about 45 minutes to the old quarter of Hanoi. Where my hostel is. The little charm hostel was super cute and also mega cheap, 6€ per night. The biggest challenge was actually crossing the street without getting run over by a scooter when looking for dinner. There are a lot of people on the streets here and the streets are not that big, so it was quite chaotic with scooters, pedestrians, cars, and people with market stalls. There were thousands of shops on the streets, especially toys, but also clothes and everything else. There were small colorful plastic chairs and tables on the sidewalks, where people sat and ate. Cooking was also done outside. It was noticeably cooler than in Bangkok, but you could still walk around in a T-shirt. My Pho soup cost about 2€, so food is also cheap here. You pay here with Vietnamese Dong, and the exchange rate is such that I am now a multimillionaire:)

The next day I explored Hanoi. I walked around Hoan Kiem Lake, which was right around the corner from me, and visited the temple there. The sky was still gray. On the way, a student started talking to me and wanted to have a conversation with me to improve his English. At first, I was a bit skeptical and already saw the pickpockets who would rob me during that time, but that didn't happen and he told me something about the lake and why it's called the Lake of the Returned Sword. According to a legend, there was a giant turtle living in the lake who gave a poor fisherman a magical sword. He won battles with it and became king. When he returned to the lake, the turtle wanted the sword back. It then transformed into a dragon that hovered over the lake and plunged into it. Out of gratitude, the king had the three-story Turtle Tower (Thap Rua) built on a small island in the lake. In the evening, I walked around the alleys a bit, where a market was probably being set up or taken down - with clothes galore. I was glad again that I was not run over by a scooter.