07.10.2022 - The first evening in Hanoi

"It won't be that wild" were my thoughts as I walked through the airport door to get into the Asian Uber equivalent Grab. Well, I was wrong, it got even wilder. In advance, various friends and acquaintances had told me about the let's say unusual traffic in Asian metropolises. However, what happened on the drive to the hostel exceeded my expectations. Scooters everywhere and twice as many on top. The only applicable rule: the loudest honker goes first.

And among all the scooters, there were also people, and there were really a lot of people, who may not have honked, but still somehow made their way across the streets - I had many questions. After less than two hours, the complete Asian experience was already there.

40 minutes with countless near-accidents (at least that's how it looked to me, Kanh, my driver, seemed relatively relaxed in contrast) later, I arrived at the hostel. At the beginning, there was a friendly greeting, then I was allowed to enter my empire, estimated two square meters, which I would share with seven other backpackers for the next three nights. In hindsight, it sounds worse than it actually was. Although it was very cramped, it worked quite well with the individual sleeping compartments. Although luxury is obviously absent here.

After briefly putting down my backpack, taking a shower (ranking third among the most necessary showers of my life), I went out into the chaotic life of an 8-million-inhabitant city. Since I was pretty exhausted from the journey, my only goal that evening was to find something to eat. And luckily, you don't have any problems finding something to eat in Hanoi. After a short time, I found a traditional street kitchen that was going to prepare my dinner. And what could be more suitable for the start than the Vietnamese national dish Pho. The cook apparently thought so too, because without a word from me, she handed me the bowl of noodle soup. I quickly sat down on a small plastic chair and the meal could already begin. And what can I say, it was really delicious - despite the cilantro. By the way, the meal cost less than two euros. After about an hour (I still have to get used to the chopsticks), I went back to the hostel and more or less straight to bed. I had arrived!