Day 6 - A Sunday in Hanoi

After checking off the top items on my sightseeing list, I enjoyed a relaxing Sunday in Hanoi. After breakfast (egg noodles with pakchoi), I walked to the travel agency to buy my bus tickets to Hue and Hoi An. After taking care of this important task, I ordered a mango-banana-passion fruit smoothie from a street vendor a few doors down, sat on one of her plastic chairs, and watched the hustle and bustle of the streets.

Since it's Sunday and because I have a few things on my mind, I decided to attend the Catholic mass at St. Joseph Cathedral. Masses are held here every Sunday at intervals of 1.5 hours. There is one in English at 11:30 a.m. The lyrics of the songs and the prayers of the congregation were displayed on two screens.

After the mass, I sat in a small café next to the cathedral to have a coffee and do some painting. This caught the attention of the inquisitive 11-year-old Phu (nickname: Tornado), who first bombarded me with questions in excellent English and then, at my invitation, sat down next to me and painted with me. So we painted together in the company of his watchful mother for about an hour and talked about everything under the sun - mainly about poisonous jellyfish, Vietnamese food, and the (according to Phu) best YouTube channels. So I enjoyed Phu's company and his mother had an undisturbed chat with a friend.

Following my hunger, I strolled through the streets around the cathedral and was drawn to Gau Bakery, where tables and chairs were set up on a small square. After all the cold, windy days, I can finally sit outside in short sleeves and enjoy the sun. I was already getting tired of my thin down jacket. And on top of that, I could enjoy the best pain au chocolat of my life. Who would have thought I had to travel over 8,000 km for that?!

Taking advantage of the warm weather, I sat in the sun by the Hoan Kiem Lake and continued painting. At this point, I want to highlight the great courage of Vietnamese children. Several times, children approached me and asked me questions in English. Every time, I had a nice short conversation and was fascinated once again - both by their English proficiency and their courage to simply approach a stranger and start a conversation.

In the late afternoon, based on the recommendation of a young couple I met during the Ha Long tour, I visited the water puppet theater. This centuries-old tradition is definitely worth a visit. The one-hour puppet show, performed by puppeteers behind a curtain in the water, is accompanied by a live band and live singing. Various scenes from ancient Vietnamese stories are portrayed. For those who do not speak Vietnamese, there are audio guides available in different languages.

As darkness fell, I took the opportunity of my last evening in Hanoi to take some night photos. I also had a nice conversation with a young man named Tiel from the Nung ethnic group in northern Vietnam, who works in the purchasing department of a steel dealer in Hanoi and wanted to practice his English with me. During our chat, he told me a somewhat peculiar detail: Since all the other children in his neighborhood were one year older and his parents wanted him to go to school with the neighborhood children, they simply registered him with the authorities with a birthdate that made him one year older than he actually was.

All these encounters of the day brought me a lot of joy. I gained a better insight into the culture and character of the Vietnamese people. I got to know the curiosity, the thirst for knowledge, and the friendliness of the young Vietnamese. I firmly believe that Vietnam, with so many amazing young people, has a great future ahead. I hope this especially for all the young people I had the pleasure of meeting today.