Since we landed late in the evening in Hanoi, we did not get much of Hanoi in the evening, but should change the next day.
Hanoi is probably a typical Asian metropolis, but after we had not been to any of them, the traffic was almost the language. The pictures are probably more than we could describe, but we want to make a fact: Hanoi has 7 million inhabitants and about 4 million scooters / motorcycles. That says almost everything. The non-existent rules (red traffic lights are actually more suggestions than law), because we were never driven around.
So we strolled through this traffic to visit some of the sights of Hanoi (a former prison, the Ho Chi Minh Museum, the History Museum, the Opera House and the two city lakes) and test the Vietnamese food. Especially the quantities of luggage, which some vietnamese transport with the scooter / motorbike, impressed us too deeply (The 50kg gas bottle was probably only the tip of the iceberg). But maybe in Europe we sometimes just take a little interest in 🙂
In principle, we found the Vietnamese much nicer and more congenial than the Laoten. In addition, the liveliness of the city is simply fabulous. Everywhere streets and everlasting business (and of course tourists without end …).
And for all those who want to visit Vietnam: never accept the first prize that is named to you, no matter what it is. We could only by the demand for a discount the price of our Sim card (which one has to think about in Germany) by 50%. That almost always works and if you can not be almost sure, the act does not bring anything …
By the way, we booked our overnight train to Sa Pa. Let’s see the trains in Vietnam are 🙂