Since Amat and I had left London we had a short stay in Sitges and left from Barcelona Airport on the morning of 6th September 2014...let the journey begin!
After a short stop in Helsinki we continued to Hanoi in North Vietnam and arrived there on Sunday 7th September early in the morning. We took the taxi together with two other travellers who had just arrived to Hoan Kiem Lake, the tourist centre of Hanoi where we had our hostel. The room was ok but nothing to brag about...well we have to get used to a different standard again :)
On our first search for food and water we were slightly overwhelmed by the vast amount of motorbikes and horns sounding everywhere. But we are now on our 4th day in Hanoi and I have to say you get used to it pretty quickly and know not to be intimidated by the traffic!
For the first days our jet-lag carries us from 12h sleep to none and back but we manage pretty well. In Hanoi we visit the Hoa Lo Prison which remains to be the only real activity we manage in our stay there. On day 3 we take the nightbus to Sapa in the northern highlands of Vietnam close to the Chinese border. On our first day there we rent a motorbike and drive around the mountain villages and enjoy the amazing views over the rice paddies, high mountains and steep valleys. All in all Sapa is really beautiful and we decide to spend the second day with a family from the Mong people who are from the traditional hill tribes. We hike for about 6h to the small village where we saty the night with a family. Conversations are partly limited to hand signs as english is still rare in theses regions and our Vietnamese is still non-existent. The night in the village is rustic and a very special experience but in a bed withoiut matress unfortunately also a night with barely any sleep. The next day we walk for another 2 hours down into the valley and refresh ourselves in a beautiful waterfall before we are brought back to Sapa by two motorbikes.
After these two rather exhausting days we treat ourselves to a massage and take the nightbus back to Hanoi.
Tomorrow we will leave Hanoi for a three day trip to HAlong Bay and Cat Ba Island. Details and pictures will follow soon :)
