Vietnam, 27. April bis 11. Mai 2023
27.04. - 02.05.23 Hanoi
02.05. - 08.05.23 Cat Ba
08.05. - 11.05.23 Ninh Binh
The limestone cliffs in Lan Ha Bay.
Vietnam - its reputation precedes the country. Beforehand, we heard from various sources that one often gets ripped off by the Vietnamese. Vietnam is known for having the most beautiful nature in Asia, but traveling here can be challenging due to constantly being presented with inflated prices.
On our second day in Vietnam, I wanted to buy a new bag. I managed to haggle the price down from 300,000 Dong to half (150,000 Dong - about 6 Euros). The currency here is similar to Laos - the smallest bill is 500 Dong, and the largest is 500,000 Dong. I was hungry and still overwhelmed by the new currency and the many zeros on the bills. It happened that I confused a 500,000 Dong note with a 50,000 Dong note and handed the woman 60€ instead of 6€. With an admonishing look, the street vendor pointed out my mistake and returned the overpaid notes. We heard similar stories from other travelers. One traveler reported that someone chased after him to give him his change.
At the same time, there are also opposite experiences from other travelers. It is common for tourists to pay a little more than the locals everywhere. Most of the time, there are no price tags, not even on buses. It can be frustrating, but whether you pay 3 or 4 Euros for the bus doesn't make a big difference in the wallet at the end of the day. However, here in Vietnam, you can also encounter situations where travelers are presented with extremely high prices or simply cheated. In tourist areas, one should be careful. Rule number 1 is: ask for the price beforehand and know the exchange rates or convert the price to euros before paying.
In my opinion, being ripped off is the exception rather than the rule. There are always some bad apples. However, most Vietnamese are honest people.
Vietnam - a new country, a new culture
I was surprised by how different Laos and Vietnam are. From Europe, the countries in Asia may seem more or less the same, but that is definitely not the case. You can usually distinguish between Vietnamese and Laotian people just by their clothing. While Laotians are very traditional and women almost always wear a traditional skirt, many Vietnamese are very fashion-conscious. Clothing and appearance play an important role. Additionally, Vietnam is much, much, much wealthier than Laos. It starts with the fact that Vietnam has proper highways and trains, which Laos does not have. In fact, despite having such transportation options, many Vietnamese still prefer to travel by plane. It should be noted that Vietnam is incredibly large. The distance between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the two largest cities, is 1,700km. For comparison, the distance between Munich and Berlin is only 600km. Even on short domestic flights (which I would never take), air travel is relatively popular.
Laos and Thailand have relatively similar cultures. Vietnam's culture, on the other hand, is heavily influenced by China. However, that does not mean that Vietnam and China get along well. China is like the big brother you have to handle with care. China is expanding its influence wherever it can, including in Laos. Laos has a very weak infrastructure; the country's only highway was built by China. Even the high-speed train in Laos was built by China. By the way, it is also the only high-speed train in Southeast Asia. Vietnam would never consider having China build its infrastructure. Vietnamese people are far too proud for that.
Hanoi
We traveled from Laos to Vietnam to the city of Hanoi with two buses. I have two friends here, Anne and Michel, who live and work in Hanoi. They have a beautiful apartment with a guest room where we were able to settle in comfortably. However, Anne and Michel were not home at the time, so we knew we would only stay in Hanoi briefly and then visit two other places in Vietnam before returning to Hanoi one or two weeks later.
Limestone cliffs in the sea - Cat Ba
About 130 km east of Hanoi, lies a true gem of Vietnam. Everyone who visits Vietnam will want to see the famous limestone cliffs. Ha Long Bay was inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1994. Less known, but equally beautiful, is Lan Ha Bay. It is located right next to Ha Long Bay and is less overrun by tourists. We were on a boat with some other backpackers, sailing through the surreal rock formations. It was a lovely day with a little canoe tour, giant jellyfish, and the opportunity to jump into the water from the first floor of the boat.
In addition to the day on the water, during the 5 days on Cat Ba Island, our base for our time in the bay, we did some other things as well. I rode a scooter for the first time here. The island is perfect for it due to the good roads and low traffic. On another day, we hiked across the island and met Nico.
And we saw bioluminescent sea: When a wave breaks, it starts to glow blue. It looked simply otherworldly. This phenomenon is called bioluminescence or sea glow. It is triggered by special plankton in the water, which causes a chemical reaction when moved. The fireflies of the sea. It was very faint for us, but nonetheless breathtaking. I didn't even know that such a thing exists.
📷 You can find pictures of the glowing waves in the photo album.
Other than that, we really enjoyed the evenings at the hostel, it's always a highlight to chat with all the other travelers here. It's really fascinating, some evenings everything just flows. You sit down for dinner next to some other people, and conversations start almost on their own. As soon as one conversation ends, new people appear.
Limestone formations on land - Ninh Binh
The landscape around Ninh Binh is often described as the "Halong Bay on land." The mountains are also limestone formations, just a little higher. Although it's not completely dry here either - rivers meander through the mountains. You can take boat tours on these rivers. It's also quite touristy and expensive (by Asian standards), but it was super beautiful. For two or three hours, you're rowed around on the river, through deep valleys between tall mountains, and through endlessly long caves.
On another day, we rented scooters and went to the Bái Đính Pagoda. A pagoda is a distinctive, multi-storey, tower-like building. Pagodas are a very typical architectural structure in East Asia. The Bái Đính Pagoda is said to be the tallest pagoda in Vietnam, with a height of 100m. After parking the scooter, we headed to the entrance. There, a friendly woman explained the different admission options. The temple and pagoda were a little far from the parking area, and there were electric shuttles available for transportation. There were also other options, and everything seemed a bit confusing. On Google Maps, I had read that other visitors simply walked to the pagoda. I also learned that all temples are free by law, and the charges only apply when visiting the pagoda at the top. We wanted to be active and didn't have much money, so we politely declined all the options and started walking in the direction of the pagoda. The employees around us got nervous and kept saying that we couldn't walk there, that we had to take one of the shuttles. We encountered a total of 3 or 4 employees who tried to dissuade us from our plan. We were about to give up and take one of the shuttles. And then, out of desperation, I started dancing. It was like a running hop-dance. Very difficult to describe. I hopped past the guards. It must have looked funny! Anyway, it seemed to throw off the guards and they let us pass. And surprisingly, the path to the pagoda wasn't that far; we reached it after about 10 minutes of walking.
P.S. Nini is my nickname from childhood that I use regularly here in Asia.
P.P.S. We are trying to bring some regularity to our posts. A couple of posts ago, we asked you if you preferred a specific day for publication. The winner, with a clear majority, was Thursday. Therefore, we will now be posting our entries every other Thursday, sometimes even after just one week. It depends on how we manage.
📷 You can find more great pictures in the photo album.
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