Day 6 - Hanoi + Drive with Night Bus

Hanoi

We woke up at 10am which was very late compared to the last days (normally our days started at 7am). Because of that we only had time to get ready for the check-out at the hotel and a small breakfast. Carina and I did catch a cold, so we started with salt sticks and hot tea. By the way, this was very delicious at this moment :D

My mother, my father and my sister started their day with "Bánh mì", the vietnamese bread. It is similar to Ciabatta (Italian bread) but it's made without salt. Because of that, it tastes like nothing for us ;)
When the others were outside for breakfast, Carina and I created a new morning ritual: From that day on, every morning we both rang my bell from the "Golden Mountain" of Bangkok (see this previous post) to get luck for the whole day :)

Random Photo after we got out of the Hotel

After the check-out, we went into a restaurant for lunch where they only sold noodle soups. A little advice for every future traveler: Only eat in restaurants where the locals eat. Then it's guaranteed that the quality is high and the prices are low. Otherwise the locals wouldn't eat there. And by the way, the noodle soup there with shrimp paste (I think it was called like "Nam Tam") and mince leafs was really delicious :)

Note: Since this day, I got not completely healthy during this journey. Sometimes I had a cold, sometimes I just had to cough heavenly. But this didn't keep me away from getting new experiences and answers :D

Mosaic of the Turtoise from the Story

Later we went again to the Lake of "Hoàn Kiếm" and visited the temple on the little island. My short summarize of the story of Hoàn Kiếm: In ancient times, Lê Lợi, the hero of Vietnam got a sword from the gods to free the country from the ruler of the Ming Dynasty. After he finished this task, he went to the lake of Hoàn Kiếm to thank the gods.

At this moment, a giant tortoise came out of the lake and asked him to give her his divine sword because it belonged to the gods and he don't needed it anymore. So the hero gave back his divine sword and from that time, the lake was called "Lake of the Returned Sword" or in Vietnamese: Hồ Hoàn Kiếm (Hồ means lake, I think). I also read other versions of this story, but I like this one the most ^^

Little Pond on the Island ^^

Back to 2012: The temple itself was filled with a very religious and calm atmosphere. From my point of view, religion / faith is in Vietnam much more important to every local than in Germany. Vietnamese people really respect all sacred buildings, maybe this was the reason that the temple was so calm. It felt like being on an isolated part (in the center of the city!) which invited me to relax :)

Pagoda and Visitors in front of the Temple

Afterwards we went all together to more shops, but we only bought a few souvenirs ;)
Then we continued our journey and got in a night bus to Huế, the "forbidden city" of Vietnam and former residence of the Vietnamese emperors. Because the drive was about 14 hours, it had beds instead of seats. The night buses are very popular among tourists, because you can travel very cheap. It cost 350.000VDN (= 14€) for a distance over 800km.

Bus to Huế

Carina and Me in the Night Bus

The trip itself was really ... let's say it this way: You have to like adventures :D You need also the patience to stay long in an uncomfortable bed and you need to have no problems with bad smells or noise too. Or you can just fall asleep very fast and deep wherever you are. Luckily for me, since I was on a Heavy Metal festival, I have no problems with either of these things ;)

The others were a little bit knocked out on the next morning, so I used the time to think a little bit: For me, the trip was a bit strange, because when you have too much time, sometimes you start to think about your life. I mean this was good, I joined the journey to get the time to think about my life. I just didn't expected that I would do this in such an area and time. Maybe the right time to think about the most important things in life is only when you didn't await it ^^

So I thought about the questions like what I really want to achieve in life and how I can move on after this journey. Or better said, the answer just popped suddenly out in my mind. And like always, it was the most easiest answers of all. But because this is something very personal everyone has to find out by him- or herself, I won't tell you (my) answer ;) I can just say that this evening will always be a milestone in my life. Curios what can happen if you are somewhere in Vietnam, in the middle of the night, in a uncomfortable bed of a loud bus :D

Somewhere in Hanoi at the evening

At 1am we had a stop about 45 minutes at a roadside. So we went out of the bus and ate a bit of the corncobs we bought earlier. After that and a little stretching, I went back in the bus and and felt asleep within a few minutes.

Next time, I will tell you about the difference of the north and the center of Vietnam.