Day 3 (Bangkok, Hanoi) - Flight to Vietnam

View from the Lumphini Park
- The greenest place in Bangkok -

Bangkok
In the morning, we got ready for our flight to Vietnam. After packing all the luggage, we went together to the Lumphini Park for a last walk. This is the biggest and oldest park of Bangkok. The first things we saw were many pieces of sport equipment. There were also little lakes and some sculptures of animals made out of grass. Most of them were elephants which are sacred animals in Thailand, if they have white skin. So we relaxed in the park from the last two unforgettable but also exhausting days.

Maybe the most curios thing
I saw in Bangkok: a "Hello Kitty" bus oO

We went to the airport via taxi with a large capacity at noon. This was necessary, because we were five persons with luggage for three weeks. At the airport we killed some time by going to many shops and tasting free samples of flavored rice crackers. In the end we also bought two packages because the ones with sesame and coconut were just too delicious.

The flight itself to Hanoi was just about 90 minutes, so we used this time to rest and I learned also the correct address (speaking) of my relatives. This is more complex than in Germany because in Vietnam the addressing depends on where the person stands in the hierarchy relating to your parents. But it was easy to understand when I got the principle of hierarchy in Vietnam.

Good Bye Bangkok! :)

Airport of Hanoi

About 10 people from the family and close friends awaited us at the airport. It was a very warm welcome even for Carina who wasn't part of the family. But in Vietnam family is a very open definition and because we introduced Carina as my friend they included her in the family from the first moment :)

It was also amazing when I realized how much time had passed when I were welcomed by my cousin Tu. Six years before when I was in Vietnam, he was 9 years old. Now he had been grown so much and we could talk together for the first time because he already started to learn English. Some weeks before we also started to chat via Facebook and now we could continue our conversation. After the welcome on the airport, we were driven to my grand-parents house where we will stay the next days. 

Finally at Home !
- My father (center), my grandparents, two cousins (the kids) and one brother-in-law -

First Meal
at my Grandparents House

When we arrived, the family started with collective eating and (the men) with drinking. As the (first) son of my father, I had also to drink much of self-made rice wine from a good friend of the family, uncle bảy. We ate also self-made dishes like tofu and rice with mung beans and peanuts. All the dishes were much better than the same dishes when you buy them in Germany. Sleeping at night was literally hard, because we slept in beds without mattresses. At this moment, I really missed my soft bed at home ;)

Next time I will tell you about the next days we spent with the family and how we got to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. Happy traveling! :D