Welcome to Vietnam!
Vietnam is a very large country. To go from North to South, it takes at least two days by train, which is why many people choose to make internal journeys by plane.
Concerning our journey, we chose a mix between the train (veeeery slow and late!), buses and scooter.
Vietnam has magnificent landscapes, but it is unfortunately a country that remains quite poor.
The thing that most displeased us was without a doubt the traffic. Although the Vietnamese do not drive particularly fast (rarely above 60km/hour), traffic in Vietnam is chaotic (law of the strongest) and the horns are used everywhere and for every occasion.
Hanoi
Our first stop was in Hanoi, the capital of the country. It is a city of 8 million inhabitants, with apocalyptic traffic. We mainly moved by foot within the city, and some crossings were particularly dangerous.
The whole life of the capital is seen in the streets, with bars, restaurants, hairdressers, motorcycle repairers directly laying on the sidewalk. In fact, not only is it difficult to walk on the sidewalks, but the waste is thrown in the gutter, making the city relatively dirty and crowded, despite a regular passage of the garbage collectors.
However, the city brings together a large number of interesting places to visit, whether they are temples, museums or parks.
One of the most interesting temples to visit is the Temple of Literature, which was very close to our accommodation, located in the heart of the city and which welcomed the sons of Mandarin and the aristocracy to continue their studies to become senior officials.
We were also able to visit many museums, including the Military History Museum, mainly presenting the Vietnam War, the Vietnam Women’s Museum, with displays a very beautiful documentary on women who left the countryside to find work in Hanoi, and Hoa Lo jail, a French jail for political opponents during the occupation.
Halong Bay
Halong Bay, reachable within a few hours by bus from Hanoi, was a great experience, despite the not quite good weather we had.
Having only a very short time there, we chose to participate in a boat day tour offered at our hotel. We were able to discover Halong Bay by boat, take a kayak tour, and hike on Monkey Island.
To find out more about our trip in these two places, you can watch the following video: