We were excited to leave Hanoi behind after Christmas had passed
After seeing only a couple of tourists during the past 9 weeks in China and North Vietnam it was a bit of a shock to be surrounded suddenly by hundreds of tourists in Hanoi. Every westerner wasn’t my friend anymore and no one stopped to chat on street with me. There were hundreds of packpackers visiting Vietnam or South East Asia, though not a single bike tourer or other long distance traveler. I met many really nice people and made friends, but connecting with some was hard. First time on my trip I felt that I was different from other travelers. Having a mentality of being on a holiday has been just long gone. After the first night in a 500 people hostel I preferred not to tell my mode of transportation unless asked. I tried my best to blend in by joining the main activity of the Hanoi traveller scene; partying.
Local people behaved very differently towards me as well compared to many other places I’ve been before. I arrived to the Hanoi City after a long 175km day (finding a spot to camp is hard around Hanoi!) and tried to check in to a hostel after midnight. I learned that some of the hostels in town have a ‘no bicycles policy’, which I haven’t heard of in my life. Only the third hostel I tried to check in finally accepted to take my bike indoors.
On my third day in Hanoi, the day before Christmas Eve, Dan come to town. It was really nice to see him again. We rode together from Italy to Greece, and last time our routes crossed was in Georgia, so we had a lot to catch up. On the Christmas Day, when the picture was taken, we were both excited the get out of our party dungeon and sleep in our tents again.
#biketouring #Vietnam #Hanoi #Christmas2015
