Hanoi🎢

Hanoi was absolutely a rollercoaster of emotions that made it hard to understand and process. My existential crisis was growing bigger and bigger, and I was feeling confused, disappointed, sad and desmotivated in several facets of my life. But at the same time, Hanoi was so exciting, different and intriguing that my mind went from one side the the other. Xavier (the french guy I met in Tangalle)'s birthday was when we met-bumped into each other (kinda way) so I though I would take him to do something different and we went to have alcohol made out of snakes. The place was in the middle of nowhere, and we ended up having shots with a random Vietnamese guy in his garden, all surrounded by alive snakes in cages and pots of snakes alcohol. It was reallyreally shocking and unique for sure. And a real surprise for both of us.
But Hanoi also ment trying to organize my thoughts and feelings. So I spent more money than usual changing plans last minute and just trying to listen to my gut, which made me lose a nice bus (and abandone an american guy, I am sorry for that) to join two french guys on a long motorbike trip that I had met 10 minutes ago. For some reason it just felt right. So next day, woke up, went to rent my beautiful semiauthomatic bike "Saperlipopette" and created the new gang I will be travelling with for the next 10 days around the north of the country. We decided to name ourselves the "Brokepackers". We did some organizing stuff we had to do, and headed towards our new adventure, leaving the stressfull and busy roads of Hanoi and its pollution and thousands of motorbikes behind. This just gave me the joy and excitement I was lacking, and suddenly everything felt alright again. My heart came back to place, and so did the peace in my mind. We look like and interesting group, Gabriel is absolutely my type of traveller and feel like we'll get along very well, he feels calm and adaptable; and Sebastian is a vibrant teenager full of energy. It also feels weird to tag along with people for such a long time, I am wondering if I'll be possible to work it out.

💡Travelling tips: avoid stopping a taxi on the street if you don't want to be riped off. Grab is an easy alternative to a taxi.
🔍Some facts: to enter the temples in Vietnam, you'll see that there is a very large step on the way. That is because Vietnamese believe that ghosts can not jump, so that way they can't protect the temple from them entering
📍Essentials: snake villa if you're up for some tough adventure
🏠 Accomodation: Central Backpacker's Hostel (really cheap, free breakfast and walking tour. But most important, one hour of FREE BEER!!!!)
🍴Food: cafe giang (egg coffee), street food (whatever you see, just try it, you won't know what you're having anyways)Read more