I took a few night trains during my time in Vietnam. In theory it is a really good way of saving time while traveling. You get on the train late in the evening, go to sleep and wake up in a new town ready to explore. In reality you don’t really get that much sleep. Especially not when a little Vietnamese woman snores like I’ve never heard anyone snore before. The last train ride was the worse at first, but luckily I had company which made it a little bit easier to deal with the dirty beds, bugs in the ceiling and very hot cabin. In the morning we got to hang out with the cutest little boy and his mother and then it was all worth it.

See more photos from Hué here

Two days of hiking in the cold, rain, fog and mud isn’t exactly what I would call a holiday. But it was an adventure. A really cold one.

See more photos from Sapa here

See more photos from Halong Bay here

I spent the new year weekend on a boat cruising Halong Bay. We had good food, beautiful scenery and got to try squid fishing. I celebrated the new year with new friends on the roof of the ship surrounded by cliffs and complete stillness. It was amazing.

I’ve spent more days in Hanoi than I was planning on. And I’m a bit surprised that I like it so much. It is so noisy and busy and there are so many people trying to sell you stuff or rip you off, feels like all I do is saying no. But I don’t know there’s something about this place. My wonderful hostel and all the amazing people I met here probably has something to do with it too.

So traffic is absolutely crazy in Hanoi and it took me about two days to learn how to walk in it. If you stand on the sidewalk waiting for traffic to slow down or stop you’ll never get across the street. No, you have to step right out into moving traffic and walk slowly across the street and let the motorbikes drive around you. It is scary but you do get use to it.

Arrived in Hanoi yesterday and although the traffic is crazy and the air is bad I really like it.