On my way to China – leaving the beautiful region of “Ninh Binh” behind – I spent a full day in Hanoi again.
I arrived here in an exceptionally gentlemanly manner.
At 5:30 in the morning, a car came to pick me up and take me to the city of Ninh Binh. There I got on a minibus that was apparently just waiting for me to arrive, because we left as soon as I put my butt down.
I also fell asleep. They woke me up in Hanoi, where I got into another car. The driver asked where I was going. I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, so I told him the old quarter of the city. The old quarter that I was already familiar with.
Then, before arriving, it turned out that there were probably more such old quarters, because he asked me which one I should go to. These unexpected cross-questions are slowly not putting as much weight on my shoulders as yesterday’s sigh. I showed him on the map the one I already knew.
So after 39 days I returned exactly where I left Hanoi. Hanoi – Hai Phong Cat Ba – Ninh-Binh – Hanoi. It was a very nice tour.
The day in Hanoi started out as an average one. Walking, food hunting. then a coffee shop so I could work.
The adventures came in the afternoon
When I finished work, I wanted to take a long walk around the city.
Passing by a small coffee and craft shop, a lady asked if I would like a coffee. I said no and kept walking. But after five steps, I changed my mind and sat down at her place. When asked what kind of coffee I wanted, I replied that it should be a surprise. So I managed to drink another delicious coffee, the name of which I don’t know.
In fact, I don’t even know the lady’s name, even though we talked for almost an hour. Unfortunately, I forget names quickly, it’s been that way my whole life. (Maybe that’s why I now have four first names? I’ll definitely remember one of them when I need it…)
I got the name! Hmong! I got a card from her, it’s on it. If you’d like to visit the shop, click here.
I also managed to talk to the lady about things that have interested me for a long time. For example, how Asian people think about us Westerners.
After the honest answers, my conversation partner said that I see the situation surprisingly well. Most Asian people will not give me a hard time if I behave inappropriately. They will smile. But they have their opinions. I have known this since I read James Clawel’s book Shogun as a child. LOL.
After a while, the lady’s daughter joined us
At the end of the conversation, I couldn’t pay for my coffee. I would have insisted that this not be the case, but the woman was adamant. Before I went to her, I bought a couple of donuts. At the beginning of the conversation, she accepted one from me with great difficulty and held it in her hand the whole time. She said she loved it very much, but she hadn’t eaten it yet.
It was a very interesting and good conversation, I left with a grateful heart.
After a long walk, I had a long conversation with a friend, so after the Starbucks during the day, I stood and talked for a long time in front of the one planned for the evening. I finally had to go in around 9:30 PM.
On the way to the train
It was time to order a taxi, because the train station my ticket was for was half an hour drive from the old quarter.
I had the usual problems with this order.
Although the name of the station was on my train ticket, and I even knew that it was not the main train station, and I even looked at the map to see where it was, I couldn’t order a taxi.
Because when I typed the name of the station into the taxi search engine, the site returned three results, and I had no idea what to choose because there wasn’t enough information on the screen.
The train was leaving on time, so I couldn’t afford to have the taxi take me somewhere else because of a bad choice, and then have to try to choose the right address again from there.
Luckily, the guys spoke English, so I asked for help. I showed my ticket to one of the young men and asked him to help me order a taxi. As proof that I wasn’t necessarily the one who was stupid, I have to say that it took him about 3 minutes to order a taxi for me.
He ordered it on his own phone. I wanted to pay him right away, but he said he would come out with me and tell the taxi driver that I would pay in cash. I thanked him for his help and asked where the bathroom was.
I started towards the place, going upstairs. But I had only managed to climb 3-4 steps when one of the girls at the counter jumped after me. She asked me if I had ordered yet. I said no, and I added to myself that I didn’t want to, because the taxi would be here in a few minutes. I’m sorry, she said, if you haven’t ordered, you can’t use the bathroom.
As I wrote, I had been standing outside for a long time and I should have peed the whole time. So, not expecting this new information, I told her that it was a problem, because then it could happen that spontaneous relief would happen here on the stairs. She didn’t laugh. Let’s say, neither did I. I asked her if this was serious. I told her that I had spent half my day at another Starbucks, maybe it wouldn’t be such a big deal if… But, it was. That was her position and she left.
I got angry.
But this feeling hadn’t found me in a long time, so I immediately turned my attention to it. I thought about a few things very quickly.
On the one hand, I was arrogant, I let myself get carried away by the emotion. I have the right to do that, but I don’t need it. On the other hand, the girl was right. It’s not such a unique case that paying guests can use the bathroom for free, and everyone else has to pay for it. This option was not considered here. Thirdly, if I lasted more than an hour, I will last another 30 minutes, there will be no problem in the taxi.
Finally, I felt sincere gratitude. I have been saying for a long time that nothing is free on the road. You have to pay for everything. I forgot this in this situation. The girl simply reminded me of this with a repeated instruction.
So, 5 seconds after she left, I followed her. I put my hand on my heart, bowed and said to her, “Thank you very much!” I added to myself, “for the tecahing.”
Within a minute, the taxi driver arrived, and when he heard that I would be the passenger, he told me to show him the money before leaving.
This either means that I look really ripped and it doesn’t look like I can pay the bill. Or that he has had a lot of bad experiences.
Not only did I show him, I paid for the ride in advance.
I had the confidence.
On the railway station
When we arrived, my confidence was a little shaken.
The taxi turned into a yard where there was nothing but a lot of cargo containers and a closed and dark building.
Most importantly, there was no train station and no tracks.
Luckily, it turned out that the train station was not that far away. It is true that it was hidden behind a gate that made me think of the place as a garage rather than a train station.
I still had 1+ hours until the train arrived, so I thought I would sit on the platform.
As I went out, a lady in a uniformed railway employee very enthusiastically waved for me to come with her. I thought she wanted to sell me a ticket. But she just ushered me into the waiting room to sit down.
Well, I sat down.
At 10:45 PM, I asked when the train would arrive. It was scheduled for 22:58 anyway. She said it would arrive between 22:55 and 22:58. For a moment, I thought I was in Japan because of that precision.
I told her that I would go out to the platform now. She pointed to the door delicately. Which I couldn’t open.
Because it was locked from the outside. But, I think – so that I wouldn’t feel like she was messing with me, she quickly went around the building from the outside and opened the door. When I wanted to go out, she said that since the train wasn’t here yet, I should continue to rest my feet inside. That’s what Google Translate literally wrote. LOL.
The train arrived. She motioned for me to follow her and her colleague. Two of them greeted the train. She motioned for me to stay by the building about five times. Don’t even think about going near the moving train.
So when the train stopped, I was immediately ordered to run, and as soon as I got on, the train had already started.
Perhaps this pace is the secret to punctuality.
On the train
There were two conductors already waiting on the train.
One of them had a prepared English message waiting for him: “When we arrive, please do not order a taxi for yourself, I will order one for you from a friend in Sapa.”
This was a red flag for me. There is no reason to take an overpriced taxi in an environment where I am not aware of the prices. I had made a long-standing decision to only use an app if I could.
I didn’t feel like explaining myself to him, so I simply told him that I was not going to Sapa, but to China.
Then his next business proposition came. Would I like to be alone in the compartment? The train has four-person sleeper cabins, and I bought a lower bed in a compartment, knowing that I could count on three more people there.
This offer did not sway my previous decision. Although he didn’t say how much he wanted me to pocket for this, it wasn’t important, because I wouldn’t have given a bugs forint for a private compartment.
I told him that I had a ticket and that I wanted the bed I had already paid for, nothing else.
I think they wanted something else, because two of them escorted me to the compartment. There was such a narrow corridor in the car that my backpack got stuck and I could barely turn around.
When I opened the compartment, I was greeted by a very peaceful sight.
On one of the lower beds, two little girls were sleeping, snuggled together, with their little blindfolds over their faces. On the other lower bed, two women were lying in their sleeping clothes.
In my initial surprise, I said that I had bought a ticket for a lower bed. But at that moment I realized that it didn’t matter at all. I don’t want to wake the kids up, nor would I want the two women to sleep upstairs while the kids are downstairs.
So I said right away that it was okay. But the guide started talking really badly to the two women. I wonder what he said to them. I had to tell them three more times that it was okay.
At the end, we stood there for 15-20 seconds in awkward silence. I think the guide was still trying to figure out how I could make extra money from me today, but he finally left us.
I climbed onto the top bunk.
It was small. Hard. There was no power outlet, so I decided to lie down right away. I took off my T-shirt and lay down.
Expect good things in return!
One of the women stood in front of me with a smile. “You,” she said and pointed to the blanket on the other bunk.
I loved all the teachings today.
I fell asleep quickly and peacefully.
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