The North is seductive and awakens a longing to stay forever. The traveler can discover rainforests, mountain trails, waterfalls and watch village artisans carving and varnishing wood, making pottery and embroidering.
Those who want to travel far from the usual jockeles routes take their time. Time for the mountain people, the late immigrants who were pushed away to higher and more barren regions. As different, quiet, colorful and attractive as the life of the people here may seem, it is not an easy route. This applies not only to the sometimes poorly constructed roads, but also to meeting these people with a completely different culture. It is important to respect them and their privacy, not to apply your own standards, but to look for those of the locals.
No trip to the north of Vietnam would be complete without a visit to Halong Bay, although it should not go unmentioned that the crowds are sometimes comparable to going to see Leonardo Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" in the Louvre. In the meantime, the motto is "in, out, out'. All the more reason to choose your boat carefully if you don't want to end up on a karaoke steamer with a butter cruise character.
If you really want to get to know the country and its people, you have to go out into the countryside, preferably in tourist-free zones, not far from the capital Hanoi, where the air is still fresh and no cars are honking. Here live 70 to 80 percent of the population and they are poor. They work in the fields in all weathers, seven days a week, men, women and children following the example of their ancestors. The scene seems idyllic, but a closer look reveals how hard life is for the rural population.
