ahhhhhh there is a lot to mention in this entry. Less pictures, more writing. I'm still trying to feel out Vietnam, still not 100% sure how i feel about it yet, then again it just started. I feel like this Vietnam/Cambodia half of my trip is starting off the same way my Thailand/Laos half of my trip started with the unfamiliarity, the new adjustments, the 0 expectations, and maybe the periodic reminders of home by seeing familiar faces? The way I'm feeling this week is the same way I felt while i was in the Thailand islands. Just unsure, or anxious. If the pattern continues however, then that means great things are yet to come for the south of Vietnam and Cambodia.
I've also been thinking a lot lately about how traveling solo is the way to go. You are forced to make decisions on your own. When there's a moment or an open invitation to do something with new people, you don't ask your travel friend for their approval or agreement, you just GO. You just DO. You just decide. You act more on impulse, you follow your gut. Also, your inhibitions are stripped away. I've relied so much on other peoples' decisions and suggestions over my own in the past. This trip i've felt has made me grow exponentially in my own decision making.
Anyway...
Hanoi
My time in Hanoi could not have gone any better with the weather, sites and company. Randy and Kevin were the most hospitable, accommodating hosts I could've ever asked for and were it not for them i wouldn't have had nearly as good of a time learning about Hanoi and experiencing living like a Hanoian, or at least a foreigner whose lived in Hanoi for a while like they have. And the weather was not bad at all.
I spent my entire week hanging out with them (with the exception of a side trip to Halong Bay... amazing). The day after our delicious BBQ dinner Kevin, Delaney and i went to go visit Ho Chi Minh's preserved body, which was sort of interesting... thousands and thousands of people lined up, only to shuffle through a severely air-conditioned room where you saw him peacefully sleeping in his glass case under a warm orange light, with 4 guards dressed in white at each corner of the case. You were literally in this room for 40 seconds. No cameras or phones were allowed, and the guards tapped you to put your arms by your sides, and no one was allowed to speak, it was so unusual. Little Vietnamese nuns shuffled through holding pictures of Ho Chi Minh with them, mumbling a prayer of sorts in those short 40 seconds with him. What's funny though is that it was actually against HCM's wishes to be preserved, he wanted to be cremated and tossed into the mountains. Not sure how he'd feel about this then...
Kevin Delaney and i got some Pho noodles afterwards out on Food Street and with unfortunate knowledge and timing watched our cook cut her fingernails with the same giant scissors she used to cut our food with. [EW].
We visited a cathedral, shopped around, had an amazing sushi dinner that night (i was missing sushi SO BAD...), and went to a bar that had Trivia Night. It was such a fun time, even though we placed 8/9. We also spent some time playing tons of card games at their apartment, getting excited over the first monsoon weather Randy and Kevin had since moving here, killed a giant cockroach, and going to some great local bars to drink Bia Hoi (brewed only a day or 2 prior?). I also went to a crazy local market where they sold everything imaginable. And I went to a water puppet show, said to be a must-see in Hanoi. It felt like i was watching an ancient, asian Sesame Street. It was so weird, funny, cool, random, peculiar.... Live traditional music played as well, saw instruments i'd never seen before..
All in all my time in Hanoi was defined by my friends from home - definitely a special part to my whole trip. I enjoyed the brief taste and comfort of the familiar, and the chance to experience more of the local life from 2 experts! I even got a nice sheet of paper from Randy listing important phrases and words in Vietnamese so i can survive. Thanks guys!!!
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Our traditional Japanese dinner |
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Water puppet show |
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Puppeteers come out at the end |
Halong Bay
In between my week in Hanoi, I took a 2-day 1-night trip to Halong Bay, a UNESCO world heritage site. I experienced the most insane vibes from this place. This whole site was just BEYOND. I initially wasn't looking forward to it because the weather was terrible, foggy, misty, and colder than Hanoi. I changed my mind as soon as i got there. You couldn't see the picturesque, sunny postcard representation of Halong Bay - this was different. The fog and mist created a totally different atmospheric environment, one that forced you to look at Halong Bay and its jetting rocks and landscapes differently. We visited a cave there which initially i was indifferent about seeing that I had already seen 3+ during my trip and was just about caved out. But this place blew them all away....
I have never felt so stunned or seen anything more breath-taking and magical in my life. It was the most beautiful cave i've ever seen. Something just breathed through this cave. And it wasn't even the use of colored lights to illuminate the walls to attract tourists, it was something else - i felt like i had entered a new world, one that could've existed underwater, or just another dimension.... Everything appeared to be frozen entities, caught in the middle of a movement. Forms that were so still and frozen, yet so alive. I had goosebumps the whole time. My whole face and body tingled with some kind of unannounced presence, positively vibrating within and without me... I'd never felt anything like it before. I felt like i had just entered another kind of Alice in Wonderland, another kind of life. The connecting stalactites and stalagmites took on directions that defied the natural flow that billions of years of water droplets would create, forming faces and creatures that just spoke to me. Not to toot my own horn but I felt like i was seeing and hearing things through these walls in a way that none of the tourists taking photos paid attention to at all. I'd never felt the presence of life and the invisible as much as i did in that cave. I felt oddly rejuvenated, awake, like i was glowing. The colored lights too, although artificial, helped create a harmonious mood as you followed the path. I don't think i'll ever forget that hour. There was a 2nd cave as well but with no colored lights, but no tourists either, so you could appreciate the moment of silence and resonating echos. The caves have also completely inspired my art work - i could
see some forms that I had already made in my art, a few of my 2D forms
came to life and were staring me in the face. Maybe that was the
connection..
On a completely non-profound note, maybe it was that child in me that used to watch Fern Gully on repeat that jumped with excitement over the imaginary fairy ponds, creepy oil monsters and lairs i thought lurked in the cave. The bay and fog and creaking boat sounds made me feel like i was in Pirates of the Caribbean about to dock. And the caves also reminded me of the dragon's lair in disney land in the big castle. (don't pretend like you don't know what i'm talking about).
We also went kayaking again in Halong bay, and this time it was much more enjoyable than in Laos. It was so enjoyable. I paddled through small underpasses which led to small closed-off spaces of water surrounded by soaring mountain rocks. There was a moment where i was the only kayak there, and it was amazing. I tilted my head up at the foggy sky, and heard nothing but the water, and the resonating caws of the birds above, flying in circles. It really was just so beautiful. And i loved that it wasn't a sunny day. Even in the eerie fog and mist spread across the horizon, with each rock gradually dissipating into the unknown gray, something was breathing, living. The cave walls, the formations, the echos, the colors, everything was breathing. Needless to say, it was one of my more beautiful days, despite the lack of sun. I was also in great company on the boat, ending our night singing karaoke on the ship with other people on another ship jumping over to join us.
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loved this... |
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Same rock as on the 200,000 VND bill! |
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The craziest, most intriguing natural underpass form with locals rowing through it... |
Hue
The ride to Hue was another rough one. It was a sleeper bus again but this time we DID NOT STOP ANYWHERE... EVER. No food or bathroom break, which forced me to eat tons of Ritz crackers and Oreos, and hold my pee in until 5AM until i couldn't take it anymore and walked into the bus' dungeon bathroom at the back and was greeted with the stench of swaying diluted poop. Eeeewwwww. I never went back in there again. On the brightside our bus driver was the most informative one i've had yet, and told us that we were passing through Dong Ha, a DMZ zone where the north was separated from the south by over 5km worth of bombs.
Hue was a very historical and beautiful place, but i didn't really spend time with anybody here. I spent my first day walking around and exploring the city on my own, visiting the Imperial city (which was actually pretty impressive and thought-provoking), the royal museum of fine arts where they had a small collection of gorgeous imperial costumes, and the giant Hue market (probably the grossest, most unsanitary street to walk through in flip flops) - my feet were COVERED in mud, and some more poop, and god knows what else lurked those brown-gray puddles. My hygiene has really gone down the tubes here.
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Gifts to the imperial city for each emperor |
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one of the many walkways |
The next day I booked a tour through my hostel to visit the historical tombs spread across the city. But you never really know when things you book at your hostel will primarily have other similar-aged people from your hostel as well or not. I wound up going on a tour with ONLY 50+ year old couples picked up from 4- and 5-star hotels. To be honest, i found myself kind of bored on this tour. Yes the tombs were beautiful and historic, but i learned that i'm not as interested/captivated by these as i am with European history like Versailles. Still, it was a nice way of spending my last day in Hue. One cool part was watching a martial arts performance, with people breaking cement bricks with their head, sword fights and stuff.
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guards and elephants to protect the emperor in the afterlife |
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This tomb was beautiful |
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Inside - the emperor's tomb and relics |
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Traditional fan/wind/thunder martial arts dance |
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Incense! |
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Pagoda |
A rather unusual thing happened at the end of my tour. My 30 year old Vietnamese TOURGUIDE asked me out for a drink later to tell me more about vietnamese culture and take me to a local bar. Uh....... needless to say what was running through my head was "is this guy going to drug me? steal all my money? take me down a dark alleyway?" I was nervous as hell and thought for a solid 3 hours whether i would leave him stranded at the street we decided to meet on or not. Finally I decided to meet him and it was perfectly fine and safe - he told me about Vietnamese family cultures, how tourism is one of the greatest fields to get into here, and that surprisingly, Nail salons in America made amazing money and that if he wasn't a tour guide he'd be happy moving to america and working at one of those. He bought 6 beers for the 2 of us and I couldn't finish my 3 so he did, and got so drunk. He kept feeling his face and saying, "I'm.. drunk." hahahaha i guess he doesn't drink very often. This was just a strange but unique experience going to a local bar with a local. Won't forget this happened.
Where I am Now
Hoi An. This place is GORGEOUS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could seriously live here for a while. Beautiful yellow 1-2 story houses, wooden shutters, gorgeous trees and lanterns decorating every street. I visited a japanese bridge built in the 1600s. Had delicious Hoi An soups and specialty dishes. Got some CUSTOM-MADE SANDALS! Might get a dress made here as well. This place is just too beautiful. Great bars as well with free pool tables everywhere. Bumped into a few people i met at a previous hostel, we were thinking of going to Marble mountain today but it's raining. It's been bad weather the past few days. I'm looking forward to heading further south for some beaches so I can relax again! I'm also planning a trip to My Son where there are 4th century ruins.
Can't believe I only have 1 month (to the day!) left of this trip..... time is flying so fast. I've already learned SO, so much about myself, how i work, how i cope, how i adapt.... I've already gone through so many transformative moments and i just don't want this to end... I want to keep going. This trip has definitely planted a seed... one which has sparked a strong desire to continue traveling, solo or not, and keep learning about myself, keep exploring and discovering more about the world. It's been quite an adventure.... I'm really excited for what lies ahead.