Familiar Faces and Places: VIETNAM

Before I get into Vietnam, I forgot to mention a really nice escape I had while in Hsipaw, where the girls and I rented bicycles to seek refuse in a beautiful waterfall. It is (still) the only time I went swimming during this trip so far, and it was so serene and beautiful, with leaves falling from the tall trees and the water gliding down the smooth rock wall. This day was so hot and the majority of the journey there was uphill on bikes that were stuck on the highest resistance - not to mention that the only path to get there included biking through a horrendous cloud of smoke while passing through a burning trash dumping ground field (trying desperately to hold my breath, as a lot of plastic was burning too) -  so the cool dip in the lagoon water was the perfect ending to a tiresome and physically taxing journey there.

My friend Annie enjoying the waterfall :)

After Hsipaw, Pyin Oo Lwin, Mandalay and back to Yangon, I flew over to a familiar place I hadn't seen in 5 years, Hanoi Vietnam...

Vietnam

I checked in late at night to meet Lizzy and Charlie right away before we headed to Ninh Binh the following morning. It was a beautiful few days with them but I do have some thoughts about the future of backpacking in this country.

Old vs. New: 
The future culture of foreigner backpacking in Vietnam

This was probably the most disheartening aspect of my trip back to Vietnam. Five years ago, I had stayed in a lovely and popular hostel called Hanoi Backpackers on Ma May street. I wanted to book the same lodging, and was frighteningly alarmed to have my taxi pull in to a spillage of backpackers on the street, oozing out of this hostel's entrance. This place had a different name now, "Vietnam Backpackers" - it was about 10PM when I checked in and I had to walk through a sea of people holding a bottle of Bia Hoi Hanoi beer, dancing on top of the lobby's tables and benches. The music was so loud, the receptionist was yelling all of the check-in information to me. I couldn't hear anything besides the drunken voices singing along to popular party songs. Also, everyone looked about 21 years old.

"This place was not like this at all five years ago. What happened!?!" I yelled at the receptionist.
"Yes, five years ago, very different. We changed about two years ago," he yelled back.

I would soon learn later at the end of my Vietnam stint that another new trend that did not exist 5 years ago is NITROGEN BALLOONS - where backpackers inhale up to 5 balloons a night, in and out without renewed oxygen, to experience an embarrassing "high" and fall on the floor while many locals look at them with total contempt, judging them to their core but also reluctantly giving more knowing that, in the end, it is good money.

Yes, I am judging you...

But on this first night, all I could do was shake my head in shock as I scurried to my dorm room, on the 3rd floor, where I could still hear the voices of yelling dancers at the same volume as the music's bass. Suddenly I felt very old too, and like I just did not belong here at all. I hurried to drop off my things and find the REAL reason why I came to Vietnam, to see my dear friends Lizzy and Charlie!

It is always such a great feeling when seeing a familiar face in a completely new context different than where you normally see them. I spotted them across the street from my crazy hostel-turned-sloppy-nightclub, sitting on the cute pink plastic stools very popular in Vietnam's outdoor seating options, enjoying a cool beer in the summer's wet heat.

oops can't rotate... but a pic from Lizzy's Instagram slideshow!

After some girly screaming and disbelief (and a couple of initial tears of mixed joy, surprise, familiarity, comfort, love), the three of us strolled through some streets and caught each other up on our respective trips for about 2 hours. We also caught a glimpse of drunken backpackers spill out of my hostel to go on a pub crawl together.... 75 people deep. Loudly walking through the quiet Hanoi streets.

Lizzy, Charlie and I caught a very early bus the following morning to Ninh Binh, a beautiful place I had missed out on during my first time in Vietnam... I was pleasantly surprised to go down to my hostel's lobby area to see that despite the late-night partying, backpackers were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 7AM sharp, full of energy to start their day. But that's when one of the foreign backpackers volunteer-working at the hostel announced "ROLL CALL" for "Castaways" - the biggest and most expensive booze party boat for backpackers to experience Halong Bay. Suddenly all the respect and surprise I had for these early morning risers had disappeared. Of course they woke up for more partying. It made me sad for the future of what it means to backpack through Vietnam.

Ninh Binh

What a breathtaking place this was. I would say it is like the Halong Bay of the land? Looks just like Halong Bay, but instead of water it is these beautiful jetting rocks spread out across flat grass lands, rice plantations, and a few narrow river streams.

We stayed at an eco-lodge homestay, in the middle of a rice field where we had to sort of walk through mud to get to our homestay. It felt very rural, and sometimes I reminded myself to look up and around me to admire the giant rock boulders surrounding us instead of down at my muddy feet, in fear of stepping on snails.

Walking to our homestay guesthouse

Our first day we rented out bicycles (for free!) and rode around to see several temples scattered on a hilltop - it was nice and reminded me a lot of parts of China that I had visited in 2013. we ended the day biking to a cute/chic bar called Chookies, had some amazing French fries, cold beers, and I got eaten alive by some mosquitos.

Back at our homestay we had dinner and my night ended with one of the most (if not the worst) disgusting shower experiences ever. Cold, and tons of dead and alive mosquitos. I was killing them left and right, attacking bum gun in one hand, shower head in the other. Dead ones everywhere, in a loofah that looked like it had been hanging in the communal shower for months - so many died in that loofah it began to look like a deliberate pattern in the loofah's design. Geckos in the rooms as well (not terrible though), and my mosquito net for my bed had giant holes in it.

The following morning wound up being an epic day on many levels. But to end my thoughts about the homestay - the homestay family also had zero regard for respecting guests and their sleep at 5am (they used my dorm room as a partial storage and spoke to each other as though they were the only ones in the room, constantly waking us up). For dinner, they often gave sliced fruit as a dessert - a plate that had already been sitting out at a table for some time. We did not want to touch...

But this day wound up being unforgettable. we decided to rent motorbikes for the day. REAL gas-running, engine-running, fast motorbikes! No more battery-operated e-bikes/vespas/scooters for me. I was graduating to the real deal this time, for the first time ever and I was kind of terrified. But holy crap, I did it!!!! A full day of riding one of these, on the highway, around giant and busy round-abouts, zipping past cars, traffic, huge TRUCKS, honks... and I survived.

Honestly for a brief moment in my life I felt mildly BADASS - I did not think I'd muster the courage to ride one of these but I'm so happy I did, it was exhilarating, so freeing, and marks a true highlight of my entire trip so far that I have gained this new skillset and confidence.

We made it to the boats, where in Ninh Binh, the rowers are known for actually rowing with their two feet instead of their hands. It was truly amazing... Prehistoric was one word Charlie used to describe it, tropical "Indiana Jones" was another - paired with nature's symphony of sounds - tropical leaves rustling, cicadas, the oars swishing through the stream, the light rain hitting the water in ripples, the tops of lily pads, pooling in the pink lotus flower leaves... dewy smells, and the feeling of peace.  It was so serene. And we felt so small as the humans that we are, boating through and in-between these soaring, majestic rocks... passing by other boats of foot-rowers, some wearing the Vietnamese cone hat while holding an umbrella. It was a truly special experience to share this with Lizzy and Charlie.

We also rode into the town of Ninh Binh, which oddly seemed rather deserted, but we got a delicious lunch out of it. This lunch would serve as our fuel before hiking up Hang Mua peak, over 500 steps up to the top of this look-out point where the views are spectacular.

What we had to climb... it doesn't look like much from the pic

It was interesting to me, how I wound up seeing Ninh Binh's peaks just how I had seen Halong Bay - in the cloudy mist and light rain rather than in perfect postcard sunlight - but again, atmospheric in its own right... The humidity was heavy, we were all dripping sweat without moving. So you can imagine, walking 500+ steps more, our clothes were sopping and heavy with sweat. The view was spectacular, and something I felt so grateful to have had the chance to see. Such an unusual natural wonder - how these giant rocks would jet out across a flat land.

Unbelievable view!!

Hello from the other siiiiiiiiiiide

So the day was completely epic - the boat ride through Ninh Binh's peaks, learning how to ride a motorbike and do so on popular highways, and hike 500+ steps to a hilltop with rewarding landscapes. We ended the night at the hostel having celebratory drinks and playing several rounds of pool!! And made a few new friends who told us all about their travels, how they quit their jobs and are unsure of their next venture... A very fun night and end to our stay in Ninh Binh. I said bye to Lizzy and Charlie to head back to Hanoi while they had a long train journey south to Hoi An.

After my return to Hanoi from Ninh Binh, I immediately switched hostels to a more chill one that does not have the night club college party reputation that my previous one had. It was Central Backpackers Hostel, just two blocks away with a fun rooftop bar and its own, smaller pub crawl. Sadly I could not escape the sight of balloons - which were everywhere. I did however have a great time going on a pub crawl with some new friends I made, but was not interesting in getting drunk and walk home late in poorly lit streets by myself. When I was 23, I had nights where I walked home alone in terribly lit circumstances - I am grateful that nothing ever happened to me and that I trusted my safety that much back then, but I am not so naïve now. It is always better to stick it out and wait for a buddy to walk home with.

A Day of Luck

UNIS - Hanoi?!


I had one more day in Hanoi. This was a unique and unreal last-minute excursion - to go and visit the only other UNIS location in the world besides my K-12 school in Manhattan, UNIS Hanoi! The neighborhood was completely different - like a posh Beverly Hills gated area. At the front gate, the guards told me I was not allowed in. I told them about me traveling from New York, being a UNIS alum, paying a lot for the taxi, and they were not having it. They had closed for the day and for the summer, and I arrived too late. After trying to convince them for 5-10 minutes, a former parent passes by and asked about me. "Oh! Well, as a parent, we are allowed a guest - can I take her in as my guest?" What are the chances that I waited long enough for a parent to show up and offer this opportunity. She showed me around and WOW, this feels like a college campus!!! I couldn't believe the facilities, it is enormous, there is a PRODUCT DESIGN STUDIO with amazing carpentry/woodworking tables, fully equipped with all sorts of supplies, and they had their very own art building, just like a college campus. Art everywhere on construction walls, outdoor gardens and seating areas, lounges... I was blown away and would feel 100% happy teaching at a place like this. I read a review that said this might be the best international school in all of Vietnam, and I believe it. It is far more impressive than UNIS Manhattan.

Product Design studio... omg!!!

Plants along walks to class

Outdoor hangout spots

 This parent was so kind to give me a free tour. Then I had to get a ride back to my hostel, which I knew would cost me about 100,000 VND ($4.40). But the guard suddenly became more cheerful, and offered to help me get an Uber motorbike for 45,000 VND. I thanked her and explained that I was headed out for dinner and looking for some Bun Cha, my favorite Vietnamese meal. Her eyes lit up and she showed me where the tastiest Bun Cha in all of Hanoi is. To my luck, on the map it was about a 5 minute walk from my hostel. WOW AGAIN! Then the Uber driver showed up, and because of the change of location, the price dropped to 35,000 VND for my ride ($1.50) - "more bun cha for you!" smiled the guard. Then the driver takes me on the MOST scenic route - one I really was not expecting but went constantly along the Ho Tay Lake, passing cute cafes, palm trees, beautiful views, outdoor seating areas, and a more developed scene of Hanoi overall. Then I arrived at the bun cha place where, truly, it was the best I had ever had (e-v-e-r). Mouth-watering. It truly felt like this day was just one of those days where everything fell into place. One stroke of luck and gratitude after the other. And then the last one occurred...

The best Bun Cha I've ever had, at a place called Bun Cha Dac Kim - Hang Manh no 1

After my dinner, I walked home to the hostel and stumbled across probably the biggest night market in Hanoi!! So huge, I did not have time to see it all. But I bought myself a cute culotte jumpsuit to wear for work. I felt immense gratitude for how everything fell into place, counting my lucky stars that aligned in those past few hours... and my time in Vietnam was suddenly over by morning.

Where I am Now

I am in Hong Kong for the week!! Spending time with family - my twin uncles mostly, who I am related to through my mom's mom's side of the family. It has already been a stay of incredible dining, overly stuffing my face with dim sum, Xiao long bao, and "beggar's chicken"... more to come next week.

There is something to be said about long journeys on your own, after parting ways with friends. Traveling is a time of transition from point A to point B, and the moment you find yourself truly alone again in-transit, your mind can wander too far into the past, into life problems, concerns, hopes, dreams, life's unpredictability. On one of my overnight bus rides this week I thought deeply about how life very often takes its own course and you have no choice but be in the passenger's seat. That's the unpredictable beauty about it, even though to me, in most recent months and years, the changes in my life were ones I didn't want. I cried thinking about my father, while looking out the window at the stars...  I thought about how lucky the universe and its stars are to have taken him back. I wondered what he would have thought about my decision to scrap India, why I hadn't seen his special numbers pop up since the first few days of my trip. I wondered about past romantic relationships of mine and why they had to end... I thought about emails circulating within the family about the death of my dad's brother, my dear uncle who passed away just a few months ago. But I try to remind myself: these moments to reflect, these journeys from point A to point B, are another added reason why we choose to embark on these types of trips... that with every flight or long bus ride we take, the tears we shed is the release of love we carry for ourselves, as we courageously press forward to embrace the unknown once more.