hello!
i've just spent the last 3 weeks in vietnam, the first on my own, then i was joined by one of my very best friends, Asia, who will travel with me for a month. from laos, i flew into ha noi, the capital of vietnam in the north. the flight from luang prabang was really nice, short and with fabulous views of the mountains, valleys and countryside. i was snapping pictures the whole time - the people next to me probably thought i'd never been on a plane or something, i was that excited. ha! while i was awaiting Asia's arrival, i went up to SaPa and the mountains near the Chinese border for a few days. then i returned to ha noi to meet Asia and after that, she and i zipped through the country. we saw 6 cities over the last 2 weeks. it's been a busy, crazy and incredible time. we just arrived in thailand yesterday for the last leg of our trip. (she goes home in 2 weeks, i come back in just 3!) but back to vietnam - here are a few highlights from each of the places we visited...
Sa Pa ~
Sa Pa is a small town up in the mountains near the Chinese border. i went up for the scenery and the villages. the landscape, high mountains terraced with steep rice paddies overlooking deep valleys, was absolutely gorgeous! the trekking was amazing as well. however, the 'real authentic village visits' were quite a disappointment. i found them very touristy and commercialized, with little Hmong girls turned into aggressive salesmen. not at all like laos, which still retains its genuine qualities. but what can you do, that's sadly the double-edged sword of tourism.
Ha Noi ~
ha noi is really something, even busier than bangkok! i never would've believed that was even possible if i hadnt seen it for myself. there are literally thousands of cars and motorbikes on each street. i heard that in any given day, there are 3.5 million motorbikes in the city. CRAZY! and to make it even more insane, there are no street lights at many of the intersections! no joke, everyone just merges into the middle and picks their way through. people are literally coming at you from every direction, not just left, right, front and back, but diagonal left back and diagonal front right and every other possible angle. it's very normal to be on the wrong side of the street, even for blocks at a time, everyone passes this way. it's so crazy, you can do nothing but laugh! at least, because of the sheer quantity of vehicles, no one can go very fast. that's the one thing that makes it less terrifying than the traffic in bangkok - there's a lot more of it, but it's much slower.
although ha noi is a bit lacking in terms of actual sights and things to do, the many lakes scattered throughout the city are nice and the old quarter retains a charm all its own, with crumbling buildings and store fronts and a street culture second to none. we had some of our most amazing meals of our trip on little plastic stools at the side of the road - the best bbq squab either of us has ever had in our lives and 'bun cha' (grilled pork meatballs with vermicelli, fresh greens and fish sauce). for me, wandering around the curving alleys and tasting the street food were my favorite experiences of the capital.
oh, i almost forgot the snake village! one afternoon, asia and i got motorbike taxis and headed out to the famous snake village just outside the city for some lunch. we had seen this on a food channel - live snakes killed before you and prepared as a delicacy. when we arrived, they brought out two small cobras for us to choose from. asia chose the fiesty one. they slit the throat and drained the blood into two shots of alcohol (you can see where this is going..), then did the same with the bile. after that, they took out the heart and placed it in a small dish. this was to be the first tasting - the shots of blood as a starter, which we both drank down like champs, then the bile, which was asking too much. neither of us could finish that one, it was gross! BUT the best part - the live heart! after the first two shots, the waiter picked up the dish with the still beating heart and poured it into yet another shot sitting on the table. i looked at asia, and braver than i, she picked it up and took it down with hardly a thought. ha! then we had the snake meat for lunch, prepared seven ways for us - minced snake, snake soup, barbeque snake, etc. later, we were both surprised at the whole event, surprised at ourselves, that is! for days, asia kept saying.. "i can't believe i ate a live snake heart!"
Ha Long Bay ~
amazingly beautiful, i've never seen anything quite like it. there are said to be 3000 islands comprised of the beautiful limestone and we had the best time sailing through them on our traditional junk boat. we stopped at some caves, which were very strange - you don't expect a natural wonder like this to be lit up by an assortment of crazy neon lights. howevever, it is southeast asia and they do love their bright lights! that part was a little sad, but also kind of hilarious because it was just so ridiculous and very reflective of the often gaudy culture here. we had a little time for kayaking and swimming, but the best part was just lying out on the deck, soaking up the hot sun all day. such a nice change from the cities! and at night (we got to stay on the boat), the deck was equally enjoyable - a bottle of wine, a few other travelers and just the lights from all the boats reflecting off the water. this was definitely one of the highlights of the whole trip!
Hue ~
the old capital of vietnam, hue has many beautiful sights, old pagodas and palaces. there was a buddha festival going on as well when we were there, so the already beautiful riverside boulevards were made even more lovely with lots of decorations. hue has a really nice, mellow feel, but also seems more like a place where real people live. there were hardly any tourists around. the vibe and scenery was great, but by far, the best part of our day and a half there (yes we moved through quickly), was renting motorbikes! we each got our own since it was only my second time driving one and Asia's first (yes - we tend to make a daring duo! ha!), and went about 9 miles out of the city to the beach. it was the best time! and yes, we sort of had a few close calls, a truck almost hit Asia head-on and i almost had an incident when my water bottle flew off my bike and then somehow ended up under my foot. but it was so much fun! nothing quite like riding a motorbike through southeast asia.. =)
Hoi An ~
beautifully charming and colorful little town, but more importantly - shopping capital of vietnam! oh this was really the highlight of the whole country! there are tailor shops everywhere in hoi an and they can make everything and anything from clothing to handbags and shoes. we spent the entire day going from shop to shop, picking out patterns and fabrics and getting fitted. there is so much variety, it was almost overwhelming at times, but we loved every second of it. and it's all so amazingly cheap and so fast as well. in just 24 hours, Asia and i had 30 pieces of clothing made - everything from wool coats to suits to party dresses. and for hardly anything. i spent about the same amount total on everything i got as just one coat would cost at home. and it's all custom! before rushing off to the airport, we carefully packed and sent 16 kilos home (about 30 lbs). so GREAT!
Saigon ~
finally arriving in the south, we reached saigon (now officially ho chi minh city, but still saigon to the locals), at the beginning of our last week. the largest and most metropolitan city in vietnam, we were greeted by wide boulevards, skyscrapers and lots of traffic again! but being that we're both city girls, it was a welcome change and we enjoyed saigon a ton. we spent the time having delicious meals, having drinks on the top floors of fancy hotels and walking around admiring the sights and shops. the whole experience was definitely made that much better because we had an incredible place to stay - a contact of asia's who were out of town. they were kind enough to give us free roam over their 24th floor AMAZING apartment. no exaggeration, it was as if we stayed in a luxury suite at a 5 star hotel for the 4 nights we were in saigon. we each had our own large bedroom and bath in this gorgeous marble and hardwood floor apartment. we LOVED it!
best sight of all in saigon was definitely the cu chi tunnels. we hired a private tour to see this once war zone turned tourist attraction, and both of us remarked afterwards that we learned more about the vietnam war in the half day trip than we ever had learned before in school. we had an excellent guide who could answer any question about the war from any perspective, very interesting. and we got to crawl through some of the very small tunnels ourselves, if only for a few minutes, but that was enough. though they've made them twice as big now so tourists can fit, i was claustrophic the moment i entered. the mazes are not only narrow and dark, but so hot! the viet cong are truly incredible not only for building these extensive networks, but for living in them!
Phu Quoc ~
for our last vietnamese experience, we jetted off to phu quoc island in the southernmost part of the country for 3 great nights on the beach. we stayed in a bungalow just two minutes off the water and spent three days doing nothing but swimming, sunbathing and relaxing. we took a boat trip and got to snorkel amoungst some beautiful fish. we had bbq squid to die for! and asia (always so adventurous!) had bbq crocadile, which was actually delicious. sort of a cross between fish and chicken, if you can imagine. we also got to visit sao beach, which we both agree is the most beautiful beach either of us has ever seen, certainly the whitest and softest sand. and the water is so shallow for so long, it's about 100 feet or so before you're even waist deep. it was glorious - just like the pictures of the 'world's best beaches' all of us have seen, but never actually experienced. now we have!
That's it for now!
that concludes vietnam. it was a bit of a whirlwinde through it all, as you can imagine as most of this happened in just 14 days. but looking back, we got to see and do so much and i wouldn't take back any of it, even the tired train, bus and plane rides in between all our adventures.
now it's the very last leg - thailand for the next 3 weeks and then home! can't wait to see you all! SOON!
