Vietnam/ Bangkok
By Kelly
We finally find ourselves at home in Kuwait after 5 weeks of constant travel. We are fortunate to have been the places we have and seen the things we have seen but, good god, are we exhausted! It was so great to get home last night and crash in our own Kuwaiti bed!
I must say that SE Asia was mostly Ryan’s idea. He was the one with the crush on Vietnam and I was mostly excited to go to Bangkok and see Francine, a friend of mine who works in Bangkok as a teacher and whom I haven’t seen in 2 years. So I was excited but unsure as to why Vietnam was so darn special.
We started our Trip in Bangkok and really both enjoyed our time there. We had always heard that when you go to Thailand, get the heck out of Bangkok right away... it’s a waste. But I now know that this message comes from travelers who don’t know someone in Bangkok.
Francine and Mario picked us up at the airport and showed us around the city for 2 days. We really got to enjoy the city from a local’s perspective and thoroughly loved the city. It is absolutely gargantuan and stretches 160 kilometers from one side of the city to the other. However, it was clean and the people are truly lovely. They don’t speak much English but they were very accommodating. And the food! How I love Thai food!!!
Thailand definitely has the better cuisine out of the 2 countries. Both Asian countries have extremely healthy foods but Thailand is much more spicy and rich than Vietnam. By 5 days into Northern Vietnam, I was beginning to turn into a walking cabbage leaf and was ready to cry at the sight of rice in front of me again. But I must say it ends up being a lovely weight loss program, especially when mixed with a lovely little case of traveler's diarrhea! Thanks to the spices in the Thai food or the E coli from the hill tribes in Sapa, my poor digestive tract got one heck of a workout!! Ryan, being invincible, remains unscathed from any trip we have gone on. I don’t know how he does it because we always manage to eat the same things, but he just seems to be some kind of immunity superhero.
We landed in Hanoi, Vietnam and hung out for a day or two. Hanoi is a thriving city of 3 million people and 5 billion motorbikes (or so it seems). There are bikes EVERYWHERE and nobody seems to follow any set system of rules but yet it just works. You don’t worry about walking across the street because everyone just swarms closely around each other. Everyone goes about there business and accidents are very rare.
We truly enjoyed the city of Hanoi as it had great character. The architecture was simple yet has great French colonial influence which makes it very simple and classic. The markets are everywhere and the people, although they speak even less English than the Thais, are more than happy to sell their wares to rich western tourists. Everything is extremely inexpensive and you can eat for less than a dollar per person. Which is great.. except for when you are sick of rice of course.
We headed out to Ha Long bay on the Northeastern coast of Vietnam. Ha Long Bay is a series of 2000 karst Islands off the coast. These beautiful space-like islands are home to a series of traditional floating fishing villages. We stayed for 2 nights in Ha long bay and went swimming and kayaking throughout the area. We stopped for the second night on an island nearby called Catba island and decided to do some “light trekking”. A simple 1500 meters up.. NO PROBLEM! I can wear flip flops and we’ll be FINE. But then it rained.... and the ground turned into a soup not unlike the pit of an oil wrestling ring. And we slid and slopped our way up to the top on the “adventurous trail”. After being fairly certain we’re lucky to make it up intact, we decided to go the “simple” way down. Which you think would be much easier... but no. Needless to say by the end of the journey down the hill, Ryan and I both chugged giant Tiger beers to celebrate our victorious climb.
After Ha Long Bay we headed Straight to Sapa on the Night train. Sapa is a small town in Northwestern Vietnam where tribal groups still live off the land. These tribe members sell their traditional crafts to tourists. The recent influx of tourism to the area has drastically improved the quality of life for these people. Last year was the first time a normal toilet was ever seen by any of the tribesmen!
We hiked 15 kilometers that first day and made it out to our accommodations where we stayed with a local family in their home. It was amazing and we cooked and ate with everyone. They cook on the floor over a fire and prepare all the food on stones laid out all over the kitchen. Even Ryan learned how to make traditional Vietnamese spring rolls with rice paper... not an easy task! The ladies laughed and were amazed at the fact that we western women have “automatic fires”. They were blown away that we can cook dinner in 30 minutes because it takes the women here at least 3 hours everyday to prepare dinner. However, these folks sure don’t have the option of maintaining very good health standards. No soap = Traveler's diarrhea. Hand sanitizer goes a long way in Sapa.
After Sapa, we returned to Hanoi on the night train and then flew to Hue, in central Vietnam. We were met by our enthusiastic new friend and independent tour guide for our bike trip, Quy (pronounced KWEE) at the Airport.
Quy is a tiny little Vietnamese man who lives for his motorbike. He told us at least once a day that he would love to never ever have a car but just get a bunch of really good motorbikes. In fact, he has a really fancy motorbike for Vietnam standards, a Honda 125 that Ryan explained looked exactly like his 1981 Yamaha SR250. We both assumed it was around the same age and that he bought it used but when Ryan asked what year it was, the answer was, “2009!”. Well, bikes have not come very far over the past 30 years in Vietnam. However, do the people ever stare when he goes by! We showed him a picture of some of the Wanless Angels bikes and he drooled on himself a little.
Quy got us our bikes (two Yamaha Serius 110cc) and took us out for a 3 day road trip across Central Vietnam. We managed to cover what seemed like all of Central Vietnam on a bike. A highlight for me was a stop at Ta Con which is the former US military base that was basically wiped off the face of the earth in 1968 and the Americans had to flee for their lives. It was truly haunting but it gave some really good insight into the war. Those Vietnamese really did kick the Americans butt. You would figure it would teach the American government to stay out of other people’s business... apparently this is not an easy thing to learn. But I’ll refrain from discussing politics... that’s a whole other blog site!
We stayed in a local village, Khe San, and drove some of the most unbelievable highways. Ryan said that it truly was the best riding he’s ever done. You may go very slow but the roads wind in and around mountains and rainforest. It’s truly beautiful and the people in these areas still live very traditionally. They were happy to see these crazy white tourists who, from the looks on their faces, definitely don’t frequent the area.
The final day of the bike trip was a journey along the Hai Van Pass. This was a ride that literally took my breath away for about 3 hours straight. It zigs and zags along the coastline of Vietnam and into the coastal city of Da Nang. The cliffs that you are driving along force a driver to take on hairpin turns that are not designed for the weak of heart. It may have been scary but boy was it ever fun even for an amateur rider like myself. We finally ended our day in Hoi An, a local town known for it’s many silk tailors. That night we enjoyed some non Vietnamese cuisine and drank beers with some new found Aussie friends from Sydney.
We travelled back two Bangkok via Hanoi over the next couple of days and then spent 2 days on the infamous Ko San Road in the tourist area of Bangkok. I went on total shopping overload and bought far more than I should have. At 3 to 10 dollars for pretty much anything, why wouldn’t I? It was a nice way to end the trip. We met up with our Kuwait teaching pals in Bangkok and headed to the airport for the flights home. We finally arrived home on Saturday evening.
Vietnam held something really special for me. It came as a surprise that a trip that originally was solely Ryan’s interest could have such a great impact on me. The difference between when Ryan and I travel is that Ryan takes pictures and looks at everything takes it all in while taking on as many adventures as possible. I am different in how I experience a country. I “feel” it out and attach myself to it while trying to find a way to temporarily walk in the shoes of locals. I always feel like if I don’t weasel my way in that I haven’t really experienced the country. Vietnam proved itself as a great place to be able to do that successfully and, therefore, ended up being a very fulfilling trip.
It truly was breathtakingly beautiful. I even would give it enough props to say that Vietnam is the most beautiful place I have ever been (with the exception of the Maldives.. which is like a fantasy world). The historical part of this country really pulled at the heart strings. I couldn’t help but feel torn between sorrow for both the American troops and all of the Vietnamese effected by the war. The entire country is still in recovery from it as there are many babies that have since been born with deformities and birth defects from the after effects of chemicals used in warfare. Yet, the people have forgiven and forgotten and openly welcome anyone into their country. They are proud of what they have been through and see it is a learning opportunity for others to come and hear their side of the story. Although Vietnam was Ryan’s idea, I am so thankful that he chose this location to see. I always will hold it in a special place.
We are back at school now and on the long stretch until home time. We can hardly wait to come home. After 2 years of adventure and learning about the world we are ready to shrink our world a little bit and just enjoy the wonders of the most beautiful country in the world. I find it funny how every person we travel with always seems to find there own country to be the best and most beautiful. It’s fascinating how it takes flying around the world to often figure that out. One thing is for sure, without traveling around the world, we would never have become the people that we come home as. We are much more educated when it comes to other cultures and the ways of life around the world. We appreciate more about what we are provided with at home in Canada. Although our government and people may make mistakes, if I ever hear anyone else complaining about how horrible Canada is... They’ll have an interesting argument on their hands if the Vipond’s are present.
