Xin chao (hello) from Vietnam! I’ve already been here for 14 days and time is FLYIN’- must mean I’m having fun! I flew into Hanoi, the capital, located way up in the north, relatively close to China. I spent my first day there learning some Vietnamese basics (I always try and learn “hello” and “thank you” as my passport is getting stamped) and tasting some local specialties- always my favorite part of getting to a new country. The coffee here is fantastic. They brew it fresh right in front of you on the table and add the most delicious sweetened condensed milk. I like it best over ice (made from bottled water, of course). I’m sure it’s terrible for you, which explains why it’s sooo good.
The day after arriving, I left on a tour to Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO world heritage site three hours north of Hanoi, filled with thousands of limestone islands jutting out from the ocean. I boarded my junk (my junk is you…inside joke for Spring Awakening nerds), which is really a wooden Chinese sailboat. There were six other people on my boat- all around my age and all backpacker types. We got along perfectly! We spent the day tanning on the sun-deck (we had gorgeous weather), exploring the ‘amazing’ cave, and swimming and kayaking around the little islands. Our guide told us some very interesting information about Vietnamese burial rituals. After a family member dies, the family will bury them. Sounds normal enough, right? Well, after 3 years, the oldest son in the family has to dig up the deceased and move their skeleton (with all the bones lined up correctly) to a new burial site. This is to give the person in heaven a new home. Sometimes, if the person had a lot of skin on their bones aka they’re a little chubby, there would be more than just skeleton left, but they’d have to move them anyway. This is because people rent their burial spots from the govt and they only give 3 year leases on the land in bigger cities! Can you imagine having to do that? They also burn ‘heaven money’ (not real money) for the deceased to use in heaven. Very interesting indeed. Anyway, I slept on board that night in a very cozy room filled with some baby cockroaches and sadly had to leave around noon the next day to get back to Hanoi. I definitely could have used another day, at least, in that magical place.
That night I met up with my junk friends for pizza and beer (they had Stella Artois!) and some good conversation. This German guy and I had a very interesting discussion about being an American in Vietnam or being German in many places around the world, due to the monstrosities caused by our respective countries. It’s a really strange feeling, because obviously I am not responsible for the Vietnam War (or the American War as they call it here), nor was I even born during it’s run, but I somehow do end up telling the Vietnamese people that I’m an American with a twinge of guilt in my voice. He said he felt the same way when he visited Poland. Only one moto driver has made a comment to me about the war (he just informed me that he fought in it when he was 19, but nothing negative) and some have even said, “I love America!!,” but it still makes me feel weird.
The next day I had some cheap prescription lenses put into my cheap Moschino glasses frames that I bought in Thailand and caught a traditional water puppet show. The puppets are really incredible and the show is all performed in a pool of water, but the lady in front of me was being obnoxious and kept blocking my view, so it ruined things a bit. My favorite way to get around town is by xe om, or motorbike taxi. Basically, you hop aboard someone’s motorbike and they drive you to your destination for less than $1. Don’t worry Mom, they give you a helmet. It was pretty scary at first, though now i love it, and I always hold onto the driver’s shoulders, but it’s such a rush to be caught in the middle of the zooming traffic and a wonderful way to experience the true local way of getting around the city. I’ve heard that the motorbike traffic in Ho Chi Minh City aka Saigon is out of this world and it’s nearly impossible to cross the street. I can’t imagine it being any crazier than Hanoi, so am excited for that experience. At 8:30pm that evening, I caught a train to Sapa, 11 hours north of Hanoi. The ticket was really pricey, but I splurged for the ‘luxury’ cabin after hearing two accounts of people having their luggage/passports/money stolen from the normal train cabins. And luxurious it was- the wooden cabin housed 4 beds, comfortably spaced apart, with free water, coffee/tea, snack, A/C, door with lock, and a cozy pillow and comforter!
Sapa is known for its gorgeous mountainous scenery against green, lush, terraced landscapes and the presence of hill-tribes and their handicrafts. When I got off the bus, it was pouring rain and so foggy that I couldn’t see two inches in front of my face. I’ve never seen fog like this is my life. Anyway, a man came on board and told me that I was at the hotel where I’d booked and I went inside and noticed that the name of the hotel was not the same as the one I’d booked. The receptionist mumbled something about this being the same one and I was so tired that I decided to stay, even though I was totally weaseled into staying there. That was the first time I let myself get scammed like that this whole trip! Oh well. It was a gorgeous room for $4, so who am I to complain?
I braved the blinding fog and pouring rain to explore the Sapa market. The handicrafts are pretty cool- lots of very bright colors and embroidered patterns, but unfortunately the dye runs all over the place, making the tribe women’s hands and arms a mix of green and blue. The most interesting part of the market was where they sold the food.
First off, I kind of veered off the tourist path and walked through a village and was watching a lady kill chickens. She first broke their neck and threw them into a little pile (they were dead, but still moving) and then put them in a huge pot of boiling water and de-feathered them. The feathers came off really easily- I guess because of the hot water? Then she put them in a GRINDER!!!!!! It was vomit-worthy to say the least. It was just blood and guts and gore coming out the other end. Yuck. So then, in the actual food market, they have horse heads(complete with eyes,fur and teeth), horse hoofs with the fur still on the toes, but then the leg is just bone, pig feet and pig heads, tons of whole chickens, just de-feathered, and the kicker was a CAT. The poor cat was just hanging from a rope, with it’s fur still on and everything, only the eyes were gorged out. It was awful. The locals were trying to make me touch it and were laughing at me for being so grossed out. Guess they do eat cat here! Dogs too, as I found out the next day at the Bac Ha Market, 3 hours north of Sapa. This market had even more tribes than in Sapa selling their goods and a live animal market. They were selling live pigs, ox, and dogs. I couldn’t believe it. Unfortunately, despite what I wanted to believe, these animals were being sold for food.
A new friend told me this very interesting story about a Indian Hindu student who conducted an ‘experiment’ at a university in the States. He made up some Chinese restaurant letterhead and on it wrote to all of the dog pounds in his town asking for all of their dogs. As expected, he got hundreds of hate mail and calls. He responded by saying how, as a Hindu, he has to walk past McDonald’s on a daily basis proclaiming, “One Billion Served” of the animal that Hindus worship, so it’s really all about perspective. We think of dogs as man’s best friend and we put them up on a pedestal, but I suppose, as much as it PAINS me to say this, fair game to people who need to eat them to survive.
Anyway, I got back to Hanoi the next morning and met up with my Swedish friend Emma from Chiang Mai and it was great to have a little reunion. That afternoon, I flew to Hoi An, which tops the list for best destination in Vietnam for many a traveler. Hoi An is the town for “walkers and primitive vehicle users,” which basically means it’s all motos and bicycles and a rare taxi or bus every now and then. It was very refreshing to get a break from the mad traffic. I spent nearly all of my time ordering clothes and shoes to be tailored for me. It was heavenly. Basically, you go into a shop (there are thousands, at least!) and either tell them what you want based on pictures you have or based on examples they have in the window. Then they take your measurements in about 30 seconds and tell you to come back 8 hours later to pick up your garment. It’s incredible how fast the whole process is! In the end, I had a bunch of different tailors make me 6 dresses, 2 jackets, 5 shirts, 3 pairs of shoes and 1 pair of boots and I was there for three days. I really like most of the stuff, though the shoes aren’t that great. While walking around town, I noticed a great abundance of chihuahuas! They are everywhere and seem very out of place.
On my last day, I rented a bicycle and rode all over town, soaking up the tranquility. I journeyed the 6km to the beach and back. All of the Vietnamese ladies on the beach cover themselves up from head to toe. Literally, the only part of skin showing on their entire bodies are their eyes. They wear gloves, socks, jackets, pants, hats and “SARS masks” over their nose and mouths and must be boiling in the 90 degree heat, but I bet it’s to keep their skin fair.
To get to my next destination of Mui Ne 20 hours south of Hoi An, I opted for the normal sitting bus, as opposed to the sleeper bus. A of all, it was cheaper. B of all, and most importantly, I was traumatized from that sleeper bus that Dee and I took in India from Hampi to Goa. It wasn’t too bad. The first 11 hours flew by (and when I say flew by, I really mean it was horrible and painful) and I made a friend on the second half of the trip, which is always nice.
Mui Ne is a beach town with a really strange set up. Everything, all hotels, restaurants, and bars are in a 10km strip along the ocean, which makes it difficult to get around and see everything, unless you get moto rides everywhere. I took advantage of my clean air-conditioned, cable-tv’d room and had lots of lazy time. It was WONDERFUL! One morning, I was feeling ambitious and I woke up at 4:30am and hired a moto driver to take me 10 km out of town to see the sunrise from the red sand dunes. It was really beautiful and I got to see that pink sky that I love so much. He also took me even further out of town to see the white sand dunes, which were spectacular! I befriended these two little kids and they let me use their sand sled to slide down a dune. I was a little scared and pictured myself flying down the hill at 60mph, but it was more like 1mph- very pathetic. The 11 year old girl turned out to be an amazing photographer and took all these cool shots of me on the sand. I gave them some delish mini bananas as a thank you.
One thing to note is that I have suprisingly encountered a few extremely rude people in this country, which is bizarre, because other than the horrible taxi drivers in Bangkok, everyone I usually meet is overly friendly. It’s not just me either, every traveler I meet has the same experiences. I’m not really sure what the deal is, but I’m not a fan of the rudeness. Of course, not everyone is like that at all! There are so many wonderful people going out of their way to help, but I just have encountered more than the usual levels of rudeness here in ‘Nam than anywhere else I’ve visited.
Anyway, today I finally made it down to Saigon where the heat is on (more musical theatre references for ya) and tomorrow I am meeting up with Emily, one of my all-time favorite people from TWC! CANNOT WAIT!!!
Also, I uploaded the start of my Vietnam pics. My jillylawrence photo site was full, so started a new one under my fake travel name of Julia Rye. The link is on the right, nevertheless.
xox and see you all in about a month!
