Vietnam: Pho to Phong Nha

We were relieved and exhausted by the time we made it to our homestay in Can Tho. Apparently the other moto driver that our host summoned to take John back to the accommodation wanted extra money for the evening trip, but our host argued with him for a while before instructing John to pay him the original price. It was nice to have someone else haggle for us for a change! We arrived just in time for the end of dinner, which was included in the price, so we scarfed down our delicious fresh spring rolls home-made by the wife before retiring to our cabin next to the river.

It was cold water only, but the in muggy evening it felt refreshing, and we passed out on our mosquito-net-covered bed.

We chose to take part in the morning excursion to the famous floating markets along the Mekong River the next morning, which was an early start, made even earlier by the sound of small motor boats with no mufflers making their way down the river to get a spot in the market before the sun rose. So, by the time we were supposed to wake up, we were already awake. We dressed and boarded the thin river boat in the pre-dawn mist with the other passengers, while our host sent us slowly moseying down the river. 

His assistant skillfully passed out breakfast to everyone in the boat as we floated along, including bananas and yogurt and Vietnamese coffee! It was a very beautiful and serene morning as we floated along the delta, beneath and through over-hanging willow trees and vines through the morning mist. We started to make our way over to the morning market just as the sun was rising.

The floating markets are a staple on this part of the delta, and people come from far down the river to sell their goods. All sorts of produce and clothing were piled high on boats as customers and merchants waded in and out of each other. 

We stopped at one merchant, who was presumably a friend or acquaintance of our host, and were treated with fresh pineapple. The way they cut and serve pineapple in Southeast Asia is ingenious. 

After eating as much pineapple as we could manage, and my tongue going numb and dry with the acidity, we made our way down one of the small tributaries to learn more about the communities that live along the river. Rice is the way of life in the delta, and we learned all about it from growing and harvesting, to processing it and producing products. Our first stop about an hour away from the market was a rice field, where we learned how the rice was planted and grown. This stop was much appreciated, as spending a morning floating along a river leaves nowhere to use the bathroom!

After that, we moved further on to a place where they process the rice. We saw the machines used to rub away the brown casing of rice using huge rubber panels inside a barrel and were shown several different varieties of rice—noting that white rice usually just has all the nutrients rubbed and stripped away.

The final place we stopped was a small factory where rice is pounded and compressed to make rice paper. The process was very labor-intensive but extremely interesting.

The factory also had a small pig farm, where the methane released was sucked up and piped through to the kitchens, where it was used to power the gas stoves to cook meals using the rice paper! Ingenuitive and sustainable! We stopped at this place for a quick snack before heading back to our accommodation. The homestay family was as nice as they could be, and offered to help us book a bus to Ho Chi Minh using the most reputable tourist bus company in the country called Phuong Trang, that we had also read was a safe bus company for tourists. Vietnam is a little more developed than their Cambodian neighbors, so the bus was clean and modern, with aircon, a small trash bag for snacks, set ticket prices that you buy in advance at actual bus depots owned by the company, and regular-size luggage compartments (though we still kept our valuables on us.) Our host helped us by tickets over the phone and drove us to the bus stop a few Kms down the road, where we were able to pay and board. The depots were clean with bathrooms and normal snacks for purchase (pork buns as opposed to fried crickets), so we were happy and comfortable on the long bus ride to Ho Chi Minh, where our bus dropped us off at the main bus depot in town (how nice!)

The hostel we booked in Ho Chi Minh was absolutely lovely and had detailed directions from this bus station to their hostel, including the bus we should take and where to get off. It dropped us off near the center of town where we just had to cross two major streets to get to the street of our hostel—normally no big deal, right? Wrong. Traffic in Vietnam is crazy. Traffic laws are more like traffic “suggestions,” especially in the cities. The major highway is okay, but considering there is just the main one that runs the length of the country, it too is quite busy. Downtown Ho Chi Minh was full of taxis and mopeds and traffic lights were few. 

We learned the best way to handle this is to just wade, slowly, into the traffic until you make your way across. No one will stop for you, but if you wait for a lull and then walk, slowly, the cars and mopeds will simply swerve around you as you inch across the road. If you run, you are most likely to get hit, so don’t do that. So we, and a few others who got off the bus, slowly made our way across together. It was slightly terrifying but also exhilarating at the same time. Needless to say, we made it safely and didn’t die, so that was a plus! We checked into our hostel and the woman was SO nice. It was clean, with breakfast included, and they gave you all the information you needed and made bookings for you. That first night she showed us where all the major spots were, places to eat, and made reservations for the Chu Chi Tunnels tour and Water Puppet show that we wanted to check out.

Of course, being in Vietnam, we decided to venture out to the local Pho place just down the street. Such a good decision. It was delicious and cheap and you could get different kinds of flavors. You could also add all the extra garlic. Win! It was literally a corner store with the most tables out on the side walk, but it was busy, so you knew it was good.

Our lively little hostel continued to impress us, as we had to book a dorm room for the first night until the double room became available, but much to our happiness we had NO snorers that night! (Even though our other roommates were guys). This was such a rarity for us, which made it even more enjoyable. The next day, the good times kept rolling with a delicious banana pancake breakfast accompanied by more Vietnamese coffee. Vietnamese coffee, by the way, is coffee brewed in a special portafilter (Phin) that sits atop the cup and hot water is poured over the grinds and gradually drips through. It makes very strong, concentrated coffee, which is offset by a little sweetened condensed milk at the bottom. It’s delicious. During our ventures in Ho Chi Minh that day, we stopped at a local coffee place to try some more:

Our main point of the day was to go shopping at the Binh Tham markets in Ho Chi Minh, where knock-off designer goods can be had for a fraction of the price. John’s backpack was starting to fall apart and so our mission was to find him a new one. Now, the thing we learned about knock-offs in Hong Kong from Kenny is that there are 3 grades—A, B, and C. C grade is cheap and looks it, B costs a little more and looks decent, but A grade looks so close to the real quality, and while the price is higher than the others, it is still a fraction of what you would normally pay. So, we searched for some “A” grade North Face knock-off items that are ubiquitous at markets in Vietnam (and are probably made at the neighboring factory to the real one). We were lucky to find a new backpacking backpack for the equivalent of $20 USD and a nice, A-grade raincoat for $30 (which he still has and it actually repels rain so it was a good investment!).

 We had to withdraw quite a significant amount of Vietnamese dong with the value of the currency being so low, so John decided to spread out the bills on the bed and pretend we were millionaires.

Walking around Ho Chi Minh, we actually enjoyed the city. There are some nice things to see, and it’s quite compact so walking around was easy. No need to risk our lives and take a moped!

Anyone need some extra electricity?

Walking back that night, we passed by a monument to a famous monk who committed suicide by self-immolation in protest to the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government. Not too far from the statue was a young boy who was doing a street performance of swallowing fire!

The last full day in Ho Chi Minh was spent doing a day trip to the famous Chu Chi Tunnels just outside of town. Used by the Viet Cong during the war, they were a maze of underground tunnels, and even rooms, which ran approximately 250 miles, used to escape the bombing and attempted annihilation by Americans with horrific tools such as Napalm. The bus tour was naturally all tourists, but they picked us up that morning from outside the hotel and we had a tour guide to explain the day. Along the way, the bus stops half way at a roadside outpost where you go to the bathroom and buy art souvenirs made by hand from victims of Agent Orange. They walk you through the place where you can see the people with all of their deformities and injuries creating art pieces by hand. It’s an awkward moment, especially as an American tourist, even though I wasn’t alive during the Vietnam War. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the whole thing, which felt like they were preying on latent guilt, but in the same way you don’t want to shy away from the harsh realities and consequences that war, in particular that war, bring (and brought). We were further made uncomfortable once we arrived at the Chu Chi Tunnels entrance area where we were sat down and shown an old propaganda movie about the war that referred to the “American devils” and noted how people were celebrated when they killed American soldiers. I guess it’s good most people thought we were Canadian? Our tour guide for the afternoon was actually an ex-solider; he was South Vietnamese but fought for the Americans during the war and continues to lead tours of the area while telling his equally compelling but heartbreaking story.

After the video, we were led to an area near the entrance to the tunnels and taught the typical Asian squat. 

Our guide challenged us to sit this way during his discussion, noting that it was the ability of the Vietnamese to sit this way for hours in the jungle that allowed them to go undetected in the dense bush, while giving them a one up over their American counterparts who trudged through the heat in full fatigues, heavy packs, and standing totally upright—it made them easier targets. After his initial lecture, he led us over to an area to show us the various traps that were used against the American soldiers—hidden in the jungle floor, at the entrance to tunnels—sticks sharpened to points, bound together using basic materials—meant to maim and injure leading to a slow, painful death. He noted the shoes that the Viet Cong soldiers wore, simple sandals made from tires that were made to be worn forwards and backwards. It was a headache for generals when they were trying to discover the locations of Viet Cong camps, because all the footprints were only in one direction with no apparent escape path.

Though for all the tricks and wit that the Viet Cong showed in their slow, grinding battles in the jungle, life was still pretty miserable for everyone. We made our way to one of the sections of tunnels that is now available for tourists to explore. It has been widened and escape vents have been created to allow those tourists to go free whenever they feel too claustrophobic. We were allowed to enter into a small hole that was once an original entry point—it was tiny, even for someone as relatively slim as me. 

Then, we made our way down and through the long tunnel, having to duck the entire way and awed at the fact that the tunnels had been expanded by about a foot. People would stay down there for months, some parts of the tunnels were so small they could only crawl, some went so deep underground and people went weeks without seeing daylight, forced to live on the meager food they could find—insects and tapioca—the only food that they could grow underground since Agent Orange destroyed and poisoned any food remaining on the surface. It was a relief once we reached the end.

The final stop on the tour, as per usual it seems, was at a shooting range where people had the chance to shoot off large guns like M16s and AK-47s. John and I naturally chose to forgo this option, and we bought some ice cream instead. I took the opportunity to talk to our tour guide a little bit more. He was frank and open about the fact that he was forever haunted by the war, “messed up” in his mind. He lost friends, saw them die, and afterwards was shunned by his countrymen for fighting for the enemy. This was one of the only jobs he could get, he said. But he still liked Americans. He said he still loves Hershey Bars and Coco Cola, and likes to sing the same songs that they sang back then like “Bad Moon Rising” by CCR. He said he was writing a memoir and had already lined up a deal with a publisher.

As someone who was not alive during Vietnam, and have no immediate family who fought in the war, I viewed the tunnels with the same lens as many others: with an interested and even curious attitude about a very difficult part of history that I am aware of but feel no real connection to. The one thing I did think of was a book I read my Sophomore year of college in Major American Authors class called “The Things They Carried,” by Tim O’Brien. He even came to give a special lecture at UNC that year and I found his stories about Vietnam and his perspective about telling stories fascinating.  

The overwhelming sense I got after the tour is that war is hell, and this war in particular was a special level of hell, and blessed with the gift of hindsight and history you are left with the sense that it was also for nothing. Everyone lost, everyone suffered. Today, Vietnam is still communist and still has a lot of problems, but the Vietnamese people we met, who were once considered a great enemy to everything we hold dear, were generally overwhelmingly kind to the people from the very country that once tried to annihilate them. Today, one can pay to be escorted through and take souvenir photos of tunnels that men once sought relentlessly and died trying to find.

To conclude our last evening in Ho Chi Minh, our hostel booked us tickets at the Water Puppet show that evening. It was a really fun time and is exactly like it sounds: a show made of puppets in front of a water tank. Our hostel booked us great seats, so we were front and center and close to the action:

The following day it was time to move north, so we used the same bus company and headed up into the mountains to the town of Dalat. The town is mostly known as a starting point for motorcycle tours through the Vietnamese countryside, but we mostly used it as a stopping point on the long journey up the coast. It was nice and cool in the mountains, and the town itself has a charming feel with old markets and a huge lake with lots of flowers. We stayed in a nice budget hotel with an amazing shower that had three jets vertically along the wall to give you a massage while you showered—pretty fancy. That shower was probably the most exciting thing about Dalat, as the following morning we just had a nice breakfast before going for a walk in town to the lake.

We caught a bus from Dalat heading to the coastal town of Nha Trang, where we were catching an overnight train to the town of Hoi An further north. Along the way, we stopped at a roadside stall where people could load up on snacks for the several-hour bus ride when we met a girl there wearing shorts and a t-shirt who had fallen off her moto on her motorcycle tour and had such bad road burn that the skin on one whole leg looked raw. Naturally, they needed to get her to a proper hospital, which was located in Nha Trang, a good 4-hour bus ride away. She had no other choice, so she hopped on the bus with us, but all I could think was “Why in the WORLD did you think shorts were a good idea?” The number one rule of motorcycles is, well, wear a helmet. But number two is WEAR PANTS. I was just glad John and I exercised better judgment in deciding not to rent motos in Southeast Asia at all.

We arrived at Nha Trang in the evening and had time to grab some snacks before boarding our overnight train. The best we could get on this train was reserved seats as opposed to anything bed-like. The seats didn’t recline too much, and there weren’t really shades for the windows so there was always light coming in from outside, and naturally there was a crying kid one row behind. I wasn’t expecting a super-restful trip but I CERTAINLY wasn’t expecting to be roused from my fitful slumber by roosters crowing around dawn. They kept them packed tightly in these bamboo, cornucopia-shaped baskets in the passages between cars. I guess they were bringing them to sell? 

Not sure, but they were a bit of a nuisance, not to mention the old Vietnamese man behind me who decided my arm rest was a good place to put his bare feet. I managed to subtly shove them off by putting my arm down and acting like I didn’t see them.

We arrived in the morning at Da Nang, where we had arranged a driver through our hotel in Hoi An to drive us the 30 minutes down the road. We were able to check into our hotel even though it was early, and were presented with tea and some delicious sweets upon check in. This would probably be my favorite place we stayed and my favorite city in Vietnam. Hoi An is right along the coast with the river tributaries running through it and is a historic town with lots of traditional buildings and shops. It also has great food and is well-known for its tailors. Our room had a little balcony overlooking the city, and they even did animal towels!

The hosts of the place were great and gave us a walking map so we could spend the afternoon walking around the historic district, told us about the best places to go for lunch to have the famous Bale Well dish, and even invited us to a free dinner that the hotel was hosting for its guests that evening in the lobby.

We took a stroll along the river, stopping to have that delicious lunch. It’s made with delicious satay meat using special water coming from a well nearby (hence the name).

After lunch, we checked out some of the historic sites including temples and old houses, where we were able to view a traditional dance performance. 

There is also a famous Japanese bridge and pagoda, signifying the various Asian influences that have shaped this historic port town.

The colors of the old city were so lovely, and apparently there is a famous lantern festival that I would love to come back and see. We did a bit of browsing in the tailor shops, but only ended up purchasing a knock-off (i.e. photocopied) version of the Lonely Planet India book and some simple silk sleeping bags to also use on said India trip that was coming up.

That evening we partook in the meal offered by the hotel and had a wonderful time. It was about 10-15 people sitting around 2 small tables in the lobby being treated to some delicious local cuisine (all for free!). We talked with some really nice people including Canadian, American, French, and Swiss and we regaled each other with tales from all of our travels. The next morning, we were able to order a delicious breakfast that was included with our room and enjoy it on our small terrace outside.

The next stop was a town a little further up the coast called Hue, which, unlike its Hoi An counterpart, had its historic areas completely carpet-bombed by the Americans during the war. The city was the national capital until 1945 when the Emperor abdicated and a separate government was set up in the North in Hanoi and the Emperor setup another one in the South in Saigon, which would become the respective capitals of North and South Vietnam. Since it was such an important place, naturally it was almost completely destroyed during the war. Some ruins remain and there are some efforts to restore the historical places, but it made for a nice day of walking around (though not as nice as Hoi An.) 

The only drawback that day was the slight . . .  stomach issues . . .  we received from what we believe was a slightly dodgy bottled water that we had purchased and both drank from. We were careful to stick to brand names after that.

The following morning we were off to our next stop of Phong Nha National Park. Located further inland, it requires a bit of effort to get to. We were interested in going on a guided tour there of the Phong Nha caves, where they recently discovered the world’s largest cave called Son Doong. That cave is not yet open to the public, and apparently the Vietnamese government considered installing a cable car inside (?), but it’s so large apparently that if you stand in the middle, you could the Empire State building in any direction and it wouldn't touch the side. It also has its own ecosystem. So yes, at the moment there are those trying to preserve the cave so it’s not yet open to tours, but there were other cool caves that you could explore.

We tried to book transport through a well-reviewed and foreign-owned farm stay, but their option of a hired mini-van split between however many people was a bit too expensive, so local buses it is! This was our one and only (thank goodness) experience with local buses in Vietnam, and what an experience it was. We caught it at one of those small, dusty bus depots in Da Nang, where upon boarding we were automatically given an inflated price, even though there was a sign at the front of the bus with the amounts posted. We pointed this out to the dude taking the money, but he was adamant about the price and considering we were the only foreigners and at the mercy of these people to actually take us to our desired location, we relented and paid the higher price. We later figured out why they fleeced the foreigners for extra cash. We were shoved into the small van and our bags were tossed into some area in the back (and at one point someone was using it as a foot rest—I still have stains on my bag from the dirt it was subjected to on this bus ride). It was a long 5-hour trip where we would pick up random people and drop random people (and items) off, including a stack of plastic chairs and other parcels that people wanted to send. All of it got shoved into this small van. I got the feeling this guy was also a make-shift postman. However, at two different points along the route, we were stopped by Vietnamese policeman. The guy in charge would get out, have a small chat with the men, let them inspect the van, and then toss a couple of bills their way (probably the extra ones we had to cough over) and, hey, off we go! Corruption at its finest. Thank goodness we were finally delivered to the town just outside the park (we were the very last stop) with ourselves and our luggage in one piece. I just recently read about this area, which has seen major improvements in the last few years as tourism has increased, so don’t be deterred by our experience—give it a go if you can!

We had tried to arrange accommodation through the farm stay, as it had great reviews, but they said they were booked even though we got like 3 e-mails from 3 different staff working there, and we found out later from two people in a dorm room that there were empty beds, but whatever. We got a (much) cheaper room at a local hotel in town with the hardest mattresses I have ever slept on, and that is saying a lot for Asia. I seriously lifted up the blankets to make sure I wasn’t sleeping on a piece of wood. We were able to grab a delicious and filling dinner at a local place nearby that was popular with backpackers and although I had to bother the front desk woman because our shower had no hot water, they were really nice and we slept decently.

The next morning, we were picked up by the farm stay tour van and off we went! The Phong Nha area is truly beautiful and slightly remote. The scenery reminds you of something from Jurassic Park. 

We drove along a road in the park, which our guide noted was built by basically indentured servitude during the war. Locals from nearby were plucked from their towns and forced to build this road across the border into Cambodia and down to the South in order to keep a steady supply line to the Viet Cong. Being placed out in the jungle with no support, no supplies, and forced to work to the bone is not an efficient system, but during that time people were replaceable. The average person lasted 20 days. The dead were stripped of their supplies and a fresh body was sent in. Many people in the nearby villages lost family members building that road. At night time, the US would bomb the road and the bridges at night to cut off the supply lines, but the locals dug “hidey holes” into the sides of the cave to escape the danger. The bridges were put together piecemeal so they could be reconstructed in the morning, used during the day, and then disassembled at night.

The other fun fact we learned is that, at the time, tours into the park were only allowed by licensed operators (meaning you’re not supposed to just wander in.) This is because parts of the walks leading to the caves require walking through the Phong Nha jungle, which is riddled with unexploded ordinance from the war. Bombs designed for the Second WorldWwar had not achieved their intended job. Many did not explode when they hit the soft soils of Vietnam. The owner of the farm stay played a major role in getting tours started in the area, but had to push park officials to hire out a team to comb the proposed tour route, about 2 km of walking through the jungle, in which surveyors discovered 12 unexploded bombs. So yeah, you have to stick to the path.

After learning these "fun" facts on the drive into the park, the first stop was a tour of the famous Paradise Cave. The cave itself was pretty nice and in good condition as it was quite large so the walking route prevented people from touching the stalactites and stalagmites. There were some really nice features. 

After the cave tour, which took about an hour, we headed to a place nearby where lunch was prepared for us. The afternoon we did our treacherous 2 km walk I mentioned, which was followed by the wetter portion of the tour. We were able to do some kayaking and swimming in the river, however it was on an overcast day and the water was cold, so I just sat on the rocks while John went for a dip. The final portion was the coolest part of the tour called the “Dark Cave,” named as such because, well, it’s dark inside you see.

 There is a river that goes through it, so you could actually swim through it with headlamps and helmets. A few people stayed outside, though it wasn’t scary really, but we did see a snake! Mostly it was just kinda cold and we were walking through a bit of mud, but it was still a lot of fun. After this, we were treated to towels and hot soup while we dried off near the cars, which was much appreciated! On the drive back to town, the guides noted a statue that used to be on a much taller platform, but was knocked down because apparently no statue can be taller than the one of “Uncle Ho” up in Hanoi.

Since we had already checked out of our hotel, we had all of our belongings in a trailer hitched to the back so we could go straight back to the Farm stay after the tour. The place really was nice and quaint, but we saved significant money doing it the way we did. We made it back in time to have a quick shower and change into dry clothes and grab some delicious dinner at the bar/restaurant before hopping on a caravan that was heading back to Da Nang to the train station where we had booked an overnight train to Hanoi. This was our second overnight train in Vietnam, but luckily we were able to book sleeper car tickets this time. It was just a small compartment where a Vietnamese man and his wife had already claimed the bottom bunks, so we put away our luggage and climbed to the top bunks and got comfy in our silk sleeping bags.

 It wasn’t the worst sleep I’ve ever had, though the jolting of the train would shake you awake. It was an early drop-off the following morning in Hanoi. It was supposed to be like a 4 am arrival, but the train was late so it was more like 6 am, but that was fine by us.

While waiting for the train to arrive, our bunkmates offered to let us sit on one of the bottom bunks. They had almost no English and we had absolutely no Vietnamese, but managed to have a really rough convo anyway. We told the man where we were from and how old we were. He managed to tell us his age and the fact that he and his wife took the train all the way from Saigon. After establishing this information, he pointed to a clear plastic bottle that was 2/3 empty on their table, that we assumed was water, but just pointed at it and said “Vodka!” It was a hilarious moment and, hey, that is a long-ass train trip so I don’t blame them!

We arrived at Hanoi in the early am, perfectly sober, and caught a taxi to the accommodation that we had booked the following night, but had graciously agreed to hold our bags while we did a 2-day/1-night tour of Halong Bay, which would be the big hurrah on our Vietnam tour. The hostel manager was a lovely man who made us complimentary breakfast while we waited, even though we had no booking for that night!

Now, we wanted to do a simple 2-day/1-night affordable tour of Halong Bay, which is the most famous site in Vietnam and known all over the world, but Vietnamese copyright laws (or lack thereof) don’t make this easy. A few years ago, there used to be a tourist company called Sinh Café that catered to foreign travelers and was well known for being well-priced and reliable. Well, word got out so a bunch of other businesses popped up calling themselves “Sinh Café” as well in order to bamboozle foreign guests, so as to take their money but not offer the same quality of service. They used to be a good go-to for mid-range Halong Bay tours on junk boats (the traditional style boats that populate the bay), which now run the gamut from luxury boats for $200 and up per person per night, to flea-infested pieces of wood that barely float. I read horror stories online of people being tricked and swindled and having a terrible experience and I was determined to avoid that, but could no longer use the REAL Sinh Tourist, as apparently even they were not as reliable as they once were and their prices went up in order to “distinguish” themselves from the pack. After hours of research I finally settled on a small company called Vietnam Open Tour that I found on a website called Travelfish that had only one or two reviews, but both of which were positive, and the “Imperial Tour” was within our price range. So we crossed our fingers that morning while we waited for the van to pick us up, hoping it was at least air conditioned with actual seats (apparently these fraud tours can get pretty bad.) When the van showed up, it was one of those small mini-buses and it was clean, new, with seat belts and AC and all the bells and whistles, so I was relieved! The tour guide was a nice young girl with good English. We made the drive without incident to the coast, picking up more people along the way (but not more people than seats), eventually meeting up with the remainder of the people on our boat (about 20 in total, which was good—I heard some boats stuffed people on there like sardines.) We took a small dinghy out to our boat in the harbor. The outside could have used a paint job, but the inside looked great. It looked clean and new. I was even more relieved!

John and I requested a private double room, which we received, and the room was really quaint! 

We were able to drop off our bags before heading back to the dining room where we would get lunch while we set sail out into the bay. The food was fine (once again, I heard horror stories), lots of fried things but all edible. The weather wasn’t great during the trip, but it was January, so what could you do, but the mistiness of the bay was actually quite nice and it didn’t really rain outright. We got to do some excursions that afternoon into some caves in the karst formations that pepper the bay, and we got to go kayaking to explore some of the islands ourselves. 

We ended up hanging out with 4 Australians who were on our boat and we had a good time together (considering many of the other tourists were not English-speaking).

When we got back to the boat that evening, they had a “surprise” party before dinner with fruit and Vietnamese wine, which was actually pretty awful, but a really thoughtful gesture! 

We had dinner, after which I was hoping to shower. Apparently they had said shower time was before dinner (during the party) as that is when they turn on the hot water. But several people said they did not hear such an announcement and had not yet showered so they agreed to turn the hot water back on for a few more hours (and apparently on the worst junk boats there is no hot water.) After dinner, we were able to try our luck at fishing for squid off the back of the boat. We literally only had hooks but you just had to try and look for the squid and get your hook in the right position and sure enough, John caught one! Two actually. 

So, that was an exciting end to the evening. We slept well that night as the water was calm so there was little rocking and we had nice warm blankets in the chilly winter night. The next morning was a nice breakfast, followed by relaxing and checking out of our rooms, and for lunch we were able to take a cooking class where we learned to make our own fried spring rolls! 

Our final big adventure in Vietnam was very enjoyable and our company was legitimate. Success!

We made it back to the port and bused back to Hanoi without incident and would spend the last two days enjoying Ho Chi Minh (and planning for India.) The people at our little hotel were just lovely. They gave us a detailed map of the city so for the second to last day we mostly walked around, trying to check out the markets to find new sneakers for me, since I still had yet to replace the shoes that were stolen in Thailand, but were unfortunately unsuccessful. However, we were successful at finding a “Bun Cha” restaurant that the woman told us was the best in town. If you have never heard or had Bun Cha, you are missing out. Sure, Pho is great, but Bun Cha is a northern specialty of grilled pork with lots of fat and noodles and sauce and all things delicious. So good! 

For the last evening we just ordered in Indian food from down the street because we were too lazy and tired.

The final morning, we wanted to go check out the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh. We had already seen Mao Tse Tung in Beijng, so we figured we might as well continue our tour of the embalmed-bodies of communist dictators of the world. It was tradition now. Lenin, we are coming for you!

Our hostel guy called a cab for us and we got down there just in time to get in line, as the mausoleum is only open until noon. It was a lot of waiting, and handing in bags and cameras, and more waiting, before being quickly shuffled past what looks like a wax sculpture in a glass box (maybe it is, who knows). John was certain one of the guards around the body looked like he had to pee SO badly. Not an easy gig. But yes, that was the exciting event of our morning. We walked back to our hostel in order to gather our bags as we were ready to say “Goooooooooodbye Vietnam!” Only, flights were too expensive so we booked an overnight bus to Vientiane, Laos where we would bus across the border back into Thailand before taking a short flight North to Chiang Mai, Thailand! Land border crossings in Asia—gotta love em’.

The journey itself started at a different hotel in Hanoi, where luckily there was a shower I could use and change into comfortable clothes. We were picked up around 3:30 p.m. by a mini bus, which made its way around the city picking up people, after which we drove a couple of hours out of town to a big bus depot where everyone got out and we were sorted based on where our final destination would be. Outside they had many large-looking coaches lined up and our group headed to Vientiane was loaded onto one. There was a guy on there trying to usher people into seats, and so while John just tried to save a small row for us, the guy insisted we sit in specific seats, in which our row was 5-people across, with myself stuck in a middle seat that folded out, with a random stranger in between us and a guy in the next row having the seat next to him empty? It was kinda bullshit and we put up with it for a while, until a few hours in when the random strange kid started to snore, so John asked him if he would take the empty seat in the row in front so we could sit next to each other, and he obliged. Since it was a sleeper bus, I was actually able to lie down and get a little bit of fitful sleep before they pulled up to the Laos/Vietnam border crossing at the crack of dawn. I had researched the procedure for Laos and so we were prepared with the correct change and paperwork to get our Visas and everything went smoothly for us. The bus picked us back up on the other side of the border and we made the second half of the leg to the main bus depot in Vientiane, where we finally arrived around 4:30 p.m.—so we had been on buses for 24 hours, and still were not done! We were able to buy tickets for another bus heading across the Thai border to the town of Udon Thani, where I had booked us accommodation for the night already, because this was not my first rodeo. We had a pretty comfortable bus with no wonky luggage compartment for the trek just across the border, which was only supposed to take 2 hours but some people had issues with their visas so we had to wait a bit. We finally arrived in Udon Thani around 8:30 p.m. but there were no more buses out to our accommodation, which was by the airport so we had to use tuktuk.

Our hotel wasn’t a popular place, but it had good reviews, was cheap, and they gave complimentary rides to the airport, but it was out of the way so the driver didn’t know where it was. Luckily, I had the number so I was able to call the hotel and they spoke to the driver and told him where it was so that was settled. When we finally arrived at 9 p.m. we were able to check in and order room service dinner (which was delicious—Thai curry) and we were escorted to our little bungalow that was situated along a lake. We had a huge bathroom and big bed and man did we sleep well that night!

We awoke to beautiful sunlight the next morning, had a delicious breakfast, and the hotel gave us a complimentary ride to the airport a short distance away. We would hop on a short flight on the budget airline Nok Air, which used just a small twin engine plane for our short 30 min flight to Chiang Mai, so it was slightly terrifying, but they gave you complimentary snacks (on a budget airline), so that was okay and we had had enough time and distance that we were willing to give Thailand a second chance!

Vietnam was great. Due to my wonderful planning and research skills ;) we didn’t fall prey to the traditional tourists traps that I am sure are numerous in the country. We were very careful about where we stayed and where we went, and ended up having a great time. While remnants of the war were still present in many parts of the country, we felt no lingering anger or resentment against us because we were Americans, or perhaps because we tried to approach everything and everyone with a positive attitude, we received the same in kind. Vietnam has managed to develop beyond its fellow neighbors of Cambodia and Laos, though it still struggles with corruption on many levels, especially in the governmental and political realm. Its subsequent development is also creating a greater divide between the rich and the poor, and obviously there are many who do not support the Communist regime. It’s by no means a perfect country, and maybe it’s not the greatest place to live, but it was a stretch to image it as the great enemy that we once perceived it to be. Maybe it’s because it never really was, or it was only an enemy of our own making. Either way, today it is a country that is still struggling with its identity, but has a lot to offer and it’s trying to move on. 

The Americans that come to visit today, including the servicemen who served in the war, come not to usurp but to understand; they come not with combat boots but with cameras, they arrive not with open fire, but with open minds. This is how the world moves forward.