Not Busy, Just Thai'd Up

This title was my own creation, and has nothing to do with the Good Morning, Vietnam soundtrack that I am still listening to.

So! My adventures in Ho Chi Minh City ended with a slight mishap in determining which terminal I belonged in.  And the beginning of my adventures in Hanoi began with a silent taxi ride (my driver didn’t speak much English and seemed to enjoy the silence) through the night.  The hostile I booked in Hanoi, Central Backpackers Hostel, does airport pickup service, so for the first time I got to feel like one of those special people who have to look for their names on a piece of paper.

 

My first impression of Hanoi…well, by this point, I was tired of the city because I usually dislike cities anyway.  To make matters worse, Hanoi is much busier and crowded than Ho Chi Minh.  I stayed in the Old District where there is a lack of tall architecture, the streets are narrower, and there is no end to the amount of clothing and shoe shops in sight.  Hanoi is incredibly busy, and has some of the craziest traffic I’ve ever seen.  During my stay in Hanoi, one of my friends, Elias, walked out in front of a car so that we could cross a sea of traffic that never stops.

So, Central Backpackers Hostel is amazing.  It’s cheap, has awesome people, free bia hoi (the fresh brew that costs 4000 dong, approximately 5 cents) from 7-8 pm, free breakfast (consists of banana, bread, jelly, butter, and tea or coffee), provides lots of different kinds of trips.  The best part was the people I met there. More on that throughout this post.

First order= dinner.  After free beer hour, I went to dinner with my newfound friend and dormmate, Elias from France.  We ate at Quan An Ngon Restaurant.  It was okay- too pricey for so little, but this is working in the mindset of a poor college student/traveler and a backpacker.  Make sure you ask about the sizes of the dishes because what you would think would be a served in a large proportion, could be the size of your fist.  The restaurant is cool though- it has the same community as street food on the sidewalk with a classy flavor and decor, distance from the traffic, and way more options.

 

That night, I just took it easy talking to different backpackers at the hostel.  Beyond where people have travelled, it’s amazing to get a glimpse into what occupations they left behind, some of their hobbies, what their friends are like, etc.  Everyone is so different, yet everyone is tied in this cycle of wanting to experience the world and going on pretty much the same route to do it.  In terms of future travel, I also discovered through these people social networking websites geared towards helping backpackers such as Couch Surfing and Be Welcome.

Next day, I made Elias my exploration companion to explore the west end of the district.  We passed the large statue of Vladimir Lenin, the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the Presidential Palace, and the One-Pillar Pagoda.  The sights were rather boring, and we didn’t spend long in any location.  The palace should have been more exciting, but it was basically a bunch of sparsely decorated rooms and old cars that you viewed through glass.

 

I went to the Temple of Literature, where Confucius taught a bunch of students, afterwards.  It was an interesting mixture of modern topiaries and old buildings.  I find Chinese architecture and idols really beautiful and interesting, but I was so tired of looking at religious art, statues, and buildings, that I felt pooped.  Despite this feeling, I definitely like the temple a lot.

That night, Maia arrived in Hanoi, but she was exhausted from her journey in Luang Prabang in Laos, so I went out with some people at the hostel. During free beer hour, I sat with some people that I knew, and met some more people.  After a few beers, a group of us went to get dinner two shops away, and thus the party group was formed.  We ended up at a dance club where I discovered that I am an amazing dancer according to the reactions of the surrounding folk.  Here’s some advice for you other young ladies who love to dance: in Hanoi, there are plenty of gross foreign older men who like to try to watch young ladies dance and try to dance with them or more.  So, if you can’t take it, don’t shake it.

 

Next day, I spent the day exploring the area around Hoan Kiem Lake with Maia. Most of it was just walking around and getting a feel for the city, which I won’t explain, but here’s a quick and dirty list of what we did.

So that pretty much concludes my adventures in Hanoi! Hanoi is a very crowded city, and I didn’t do a lot of the things that one could do there. The city offers a bunch of different museums for people depending on one’s interests (Fine Arts Museum, Museum of Ethnology, Vietnamese History, Women’s Museum, etc.), trips to Sapa, etc. The buildings are amazing because you can see a wide variety of buildings within one block- Chinese architecture, French architecture, modern buildings, run-down buildings, fancy and clean buildings, and more…all stuck together in a weird combination.  It’s quite fascinating.  Hanoi was okay, but I was ready for HALONG BAY!

 

I am absolutely overwhelmed by how much I think I have to say about my trip to Vietnam.  I feel like I did so much that I have to use my journal to remember each day.  Before I start typing more, I’d like to say that I added pictures to the last post, and that for a short while, the frequency of my posting will be irregular.

Now. Let us begin at the start of my trip.  On Saturday, October 13, I woke up in the morn with butterflies in my stomach.  I was about to travel in a foreign country by myself, for the first time ever.  I was excited and nervous- I made sure to try to leave messages with all my loved ones just in case I got abducted or something. BUT OBVS I’M ALIVE!

First stop was Ho Chi Minh City, also known as Saigon, in the south of Vietnam. On the plane trip from Bangkok to HCMC, I slept most of the way, but when I woke up after landing, I was adopted.  A Thai couple and their two buddies started talking to me, and they reveled in the fact that I was studying abroad in Thailand.  They herded me into their group, and after exchanging our Thai baht into Vietnamese dong, we grabbed a taxi (taxis are rip-offs- try to get to Vietnam before 6 pm so you can take the bus which costs 30 cents. THIRTY CENTS!) My first impression of the city when driving toward the Pham Ngu Lao district (the backpackers district where all the sights are) was HOLY CRAP SO MANY MOTORBIKES!

Ma plane and taxi buddies.

 

HCMC is a very bustly city.  And it’s a thing in Southeast Asia for people to ride motorbikes.  I thought there were a lot in Thailand.  I was wrong. 

I parted with my new friends at their hotel, and went in search of my hostel, NgocThao Guesthouse.  I passed it because this hostel is down a tiny, insignificant, kinda grimey alley.  It’s scary if you let it be scary.  The hostel itself is very nice, clean, friendly, and offers a lot in terms of day trips (to be explained later).  The only qualm was that breakfast was an additional 30,000 dong each morning. The breakfast was super tasty though- BAGUETTES! (the French imperialists were expelled from Vietnam in 1954 after the First Indochina War) and pancakes.  It was amazing to see decent bread again.

I met another new friend, Mindy, who was my roommate for the night.  We walked around for a bit, had dinner, talked about life and experiences and whatnot.  Then, we sat on the street along with everyone else atop tiny chairs to have a couple of Saigon Greens (cheap beer for 10,000 dong, which is equal to 50 cents).  I LOVE this part of Vietnamese culture.  Day and night, you will find people crowded on the sidewalks around tiny tables, atop the smallest chairs, drinking beer, eating food, and chatting.  This kind of community is also seen in the parks where all the couples sit on benches, friend groups sit or play sports, and the older folk even do salsa dancing under the pavilions in the evening.  I fell in love with the community of Vietnam.

So, that’s day one concluded.  We move onward to day two.

Day two was a busy, busy day. 

I set out with my handy dandy map at hand, given to me by the lovely people at the hostel.  Normally, I am incredibly directionally-challenged, even with a map.  But, I put my noggin to it, and conquered those streets!  I saw men in green uniforms everywhere, many pastry shops, the longest line of boy scouts and girl scouts known to man (they started chanted which was most excellent), and I learned how to cross the street.

This map was my savior!

 

Crossing the street is almost a death wish.  It’s not as terrifying as it is in Hanoi though, as I found out later that week.  Basically, unless you are INCREDIBLY patient or lucky, you baby-step across the road where a line a cars and motorbikes may be coming at you. You take a couple of steps at a time, stopping in between passing vehicles, until you get to the end.  Sometimes though, there will be tourist police who guide you safely across the street, and cars usually stop for them.

SO! First stop was the War Remnants Museum.  Definitely an excellent museum, and worth seeing.  It was all about the Vietnam War, the other side of the Vietnam War that we don’t hear about in Western education.  It’s three floors, and an exhibit of prison life, of depressing history. I had to sit down after viewing each floor to regain my composure.  I think pictures speak louder than words in this case, so I’ll showcase a few photos below. 

Next, I walked toward the Ngon Restaurant for lunch, which was recommended on my map.  But on the way, I was stopped by Manh, the Saigon native and motorcycle taxi tour guide.  I tried to shake him off, but he pulled out a five-inch thick notebook filled with pictures of the people he’d taken on a tour next to their own positive statements about his tour. I decided to get on his bike because the Jade Emperor Pagoda in Chinatown and another Chinese Buddhist Temple were a bit far away.  He took me to see those, but then purposefully made the tour longer by taking me past the Saigon River to show me how the government was buying the property of people who live by the river to gain land for development.  It’s rather sad- there are a lot of people living on boats or under bridges by the river now.  Manh was really informative- every so often he would tell a random fact about this old building, or that old building.  Much of it I don’t remember because I couldn’t hear him over the honking and the wind, but I appreciated the gesture, and I recommend his tour to everyone. 

With Manh on his motorcycle

Freeing a turtle at the Jade Emperor Pagoda for good luck.

At the old temple.

 

He took me back to the Reunification (Independence) Palace where I took a tour.  It’s really just a bunch of decorated rooms.  The coolest parts were the in the basement where you got to see the planning rooms with all of the old maps and radio equipment.  My blood sugar was low from no lunch so I wasn’t really interested in this experience.  I ate at Ngon Restaurant soon afterward, which was yummy and a bit fancy.  I soon found that papaya shakes are my favorite, and Pho Bo, the famous Vietnamese soup, is super yum yum.

Reunification Palace

LUNCH

 

Then, I walked to Notre Dame Cathedral.  Along the way, I noticed that a lot of the street names are still French.  One street was called Duong Pasteur, named after an important figure in the history of medicine.  Anyway, Notre Dame Basilica was really beautiful, very large, and modern.  They had several tv screens between the pews so that people could sing along to hymns, karaoke style.

Next to it was the Saigon Central Post Office, famous just because of its French architecture.  Inside were telephone books, postal service, and some souvenir shops with some pretty great stuff. 

The basilica to the left, the post office in the back.

 

I walked toward the Opera House where I got invited to go to a cultural performance held twice a month. I really wanted to go, and I would recommend that anyone who travels to HCMC go see it, but I had other plans for the following day.  In that area are a bunch of ritzy, rich people hotels and shops.  Mila Kunis was plastered over the shops, advertising for Dior.  I got out of there as quickly as possible.

Then, I stumbled across the Golden Dragon Water PuppetTheatre.  This is a really special and cultural puppet performance that I think everyone should see. All of the dialogue and singing were in Vietnamese so that I couldn’t fully understand everything, but the plots of the stories were easily summarized by the titles in the brochure.  The performance was divided into fifteen short segments in which the puppets glided across the water, acting out unicorns playing with a ball, or village people catching fish, and more!  The musicians to the side of the stage provide the musical accompaniment, and the voices of the puppets.  45 minutes well-spent.

I got dinner after that, somewhere.  Each night in HCMC was typically, dinner at some restaurant while reading Clash of Kings, journaling in the park, then beddy bye.  So there you have it, the first two days of my trip to Vietnam.  There’s plenty more to come!

 

 

 

4) This is a really good movie; it's called Lost in Paradise, and is about two gay men living in Saigon.  It talks about homosexuality and the sex industry in Vietnam.

Ard. Let’s get down to business…to defeat…my current lack of a new blog post. So, on Friday, I went on a magical journey with my good friends Emily, Laura and Maia to Pai, a backpacker’s haven!  We departed from the Arcade Bus Station in a bus, where we would stay for the next three hours. Luckily, I bought some yellow motion sickness pills and took them…there are about 780 curves through a windy mountain to get to Pai.  The ride was great- I was asleep for most of it.

When we emerged tired, and stiff-knee’d, we found ourselves in a quaint lil town where white people were roaming the streets, and nary a Thai person was to be found.  That is, until we stumbled across the high school, where a festival was being hosted.  It was a multiple-day festival of constant music, regardless of whether or not there was an audience.  We got to witness Thai pop singers belting out songs whilst girls in traditional Thai costume danced around them.  It was…interesting.

 

We went on a hunt for our hostile- Spicy Pai Backpackers.  Dude, this hostile is awesome.  It’s a bit out of town, across a couple of bridges…and on your right is a lovely set of bungalows. Just beauteous.  I’d never stayed in a hostile before- and I’m so glad that this one was my first.  The mindset and personalities of backpackers are so wonderful- and these backpackers were the greatest people ever.

 I swear, our hostel was a mini taste of Europe (and other white people countries)- people from Sweden, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, Denmark, Australia, and yes, folks, we befriended more Americans.  We spent the weekend with our short-term newfound friends- they acted as hosts, caretakers, and family.  My favorite person, Uncle John, was a bright green gumdrop in my day- he never failed at cheering everyone up or adding a laugh into the conversation. His favorite video was this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMS2VnDveP8.  It was only hilarious because he laughed at it so hard.

We slid down Slidey Waterfall, we jumped off of Jumping Waterfall, and we climbed an incomplete Buddha statue to watch a sunset, and we chilled in some natural hot springs. (OMG the roads to get to the hot springs are awful and treacherous and slightly resemble a rollercoaster.  It was like being in a video game…but in real life.  I was on the back of a motorbike [rent for 140 baht per day with insurance-cheap!] the entire time, so you can imagine how terrifying that was…not really, since I didn’t describe it, but I shouldn’t because it could deter people from going.  Just do it…it’s an experience.) But, I think my ultimate favorite thing that we did was go to a bar with the hostile peeps.  They decided that Saturday night was lady’s night, so the guys all dressed up as women.  It was the most hilarious thing ever.  They were enjoying it way too much, and Andreas especially was amazing at being a girl.

I had way too many Mai Tais and ended up having a drunken political talk with all the Europeans.  We also had a contest to see who was better at geography- guess who lost…RIGHTO- this girl!  And for those of you who might think I can’t possibly fail, well…*blush* why, thank you, but I really suck at geography…and politics.  I did know when the French Revolution started (1789!), which impressed Cory…I think that was his name.  Anyway, the Europeans are very impressive, and very into politics, so it was fun to have a conversation with them. They did acknowledge the fact that they were uneducated about Africa, a lot of Asia, and some other things- same as America.  Come on Western countries- let’s fix this ignorance.

 

The town of Pai.  Well, basically, there are streets upon streets of stores with some pretty cool stuff for tourists, and restaurants.  We made this weekend our escape from Thai food- it was beautiful.  Some recommended places are Witching Well, The Good Life, and Coffee in Love.  But we didn’t go to any of those.  We went to a place that I think is called Cake Go.  OMG.  I had THE BEST sandwich that I’ve ever tasted in my life.  Just look at it.  I have never been happier after eating a sandwich.  This could be because it’s been a long time since I’ve had a decent sandwich, decent bread, decent cheese, decent raw veggies….mmmmm I am slobbering.  Just look at it.

 

We also went to the Curry Shack.  The guy who works there is over 30 years old, but looks 25.  Aaaaaand he’s an amazing cook.  Best durn curry I’ve had in a long time.  I recommend the Green Curry, the Masman Curry, the Khao Soy Curry, and the Panang Curry.  Woof woof awhooooooo!

The Thai food there is absolutely delish as is the street food.  There are a million possibilities for eating at this place, but apparently the Italian food is crapola.

Lemme get back right quick to the motorbikes.  It’s super easy to rent a motorbike- super risky, but super easy, and super cheap.  If you are good and comfortable at riding a motorbike, I’d recommend it.  You’ll fall in love with Pai that much quicker.  There’s something amazing about riding down the roads on the back of a motorbike, taking in the lush scenery, and conquering fears and roads.  Emily brought up something she’d read in a book about “the zen of motorbikes” (or something like that) where the writer said that riding in a car is like watching a movie, but riding on a motorbike is like being in the movie.  Definitely sums up how I felt.  Incredible. 

 

So, Pai.  If you are looking for a break from your culture shock in Thailand…definitely the place to go.  A lovely haven for travelers, who are mostly white people, where your only encounters with Thai people are at the shops.  I bargained for a skirt there and the shopowner complimented on my Thai skills. HELLZ YEA!

Oh! On the way to town from Jumping Waterfall, we stopped at this lovely little place called the Land Crack.  It is called this because it's a family-owned farm with a giant land crack in the middle of it.  So, they can't produce enough food to sell at market.  Instead, they feed us backpackers some delicious fresh peanuts, sweet bananas, tasty passion fruit, cut up potatoes with salt, refreshing roselle juice, and some of the best red wine in a tiny bottle.  Oh my goodness- it was so delcious.  These people run off of donations, so EVERYONE WHO VISITS PAI SHOULD VISIT THE LAND CRACK AND GIVE EM SOME BAHT!

 

Now, enjoy my photos…or else.