Review on Vietnam Trip

It has been two weeks since I came back from my Vietnam trip and I wanted to write an afterthought for the trip but I was too lazy to do it until now. This Vietnam trip, my first lone trip, also my graduation trip; has taught me a few life lesson that I wouldn't have learnt if I didn't make the decision to go for it. Now, it's time for me to share these learning outcomes that I think might be useful to our daily life, at least to myself. 

1. Everything will eventually work out.

After the trip, I realize that sometimes people worry too much over a lot of things and they tend to gain full control over a thing before acting on it. For instance, I was worried few days before the trip due to my lack of preparation because I thought it would be more fun and adventurous to not prepare so much for the trip including not pre-booked accommodation; yet, I have survived throughout the trip and enjoyed most of the time. This taught me that as long as we have done our best, outcome isn't that important anymore. What's more important is the process. Since we know that everything will definitely work out, regardless the outcome, we have to enjoy the process and stop worrying too much about the future since we won't have full control over it, never ever. 

2. Traveling alone is a good chance for self-discovery

Abundance of me-time is the greatest gift for traveling alone. Due to this excess time, you will have more time to reflect on yourself and really talk to yourself for some time. In our daily life, we are always busy and always have excuses to not talk to ourselves. Think about this, if you don't talk to your inner self, how do you even know what you yourself want and what is your purpose in life. Of course, I was once like that and I didn't really know what I want in life. I wouldn't say I have found my purpose in life but this trip has definitely widen my perspectives in choosing my dreams, perhaps traveling around the world. So, you must start talking to yourself more and finding your goal in life. Good luck!

3. Stepping out of comfort zone

Many times people are afraid of changes. Backpacking alone to other countries can definitely teach oneself to be more independent and disciplined by letting him/her to be on him/her own in a unfamiliar place. No one will be there to take care of you and you are responsible to your own stuff. For instance, I have to take care of my personal belongings all the time because I know how troublesome it would be if I lose any of them. I have to aware of my itinerary at all time and also taking good care of my health. Besides that, I have to communicate with strangers at all times because that's how you make friends along the trip. This is a big step for me since I am a shy person and no joke, my English is bad. So, undoubtedly, after this trip I have became a bit more mature after the trip and I know that I am capable to take care of myself even if I am alone.   

4. Traveling for a longer period actually save money

Everyone thought that I was joking when I told them about this. They always think that traveling for a  longer period, you will spend more money. Of course, the total amount of money you would spend is more but I can assure you the amount is not a lot. After this trip, I realize that my transportation cost actually is 45% of my total spending. So, if I stay longer in a place, then I don't have to move from one city to another one that often. With this method, my spending per day could be lowered by a lot and I can tell you that most backpackers are saving money throughout their trip by this kind of living. Hence, instead of getting short holidays, try to make your holidays as long as possible, you can enjoy more without rushing from places to places and spending more time in a city to actually appreciate the culture behind it.

 5. Experiences is much important than possessions

Now that I have graduated from university, soon my new chapter of life, working life, will start. Money will soon become an issue for me because I need to learn how to manage it. I could spend the money on many things, for instance, investment, entertainment, tangible asset, family etc. It is hard to decide which should be prioritized. However, after the Vietnam trip, it is clear to me that experiences always comes first. I will spend my money on an experience rather than material object. Experiences enriches our knowledge and it makes us feel alive, happier and satisfied. In the opposite, material object can only satisfy us in a short run. For me, experiences is invaluable and we should embrace it because when we are dead one day, only experiences and memories could follow us but not the material objects.

That's all for my sharing about my trip to Vietnam and hopefully some of these could be useful to you. Perhaps you will disagree on some of them but still, thank you for reading it. Bon vonyage, looking forward to my next backpacking trip and I will share more till then.

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27th May 2013 - Ninh Binh 1 day tour and last night in Vietnam

As planned, I joined the Ninh Binh one day tour which includes boat riding to see caves, cycling to see hidden temple. Somewhat I felt all these advertisement and attraction is just made up to attract tourist, and it works quite well undoubtedly.

Best thing of the trip happened by knowing two awesome buddies, Nacho (Spanish) and Simon (German). We talked for 2 hours in the bus ride and that's how our friendship started. First activity of the day was visiting ancient temple, as usual.

It doesn't look that bad from far sight though, just that I am not so into temple since all of them look the same to me

I prefer scenery view, something like rocks, lakes, rivers, trees and perhaps, even skies! :D

Second activity was sampan riding! I looked forward to this the most because there should be a lot of scenery! Too bad it disappointed me due to the hot climate. Riding boat under hot sun without shelter was a torture and luckily there was this Thai girl in my boat to talk to me, if not this sampan riding would end miserably.

The view is really beautiful, everything looks so ancient and look at the rock! It has been  for centuries I guess. How magnificent this is! Too bad the ride was really hot and I couldn't enjoy it much. :( 

Entrance of the cave! Can you see the exit of it? Just the other side with light coming. :D I really hoped that the sampan can stay in the cave for the entire trip, it is so cooling inside. and I heard people singing inside the cave, it's good! echo from the cave does magic real good!

As usual, locals were selling merchandise even on the boat! It's annoying as they were really pushy and aggressive

After the sampan ride, we cycled into the end of the village and there is a hidden temple up the hill and we did a little trek to get there. It's nothing that special, but we have traveled so far for this, must go and take pictures! 

The secret temple! Aren't they the same like normal temple? *unsure*

Group photo, Nacho (leftmost), random Vietnamese kid and Simon (rightmost)

Simon, the big kid on the bicycle

He is the most good kid I have seen in the trip. One who doesn't smoke, doesn't drink, does running in Hanoi and having 8 eggs for dinner. He does weight lifting, that's why! :D Oh, Nacho was behind us busy taking pictures (he is a semi-professional photographer!).

After the trip, we got back to Hanoi around 7pm. We planned to have dinner together and a few drinks to say farewell since it's the last night for both Nacho and me, sadly. 

Having fried eel vermicelle with Nacho, it was indeed very nice and I highly recommend it! *slurp*

After dinner, we headed to have icy fruits that is quite famous in Hanoi. It's combination of various kind of fruits, ice and coconut milk! It is really good and it's super cheap, cost less than USD$1 for one bowl. 

Closer shot to illustrate how yummy it is!

So after dessert, we had a few Bia Hoi (beer made by local people) and it's only USD$0.25 for one glass, it is just so crazy. We never got drunk for the last night, just want to enjoy the night. After a few glasses, we all went back to sleep and had a little private time to condense our own feeling about ending our trip. 

Us, having fun for the last night! So long peeps

P.S.: It's really nice meeting you guys, Nacho and Simon, we have the same mentality and thinking and it's amazing how well we clicked even only spent one day together. I will definitely pay you guys a visit when I do my backpacking trip to Germany. Goodluck for you guys in the future! gbu! :D

Lastly, just a random shot of me on the sampan (taken by the Thai girl!)

Spot the tanned line? 

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26th May 2013 - Hanoi nightlife

Reaching Hanoi at 5:00am in the morning, walking alone on Hanoi's street like a boss, sneaking into a hotel's toilet for a dump, meeting two backpackers, Bas (German) and Kerstin (Austrian), who were drunk and lost on the street, getting a room in Hanoi Backpacker Hostel with them and that's all for my hectic 26th morning.

Empty Hanoi's street at 5am in the morning

Drunkard Bas (left) and Kerstin (right)

After putting my luggage, time to have a little tour in Hanoi. I wanted to visit Ho Chi Minh's dead body so badly so The first I went was Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. Probably I picked the wrong day (Sunday) to go, there were like thousands of people queuing up to enter the mausoleum. I queued up with the locals, and waited for 1 and a half hour just to for a 15 seconds quick glance on Ho Chi Minh's dead body. Of course I visited his museum too. Is it worth to wait for such a long time just for a glance, I personally think it worth the wait. Sometimes, you just have to be patient and it's heart-warming seeing so many locals who admire this hero so much and willing to give up their weekend just to pay him a visit. Probably this is how unification of people works. :D

The tomb of Ho Chi Minh I suppose since he is not buried until now

Another view of it :D

Security guard spotted outside the tomb

After the trip, headed back to hostel and rest for a while. Apparently I was lucky enough to stay there on Sunday which had a free beer flow starting 3pm. Bas, Kerstin and I went there and we met tons of travelers. I started playing BeerPong with them and it was hell lots of fun. If you are interested in BeerPong, private message me and I will tell you the game rules.

Random guy was explaining the house rule of BeerPong to us

I won for 1 match out of 4, isn't that bad right for a beginner? I have to say playing games is the best way to make friends and I got another 2 friends, Henry and Jake (both English), and we were the best combination for BeerPong I must say. :D

After that, we hang out in another bar, another 2 clubs until 1230am and I headed back to sleep. Oh, I met Ewan and Jack too in the hostel and we were together for the whole night, drinking, playing pool again and talking. Nice meeting Ewan again and this time I managed to take a picture with him.

Sorry for the bad quality; I am still using my lousy 3gs if you have no idea about it

And a portriat or Ewan which I took when I was nearly drunk to end this post. 

See how rude he is! tsk tsk tsk, Sheldon should be well educated!! :P

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25th May 2013 - Cat Cat Village and back to Hanoi

Woking up late in the morning at 10+am, we checked out and went out for lunch. After eating, we wanted to explore Sapa and Cat Cat Village seems like the easiest place to trek. So we decided to go for a walk in Cat Cat Village. 

Just some of the scenery shots. Sorry I am not very good in photography, still a learner! :D

Ancient bamboo pathway! To me, the path looks like those ancient Chinese rock road that usually leads to mysterious kung fu temple. Great imagination, isn't it? haha

Little doggie that running down the stoney path! :3 Stone house at the back  somehow reminds about The Shack. 

I have seen this kind of river and waterfall before, but for the sake of travelling, I will just post it again.

Best shot of the day! Everything becomes so pure, genuine localized when a Vietnamese kid was playing bamboo swing with a Vietnam flag on top of it. Perfect combination that well expresses the serenity of a Vietnam village

After the trek, time to say goodbye to Tobin and headed back to Hanoi. I have booked a cheaper train ticket which cost USD$28 instead of USD$38 (the one I got 2 days back). With a difference only of USD$10, I had to sleep with 5 Vietnameses in a same cabin for 9 hours and the sad thing was, none of them speak english. Basically, I never talked for the whole night, only read my book and listened to music. hahahahaha, but, it's a great experience anyway, get to share a cabin with the local. Oh, dinner for that night, only bun with condensed milk, I couldn't find anything else to eat in LaoCai except that. lol

Oh, and I bought myself a little souvenier from Cat Cat Village! 

I always wanted a cheap necklace and it's nowhere to be found in Singapore! So I bought this  in Sapa. It's quite nice isn't it? and of course it is very cheap indeed. I am a happy kid now.

Anyway, just a short shoutout to Tobin  Tobin, if you are reading this, I wanna say that I am very glad to meet you and had a long chat with you, goodluck for your remaining trip and all the best for your future! Keep in touch and probably one day I will find you in Melbourne! Cheers! :D

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24th May 2013 - Back from homestay to Sapa

In the morning, nothing much, trek again from homestay back to Sapa and reached there around 2pm. After taking shower, we walked around the street in Sapa and had high tea in one of the cafes (shophouses in Sapa have very strong French style!).

Probably it isn't so obvious here for the french-style that I am referring to due to my lousy photography skill! psps

Around 4:30pm, it's time to say goodbye to my friends because they are going back to Hanoi, only Tobin and I will be staying in Sapa (for me is one more night, for Tobin, depends). 

So, we went to search for our hostel and found one that was pretty cheap and nice. We never really did anything at night, had dinner, then "htht" for the whole night and went off to bed (fyi, we were chatting about life purposes, politics, future plans and stuff, nothing sissy and pussy, okay? hahahaha). 

Oh, and we ate this super special fruit, I bet you guys have never seen it before.

Weird fruit that we found in Sapa - RamStrawCranRasBerry! :D

It's like the combination of strawberry, cranberry, rasberry and rambutan except that it doesn't have a shell like rambutan. It is super tasty and sweet. A must-try in Sapa! And it's quite weird that some of the people in Sapa don't even know the existence of this fruit. 

I ate half a kilo myself. :3 *slurp*

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23rd May 2013 - Sapa and native village homestay

After 9 hours of train-sleeping, I reached LaoCai at 5:30am. Saying goodbye the mates I met on the train then I was off to join my tour. Boarding the bus and I first met all the backpackers that I will spend one night in the homestay with. All of them are white people and for sure I felt a bit alienated. Although there were these  two NUS exchange students, Charlotte and Elina to be in the same tour with me (how lucky is that, meeting NUS people everywhere in Vietnam), that didn't really ease the situation much. So here is just a few photos to how you guys who they are. :D (we never really took group picture though, how wasted is that, ahhhh). 

From left: Greg (English), Tobin (Australian), Dave (English), Ewan (English), Jack (English)

From left: Elina (German), Charlotte (German), Ingo (German), Jon (English), Anna (English)

So, back to the awkward story, I did talk a bit in the beginning with Anna and Tobin but the topic died quite fast and silence just took over (btw, the combination is that Jon and Anna are couple, Tobin is alone, Ingo is alone, Dave and Greg, Ewan and Jack, Charlotte and Elina). But luckily I read about silence somewhere in a book which has the same meaning as this quote:

"The quieter you become, the more you can hear." - Baba Ram Das

So I know I shouldn't afraid of silence: instead, I was trying to listen more and understand what they were talking about. It's all about fine arts of small talk if you guys are interested. It is a book. :D

I just kept silent along the bus journey to Sapa and we started our jungle trekking and homestay tour around 10am. The trekking was pretty much the same like what I did for 10years - hashing if you guys know what it is. So, it's a pretty easy piece of cake for me. hahahaha

The terrace "paddy field" in the village - now it's off season. It should be green and yellow when paddy is there

Route less traveled

The trek we were walking through for around 4-5 hours in total. The scenery is pretty same as the villages that I have been to in my hometown; thus, it doesn't really appeal to me much but it's fun to see the white people enjoyed it so much, which made me realize that we do have different cultures, backgrounds and beliefs that I must ponder more in the future. 

Ewan was getting harrased by little local kids (you can easily tell from his face)

We all were getting harrased by the little native kids who were selling handicrafts along the way. But only Ewan and I never bought anything. So we were like ally and Ewan will always look up to me and asked for help (I am not being cheap or cruel, just learning how to say no and I know deep down inside that I won't be wearing or using the handicrafts after this trip, lesson learnt from Cambodia). Fyi, Ewan couldn't resist the temptation and in the end, he bought a hat. Suit you though, Ewan! haha

Bamboo jungle that we walked pass

Bamboo trek is really beautiful and serene. Oh, it was pretty muddy because of the rain and they were just surprised why my shoes could be so clean and theirs were like, full of mud. I have to admit that, the 10 years of training I had was not a waste! *grin*

Pretty little cute girl that I will kidnap back home. See how innocent she is and she must be wondering who we are and why we are there in her village

Black Monk lady who accompanied us throughout the journey just wanted to sell their handicrafts. I felt bad not buying anything from them but for a budget trip like this, that's the only way to go. Sorry!

So after few hours of trekking, we reached the homestay place. Frankly, I was disappointed by a bit with the homestay because it wasn't what I expected to be and it even has a pool table. But, I have to say thank you to the pool table because that's where I really get to be connected and closer to them. Greg is really a great pool player and he will always tease me by saying I am as good as him. I am nowhere to his standard but I think I was pretty lucky to hit some of the tricky shots.

Playing cars is like a must for backpackers. It's the easiest way to pass the time and also bonding

Random shot and the one in blue is our tour guide for the trekking

So, that's pretty much what we did in the homestay. Nothing is really special about there but I did get to know a few friends. I must say the closest friend I have in that one night would go to Ewan. He is just so nice and good to talk and we will make fun of each other in playing pool, playing cards and even eating (he can't use the chopsticks!). Oh, I found him looks like Sheldon in Big Bang Theory! probably not as smart though. hahahaha

A few findings of this homestay,

1. Westerners do like to eat spicy food a lot which I didn't know before this. Their taste are so strong that they have to add soya sauce to everything. They just litterally pour the soya sauce into rice, soup, cabbage and I was like wth? haha

2. Westerners have a great sense of belonging to their countries. For instance, people from England and Germany will talk about soccer for ages and discuss every single details of the players, the clubs and stuff; whereas Australian will talk about AFL (Australian Football League), it's something like rugby and it's quite different from rugby. What am I talking about, same same but different, it was so funny when Greg said this sentence to tease our our guide. hahahahaha, if you guys are interested, can google AFL. :D Other than that, they will talk about politics in their countries, and even the population numbers! Through the conversation, I feel pretty shameful and embarrased to realize that I know so little about my own country and I don't really have a sense of belonging, a sense of pride for Malaysia. I think it's time for us to know more about our own countries and be proud of it. 

3. Silence is a great art to learn. It seems pretty easy, yet it is hard to master. You just have to force yourself to bear the awkwardness which most people can't do it. I am trying my best to learn this and I bet I still have a long way to go. It doesn't mean keeping silence, bearing the awkwardness and you are good to go, it's about listening to others, trying your best to understand what they are trying to convey and then finding the sweetspot where you can converse your idea simply, easily and most importantly, clearly. 

That's all for the homestay post and I will spend one more night in Sapa town to experience the French culture of the town and probably, riding a motorcycle. haha :D

Thank you for reading my blog and I am sorry if there are any mistakes in my writting. Bear with me some time and I will assure you I will get improved pretty fast. :3

Lastly, just a little footage of the homestay! 

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22nd May 2013 - Time to head to Hanoi

I bought my air ticket to Hanoi at the hostel 20 hours before the flight, so I  will be heading to Hanoi at 1:30pm on that day. I hadn't really explored hcmc that much and I hadn't gone to the Mekong Delta but I thought it's time for me to leave this town and head to Hanoi and Sapa since Sapa is my first objective in this trip.

In the morning, I took the motorbike taxi to the Ho Chi Minh's Museum (I always wanted to try the motorbike taxi since I first reached hcmc as it looks fun for me and Singapore doesn't have this!).

Motorbike taxi uncle

This motorbike uncle was a talkative guy which offered me a small tour around hcmc with USD$5 that I rejected for sure! You just need to learn how to say no during backpacking, time to be more thick-skinned and people won't judge you because everyone here are budget travelers.

Ho Chi Minh's Musuem isn't an interesting place if you don't like history. For me, it is an informative place and you get to know a lot of Ho Chi Minh and the great things he has done for his country. This somehow reminded me of Malaysia which is having political trouble now and makes me realize that sacrifices are unavoidable when you want big changes and set your countries free. Someone have to do it and we have to respect them for sacrifying for us. Thank you I would say here to those leaders who have sacrificed so much for us.

Portrait of Ho Chi Minh which is made up of different small pictures 

So after the visit, I got back to the hostel and be ready to head to the airport. I was pretty early for a domestic flight just in case for any unforeseen problems. Thank god it was a smooth and safe journey to Hanoi. On the flight, I kept on thinking what should I do next for the trip, like should I go Sapa directly or should I stay in Hanoi for one night first. At last, I decided I will just go Sapa directly with an overnight train from Hanoi. It's pretty crazy because I have no idea where to buy a train ticket and what will I face in Sapa.

This spontaneous decision made me uneasy and I even doubted myself if I could make it to Sapa, but I am on my own, the worst case would be just staying in Hanoi which will basically waste one day of my trip (I would like to travel as many places as I could so one-wasted day would really make me heartbroken and I can't afford to lose that). 

When I reached the airport, I quickly rushed to the tourist information counter and ask for the train ticket and thank god again, they actually have train ticket selling service in the airport, how awesome is that (you have to get the train ticket somewhere else though). So I decided I will stay 2 days in Sapa; booked return train ticket and a 2days-1night homestay tour. 

Everything seems pretty hectic to me because I had to head down to Hanoi City from the airport which cost me USD$20 as I couldn't find anyone who wants to share cab with me; and then got the original train ticket from a hotel and went to train station to catch the train. 

However, things went pretty smoothly and I met this cute receptionist, Ngan, who speaks very well english. She basically arranged everything for me and even let me shower in the hotel washroom even though I am not a guest over there. This is just how nice Vietnamese can be. Love that! :)

8pm, I was in the train and yes, I made it.

4 beds cabin that I would travel for the next 9 hours

Met 3 others awesome people in the cabin, two Australia born Vietnamese, Dong and Hwang and a Vietnamese that I forgot his name, sadly. :( We talked for nearly 3 hours and it's quite fun sharing experiences together with strangers you just met. Hwang (left), Dong (middle)

Hwang (left) and Dong (middle)

So, next post would be on Sapa jungle trekking and homestay. Stay tuned, and sorry for the late post, I had trouble getting internet in the train and homestay. :D

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