This post will focus mainly on my last couple trips
traveling around and how incredible it was to just arrive somewhere and then
figure out what to do.
Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh City was unreal. My hostel was great with clean
rooms, cheap breakfast, and really helpful staff, and it was close to a lot of
the places that I wanted to go. I was in a mixed room and ended up being the
only girl with 8 other boys. It wasn’t that bad though and the people I met
were really awesome; Ryan and Jeremy from Edmonton (who will give me some good
tips for when I go there to visit Trevor), Micah from the UK, Owen from the
Netherlands, and 4 other guys from London but I didn’t end up catching their
names. The weather network said it’s rainy season, but it just rained for about
an hour every day and then was blue skies and sunshine for the rest of the day.
Day 1
The first day there I rented a moto and rode around the
city. I was totally fine, but I would not recommend driving a moto around Ho
Chi Minh City if you are not a practiced driver. I have heard a ton of battle
stories – almost every person I’ve talked to has had an accident or some sort
of horror story. I am a very defensive driver and I don’t tend to drive fast or
anything so I had a fantastic day and loved driving around – seriously, what a
rush!
Day 2
The next day I did a half day tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels. We
stopped off at an art store on the way where people disabled by the effects of
Agent Orange and I had a delicious bun (they love the laughing cow cheese here
with meat and vegetables) and mango smoothie. It was a really interesting day
seeing where the soldiers were during the war, although it was very ‘touristy’
and our tour guide wanted to rush through things so that wasn’t the greatest. Most
of the relics were not original as obviously you can’t have hidden traps and mines
leftover, but I still got to climb inside a real tunnel – it was pitch black,
really small and extremely dirty, and I can’t imagine how people stayed in
there for an extended amount of time. I had the opportunity to shoot a gun for
the first time as well and I chose an AK47 – what a thrill! We saw a video
there too that was extremely hard to understand, but the main idea I got from
it was how terrible Americans are; understandably, there is some serious
animosity towards the United States and until recently, Americans were not
allowed into Vietnam. After a really hot and dirty time at the tunnels I
showered and relaxed in the air conditioning for a little before heading out
for a walk and some street food.
Day 3
Even though I was so close to a ton of things around the
city, I decided to sign up for a day tour because I am fantastic at getting
lost and it was so cheap and easy. I do not regret my decision because I had a
great tour group! There were only 6 of us and we ended up having 2 tour guides
for the day. I met three girls from the Philippines; Bles and her two daughters
Kelly and Krystel. Krystel is close to my age and went to school to be a chef
and recently completed a year-long internship in New York – so cool! They were
so nice and took me under their wing for the day and it was so nice to just
laugh and chat with some girls after talking mostly to guys for the last couple
days. I also met two guys from Thailand; Tum and Coffee. They were hilarious
and I could hear Tum’s laugh all day. Our tour guide was really funny and
knowledgeable and it was awesome to have such a small group to learn with. My
favourite stop of the day was to the War Museum; it was an immensely moving and
powerful monument to the Vietnam War and was definitely a worthwhile visit. A
bunch of us went out for roti and walked around the markets and Ryan and Jeremy
showed off their bargaining skills buying more ties that they didn’t need haha!
Day 4
Bright and early we headed to the Mekong Delta taking a 2 hour bus
there; what an incredibly relaxing day and fantastic way to unwind. I spent the day hanging out with two girls; Amalia from America who has
been living and teaching in Korea (Gangnam) and Gillian from Scotland. We took
a boat ride along the river and I found a hammock in the back of it that no one
was interested in and it was so lovely and peaceful. We had lunch at an island
of pork, egg and vegetables and then went to a gorgeous island where they make
coconut candies and keep bees. After holding a giant snake, we took a short trip
in some smaller boats down the river to see some local folk singers. Overall it
was a gorgeous day and the perfect end to my trip.
Yangshuo and Guilin
I actually made it onto the night train this time! I stood
and bothered a man until he got mad at me and then he passed me on to a girl
who helped me find my little bed. I slept soundly until about 530-6ish and arrived
in Guilin at 6:30am, then hopped on a bus to Yangshuo (side note: it was good
to know I was on the right track, but having at least 10 people yelling at me
to take their bus to Yangshuo that early was a little crazy haha) and arrived
there about 8am. Sam came to pick me up on his moto and took me back to Fun Sam’s
B&B that he runs with his parents.
Day 1 - Yangshuo
I rented a bike from Sam and spent the day trekking around
and admiring the area. The mountains are unlike anything that I’ve ever seen
before and I was content to just ride around and take in everything around me.
I ate some different food at the side of the road including fish on a stick,
corn, cucumber, and this egg patty type thing, and shared a cute moment with 3
women eating watermelon with them even though we couldn't talk to each other. Then
I made my way over to the shopping area on West Street and bought some
souvenirs and dresses, and also just walked around the river where it was
gorgeous. I was pretty tired after the night train so I had a nap and then went
back to West Street to see the market at night. There were a million more
people there and the feeling is just completely different than in the daylight.
I went to the Kissing Fish Spa there where you put your feet in a tank of fish
and they sit there and “kiss” your fish clean—an interesting and very ticklish
experience!
Day 2
I started my day off with a delicious breakfast of toast,
eggs and melon made by Sam’s Dad and then headed off with my tour guide, Mo,
for a bamboo raft down the Yulong River. This was probably one of my favourite
things in Yangshuo and had me smiling and feeling so relaxed. Mo speaks English
very well unlike all of the other raft guides that we met that day and I was so
grateful for that. He was so funny and told me about his 11-year-old son and
dreams to open up a hostel in a more secluded area on the Yulong. He pointed
out different mountains and told me about their history and what things they
look like (including a bunny, frog, Buddha, and thumb) and wasn’t afraid to
question what I said in English so he could learn more. After the tour, my bike
was waiting for me at the end so I rode over to the Moon Hill. Sam told me this
wasn’t worth it because it’s just a mountain, but I’m so glad that I decided to
go here because the view was unbelievable. It took me about 45 mins overall and
by the end of it I was hot, sweaty and exhausted so I made my way over to the
Gold Water Cave to get out of the ridiculous heat. It was the perfect remedy
for my tired body to enjoy a mud bath followed by hot springs. I’ve never seen
stalagmites and stalactites before either and it was really cool to meander
through the maze of underground tunnels. I opted to take a tuk tuk back to Sam’s
and arrived just in time for Sam’s mom to make some dinner for us – dumplings,
beef, chicken, pumpkin and some other interesting dishes (chicken feet and I
think what might have been pig penis hahaha). I relaxed a little and cleaned up
before heading back out for the Liu Sanjie outdoor light show. It was really
cool to see them do some cool things on the river with lights, costumes, and
folk music and I met some nice girls who want to be foreign teachers of Chinese
as a second language. I came back and had beers with Sam and some of the new
people around the B&B; Rob, Rob, Chris and Mangolin from the Netherlands.
Busy, but amazing day.
Day 3
Woke up to a wonderful noodle breakfast compliments of Sam's
mom again and decided to go back to West Street for one final souvenir stop.
Then I took an express bus back to Guilin, which was one of the most unpleasant
experiences as the window had bugs constantly crawling out of it. I had a
couple hours to spare before my train so I went to see Elephant Trunk Hill. To
be honest, it was just so-so and I wasn’t that impressed with the park it’s in.
I love elephants so it was cute to see a park dedicated to them, but the price
was not worth the experience in my opinion. I was exhausted after walking
around for a good 2 hours and fell asleep pretty quickly on my night train.
However, in my sleepy stupor I managed to misplace my camera and I’m pretty
sure I left it on the train. Thus, no pictures to show for my breathtaking
trip, but as they say here "the rice is cooked" and it is too late to do anything about this now. At least it happened at the end of my travels, and I am in a good place to buy things for an extremely low price!
Maybe it makes me a bad traveler, but I think I’m ready for my arrival back in Canada soon and I’m glad I have some more solid plans ahead of me. The
traveling has been unbelievable and I’m going to deeply miss Asia once I’m back
on the other side of the world.
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