one small wanderer ☾: Welcome to Vietnam

The journey South from Vietnam’s capital Hanoi is usually done by bus or on a motorbike. The journey is incredibly beautiful, with a glowing coast-line boasting various sights including miles of deserted beaches, abandoned houses, school kids on bicycles, street vendors, palaces, slums, tourist resorts, palm trees, conifers, buffalos, rice paddies, traditional river boats, monks, temples and karaoke bars etc.

My return trip from Hoi An to Hanoi will stay in my mind forever and proofed to be completely different from the initial journey down South. At first I traveled alone from Hanoi to Hue on a night bus, which was initially supposed to be 13 hours (including a toilet), both of which were a lie. The trip ended up taking 19 hours as we spent nine hours at the police station whilst they searched our bags. Whatever they were looking for they didn’t find it and we were eventually allowed to continue our journey.

Once I arrived in Hue, it became a quite a historical day, walking for four hours in the royal palace and the beautiful gardens. Hue was great, although I didn’t feel like staying more than one night and really couldn’t wait for the morning and my bus to Hoi An.

The city of Hoi An exceeded my expectations and gave me more than I could have desired. On the first day I was asked by the shy and cute boy to play ‘featherfootbag’ with his friends. Although the game wasn’t easy and I screwed up a couple of times it was still fun and afterwards we went and drank some beers. The night was filled with talking about life, looking at each other, telling stories and sharing experiences. I knew right away that we would have a lot of fun together, regardless of how many days we would be able to spend together.

As the days went by in the company of my new friends I felt more alive than I had ever known possible. I drove to nearby beaches, ancient temples and the ruins of My Son, all on the back of my new companions motorbikes, sharing the amazing Vietnamese countryside with buffalo and cows. Although I had spend almost a week in Hanoi before going South, it didn’t really teach me much about Vietnamese life and culture as Hoi An did, and I would therefore recommend a visit to the beautiful ancient port city.

our motorbike gang

My real great adventure began when the boys asked me if I wanted to go back to Hanoi on their motorbikes and you can guess what I said. The trip was amazing as I saw and felt so much in just one week and ended up falling in love with travelling on motorbikes. I cannot compare anything to those few days and I look forward to being able to drive again with somebody hopefully in Cambodia. After arriving in Hue, the boys sold their motorbikes and we took a night bus back to Hanoi. Once again it seemed that my luck with long, unfortunate and somewhat amusing bus experiences in Vietnam was back. A supposed one night turned into a 36-hour trip that we ended up spending on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. We spend 24 hours in this one family style restaurant (which meant they cooked us noodles and gave us beer) and were marveled at by tons of Vietnamese toddlers and schoolchildren. A couple of daring Vietnamese girls came to me and Jordie and asked for his Facebook name and took photos of us with them. Now there are photos of me looking like a homeless crazy haired girl on the Vietnamese girl’s Facebook page. Haha great..

What happened to the bus and the reason why it broke down, nobody knew or bothered to tell us, but we kept drinking (because there was nothing else to do), playing with the street kids and chilling. About fours hours before we were on the move again someone told us that it was the engine and the wheels that needed repairs. It’s no wonder that the repair took 24 hours, especially since the driver himself did the repairs. Once again I was exposed to the common practice in Vietnam where if something breaks, you fix it yourself and one shouldn’t expected another bus to pick you up at midnight in the middle of nowhere, quite unlike Finland.

At last we arrived back in Hanoi at four o’clock in the morning and without sleeping went straight on a one night boat trip to Halong Bay. My friend from Finland was waiting for me in Hanoi and we all went together. It was beyond beautiful and life on the boat was amazing with great food and gorgeous views. The previous night we ‘slept’ in a large for-bed bunk bed in the back of the noisy bus, so I decided to have a really chill time on the boat. Halong bay was great and definitely worth a visit , although a little freezing at night and quite cloudy.

This beauty at night, Halong Bay.

Vietnamese people treated me very well and the only problem was the cold, which was my fault as I had given all my warm clothes to my friends in Pai. The nights were so cold that I was forced to pull of the homeless look, which I think went quite well putting on all my clothes at the same time. Two weeks in Vietnam were enough for me, but I could have totally travelled further South to Saigon if I had more time. On the other hand back here in the warm Ko Lanta is keeping me happy.

What Vietnam taught me was to love and be happy no matter what. I had so many good times, especially with my travel mates. Driving a motorbike on the coastline was a dream come true. Crazy dancing with funny bartenders. Smiling Vietnamese children. Toothless old ladies. 36 hour bus rides. Sleeping outdoors. Round fishing boats. Hoi An’s stunning atmosphere. Deserted beaches. Broken buses. Broken motorbikes. Too many free mojitos for ladies. Cheap rates. And last but not least an incredible new friendship that will last until we see each other again and over and beyond.

Thank you everybody who made those two weeks amazing.