Backpacking in Halong Bay and Sapa, Vietnam

I spent two nights in Thailand after returning from Cambodia before I flew to Hanoi, Vietnam Tuesday night. I booked a 3 day / 2 night Castaway tour of Halong Bay and a 3 night / 2 day tour of Sapa with Hanoi Backpacker's Hostel. Unlike all of my other trips, I traveled alone this time.

I stayed at the downtown hostel (highly recommend) for the first night and was up early Wednesday morning to leave for Halong Bay. Traveling alone really made me nervous. When I arrived at the hostel the first night I was overwhelmed because of the newness of the whole situation. There were so many people, I was a bit sleep-deprived, and I was alone and unsure about what to do. I ended up just going to bed soon after I arrived hoping to be in a more social mood and feeling more comfortable in the morning.

There were about 25 of us on the tour and only a couple of solo travelers. It took me most of the first day to get comfortable with talking to others. It was a laid back group, I just am not the best at putting myself out there to meet new people. We went kayaking, played some games, and enjoyed the scenery around us. Some rules for the trip were that when we said the word "ten" or "mine" we had to do ten push-ups. They added up quickly and I figure I did over 200.

Halong Bay is full of over 3000 small islands. It's unlike anything that I've ever seen. There are many cruise ships because it's a popular tourist destination, but it didn't take away from the view. There are small fishing villages throughout the bay. While we were on the ship a small boat, rowed by a Vietnamese woman, came up to our ship. She was selling snacks and drinks to tourists on cruise ships and she just rowed from boat to boat in the bay. Unreal! I bought Oreos and Pringles because I was craving some Western snacks. Vietnamese food is nothing compared to food in Thailand. It has much less flavor.

The 1st night was spent on the ship and the following night on a tiny, private island just for our group. I went rock climbing, tubing, and swimming. At night the water had plankton that glowed. We slept in bunk beds in open huts with mosquito nets. No one was American and only one other person was my age, everyone else was pretty much finished with college and on a break from work. They were 23-29 and Canadian, British, Dutch, Irish, Australian, Danish, and German.

I got back from the hostel at around 5:30pm with just enough time for a much needed shower and dinner before I left on an overnight train to Sapa, Vietnam which is further north than Hanoi. There were 3 of us, one Danish guy had been on the Castaway cruise with me, and the other was a British guy. The overnight train was surprisingly comfortable and I fell asleep as soon as we started moving and woke up 9 hours later when we arrived. After breakfast we met our guide, Moo, an 18 year old hill tribe girl working and saving up to go to secondary school which I figure in Sapa is about the equivalent of college in the Western world. She said that the hill-tribe people learn their english from tourists. In Vietnam, a surprising amount of people spoke english.

As we started trekking, hill-tribe women with baskets on their backs and in traditional clothing tagged along asking us where we were from and our names. As soon as we sat down for meals we were suddenly swarmed with women and children trying to sell us bracelets, bags, and other trinkets. They didn't take "no" for an answer very easily. They would hang after for a while continuing to ask us to buy things and trying to wear us down until we gave in. It was rather annoying and we eventually just ended up ignoring them until they went away.

Sapa valley is breath-taking. Even though it was hazy I could see so far into the distance. It was endless rice-fields designed perfectly so that water runs down the mountains in such a way that all of the fields are watered. It was rather difficult trekking, lots of ups and downs, and I realized early on that I packed entirely too much although it was just one backpack.

My group of 3 stayed at a home-stay with 6 others from France and Spain. We had a delicious dinner and spent the evening trying to warm up by drinking unlimited rice wine, which is not especially good but got the job done. I slept in my warm coat that night and in the morning was wearing a short-sleeve shirt again. The second day involved less hiking, but the hiking we did was basically climbing a mountain at a 70 degree angle or walking through these narrow pathways that were very uneven and on the side of a cliff so the only way to get through involved stepping carefully, balancing, and holding onto bamboo trees. I was out of breath and extremely sore afterwards.

For the week I had little phone contact with anyone except the few times that I had wi-fi at the hostel. There were few people traveling alone, no Americans, and I tended to always be the youngest. I was nervous going into this trip, but it turned out to be a nice weekend, but I am very glad to be back in Thailand with my friends. I learned that I need to pack fewer clothes that all match with each other and I need to put myself out there to meet new people. I conquered a fear and learned that I'm not crazy about traveling alone. I love hostels and backpackers though. I am ready to start planning my trip backpacking through Europe for a few months now.

Bangkok to Siem Reap

I went to Cambodia last weekend and am just now able to get around to posting about it. I still cannot post pictures because I'm not back to Thailand yet, but those will come soon.

Traveling to Cambodia was much more difficult and frustrating than expected. However, it was worth it. The weekend trip involved about as much time traveling as we spent in the country. We were scammed trying to cross into Cambodia which resulted in us paying more money than we should have had to, and leaving a bad taste in our mouths from some of the locals, but it's all part of the experience. Traveling rarely goes without a hitch or two.

12 of us left the dorms at 5am to catch a 5:55 train to take us to the border of Cambodia. What would have taken 50 baht ($1.66) ended up not running because of recent flooding the tracks were too wet. A tourist company at the train station said we could pay for a van to the border, cross the border and then catch a second van to Siem Reap. It would take most of the day which was longer than we expected and 4 people decided not to go. With no other opportunity to go in the remainder of my trip here I accepted the fact that lots of traveling was part of being in Southeast Asia and the travel time was worth seeing one of the 7 wonders of the world. 8 of us paid the 750 baht per person and finally left at 7:30am. Three stops later at noon we stopped at a restaurant/tourist shop that gave us two options:

1. To pay them 1000 baht each and they would get us through to Cambodia in 15 minutes thus meaning we would be able to catch the 1pm bus that we paid for to Siem Reap.

Or

2. Go through by ourselves, wait in line, and pay 800 baht each to get our visas (it was only supposed to be $20 which is 600 baht) and miss the 1pm bus and have to wait until 4:30pm to leave.

It seems that those two rather long stops were timed so well that we could not go through the border without paying the company more money and still make the 1pm bus. We opted for the choice of going through alone. We already knew Cambodia's border to be especially corrupt, but I didn't think the "tourist" company we paid with in Bangkok would scam us. Not trusting them with our passports or wanting to pay them more money and play into their scam and potentially end up not making the bus and/or having fake visas anyways, we went on our own through the border. We were still hopeful about catching the 4pm bus that we had already paid for though. However, we made the mistake of not getting any tickets. We paid 100 baht ($3.33) more for our visas than we should have, because the Cambodian employees insisted and we didn't know any better. However, the process went rather smoothly and the men were really nice. They shook our hands as they passed us our passports back and the guy even hugged me! A surprising welcome to Cambodia since Thai people don't hug. 

For a short walk we were in "no man's land" which was full of casinos. In both Thailand and Cambodia gambling is illegal so these casinos were the only ones around. We stopped in for a bit and received free food and drinks while 3 people in our group played blackjack. At some point while we crossed no man's land the side of the road that cars drive on changed. In Thailand cars drive on the left side of the road and in Cambodia they drive on the right. I am confident that driving when I get back home may be a bit difficult at first. I'm not sure I'll even know which side is the driver's side at first.

While walking to the official Cambodian border a girl of about 5 or 6 walked up to me and tapped me on the arm pointing to something on my backpack. I didn't understand but just shook my head no assuming she was asking for money or selling me something. She tried again though clearly pointing to my water bottle on my bag. I passed it over and she walked away, chugging the whole thing. I have a weakness for children and in Cambodia education is free, however many children don't attend school because their parents pull them out so that they can make money selling things. As much as I want to support children, buying from them only pays right into the hands of their parents that keep them out of school. It's a really difficult situation and one that Thailand deals with as well. 

After making it across the border we were taken to a tourist bus station which was probably not the right one to go to. Cambodia uses American money and we were expecting to see ATMs at the border or at least at the bus station. We came with some American money for our visas but most of us had none and Cambodia, unlike Thailand, does not have 3 different ATMs at every corner. We were told we would have to pay to ride the bus that we supposedly paid for since we didn't have tickets and so we just paid $12 each for a private van that would be quicker and leave right away even though it was $3 more.

We tried to bring along two other ladies that had been scammed as well but even though we had "paid" for the van and had extra room refused to let the ladies on without them paying as well. Annoyed, we were finally on our way in Cambodia with promises of stopping at an ATM at some time in our 2 hour journey. The country is rural, poor, and beautiful. It's covered in rice fields which are like swamps with the greenest plants you've ever seen for acres and acres. I enjoyed looking out the window as the countryside whizzed by. It really gave me the opportunity to see a good bit of Cambodia in a short period of time.

An hour into the trip we stopped at a shop for 10 minutes that are stops that the driver is paid to stop at so the shop gets business. We didn't buy anything since we knew what they were up to and also since we still had no money. Around the shop were about 10 children. They came up to us asking for money, which we honestly didn't have. Two girls gave them some snacks and we watched from the van as they played, laughed, and smiled. These children have beautiful smiles and laughs. I watched they cartwheeled and posed for one of the girl's cameras showing their muscles and holding up peace signs. They took selfies and looked at pictures on someone's iPad and as we left waved and smiled those beautiful smiles.

The sun set during our journey to Siem Reap, and our day that had started at 4:30am passed by in and out of vans being ushered from place to place. We drove on the worst roads I've ever been on. However, the view outside the window was worth it. Our arrival into Siem Reap was very sudden and unexpected because huge, palace-like hotels popped up out of nowhere it seemed. For hours before all we had seen were rice fields and shanties.

Although we had all slept about 3 hours the night before, we planned to get up in time to see sunrise at Angkor Wat. We took a Cambodian tuk-tuk, which differs from Thai tuk-tuks because it's just a motorbike that pulls a carriage that typically seats 4 to Angkor Wat from our hostel at 5am. For $5 each the tuk-tuk was ours from 5am-1pm. It was $20 to get into the temple, which is a significant amount of money for Southeast Asia. However, Angkor Wat is one of Cambodia's sole tourist destinations and a country in desperate need of money. We made it to Angkor Wat just as the sun was rising. There were many tourists there and many restaurant and shop owners "helping" visitors by greeting them, giving them tips about the best places to see the sunrise and then telling them to stop by their shop (insert number) for breakfast after watching the sunrise. There was lots of hustling going on. People sold scarves, children sold magnets and postcards, men approached us in the complex to remind us that they had "helped us first" and we need to go to their shop now. During breakfast I received a smoothie with the glass covered in ants. My drink had a little extra protein. Three of my friends ordered scrambled eggs and toast. They received unpeeled, hard boiled eggs, cheese, and a baguette.  Breakfast was spent banging eggs on the table to crack them and then picking the uncooked yolks out so they could eat whatever was left. It was one of the funniest meals I've had in Asia. 

We visited a few other temples after Angkor Wat which I found much more beautiful and spectacular than Angkor Wat. One temple, Bayon, was covered in the head of the king at the time it was built. Ta Prohm is the temple that Tomb Raider was filmed at. It too was stunningly beautiful.

We booked a similar deal as the one we had coming for the way home, except this time we booked it through our hostel. In the mini-van from Siem Reap to Poipet (Thailand-Cambodia border) a man in our van emphatically told us that people were after him trying to kill him and asked if he could cross the border with us holding our hands. He seemed fearful of his life, but wary of getting mixed up in a really bad situation we repeatedly told him and that we were sorry but couldn't help him. I don't know what happened to him but after we got off the van we didn't see him again. We crossed the border and took transportation to where we were picking up our mini-van to Bangkok, coincidentally at the same place that tried to scam us when we crossed into Cambodian days before. Luckily, there were no shenanigans this time.

Coming home I was the lucky person with a seat in the very front which allows me to see all of the crazy driving of Thailand. Picture your average two lane rural road. Add a lot of potholes, some tuk-tuks, trucks with 10 people in the bed, 18 wheelers, motorbikes, and mini-vans. Now picture four cars side by side going on the same direction stretched across the whole road. When cars come by in the other direction they'd get over just enough to allow them to pass. Lots of swerving to miss potholes and dodge cars in the other direction. There are no road laws or cops to enforce them, it seems.

For the Parents (And Everyone Else Back Home)

This post is for the parents, the family, and friends of everyone at home that await the return of all of us that, at the moment, sound like we're never going to make it back home. Please understand, we're in paradise. We're having the time of our lives and we're growing and maturing more than we ever thought we would.

Five weeks ago I came to Thailand knowing no one. I had read everything I could get my hands on about Thailand, but reading about it just isn't the same as being here. I was nervous. "What if I don't get along with anyone? What if I don't like it there?" I thought. I think back to this now, and laugh. How could I not like it, and how could I ever not like people who were adventurous enough to travel to Thailand for a semester? Every day I see new things. I'm challenged in my daily conversations to question my beliefs and learn more. Everything intrigues me. I stop and appreciate the beauty of this country when I see the sun setting, a glittering temple, a magnificent view, or a beautiful child. I can't imagine leaving. Five weeks here and I've been captivated.

The reality that eventually we're going to leave (much sooner than we'd like) has set in. We've come to realize that we have limited weekends and still so much to see. The dorm has become a frenzy of planning the rest of our weekends. We're booking hostels, tours, and transportation up until our departure dates. And departures, well, those have been extended by all of my friends that have the ability to stay longer. Two of my friends have decided to stay another semester and four more have extended their trips up until the very last minute before they go back to school. Two of them are actually missing their first week of school. I mean, how often are you in Southeast Asia? It's totally worth it! Christmas and New Years here? Sounds amazing.

The rest of my weekends are planned out. Cambodia to see the Angkor Wat Temples this weekend, and I get to experience traveling alone to Northern Vietnam to see Sapa and Halong Bay next week. White Water Rafting for two days with one night camping in the jungle in Pai, which is in Northern Thailand, the following weekend. Laos, Koh Phangan, Southern Vietnam and the killing fields in Phnom Penh the following three weekends. Possibly Malaysia after that. Sometime around then I have finals, and then my dad is coming. What's supposed to come after that, I don't even want to discuss at the moment. I'm not ready to leave. It's been a month and a half since I've been here, and two months until I'm supposed to go. I don't want to leave this country, the people here, or this life that I'm living, which is an absolute dream.

I've experienced the exciting times. Going to the beach, spending a day with elephants, being a tourist at the Grand Palace, and becoming used to Thai culture. This second half of my trip is going to be spent appreciating. While I have a whirlwind of things going on, I will never have more time to spend learning about myself than when I travel to Northern Vietnam and spend 6 days surrounded by a new culture and only having myself to rely on, or when I travel to Cambodia and see poverty and desperation in the faces of the people around me. I am more blessed than I even know. I need to understand how others live their lives around the world, because it's no where close to how I live mine in the United States.

All that's on my mind is that fact that I could stay another two weeks and go to India. I could see my Dutch friend, who I rarely get to see, studying abroad in Bangalore, travel with a few other friends that couldn't stand the idea of going home any sooner than necessary either, and spend Christmas and New Years in a country so foreign that the celebration itself won't be the only thing that's overwhelming. But it's more than that. I spoke with someone that traveled to India two years ago and described the experience as one that really opened his eyes. He said it was hard to see the kids in the street all alone, and the absolute poverty that existed. He said it really took time to process what he witnessed.

Below is an exert from a blog I read written by a solo female traveller that fell hopelessly in love with India:

India has always been the destination of most serious seekers, from Jesus Christ (apparently) to Mark Twain; and The Beatles to Ram Dass. I once asked Swami Brahmdev why India is considered the most spiritual country on earth and he said it was because the extremes could be found in such abundance: extremes of darkness and degradation to extremes of lightness and beauty. "India is the soul of the world," he told me

To travel well in India, I think you need to adopt a certain attitude. I think you need to see yourself as an explorer and a student; and to see everything that happens as an adventure and a teacher. IF you are ready, willing and able to open up to what I call "the magic of India," you might find yourself fallling hopelessly in love with the country as I did.

Her blog is found at http://www.mapsofindia.com

"You don't visit India for it's beauty," a friend said. She described her need to go to India by saying that she needed to see it because of the poverty and the culture. She's not going to see the Taj Mahal, but to meet the people, understand their lives, and see how the rest of the world lives.

The thought of leaving this country and these people that in one month I've fallen in love with, is miserable. Culture shock never really hit me when I came to Thailand, but reverse culture shock upon my return is what I really fear.

Extending my trip two weeks gives me enough time to return home just in time to see my family for a few days, pack up my things, and start a new semester. That's all I really need. Besides, if I don't do it now, when? It'll be years before I get the opportunity to come back.

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." Marcel Proust

Friends, School, and Weekend Trips

This semester has been one of firsts. I never imagined that I'd make the friends that I have. The people studying abroad here are adventurous, world travelers, passionate, experienced, and intelligent. I'm constantly learning from the people around me. I researched vegetarianism and am giving it a shot thanks to some of my friends here who were vegetarians and vegans and were discussing the benefits of it for your body and the environment. It has been a week and counting now since I began. Surprisingly, as a sophomore I am one of the youngest students studying abroad. Only one other girl that I know of is a sophomore. A large amount of students are juniors and seniors, but older than the average college age, 23-26. We all are very different, coming from all over the world, with different interests, majors, and perspectives. I love it! I'm learning about school and life in Germany and am constantly hearing German, Spanish, and Dutch spoken in addition to Thai.

I'm getting used to not being tied down my phone and also not having much time to myself. Especially in my dorm, there is a very social atmosphere. If I'm in the dorm then I'm either sleeping or in the common area discussing travel plans, skyping, or gossiping. Getting used to school has been a bigger adjustment than I thought. People are always in the common area chatting, eating, working out, planning trips. or watching TV. It makes it difficult to study here. I stay up too late and have to get up and go to the library before class if I want to get any schoolwork done. All of my classes are an hour and fifty minutes. They involve a lot of lecturing. Professors hand out their powerpoints. Thai students tend to be late to class, chat with each other and play on their phones during class, and generally don't participate. My grades are basically made up solely of the midterm and final. Returning back to my home university next semester is going to be difficult because I'll not only have more classes but they will be much more rigorous and demanding as well.

This weekend I stayed in Bangkok for the first time. I visited the Grand Palace and went shopping. It was a pretty uneventful weekend and very few international students were here. I'm not planning on staying here anymore weekends because there is not enough going on. There are so many places to go visit that are easy weekend trips that there is no need to stay here. Next weekend I'm going to Cambodia to visit Angkor Wat temples, and the following week I'm taking advantage of a holiday, taking off a couple of days of school and going to Northern Vietnam to trek through Sapa and visit Halong Bay. I'm going on this trip alone because a few of the people I normally travel with are going to Myanmar, and the others, unfortunately, have midterm exams right in the middle of the trip. I am nervous, but I think that it will be good for me to be on my own and meet new people. I will be on organized trips so I will not be completely on my own, but it should be a good experience. I have two unplanned weekends at the beginning of November. I'm thinking I may go to Laos and then maybe somewhere in Northern Thailand for the following weekend since I have not been there. Mid-November I'm going to Koh Phangan with a large group of international students and after that there is only a week or so of school left before final exams in the first week of December. I can't believe how much time has already passed. I'm enjoying my time here so much and know it will be hard to leave this country and the people I've spent my time with. Until then, I'm continuing to take advantage of all of the opportunities that I can.

Picture from the Grand Palace this weekend! We had to wear our school uniforms in order to get in for free. It was so busy and hot. 

A Lesson in Thai Culture, Etiquette, and Daily Life

Thais take their shoes off when entering a house or office. The King and Royal Family are beloved and must not be talked badly about.

Very few Thai people speak english and for those that do it can be very difficult to understand what they're saying. I feel like I'm constantly playing real-life charades.

There are a lot of street dogs. The city is smelly. A mixture of exhaust fumes, trash, and rotten food. There are squatty potties here, which are basically holes in the ground. They generally smell bad and are awkward to use. I get genuinely excited when bathrooms are clean, have running water, toilet paper, and/or soap. It's a rarity to find a bathroom with all of those things.

Thais don't eat breakfast food like we do in the states. Their breakfast is the same as their lunch and dinner. Buying traditional breakfast food here is always expensive because it's not in high demand. There are no food standards here, so when I come home I can eat anything and everything, anywhere. Thais love smoothies, green tea, fruit, rice, and noodles. Portions are small though and all of the foreign students struggle with getting enough to eat. We always are ordering multiple dishes.

The only items taxed here are cars and houses so they are outrageously expensive. Most Thais drive motorbikes because that's all they car afford. Motorbikes don't have to follow the road laws of cars so they drive on both sides of the road and on the sidewalk. Motorbike taxis are one of the cheapest forms of transportation, but I haven't been brave enough to take one yet.

Thais aim to have white skin and so Thailand beauty products are full of whitening agents. Why, you may wonder? People with dark skin work outside all day, which means they have less money and are of a lower social class. Thai girls wear a lot of make-up. Thais have long, complicated names so nearly every Thai has a nickname which to native english speakers are very unique and funny. Earth, Jeans, Moss, and Pry are a few examples of nicknames of students in one of my classes.

Ladyboys are boys that dress, act, and for all intents and purposes are girls. Many even get surgery to become a female. There are very popular in Thailand. Sometimes it is fairly noticeable that someone is a ladyboy, but often times it's not very easy to tell them apart. They often walk in a very feminine way and draw their last word ("ka" for girls, "krap" for boys) "ka" out more than a girl normally does. Most Thais are fairly tolerable of them because it has become so popular. There are a lot of ladyboy shows here, which from what I've heard are like drag shows.

Already I've become so accustomed to so many 'Thai' ways of doing things that it doesn't stand out to me as different anymore. It was rather difficult for me to write this blog post because I was struggling to remember what things stood out to me when I first arrived here. Still, I am always learning things about Thai culture that are new and surprising. I'll keep you posted.