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.
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