3.5 Weeks Solo Traveling Vietnam – North to South backpacking itinerary (March 19-April 13)
Itinerary: Hanoi – Ha Giang – Sapa – Hanoi – Cat Ba – Ninh Binh – Phong Nha – Hoi An – Ho Chi Minh City
Vietnam was a country I was drawn to visiting and it turned out to be one of my favorite countries on this 6 month journey.
The highlight was the Ha Giang loop, a four-day, three-night motorcycle journey through northern Vietnam. I was a little nervous beforehand – what if I didn’t vibe with my group, and then I’d be stuck with them for several days? My fears turned out to be unfounded. The tour began in the town of Ha Giang, where a river cuts through town with a gorgeous mountain backdrop. The morning the tour was to start, the hostel was chaotic. There were dozens of guests and not enough food at breakfast to accommodate everyone. Soon there was a shortage of cutlery and seating as well. You were simply to wait around until someone approached to tell you which group you’d be going with. The group leader finally approached and gave me a green and red wristband. I went outside with my backpack and started to chat with the few others who shared the same colored wristbands. In total, we were a group of 8. A guy from Greece, 2 university students from Germany, a woman from Finland, a couple from Israel and a woman from England. As for our motorcycle drivers – they selected us. They attached our backpacks to the motorcycles and off we went.
Soon we were winding through rural villages and expansive landscapes, and complaining about our very sore bums. Every 20-30 minutes we stopped at a viewpoint. This was our opportunity to order from numerous types of coffee – salt coffee, egg coffee, coconut coffee. The latter became the addiction. Strong & sweet, we were soon buzzing from the caffeine and sugar. At each meal we would chit chat and slowly get to know one another better. In the evening there was karaoke with other groups also doing the loop. There we drank beer and sang loudly to the lyrics, or watched in amusement as a group of Germans joined in to sing a popular local hit. Afterward, I wandered the local village we were staying in and noticed a large group of people dancing. I joined in, dancing to La Bamba with a bunch of random strangers.
On day 2, the landscape became more dramatic. Limestone karsts jutted from the earth, more impressive than anything I’d ever seen. Next stop was a waterfall. Lots of people were jumping from a ten-foot ledge. I looked at Sam, my new Greek friend, and nodded toward it – signaling that we should do it, too. We ventured out of the cold water and climbed to the top. Suddenly what seemed like not such a big drop looked ominous and terrifying to me. Having read or seen too many accidents, I was also scared about slipping and falling. I told Sam to go first so I could see how it was done. He jumped in but I couldn’t get myself to follow him. I began to descend but then looked around and saw the crowd below encouraging me to do it. I noticed a few women in my group also egging me on, including shouts from Sam. I took a step down onto the ledge and jumped. I swallowed a ton of river water but felt elated – I faced my fear and survived.
High on life and coconut coffee 🙂
Journal snippets:
Hoi An
I keep darting from town to town… meanwhile I feel like I could easily spend more time in Hoi An a few extra days. Playing pickleball, doing workshops, taking time to write more. Look for real camera. Look for cheap computer or keyboard. But because of wanting to make it to Cambodia for Choul Chnam Thmey (New Year celebration), been rushing this whole time. After I want to stop rushing and take my time more. Focus on relaxing more; slowing down; getting stronger; meditation, stretching, yoga; fitness classes; write on blog; get to know places better. Test out a new lifestyle that I may just want to make permanent. I should keep following my dream until I no longer want to do this anymore. For now the fire burns strongly. I am deeply in love with travel and who I am when traveling. Every part of me feels like its functioning at a higher level.
Ninh Binh boat ride view
Ho Chi Minh City aka Saigon
This city is insane,a million scooters it’s like Hanoi on steroids. I don’t know how people scooter or drive here let alone walk the streets. I walked today and felt dangerous crossing streets even when the light is green. It’s total madness. People just honk a lot. But I like the craziness because it’s different and new and stimulating.
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Talking to a friend I realized I may have been buzzed earlier from insanely strong coffee; like this morning at the hostel it was so strong I had to ask for more condensed milk. But now I am just so buzzed on life. I’ve laughed more in the last two weeks than I have in the past two years.
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Walking tour – so bad. Barely learned anything. Said a sentence here or there and sometimes no idea what he said. Didn’t particularly vibe with anyone and ridiculously hot so split from group and came here myself and even though ran into one girl who offered to join them I declined. With age has come more confidence and self knowledge.
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I think key in life is to build friendships and connections and travel is the best way to do this. To go to other countries and see that kindness is universal. That even someone who never met you before – someone who may not even speak your language, who grew up on other side of world, has less material possessions, will extend a hand and smile to you and show you kindness for no reason other than they want to help a stranger, from the goodness of their hearts. On this trip so far- girl who offered me ride on her scooter to old town in Hoi An; guy who loaned me his scooter to buy petrol in Cat Ba; Ethan giving me probiotics, Sam helping me on Ha Giang loop to fix my backpack and not leaving me behind; Japanese woman who returned my lost phone.
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On my way back from dinner played with sweet little boy slapping me five and lifting him in air and he laughed. Mom let me play with him and photograph him and then he even offered me round ritz looking cracker from small bag in one of those push carts and so blown away at this woman who offered to share food when they looked so poor.
