travel embedded with life learning experience

little did i know, this litle hanoi travel made me thought a lot while experiencing tonnes of memorable experience.

it was a random idea brought up by my friend, "eh, why don't we go to ho chi minh?" after searching and googling through the airasia website, i suggested, why not hanoi? there's a promotion going. then, it was decided. i will be going with my high school friends: pc, andrew and ivan in july. while the plane booking was made few months in advance, the tour planning was done at the last week before we departed. all hail to mr ivan for making the necessary booking of tour. we did engage with a tour guide for the planning.

the first stop is hanoi. upon reaching the city, we are quite taken back when the question of "are you from china?" pops up at the airport during the immigration checking section. two vietnamese guys from the back of the queue investigate my friends with where are we from, what are we doing here and checked that our watches do really reflect malaysian time. i perspired a bit there. next up, we were greeted by our tour guide, Van ( pronounced as va-nh).

the first ride to the hotel is hell. the four wheel vehicle is moving at 80km per hour on the highway and the driver kept honking. he made the soft honks. during the journey, it was found that the honk is meant for "watch out, i'm coming. please make way." because the motorbikers really take their own sweet time changing lanes. i have to take several deep breaths to calm myself down. part of purpose of going away from kl is to avoid the jam but little did i know hanoi traffic and honks made it to a whole different level.

later on, we reached the hotel. van decided to bring us around for dinner. we walked a bit and stopped at a no name street hawker. i was intrigued. where is tables and chairs. after some vietnamese chat exchanges, she told us they will bring the table and chairs out. oh okay. but where are we sitting? she said right here and we are standing in the middle of pedestrian walk. that's awesome. while i do eat street food in melaka, sitting in the middle of the pedestrian path tops it all and the motorbikes are just parked beside us. and the pho is nice with the rich pork soup taste. recommended but i have no idea how to recommend to you as there is no shop name.

eating like a boss on the pedestrian path

next day, we are schedule to visit halong bay, one of the main reasons we visit vietnam. to get there, we have to be ready at 730am for the tour guide to fetch us as we will travel a few hours by bus to reach the bay. i have no idea what does halong bay looks like due to time constraint for research. as we reach, the awe-inspiring view just took my breath away. all in all, it is a relaxing cruise. plus i get to attempt fishing in the middle of night under the glittering stars. my most favourite activity of the moment. after 20 min of no fruitful labour from fishing, i headed up to the deck and lay down and rest, overlooking at the moon and myriads of wishful stars. i feel calm and serene at that moment. lovely.

picture from the deck

halong bay view during the cave hike

the scene my friend resembled LOTR. too bad, yours truly did not watch LOTR, yet a mystical view

after the cruise for two days, we are heading to SAPA, the village area in the mountains. journey requires sleeping in the cabin train. another first experience. i manage to sleep soundly but waken up with a sore throat and knees. what is this? we are greeted by a friendly and cheerful tour guide, May. she speaks fluent english. we are up for 2 days hiking. on the first day, i was unwell, tired and my legs are sore. i did finish the climb down the mountain and for the up part, i took the motorbike. wheee. a good deal considering the headache is worsening.

sleeping in the cabin train for the first time. wheeee

on the second day, i was feeling better and decided to join the tour. we talked a lot with the tour guide. suddenly, i feel a bit sad. their lives are not easy. facts: she has to walk one hour just to meet us from her village. she has no free time. all her time is either cooking, bring tours, harvesting the crops, going to jungle (which takes 7 hours) for planting another crop or cutting woods in the jungle. despite all this, i admire her cheerfulness, positive outlook and perseverance. silently, i sent a mental note to myself, "if she can do these with all the hardships, i believe i can do better with my life too. all i need is a positive attitude and hardwork."

I can do this too if she can

later, a friend got upset when she noted another friend had different view on the lives of the natives. the other friend thought they have a good life because they are contented. i think he lacks empathy but i don't judge. empathy is not something you can teach, it is something you have to experience to have it. to me, you can't change the fact that they are in such a condition and they have no option, but i like my tour guide as she exudes cheerfulness, positive outlook and hardwork. i admire her as a fellow friend. she learn english solely from tourist and her english communicative level will put some malaysians to shame. this is what you get when hardwork is put in. we bought a small little gift for her. the thought of tipping her crossed our minds. however, she did say all her money earned from bring tours are given to her mum to help out with food and the basic necessities hence the small gift.

outside May's house

our tour guide, May

the natives

after sapa trip, it is time to go back to hanoi for some shopping and dining. one little thing that deserves mentioning is definitely coffee in vietnam. they are rich and have a fine chocolate smell in it.

the boutique coffee shop discovered randomly. they served us a cup of luwak coffee

ps: this travel really makes me learn widely, wonder wildly and experience excitedly. thank you.

thank you little vietnam for all this life lessons and many first times experience

(images courtesy of mr ivan lee and miss chong)