Wow my final days in Vietnam have come to an end... Sad :( For reasons unexplainable to me I have a very soft spot in my heart for Vietnam and all the people I met along the way. In my last 10 days in Vietnam I spent my time travelling south, hitting some cool places.
Hue is the old capital city of Vietnam as it sat in the centre of the nation. Although I only spent a short period there I learned a tonne of history from a pretty cool tour guide named Thanh. I had booked the tour online and it turned out no one else signed up that day so i was lucky enough to get a private tour. In Hue you will find the Forbidden City where the emperor used to live, surrounded by the great walls of the citadel, Tu Duc's Tomb, and of course some more pagodas haha. I think I can take a serious break from pagodas....I've seen enough for now. The tomb was wicked, turns out emperors will often design their tombs while they are still alive and use them as a second palace until they pass. The 3rd emperor was told by a famous and well-known fortune teller of his time that his tomb would be dug up. This bothered the emperor very much and before he passed he gave instructions to bury his tomb almost 21 ft underground rather than the usual 9. This prediction in fact came true when the French invaded the nation. Tomb raiders came and attempted to dig up the emperors tomb in search of jewels and riches but their attempts failed- they couldn't find it. Much later it was discovered to be buried much deeper - cool hey?!
Hoi An- My Retail Therapy stop!
Still bummed out about leaving Hanoi I set out to spoil myself silly in this spot. I got clothes tailored, I rented a hotel to myself, and I hit the spa - massage and a pedi yes please. Hoi An is known for their abundance of tailor shops and they do line the streets. It was kind of fun picking out designs and picking fabrics, then the fittings. I needed 3 to finalize one of my dresses. its so impressive how quick they can whip these clothes togetherand I think the quality is quite good- we will see how things hold up :) they also made it incredibly easy to send a little package home. This obviously allowed me to buy more stuff! This turned out to be Good and bad haha. Again It was a quick stop with one night in this quaint little historical town before a night train to my first beach destination- Nha Trang
Nha trang- very busy beach place- not my favourite. I had one full day there and booked a tour of the islands. It was cheap and entertaining and fun to meet some people. I met some great people from the UK and had some incredible conversations. It's such a change meeting and talking with fellow travellers because you each have your own stories, you each have something new to bring to the table and we each share such different perspectives!! At home often I feel conversations are superficial and lack depth or meaning. When you're out travelling though everything is an experience you can't help but participate in substantial conversations- I love it :):) there is always something more to learn
Ooooh Mui Ne my second beach stop. I loved this place almost instantly. It is much quieter than Nha Trang and had a great beach bum feel to it. I could have crashed here for another couple days as well. But with limited time I managed to cram in some serious sun tanning time and an afternoon tour of the sand dunes. The time in the sun gave me a gorgeous little glow to move onto Indonesia with. Although some parts were a bit more pink than others...ok alot more pink :P haha The Dunes were pretty cool but they covered a very small area. It's an incredible landform and I had never seen anything like it before buuuuuut I think for me to really appreciate it I need to check out the real deserts in the world. These just wouldn't do it justice. It does add another dimension to the Vietnamese landscape- they literally have it all. Mountains, jungle, rice terraces, urban sprawl, cave systems, beaches, desert! It's phenomenal.
Final stop- Ho Chi Minh City
I don't think I can really say I went to HCMC, I booked in for one night and then was in a tour all day to the Cu Chi tunnels about 65km outside the city. But I did notice the sheer size of this city aaaand I dont know if it would be my cup of tea. But who knows I will reserve my judgements of the place since I didn't experience it enough for myself.
The tunnels were pretty cool. My guide was an old war vet who had actually fought for the American Navy but was Vietnamese himself. There is lots to share about the tunnels but too much to share all at once here. One thing I must share is that I shot a gun!! At the shooting range at the Cu Chi tunnels I was able to shoot 5 bullets from a Carbine. The sheer volume of a gunshot shook me to my very soul. I felt very uneasy with the power of a gun in my hands- it's such a weapon of destruction. It was cool to try and awesome to say I've done it buuuuuut I have no desire to pick- up any other gun.
-----------------------
Leaving Vietnam was sad and I am already planning my return. All the potential bad things I have heard from tourists never happened to me. I never felt I was scammed (well not in excess), I always felt safe and in control and was confronted with nothing but amazingly friendly Vietnamese people. I was over the top so fortunate during my travels it astounds me. Of course I was apprehensive about travelling alone in Vietnam- sounds a bit intimidating doesn't it? But it was more than i could have hoped for.
Some people find the Vietnamese people "hard" or pushy or often rude. I didnt receive this feeling at all. Sometimes their way of speaking is more abrupt or forward but it's part of the culture, and often I think us westerners are fooled by the language barrier. With less English to explain what they want or need from someone the harder it is to articulate, so they stick with the easy words "You go now" "You pay now" etc. Think how hard it is to learn a new language different from your own and try and communicate with such a variety of other cultures, personalities and dialects of English. It would be extremely tough so I constantly kept my patience to the max and I never once felt frustrated or conned. I received such welcome greetings in EVERY place I was at it was unbelievable. In Nha Trang despite being there for barely 24 hours All the staff knew my name and I felt they were legitimately happy to see me. Such a great feeling.
My advice for fellow and future travellers is to keep an open mind. Everyone has their own experience, and more often than not it is what you make of it. One person may have loved one place and you may hate it or vice versa. Each experience is different for each individual. When you fill your head with expectations and plans the potential of being let down and disappointed is much greater. When we enter a situation- any situation- with an open mind, patience, and minimize our expectations we are open to so many more possibilities and experiences. Nothing is impossible if you are open to every possibility.
My next and final lag of my Asian adventure is in Bali, Indonesia!
No comments:
Post a Comment