Vietnam: The Land of Smiles? Not Really.

First impressions being what they are, Vietnam has not made a good one. The people are very confrontational and Hanoi is littered in scams and copycat businesses. More on all this in a second...

Though they have some very fundamental differences, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos' similarities are much more striking. The countries are in varying states of disrepair but by and large the people operate on the same wavelength and share a similar amiable disposition. Though I had a hunch, I had no idea how different Vietnam was from its neighbors to the west.

This country's history is filled with war and conflict and its people show it. On my first day here I was ejected from a street side eatery for deciding not buy something after hearing the price and had a woman refuse to sell me an ice cream bar because even though I wanted chocolate (which was 3000D), apparently, I pointed at coffee which looked exactly the same but cost 1000D more. After the confusion was settled, she still wouldn't sell it to me and I had to leave ice cream-less. Some people seem to be exceptionally nice and helpful while others are just as rude so I'm still keeping an open mind and hoping that my first impressions are wrong.

The scams here are also really intense and one always has to be on top of things. I already saw one girl perish and this story is just too good not to tell. Knowing the cab from the airport to central Hanoi was going to be expensive, I decided to try to recruit some people to split it with me while I was on the plane. The first person in on this venture was the Canadian girl who got swallowed by Hanoi fresh off the flight.

After following some guy across the airport parking lot and over a highway to a cab that had just pulled up, we were safely on our way to Hanoi for less than it would have cost if the cab had picked us up from the terminal. I had read that for any business with a good reputation, there are countless establishments with identical names trying to capitalize off the success and that finding the one you want can be difficult. The Canadian girl told the cab driver that she wanted to go to a place called "The Hanoi Backpacker's Hostel" and he acted like he knew exactly what was going on. For the record, this place is one of the most popular hostels in town and every cab driver knows of it. In any event, he stopped a place called "Backpackers Hotel" which was clearly not the right place but he and the man that rushed out from the door tried to convince her otherwise. I made sure that she knew it wasn't the right spot but the Old Quarter is small and she should be able to walk to it without a problem. After asking her if she had a map and if she would be alright, we made plans to meet 2 hours later at the backpacker's hostel for a beer and the cab driver took me to my destination (although not really, he dropped me off about 2km away telling me it was just around the corner and trying to screw me out of an extra $2). I showed up right on time but she was no where to be found. The staff at the hostel hadn't seen her either and it was pretty clear that she never made it. Poor girl got owned by Hanoi on her first night.

My hotel wasn't exactly on the up and up either. Even though I made a reservation and paid a deposit through a hostel booking website for a dorm, they still didn't reserve it and had none available for me when I got there. After refusing to pay $15 (instead of 5) for a room to myself, they offered the room to me for the same price as the dorm which was so uncontrollably awesome that my head almost exploded. No really, after traveling in this region for almost 3 months, never in a million years would I have expected that offer. Things did turn sour though as soon as I moved into the dorm though. After begging them to turn the air conditioning on in accordance with their advertisement and description of the room, they finally relented with big smiles explaining that their number one priority is to make the customer happy (shoulda been my first tip off). Everything worked great till about 2:30am when I woke up in an oven because they decided to turn it off (presumably to save a buck on the power bill). After waking up completely soaked in sweat and pleading with the most uninterested night manager in history (who, by the way, elevates douchery to new heights), I was left with nothing else to do but just wait it out. That really sucked because I was beginning to get pretty sick and I had to leave early in the morning for an overnight boat trip in Halong Bay but hey, I was the one who babbled on and on about the hardship involved in travel right?

I'm not really bitter about it anymore but it is still nice to rant when someone finally succeeds in screwing you over after narrowly avoiding so much other chicanery (no idea where that word came from... just popped into my head the other day and after looking it up, it seemed to be a perfect fit). But anyways...

All of this considered, there is still a lot of really impressive scenery here and though the jury is still out on the people, I have barely left Hanoi so it is way to early to make any judgments. This is getting pretty long and I still have many thoughts about Vietnam but those will come later after I have been here awhile. I leave Hanoi tomorrow night for a town up in the mountains called Sapa with the sole purpose of summiting Mt. Fansipan in one day even though most people say I can't. If nothing else, it should make a good story.

Keepin on Keepin on

Things I've learned while in Asia part 1:
1. Roosters don't only make noise in the morning. They do it... all... damn... day... long.
2. The single most versatile object ever created was the plastic bag.
3. No tourist should EVER wear one of those Vietnamese conical hats... those people look utterly ridiculous.
4. There are all kinds of stuff out here that will give you a rash of some type... fortunately there are also “Thai strength” topical steroids which will clear anything up in a day and a half.
5. I am way, way too punctual for South East Asia.
6. Thai/Cambodian/Lao karaoke music videos cease to be an interesting cultural phenomena as soon as you are forced to listen to them on every bus in the region. Pro Tip: Using your iPod to create your own soundtrack to these ridiculous videos however is a lot of fun.
7. Cold showers can either be the best, most refreshing, thing available or quite frankly, a religious experience.
8. Though air conditioned buses and minivans are available almost everywhere, getting one with functioning air con is the stuff of legends. Most times the driver just doesn't turn it on despite any advertised claims.
9. On the streets in any large town, one is just as likely to smell freshly served noodle soup as they are to smell raw sewage.

I board a plane tomorrow for the first time since I flew from Texas and I'm quite excited for this experience. Hanoi is 30+ hours by bus or just 1.5 hours by plane and I've finally decided to open my wallet in the name of convenience. Since that last flight, I've taken 14 bus rides, 7 train rides, 5 boat rides and even one in the back of a truck... I think it's time to mix it up a bit.

The last few days in Luang Prabang have been a total blast. I arrived here just in time for the Pii Mai Lao (Lao New Year) celebration where the entire town turns into one huge water fight. It was an awesome experience and detailed descriptions and pictures will get to Flickr as soon as I get a fast connection (probably in Hanoi).

The Mekong River has been a pervasive feature of the last couple months and I leave it tomorrow for the last time. Since March, I have never been too far from the river and I've been constantly reminded of it's ability to sustain life all throughout this region. I'll have to head down to the banks once more before I leave to smell its disgustingly pungent life giving waters.

So long... for now.

You too can travel the world on a shoestring... Ask me how!

I knew I would write something like this eventually, I just had no idea it would come so soon.

It wasn't until I found myself sitting around a fire on an island in the middle of the
Mekong having a pseudo-intellectual discussion with a Canadian about Buddhism while a buffalo was butchered not 10 feet away that it all finally hit me...

The point of travel lies not in what one may see but in the wonderfully bizarre experiences that fill every day. It was never about checking various landmarks or countries off a list but rather about jumping into situations that one could never get at home. Every so often, a moment has made me stop and think about how ridiculous (in terms of my perspective at home) it really is. And that is what it's all about.

It seems that everyone's predictions that this will be life changing, amazingly fun, eye opening, etc... have proven correct. Individual travel is something that everyone needs to experience and despite most people's beliefs, they really can.

I don't know a single person who could not handle travel on these terms. Everyone takes things at their own pace and comfort levels and if there ever was an activity that could be specifically tailored to every participant, this is it. One needn't be overly resourceful, stoic or vigilant in the face of adversity, everyone can handle the minor problems that spring up on any given day. Some handle it better than others but for everyone, it is a learning experience. What is the best way to learn a foreign language? Go live in a country and speak nothing else. And what is the best way to develop the qualities that I mentioned among others? I'm pretty sure it is stepping off an airplane by yourself in a foreign land with nothing but what you can carry on your back. The reward is indeed the journey, not the destination.

What's more, anyone can afford to do this. A trip like this is rarely immediately available to anyone and while it is all fun and games now there is plenty of sacrifice and effort that goes into getting here. Saving for a trip can be a marathon or a sprint and everyone does it differently. Everyone has heard that a journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step and in this case it is just looking at your current spending and changing a few things. It is so easy too. Cook dinner and bring your own lunch to work, cancel your cable tv and get a netflix account or simply try to avoid running up a monstrous bar tab every weekend. Whether it takes you 1 year or 10 to save, you will never regret having done so. The point is that getting to the open road involves some sacrifice and that's a very good thing because without it, travel would not be nearly as rewarding.

Lastly, quit deluding yourselves into thinking that a year unemployed will be perceived negatively or forever ruin any future career plans. I've learned that Americans (and myself included) generally have believed that taking a year to travel is either a waste of time or critically impairing to any job prospects. In so many other countries travel is not only encouraged but respected. I have no idea what is to blame for the American perspective but we must realize how much we miss by thinking in this way. We have spent so much time and effort building a cage in our minds that locks us to our current routine that it is so easy to forget that we have had the key the entire time. The hardest part of choosing to travel is the choice and once you realize that, everything becomes so easy.

I could wax poetic for hours or share tons of travel pictures and stories but none of this captures the feelings and rewards that independent travel results in. If you're still reading this then maybe you have thought about doing a trip like this before and all I can say is DO IT. Make that decision and start the journey today because honestly, what are you really waiting for? Go ahead and trade in your work shoes for a pair of hiking boots, your commute for that next bus ticket, and all of your bedroom furniture for a backpack. You'll be extremely happy you did because, to borrow some words from an amazing film maker, if you don't do it this year, you'll be one year older when you do.

That's all for now and if you take anything away from this post please realize that long term travel is something that everyone absolutely needs to experience. All you need is to make the choice.

-Darren 'Travel Evangelist' Donahue