Find yourself a friend that will book plane tickets with you on a whim, without plans or question. For me, that friend is Leanne and for the second time in the short span I’ve known her, we booked plane tickets on a whim. The destination- Hanoi, Vietnam.
Our adventure started with some stress, a snafu and eventually, a second to none situation. After what we can only assume was a mistake by the bus company, we ended up alone, on a charter bus for an 8 hour ride to Yangon. Myanmar transportation is reliable, enough, but I wouldn’t go as far to say it’s comfortable. The buses are usually crowded, filled with smells of weird food, feet, or vomiting and the trip usually is an extra hour or two long because of all of the seemingly unnecessary stops that are made. So, having our own private charter bus and taking only 1 lunch stop, was a much appreciated start to the trip.
In Yangon, we boarded a plane and rode the hour and forty-five minutes to Hanoi, where we were greeted by Leanne’s brother, who lives in Hanoi. From the start, this trip was filled with so many firsts for me. Also, from the start, I loved Hanoi. It is a city filled with Vietnamese culture, traditions and food; but, it is also a city filled with Western culture and food. It’s the best of both worlds, where you can experience a new culture while having the comforts of home. And I’ll be honest, I really miss the comforts of home.
We spent a few days exploring Hanoi. We rented bikes and rode around the lake, where I was in awe of the variety of cuisine from Mexican to Indian and more. We went to a traditional Vietnamese water puppet show, which was unlike anything I have ever seen before. While the puppeteers stand behind a curtain, they control the puppets with a long stick in the water and the puppets dance on the water and tell stories to the most beautiful and interesting traditional Vietnamese music played by a live band. We checked out the nightlife, which to my surprise was similar to what you’d find in America on any busy bar street. Speaking of streets, Hanoi’s shopping is concentrated on the streets by goods sold. So, all of the shoes can be found on “Shoe Street,” all of the electronics can be found on “Electronics Street,” and so on. My favorite street of them all “Chicken Street,” a full street dedicated to grilled chicken. You can smell it before you can see it. Once you enter Chicken Street, you will see open-fire grills filled with sticks of chicken feet, thighs, wings and more. After picking your vendor, you sit down and order, but ordering isn’t essential on Chicken Street, because servers continuously walk around with chicken on sticks and you just wave the server over and take what you want. There is also this deliciously amazing grilled, smashed bread coated in honey. Seriously though, Chicken Street takes the cake for best street in Hanoi.
After a few days in Hanoi, Leanne and I boarded a train to ride two hours to Nihn Bihn, an undiscovered gem. This was my first train ride, and it was awesome. Ninh Binh and the surrounding area is a backpacker’s heaven, it is quaint with so much to do and so much to see. On our second day in Nihn Bihn, we took a boat ride to Trang An, an UNESCO World Heritage Site. During the 2.5 hour ride, we were surrounded by hat-shaped mountains, temples, pagodas, caves, rice patties while paddling our boat in the clear water. We also visited Bich Dong Pagoda, which is said to be one of the most attractive landmark’s in Ninh Binh and the second most beautiful cave of Southern Vietnam. For our last adventure in Ninh Binh, we woke up at 6am to climb the 500 steps up Hang Mua Mountain to see the incredible view. The view was well worth the effort, even though we were physically exhausted from a lack of sleep. On top of the mountain, there is a panoramic view of Tam Coc Valley, limestone mountains and local countryside. It was about this time that I had to pinch myself to make sure that I was really living this crazy, adventurous life.
During this trip, I not only fell in love with Hanoi and it’s surrounding areas, I also fell in love with the backpacker’s lifestyle. It was the first time I’ve truly experienced going somewhere, with very little plans and just seeing where the adventure takes me. Many of the experiences I had during the week in Hanoi and Ninh Binh were new, and the sense of first was so exciting to me.
One of my favorite books, which inspired me to take the leap of faith to join Peace Corps, is Leon Logothetis’s book The Kindness Diaries. Leon felt unfilled by his 9-5 job, so he took a journey around the world, on a yellow motorcycle, determined to survive on only the kindness of strangers. The need for adventure has been a spark inside of me, reading The Kindness Diaries fueled the flame, and sorry mom and dad, but this trip to Vietnam ignited the fire. I am still in disbelief that this is the path my life has taken me down, but I am so grateful for these experiences and I am hungry for more.
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