'Nam

Due to my extreme laziness, combined with a rather hectic and busy travelling itinerary, I have completely foresaken my blog over the last month or so. But I have come this far, so I might as well keep on truckin. Vietnam was one of my favorites for sure. As I flew into Saigon a.k.a. Ho Chi Minh City, I noticed 1,000's of scooters plowing along through the streets, with no apparent order whatsoever. And that's basically what it is. I think there might be rules and traffic lights and stuff, but nobody really takes them seriously. I saw this firsthand right away as I elected to go with the cheaper and much more dangerous option of taking a motorcycle taxi into town instead of a proper cab. After some hard negotiating, we were on our way, weaving in and out of the mess of scooters. I'm pretty sure we came close to violent collisions with other bikes or pedestrians numerous times, but the driver seemed oblivious or uncaring of this. My hotel was pretty decadent, complete with a full buffet breakfast and the coldest AC imaginable for a cool $15/night. This was one of the more expensive rooms I've had on my trip so far, but I figured I deserved it because....no wait, I didn't deserve it at all. But anyways, it was great! From there I did a couple tours. The first was the Mekong Delta, which was pretty cool, but nothing too incredible. The second was the Cu Chi Tunnels, which were much more fascinating. The tunnels were built during the war by the Viet Cong to escape the American air bombings. After being told that the tunnels had been doubled in size since the war to accomodate fat western tourists, I was shocked to see just how small they still were. I crawled through 100 metres of them, and there was one point where I had to lay completely horizontally and drag myself through using my elbows. This was not good at all for my claustrophobia, and it was a massive mental effort to not lose it completely down there. There is no way that a tour like this would fly in North America, that's for sure. I emerged from the tunnel sweating buckets, and ecstatic to see the light of day again. I can't believe the VC's actually lived down there! To make things more spicy, the tunnels and surrounding areas were littered with booby traps like collapsing floors that fell on to razor sharp bamboo spikes. Other than that, a great place to live, I'm told.

After Saigon, Mark (a buddy I met on the Mekong Delta tour) and I signed up for a bus pass that would take us all the way North up to Hanoi, stopping along the way at Na Trangh and Hoi An. Little did we know, these were overnight buses which must have been manufactured in the deepest realms of hell. They were the smallest, most uncomfortable beds I have ever seen. But even if they were queen sized pillow topped beds, they would have been no match for the insanely bumpy roads. Combine that with a driver who has an alarming penchant for honking (I guess he forgot his passengers were on the sleeper bus), and it means you are getting no sleep. Despite this, Na Trangh and Hoi An were beautiful places, and I wish we would have had more time to spend there. Luckily, I'll be going back there with my Dad next month!

Hanoi was decent but nothing spectacular. I did manage to find an Air Force Museum there, which had some really cool planes helicopters on display. They even had a mig that you could get into. And for $5, you could suit up in a VC pilot uniform, complete with helmet and gloves. I had to do it!

What makes North Vietnam so spectacular are the areas outside of Hanoi, like Sapa and Halong Bay. Halong Bay has some of the craziest looking cliffs/mountains I have ever seen, standing almost vertically out of the ocean. I did a 2 day, one night package where I got to sleep on the boat. I befriended some travellers from England, and at night we got involved in some heated card games, complete with a healthy supply of booze. This went on late into the night on the deck of the boat, under a star-filled sky. Nice.

In Sapa I did some hiking through some beautiful hills with rice paddies. I did a village homestay, where you stay overnight with a family from the village. Although it sounds like a very cultural experience, I'd be lying if I said it was. It was basically a barn with 20 or so mattresses spread across the floor on the second level. There was a family there, but we really had no interaction with them. It was still a blast though. We had some great local food, and they even had karaoke there. As it turns out, our guide was a little too fond of the drink. He got absolutely smashed and hogged the karaoke for most of the night. Quite a spectacle. It was pretty funny though.

Overall, I loved Vietnam, and especially the friendliness of its people. Can't wait to go back!