Vietnam
W O W !!!!!! I am sad to leave.
My concept of time is so skewed. I’ve only spent 13 days in Vietnam, but I feel like I was in Thailand a YEAR ago. I love experiences that make you lose track of time! And I love traveling for its ability to make you feel like you’ve lived 18 lifetimes.
Our first few stops were Vietnam’s big cities: Ho Chi Minh, Da Nang, and Hanoi. Although I am not a big city gal, it was cool to be immersed in the world of trendy, futuristic, Asian cities. I am somebody who spent $8 every morning on coffee back home, and this was a habit I was happy to cut out while abroad. However, as all bad habits tend to, this one came roaring back. I more than doubled my food budget on café spending alone. Coffee culture is huge here! I tried all the classics: egg coffee, salted coffee, condensed milk coffee, and every variation of matcha that exists. I was not once disappointed. My bank account had some shame to cast, but if I close the RBC app, all my financial worries just disappear! Funny how that works.
Speaking of shame… my gosh did I feel the third degree at the Ho Chi Minh War Museum. I should have done my research before buying a ticket, because I couldn’t even make it through the first exhibit. I’m very squeamish and averse to anything related to war, violence, or suffering, and I learned afterwards that this museum is often called the most disturbing in the world. Subjective, of course, but I understand why. I believe it’s very important to learn about history, especially the dark and ugly truths, and now more than ever, but I just did not have the stomach to process what this museum was showing. While Sarah and Andrew toured inside, I sat outside doing my own research, making sure the significance wasn’t lost on me. I still educated myself, just differently. Less visually.
The Vietnam War is totally glorified in North America, portraying the U.S. as this hero swooping in to save the day, but the reality is so much more horrifying. WE ARE TERRIBLE PEOPLE. Well, Canada refused to send troops, so plus one for us, but being a white person in that museum still felt terrible. To be fair, I wasn’t actually in the museum... We also visited the Cu Chi Tunnels, which is where and how North Vietnam defeated the South and the U.S. This, I could stomach. It was fascinating to see first-hand how strategy and ingenuity defeated brute force. I’m not celebrating the continuance of communism, but there’s one common element across all the suffering I’ve learned about while abroad that I’ve found profoundly uplifting: the extent of human resilience. How people have survived. Where they lived, hid, and fought; what they ate; who they prayed to, revered, and followed; what they built and established; how they adapted, and endured. This is the aspect of history that has captivated me. It also puts into harrowing perspective what some communities still face today. This is what has touched me most on this trip, and Vietnam stands out as the most powerful example yet.
The tunnels themselves were expanded by 30% post-war, and still, I was the only one in our tour group who could fit in them. I got to wiggle through. How thousands of people lived down there, I genuinely do not understand. Above ground, there were still massive indents from bombs dropped. Old booby traps, as well.
On a lighter note, we made a day trip to Hoi An to see the ancient trading town and lanterns on the river. It took a lot of restraint not to spend eight bajillion dollars here. This is souvenir central. Instead, what I’m gifting to you all is my entertaining bi-weekly newsletter <3 Can’t put a price on homemade!
It was hard to miss Thanksgiving back home. It’s my favourite holiday, my birthday falls right around it, and fall is my favourite season! Good thing it comes around every year. I can be thankful anywhere in the world. I cannot, however, get pumpkin pie anywhere in the world. Somebody needs to introduce pie to the Vietnamese. Really, it’s the least we can do. Tragically, on my birthday, I got very sick. It was bound to happen. I still don’t know what I had, but I’ve never been more grateful to quote John Candy, “we can laugh about it now, we’re okay”!
Aly was always the barfer in our family. If we got sick, she’d be the one sleeping by the toilet. I’ve never envied her until this moment, where I just wished I could’ve thrown up whatever the heck was invading my body and gotten it all out quick. Instead, my body chose to COOK it out. Literally. I was a human furnace. You could’ve fried an egg on my skin. I was damp to the touch. I’m talking beads of sweat. There was a time where I said no to medicine, swearing off even Advil and Tylenol, and thought I could just naturally will my body to cure itself. If it got really bad, maybe throw a herbal tea in there. While I acknowledge now that medication exists for a reason, I did have to reach into the depths of my adolescence and dust off that mentality because I could not afford a medical bill. I had the most hallucinatory fever dreams though! I might’ve messaged Drew at 3am saying I was ascending into heaven… gave him a good scare. Sorry. Well hey, at least I know I’m going up and not down when the time does come. All of this because I chose to forego health insurance. What can I say, I’m just a picture of pristine health and coordination at all times, as you can all attest to, I’m sure. So, if sweat I must to kill bacteria, then sweat I will. The body is a wonderful thing. I am all better! A win for immune systems if I’ve ever seen one. I don’t recommend this method. Get health insurance.
In Hanoi, the highlight was train street. An operational passenger train runs through a narrow street lined with restaurants, and you can eat dinner and watch the train pass centimetres in front of your face. It’s funny how everyone’s all over the tracks until a little man sees the train and blows a whistle. On my last day in Hanoi, the day I started solo, and a day I felt alone and homesick, I gifted myself a Vietnamese massage. It was insane. Muscles I didn’t know I had feel loosened. It was 2 hours long. At one point, I was twisted and cracked like a pretzel. I closed my eyes and drifted into my imagination. My favourite thing to do! A state of relaxation I thought was only achievable for monks entranced me. This little Vietnamese woman knew what she was doing, and she did it phenomenally.
My last big undertaking in Vietnam was the Ha Giang Loop. This was one of the best experiences of my life!!!! It was a four day motorcycle tour around the mountains, rice paddies, and villages of northern Vietnam. It was incredible. This was a mix of feeling like a kid riding a bike downhill without training wheels for the first time, a teenager laughing with new friends in a camp cabin, and an adult lifting a glass of wine to cheers at a family dinner table. I felt like I was living at the intersection of all of these realities. Less abstractedly, I feel like my longings for whimsy, adrenaline, connection, and maturity all collided. I think this experience was exaggerated for me because I had been feeling pretty intimidated and unsatisfied by all the big cities, and finally got this huge rush of everything I’ve been looking for on this trip. I’m an over-romanticizer, sue me! The Loop was also a chance to get a peek at an authentic, rural lifestyle in Vietnam. Who knew water buffalo were as useful as they are?
All in all, it was just a really wonderful few days. I wanted to stay. I felt young and old and happy and nostalgic and excited and peaceful and exhilarated. It was a really hard goodbye. To be fair, it was an abrupt drop-off because I was leaving the mountains, new friends, and also Sarah and Andrew. But, my solo trip has officially started. I’m feeling jittery!
With love and optimism,
Aledabeda
Peruse, if you would like! https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B245nhQSTHoJMzW
