6 Days in Vietnam: Arriving in Hanoi

I just finished editing, selecting, and posting my photos from my recent trip to Hanoi, Vietnam. As I sorted through them, I couldn’t keep from smiling. It really was a fantastic trip—a true holiday—and a great opportunity to see more of SE Asia. I don’t pause often enough to consider how cool it is that I live in Cambodia. That I’m a few hours plane ride to places like Thailand and Vietnam—and many more places I won’t get to visit (on this stint, anyway!). Never in my life did I think, or dream, of coming here. Yet, here I am.

Hanoi was beautiful. So green. So alive. So…different. Choosing Hanoi was kind of random. A couple of months ago I found a great deal on the discount airline, Air Asia. My roommate and travel buddy, Kerstin, and I made a quick decision and bought tickets that weekend before the deal expired. Then, we started to research Hanoi! The goal of this vacation was, essentially, to vacate. We’d been in Cambodia for five months and wanted to get out and see new places. Despite what I have previously written about being a ‘planner’ and ‘researcher’ (see posts on Koh Kong), my only planning for Hanoi was reserved for plane tickets, hostel reservations, and reading a tiny bit about a trip to Halong Bay (on the hostel website=not much). Kerstin did most of the reading up on Hanoi and told me it would be fun. That’s all I needed to hear!

I was (unusually) quick to blog about day one of our trip, a brief overnight in Bangkok. Seriously, I would have been content to relive that evening or something similar and call the vacation a success. It was pretty great. We did, however, have a plane to catch and a new country to explore! At 5am on Friday, we crawled into a taxi and set our sights on Vietnam. Driving to the airport in Bangkok before sunrise reminded me of the many similar rides I took to the airport in Rome, Italy. This would be the first of many instances where I wondered, “Where am I?” Eurasia has taken on a whole new meaning for me!

Please let us in?
Airports are airports. Yet, my experience in the Bangkok airport (smooth, uneventful, calm) was pretty nice compared to Hanoi! It seemed that we were never in the correct line! After running around in circles, we finally made it through customs. Thankfully, it was early in the day and we weren’t in a hurry. We also had the chance to chat with other Westerners as we all wondered what exactly we needed to do to get into Vietnam! With visas approved and passports stamped (I love getting my passport stamped!), we claimed our backpacks and exited the Hanoi airport in search of the “shuttle bus” that would take us into the city.

Despite the confusion with getting through customs, the transportation area of the Hanoi airport was quite organized! There were signs! And people in uniforms! We learned, after failed attempts to get information from random taxi drivers who approached us, that the people in the yellow dress shirts work for the airport! A very nice woman, in a yellow shirt, greeted us, asked where we were going, and directed us to the appropriate vehicle. We climbed into the front seats of a mini-bus that, once completely (and I mean every jump-seat) full, would take us into the heart of downtown Hanoi, just a few blocks from our hostel. At $2 a person, this was a great way to go!

Dodging a Scam
The mini-bus stopped a couple times as we made our way into Hanoi and most of the passengers, who were residents, got off before us. At the last stop, the driver and a helper, told the foreigners (me, Kerstin, and a German couple) to stay on and they would take us to our hotels. Nice!—or so we thought. The couple was dropped off first at their hotel. Then, the helper guy was asking us lots of questions about our hostel: did we have reservations (yes), did we get an email from Mark (um, maybe?) because he knows Mark and he’s a really nice guy, and so on. After driving a little further, we stopped on a street that wasn’t our hostel’s (I had been following street signs closely), another guy opened the van door and said he was from the hostel. I showed him our hostel confirmation and then he proceeded to tell me that they were full, but he knew another place that could take us. Um, what? I don’t think so! He pointed to a sign that said “Hostel” and said that was the place. I then told them that this was not the correct address and I wanted to go the “Hanoi Backpackers Hostel” on Ngo Treung Street. That’s when the helper guy said, “Oh, that hostel. Sorry, I was confused.” Yes, he was confused. And I was annoyed. The “helper” and the other guy got out. The driver then drove us a couple blocks, stopped at a random intersection, and we got out. Unfortunately, that “direct” ride to our hostel didn’t quite work out. But, we didn’t get sucked into a scam!


My First Cyclo Ride
Free from scammers, we stood on a corner and tried to figure out where we were and how to get to our hostel. Soon enough, a kind, older cyclo driver walked up to us and offered his helped. He said he knew the street and would gladly take us there in his cyclo! We crossed the street, saw the cyclo, and then wondered how in the world we were going to fit Kerstin, me, and four backpacks onto the little chair pushed by a bicycle! He insisted we could fit, so we climbed in! And, technically, we did fit—and I took pictures to document the fact! It was a slow ride those few blocks to the hostel, but I think our driver only had to get out and push twice. The $2 ride gave us a chance to relax and take in the street sights of lovely Hanoi! And this time, we made it all the way to the hostel—the right one at that! ...And I got my first cyclo ride! (I'd been wanting to ride on in Phnom Penh!)

Hello Hanoi!
Entering the hostel was like stepping into an alternate universe. We had entered “Backpacker World”—and I felt a little out of place. We checked into our room: a dorm-style room with bunk-beds, individual lockers, and a bathroom just for our room. This was definitely the cleanest hostel I’ve ever stayed in. At $7.50/night it was a great budget saver as well. While in “check in” mode, we signed up for the 3 Day/2 Night Tour of Halong Bay that we had checked on the hostel website. The Australian guy who signed us up (one of the owners) insured us that we were going to have a great time. We were ready!

At the airport in Phnom Penh, I stopped by the bookstore to purchase a street map of Hanoi. Instead, I paid a little more for a guide book (with really good maps). It was at the airport in Cambodia that I began my research of Hanoi. There was a whole section called “Cafés”. I’m pretty sure I read that section first! So, for lunch on our first day in Hanoi, we walked a couple of streets over from our hostel to Cafe Puku, a slightly hidden place popular with expats. The food was good, the atmosphere was chill, and we were just happy to finally be in Hanoi!

As soon as we began our street tour of the Old Quarter, I met one of the “tourist traps” found all Hanoi: I was “Yoked.” A sweet Vietnamese woman was selling bananas and pineapples from the yoke she carried on her shoulder. I’m used to street vendors, right? I smiled at her as she approached me and shook my head, “No, thank you!” Before I knew it, she had placed her yoke on my shoulder, put her hat on my head, and said “You want a picture?” Sigh. Since I was already set, I handed my camera to Kerstin for the picture. Then, because I’m nice, I bought two bananas (not the whole bunch that she offered me!) and vowed to stay away from all yokes for the rest of the trip! Even though I felt tricked into the whole thing, the picture is pretty cool!

Later that day we attended the popular Water Puppet Theater, a traditional Vietnamese art. Puppeteers stand in a waist-deep pool of water behind curtains. Beautiful music and song accompany the show as the puppets, on long poles, dance and swim in the water. It was fun to do something that was just about Vietnamese culture. I enjoyed just walking around--and being a place where we could walk! The sidewalks were wide and clean. There were lots of little shops to explore (and buy things!). There are lots of trees and parks in Hanoi. All the green was welcome sight! For dinner that evening we hit up another entry in my handy guidebook and enjoyed lots of new food! We took our shoes off, sat on cushions around a low table, and asked our waitress what to try! While the ingredients in Vietnamese food are very similar to those in Cambodia, the flavor was really different! After a yummy dinner, we found a cyclo to take us back to the hostel. Back at the dorm, I packed my bags for the trip to Halong Bay the next day. I climbed up into my bunk bed, chatted with my mom on Skype, and fell asleep fast! It had been a long day, but such a good one!

Precious Mia

There are many posts waiting to be written about my recent adventures to Vietnam, but first I have to share this sweet picture of my niece, Amelia Marie Williams. She was born one week after my birthday (fun!), on July 20, 2009. She is one of the top people who makes me homesick--and I haven't even met her yet! I so look forward to December when we get to hang out!

My mom and dad just paid a visit to Miss Mia and her parents (my brother and sis-in-law) in Atlanta, Georgia. The picture below is my new favorite and currently serves as my desktop background. Her smile makes me smile. Mia is a blessing to me just for that!

Hanoi Trip, Day 1: An Evening in Bangkok

I love traveling.

I love traveling and especially love flying. Today, as I was gazing out at the clouds while the plane glided from Cambodia to Thailand, I was again amazed that I get to fly. God is so good, so kind to me that He would allow me the privilege to see the world from up above. I can go from one country to another in less than 2 hours. And I can travel half way around the world in a day (or two). What a blessing! I pray that I never get tired of staring out of plane windows with amazment--and praising my God for loving me so much.

And he blesses me with the whole package of traveling, not just flying. Like luggage. (A quick shift to the material, I know.) I like buying new luggage (see my $13 North Face knock-off below). I like deciding what to pack--even if it keeps me up until 2:30 in the morning. And I really like planning the details of the trip: finding good deals, researching hotels, figuring out the transportation, and learning about where I'm going on my next adventure.




















[My $13 backpack purchased at the market in Phnom Penh]

Today I left Phnom Penh on a seven day adventure to Hanoi, Vietnam. This trip initially began as a venture to Laos, but reading about 24 hour bus rides made staying a week in Hanoi look really appealing. The great airfare I discovered a couple of months ago required an overnight stay in Bangkok before flying to Hanoi tomorrow. So, day one of heading to Hanoi begins with Bangkok!















[The busy shopping (and modern) shopping center just around the corner of our hotel]


My faithful travel buddy is, once again, my roommate Kerstin! When we first spoke on the phone (maybe in March?), we talked about wanting to travel and both got excited about the idea of traveling together--and so we have!

After checking in to the hotel, we exchanged some US Dollars into Thai Baht at the shopping center above. We then wandered the night market stalls right along the street; we found our first souvenirs! Next on the agenda was dinner and a movie...and our long lost friend Ronald McDonald met us at the entrance to the movie theater!




















[Ronald and me giving the traditional Thai greeting. He's so polite and adapts well to other cultures!]


After a quick and delicious meal at McD's, we headed upstairs for a movie in a real movie theater! And after the movie, we went back downstairs to grab some Oreo McFlurries!




















[Major Cineplex in The Mall (I really think that's what it's called) near our hotel]

And that, my friends, was a pretty great way to start off a trip! Now I'm off to bed (in my comfy, clean, air conditioned hotel room: JL Bangkok Hotel) and praying that my 5 hours of sleep will feel like 8. Our taxi comes at 5am tomorrow and the flight to Hanoi leaves at 6:45! Hmm...maybe I'll have time to hit the Starbucks at the airport...

Koh Kong: Part 2

Arriving in Koh Kong

We arrived around 1:30pm in Koh Kong City. "City" is certainly an overstatement, but the spattering of storefronts, small guesthouses, and traffic let us know that we had reached our destination.

The information about our hotel said that the bus stop is just 20 meters away. So, I thought that the bus would stop right by our hotel and we would walk on over. It turns out that there is a main bus depot for Koh Kong City where all of the buses stop (there are several bus companies that go to and from Koh Kong). We arrived at the station with no idea where we were. I tried to talk to the moto drivers to find out how far away we were from the hotel. Several drivers hounded me as Kerstin waited to get her bag from under the bus. They, like always, followed me around asking where I was going and if they could drive me there. Eventually one of them came up to me and said he knew the hotel. (1 out of 10—not a good sign.) I still had no idea how far it was and, therefore, what was a fair price to get there.

I decided to call the owner of our hotel, a nice Australian guy who I had spoken with the day before to make the reservation. I figured he could tell me what to tell the moto driver. I told him we were "in the middle of nowhere" at the bus station. He said the hotel was just about 5 minutes away and, to my pleasant surprise, he offered to come pick us up! It was a nice break to be in a small town and already have friends! Grant, the Aussie, was there shortly and filled us in on Koh Kong on our way to the hotel.

The Hotel

My definition (and expectations) of hotels and other travel accommodations has been altered by my four-plus months in Southeast Asia. There doesn't seem to be a set standard. Some website and travel books use star ratings, but I'm pretty sure the stars are given at random and probably after someone has paid for a good rating. I didn't see many "star" ratings for hotels in Koh Kong. In fact, in all of my internet searching, I didn't find many hotels to rate. I typed "hotels Koh Kong Cambodia" (and variations of my search criteria hoping to produce more and new results) and found the same web pages over and over again. So, I visited them all, trying to find out as much information as I could about visiting mysterious Koh Kong.

One of my friends had been to Koh Kong before and recommended the Dugout Hotel (run by Grant, mentioned before). The Dugout does not have its own website, so I relied on the one photo and blurb online, as well as the information from my friend, to make my assessment. There were a several things that influenced my decision to choose the Dugout Hotel: 1) It was cheap. (Kerstin and I shared a room: $15 per night.) 2) It was on the main road. (This ended up being essentially insignificant upon our discovery of the actual size of Koh Kong.) 3) It had a restaurant. (Nice to know there is some Western food nearby.) 4) It had a pool. (We love to swim.) 5) My friend said it was good. (This was probably the greatest influence.)

We were greeted kindly by the Cambodian staff at the small hotel (12 rooms) and checked in. Grant led us through the hotel to our room at the back. The rooms opened onto the "courtyard" and the small swimming pool. We had the biggest room in the place, which included: a king-ish sized bed, a large TV (with sporadic cable access), a wardrobe, a small couch, and a coffee table. There was air conditioning (yay!). The bathroom was off of the back of the room, with screened openings to the outside; this means no A/C (not so uncommon in Cambodian hotels). Everything about the room and the bath was clean and in decent shape. The bathroom, however, left much to be desired—the water pressure was pretty low, poor tiling on the floor meant that it was always wet, and it got a little musty and hot. The bathroom aside, we had everything we needed and we slept very well every night—mostly because we were exhausted!

Friday in Koh Kong

After we settled in to our rooms, we headed back out to the reception desk/restaurant to get some lunch and figure out what do with our afternoon. Lunch at the Dugout was okay. I think I was a little optimistic and ordered the Fish & Chips (I mean you can wrong with a meal that is completely fried). Unfortunately, the fish just tasted weird. So, I ate my fries and perused the brochure and booklet about Koh Kong found at the hotel desk. We got excited about a couple of things we found until we realized that half of the booklet was about Sihanoukville, not Koh Kong. Apparently everything that I had read online really was the "Complete Guide to Koh Kong."

When we had check in earlier, Grant mentioned that he had a friend who rented out motorbikes by the day. I think that, originally, Kerstin and I planned to take our helmets for when we would ride as passengers around Koh Kong. When we found out that we could rent our own motos for $4 per day, we changed our minds. With Cambodian driver's license in hand (or wallet) and a meager amount of experience, we asked Grant to call his friend—moto drivers we would be! A few minutes later, two Cambodian men drove up in a pickup truck to take us to a guesthouse/hotel run by one of the men and his wife. Mr. Neat was a former police officer and now owns a hotel and organizes tourist trips around Koh Kong. He spoke English well, was very hospitable, and gave a deal on our half-day rental. We signed a rental agreement, agreeing to pay $1000 if the moto was stolen while under our care (apparently Mr. Neat had had some problems with shady tourists), and away we went!

Part of my reason for visiting Koh Kong was to check out some hotels for the upcoming staff retreat. Kerstin also wanted take a look at a possible place for her family to stay if they went to KK during their visit here in December. So, we used the most detailed map in the booklet and just drove around! The light traffic and wide streets gave us the extra confidence we needed for lots of driving practice and our most extended solo moto rides yet. We went to the riverside, found a couple of the hotel and went inside for a look, stopped and bought gasoline out of a barrel from an old man, and quickly realized how small Koh Kong really was.

My favorite part of the long, afternoon ride was when we drove out to find The Oasis: a cluster of bungalows, surrounding a serene swimming pool, and bordered by palm trees. I remember running across this place during my pre-trip research and thinking how lovely it looked and sounded. It only had about 10 bungalows, so it wouldn't work for the retreat. It turns out that Kerstin's dad had come upon it online, as well, and told her about it. The route to the Oasis took us away from the paved streets of KK. The first sign we found for the Oasis had a foam board (broken in half) over it that read: "CLOSED for Rainy Season". Since we just wanted to see it and not stay there, we headed on down the road. We passed some road construction (they were paving the road!) and came to another sign with arrow pointing right and some indication of how many kilometers away we would find the Oasis. I've never been good at knowing distance and really don't know how far "5 km" is, but after dodging some chickens in road and getting some stares and smiles from the locals, we headed right.

The hot midday sun had settled down and the sky was turning a beautiful deep blue-gray color as evening storm clouds made their way in from the sea. We found ourselves driving past fields and small houses and more chickens. We didn't see another sign for the resort, so we turned a few different ways, went down new streets, and saw more lovely scenery. Once I remembered that we had no agenda, I began to make stops along the way to get out my camera and try to capture the beauty and the moment. After a little more driving, excited "hello's" from children, and more chickens, we asked a woman where to find the Oasis. It was just down the street! This street made me really feel like I was off-roading, but did in fact lead us to the Oasis! We peeked in the closed gates, agreed that it did look like the picture, wondered what it would be like to stay so far away from everything, and considered our mission accomplished!

Our ride back to the Dugout was simple (and we definitely knew our way by then). We stopped at a convenience store for some snacks, ate dinner at our hotel (much better than lunch!), took a dip in the pool, and hit the sack! Our trip to Koh Kong was already, most definitely, an adventure.