Another Travel Post: We Get It, You’re in Nam.

Everyone and anyone that follows me on social media is probably sick to death of hearing about my trip, seeing the pictures, or watching the stories I consistently post on Insta (@gingerdoes, shameless plug). But if a blogger went on a holiday and didn’t post about it at least twice, did the holiday even happen? So yes, face it kids, I’m in Vietnam and you’re going to hear about it- or rather, read about it.

I’ve always wanted to come to Vietnam with my bezzum (and newly titled photographer- you can thank her for the snaps on insta and on this blog), and we finally booked it earlier this year. We did, however, book it as a pitstop quick trip before heading to Bali for three weeks for some serious beach bum time. So with only 10 days in Nam, we had a sense of needing to rush everything we did- until we got here.

The trip can be split more or less into three parts; Hanoi, Halong Bay, and Hoi An. To save you reading the Lord of the Ring length post in which I write about all three in one go, I think I’ll split it into three parts. So this post is better titled;

Hanoi: Dodgeball- But With Cars.

Hanoi was, and is, our first and last stop on this trip, as we’re flying out of the airport. Before I go on into my own experience and opinion of it I have to give a small disclaimer;

Jess and I did next to no research before coming to Vietnam. As in the only research we gathered was me watching two or three travel vlogs of people in Vietnam, the night before she left. So yes, because of that we didn’t plan a timeline, we didn’t really budget, and we had basically idea what each place had in store for us.

Continuing; So Hanoi. I arrived a day after J and promptly went to bed after an excessive period of time in airplanes. The next morning we woke up fresh faced and ready to take on the (very very very very very very very humid) day. Once again, knowing nothing about the place, we just walked. We walked to a Buddhist Temple. We walked into the Botanical Gardens. We walked into the center of the city (from what we gathered). And in total we did almost 18km in about 5 hours, just moseying about. And here’s what I found;

Vietnam is brilliant in the fact that it has embraced Western tourism and has used it to the obvious benefit of its own economy, but as a guy in our hostel pointed out “on their terms only”. I loved it. Yes, they have the vegan restaurants- that aren’t smoothie bowls and green juices, but traditional Vietnamese food just veganised! They have department stores and outlets and brands galore, all nestled in neatly beside a local flower seller or Pho cafe. The ratio is almost 80/20. 80% of it all is so Vietnamese, so authentic, so loud and proud, and the 20% is the Westernisation and Globalisation that the public has granted permission to sneak in.

However, I am not a busy big city lover. I come from a city that’s metropolitan area spans about a 10km radius, and is still accessorised with little parks and corner cafes. New York, while awe-inspiring and a privilege to see, was too much for me. I’m very sensitive to noise and my personal space so walking along a road with eighty-odd scooters hooting louder than the engines of the construction site drilling across the road- no bueno. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that side of countries. But give me a sleepy town with a coast, and a population of maximum 500 people, and I’m a happy camper (or just an isolated cabin in the middle of the mountains sounds good too- is my introvert showing?).

And if you know anyone that’s been to Hanoi- they will have told you about the cars and crossing the road. Thankfully we’re from South Africa where the pedestrian crossings mean about as much as they do here. But it’s a definite challenge to add to Ninja Warrior at some point!

I loved our self-made walking tour and it was wonderful to see the city by just wandering down roads and accidentally along highways. And I would 100% come back to Hanoi, but with a set plan of the museums and historical sites that we only found out about that night at dinner with a hostel-friend.

Back to present day and we’ve just arrived back in Hanoi, to fly out tomorrow morning. And that was an experience! We took the overnight bus from Hoi An to Hanoi which was a huge improvement on the train (stories on that to come with the Hoi An chapter of the Nam Chronicles), but still a wild ride. I fell in and out of sleep throughout the night, sometimes waking up to the bus speeding along a mountain pass, other times to the cacophony of hooters as one bus tries to over take a delivery vehicle over a basically one lane bridge, only to see another bus heading straight towards them. To top it off; we arrived during the rainiest day we’ve had while here- basically thrown out onto the flooding pavement with all our bags. It’s safe to say I’m feeling a little like Cat from Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

But today is our last day in Vietnam and the rain represents our melancholy about having had such a short time in this country so rich with history. We’re definitely planning trips back, hopefully with more time and somewhat of a plan!

#travel #socialmedia #instagram #journalism #Vietnam