Random Thoughts of Travel: Vietnam Edition

Sitting here in a rooftop bar in Hanoi , listening to the heavy rain come down hard on the overhang. With so much heat across southeast Asia, I miss this weather. With less than two days left in Hanoi, I wrap up my 30 day trek through Vietnam. Trapped inside because of the rain, this is a perfect time to write up my post of random thoughts that I collected throughout my journey here.

Vietnam is such a beautiful country. The climates vary from colder in the north to a hotter, muggier one in the south. If you can ever take two weeks and travel here, I highly recommend doing a coastal trip from one end to the other. In the meantime, here’s some thoughts and observations from my trek between Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) and Hanoi.

Motorbikes Galore

In the U.S. you see someone on a scooter or motorbike and you think, “That’s cool! I wish I could drive one or be hip enough to do that.” When you get here, it’s more like “Where are all the cars?” or “How are there five (5!) people on that motorbike?”

Yes, a regular sight is a family on a motorbike. There will be the mother, father and their children all on a single motorbike. It’s crazy.

Why are there so many of them you ask? Well I have no idea, except it seems that there’s a lack of space to actually park cars so naturally motorbikes became an easy alternative. There is little public transportation in the major cities and taxes on cars are still high which add to the problem. With everyone needing to get somewhere, the motorbikes took over the streets and it’s pure chaos.

If you’re thinking you can drive it, think again. Regularly I met and came across people who had accidents because they tried to drive a motorbike. If you are going to do it, wait until you are in the more rural towns or open road to get on a bike.

No Seat Belt for You!

Not really sure why, but pretty much any taxi or minibus I ever got in, the seatbelt either didn’t work or it was locked shut so I couldn’t use it. I can’t tell you how many times I had a driver wave his hand, say no and that it wasn’t needed. Driving here is chaotic, and while it may not be at the same speeds as home, there’s still enough danger that I want a seatbelt on when I am riding in a car. It’s absurd they don’t require it, let alone even allow you to wear one here. Then again, when you see whole families on motorbikes you begin to change your view of what’s considered “safe”.

Crossing Streets at Your Own Risk

There’s a video I saw going around on Facebook of how to cross a street in Vietnam. In the video, a guy looks down at his phone and then proceeds to walk straight across a two way, six lane street. As you watch him cross, the whole time you’re thinking “oh shit, oh shit, oh shit” and wonder if he’ll make it. Well spoiler, he makes it and it’s like that every day here. The big challenge here when crossing streets is more about not hesitating or stopping, that you continue to move in the general direction you started.

What do I mean by this? Well I can’t tell you how many times I see foreigners standing and waiting for the “perfect” opening to cross. This is Vietnam, land of one motorbike per person (okay maybe not that many, but it feels like it). If you are looking to cross the street, start when there is an opening, then proceed to make your way across the street, only slowing, not stopping, as needed. Motorbikes will begin to part on one side or the other. If you can, cross diagonally as it will allow for better flow with the traffic. Although the video had a guy looking at his phone, I highly suggest looking at the oncoming traffic so you know they see you. It’s really that simple.

Ho Chi Minh — A Founding Father

In the United States, our founding fathers are revered, respected and continue to influence today’s politics. In Vietnam, it has been absolutely fascinating seeing a modern founding father for a country. Ho Chi Minh is so well beloved and admired in Vietnam that you find in every part of the country he had and is still having a lasting impact. Even in the south, which is described as less patriotic, I experienced a love for Ho Chi Minh. The best comparison I can share is that he is Vietnam’s George Washington, but in some way’s he’s more than that.

Seeing Ho Chi Minh’s legacy as a leader is inspiring. He has what every politician wishes they had, a very humble beginning. He worked hard to educate himself, learning multiple languages and traveling to over 56 countries throughout his life to continue his development. He had an unbelievable work ethic and was relentless in achieving his goals. What really stood out to me from my visit to the Ho Chi Minh museum was his letters to the people. He consistently wrote letters to the men and women who struggled and died for their freedom as a country. This dedication to his people is why I believe he is so revered and loved.

This is not an endorsement of his beliefs, but I can say I am leaving Vietnam with a great respect and an interest in learning more about Ho Chi Minh as a leader.

Vietnam War — The Skeleton in America’s Closet

The history we are taught growing up is censored beyond belief. As you explore the world, you find this out first hand and at times it hard to adjust to. For any kind of accurate portrayal of an event in history, it’s important to get perspectives from both sides. The Vietnam war, or the American war as the vietnamese see it, will probably always be one of the darkest stains in our history as a country.

I decided to check out the War Museum in Saigon, which was a very emotional experience. While I am not aware of any of my family fighting in the war, as I walked through this museum and throughout my travels in Vietnam I felt very aware of the impact my country had here. It was very disheartening viewing this impact in photos in the museum. Experiencing the areas still actively dealing with the fallout of ordinances that fell but didn’t explode was even more difficult because you could see the impact.

Overall I am still processing a lot of my thoughts here, but I wanted to share that Vietnam is still in many ways dealing with the after effects of a war we waged with them indirectly and directly from 1946 until 1975.

Prisoners of War

In Hanoi you can check out a portion of the Hoa Lo prison that was originally used to imprison Vietnamese during the French occupation. During the Vietnam war it held the United States POWs that were shot down, including John McCain. It was fascinating and saddening to see the start contrast of how the Vietnamese were treated versus the Americans.

One thing that seems to be consistent across prisons is that the conditions will always be horrible. When you are imprisoned, you lose all rights and respect (if you had any to begin with) of those who put you there. The French were barbaric in their treatment and imprisonment of the vietnamese nationals. When you go through the prison tour, you see the horrible conditions in which vietnamese prisoners were treated and lived in. When it came to the United States POWs, you would then expect them to turn around and continue the same treatment. This was not the case at all and you can see the “posh” conditions the POWs lived in, especially compared to those in the battlefield.

The Hoa Lo prison was definitely worth a visit, but what it left me with was realizing that the Vietnamese treated our service men with respect here, not atrocious acts like those they had experienced. It helped restore some faith in humanity to say the least.

Honking

Thank god I am leaving here in a few days. Having been programmed that a horn is used in extreme cases or to shame someone, it’s been hard to change my reaction to when I hear it here. In Vietnam they use the horn to let everyone know they are coming and to watch out. While that may seem like a good idea in practice with the amount of motorbikes, it becomes annoying and is overused in reality. You can’t walk down a street without some trigger happy honker blowing his/her horn every 5 seconds, which after awhile just gets under your skin.

Sleeper Buses

What an overall awesome idea, even if somewhat impractical. A sleeper bus is three rows of pods that you “lay out” in and are generally used for long or overnight trips. Each seat allows you to sit up or lay down, but I found you mostly lay down. The seats are positioned like bunk beds, so there is a top and bottom to maximize seating. The aisles are not wide and only allow a single person to traverse, but that’s pretty much the same for a normal bus.

When traveling Vietnam, every hour utilized is one you can save for visiting some other city or region in this wonderful country. Taking these night buses were great in concept, but failed in practice for a couple reasons. The first is that the drivers generally were horrible. When you are constantly honking, breaking or blasting techno music loudly, it doesn’t make for a comfortable ride. The second reason is because the seats were all made for “Vietnamese sized” people. While I actually fit pretty well, it left me with little to no wiggle room. For people who are taller or much larger (majority of Americans), this option left them extremely uncomfortable or having to choose a different travel option.

Overall the idea was a good one and it provided a unique experience. If something like this were to ever work in the US, they would have to remove the middle row and widen the seats. My guess, we won’t see this in buses, but I could see it in airplanes in the future.

Coffee beans

Who knew that Vietnam was such a large exporter for coffee beans?! Maybe you did, but I sure didn’t. When I look back on my trip, I can definitely circle Vietnam as to where my addiction of coffee became real. Pretty much every day I start the morning thinking about where I will get my latte. It’s even gotten to a point where I started looking up expresso machines for when I return home and move to Boston. My new hobby will be making my own lattes. Crazy, I know.

The vietnamese coffee is awesome and delicious (That’s for you Aussie and UK friends). I have had a few different varieties of their coffee and I thoroughly enjoyed every cup. Their iced coffee is delicious and strong, giving you a great kick in the arse to start your day. The hot drip coffee is great too, especially because it’s so easy to do it yourself. They sell the DIY kits everywhere and I am surprised we don’t have things like this back in the United States, especially knowing our addiction.

My favorite place, one that I stopped at enough to get a free cup of coffee was Oriberry in Hanoi. Their hazelnut lattes brought out the flavor of the coffee bean but also blended the right amount of syrup for a large delicious cup of coffee! Their fair trade practices and social responsibility as a company made it even better and why I continued to be such a loyal customer.

Well that does it for my random thoughts while traveling in Vietnam. It was one busy, chaotic and joyful trek up the coast for 30 days. This won’t be the last time I am here, but I am looking forward to a change of scenery. Until next time, thanks for reading!

#TevisterTravels