Backpacking is about travelling with your home on your back and meeting lotsa new people and seeing different things. The past week has opened my eyes to many new things and it's probably not the last backpacking trip (also mainly cause it's cheaper).
Flying to Vietnam without accomodation booked was pretty new for me as was staying in a hostel full of random strangers. The start of our adventure was hilarious. Upon reaching the airport in Hanoi, in order to save USD5-6 per person, we went to hunt for public bus 17 which would take us to Old Quarter as opposed to cabbing there. The bus ended up costing us VND5000 or USD0.30 which we simply couldn't believe! The only problem was we weren't too sure where to stop and no one spoke much English on the bus so we looked at the map and prayed. Eventually we DID get to the correct stop and navigated our way to the hostel. On the way, we got conned of VND50,000 when a group of ladies selling pineapplies came up to us and put their equipment on our shoulders to take a picture wildly saying "no charge no charge!" and Eric (stupidly) excitedly rushed us to take a photo. Following that they kept bugging us to buy a bag of pineapplies costing VND50,000 (~SGD4) which we didn't even eat.
We continued walking and asked around for directions and finally found Hanoi Backpackers Hostel. Didn't really know what to do so we just walked in and asked for beds before we were shown to a dorm. Spent most of the rest of the day wandering around Hanoi before going back to the hostel for dinner at the rooftop (which wasn't very good). The rooftop, though, was where we made first contact with other travellers. First was this guy called Ed who supported Man Utd and gave Yaosheng a free beer. Next was this Danish guy who was only 18 and was trying to grow a beard.
Skater fans will be pleased to know that Vietnamese slalom as well. We caught them slaloming and skateboarding in front of this big statue of some Chinese scholar. This was after we explored the French Quarter at night, hunting for the famous ice cream and discovering the nice toilets in Hilton. Finally made our way back to the hostel and ended up talking to this Canadia girl teaching in Japan, American guy teaching in Cambodia and another Canadian girl who arrived in the hostel that night after flying 23 hours.
One of the things that really struck me was how adventurous and mobile these people were. The American teacher had signed on with a government program to teach overseas and he got posted to Siem Reap. As nice as Siem Reap may be to visit, it's definitely nowhere near the standard of the US and he hasn't been back home in close to two years cause he doubts his ability to return to Cambodia if he returns home to visit. It's interesting because SMU prides itself on being different but how different are we from each other? He was telling us about his friend who was posted to Mongolia which was much worse than Siem Reap cause it's so cold there for half the year you don't really wanna go out of your tent. His friend also boasts to be able to stare at blank walls for 7hours straight cause there isn't anything else to do. Terrible ain't it?
Even more amazing are probably the girls who travel alone. I think it requires so much more courage for a girl to travel all by herself cause of safety issues and stuff but we met quite a few of them along the way. We also met this cute old German guy over breakfast living in Kuching who has really travelled the region extensively over the past decade or two. I think meeting people at the hostel is part of the fun cause there's only two tables so you will end up sitting next to someone you don't know.
The second day was the Baguette day which Eric will remember for a long time.
Flying to Vietnam without accomodation booked was pretty new for me as was staying in a hostel full of random strangers. The start of our adventure was hilarious. Upon reaching the airport in Hanoi, in order to save USD5-6 per person, we went to hunt for public bus 17 which would take us to Old Quarter as opposed to cabbing there. The bus ended up costing us VND5000 or USD0.30 which we simply couldn't believe! The only problem was we weren't too sure where to stop and no one spoke much English on the bus so we looked at the map and prayed. Eventually we DID get to the correct stop and navigated our way to the hostel. On the way, we got conned of VND50,000 when a group of ladies selling pineapplies came up to us and put their equipment on our shoulders to take a picture wildly saying "no charge no charge!" and Eric (stupidly) excitedly rushed us to take a photo. Following that they kept bugging us to buy a bag of pineapplies costing VND50,000 (~SGD4) which we didn't even eat.
We continued walking and asked around for directions and finally found Hanoi Backpackers Hostel. Didn't really know what to do so we just walked in and asked for beds before we were shown to a dorm. Spent most of the rest of the day wandering around Hanoi before going back to the hostel for dinner at the rooftop (which wasn't very good). The rooftop, though, was where we made first contact with other travellers. First was this guy called Ed who supported Man Utd and gave Yaosheng a free beer. Next was this Danish guy who was only 18 and was trying to grow a beard.
Skater fans will be pleased to know that Vietnamese slalom as well. We caught them slaloming and skateboarding in front of this big statue of some Chinese scholar. This was after we explored the French Quarter at night, hunting for the famous ice cream and discovering the nice toilets in Hilton. Finally made our way back to the hostel and ended up talking to this Canadia girl teaching in Japan, American guy teaching in Cambodia and another Canadian girl who arrived in the hostel that night after flying 23 hours.
One of the things that really struck me was how adventurous and mobile these people were. The American teacher had signed on with a government program to teach overseas and he got posted to Siem Reap. As nice as Siem Reap may be to visit, it's definitely nowhere near the standard of the US and he hasn't been back home in close to two years cause he doubts his ability to return to Cambodia if he returns home to visit. It's interesting because SMU prides itself on being different but how different are we from each other? He was telling us about his friend who was posted to Mongolia which was much worse than Siem Reap cause it's so cold there for half the year you don't really wanna go out of your tent. His friend also boasts to be able to stare at blank walls for 7hours straight cause there isn't anything else to do. Terrible ain't it?
Even more amazing are probably the girls who travel alone. I think it requires so much more courage for a girl to travel all by herself cause of safety issues and stuff but we met quite a few of them along the way. We also met this cute old German guy over breakfast living in Kuching who has really travelled the region extensively over the past decade or two. I think meeting people at the hostel is part of the fun cause there's only two tables so you will end up sitting next to someone you don't know.
The second day was the Baguette day which Eric will remember for a long time.