Cambodia

With a few extra days before heading to Thailand, we decided that it wouldn’t be a trip to Southeast Asia without visiting one of the world wonders, Angkor Wat. We had originally planned to spend more time in Cambodia but rearranged our itinerary to include more of Vietnam (best decision yet) so we were left with just enough time to see the ancient temples. It was on our path from Ha Noi to Bangkok anyways, so we flew to Siem Reap, Cambodia for what would be the quickest stop we’ve had in a country yet.

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Angkor Wat

Nothing like a solid 4 AM wake up call for tourism. After shedding a few tears realizing how much money we’d spent just to see these temples, we were ushered inside by our tuk-tuk driver Sam. We weren’t the only ones who planned on checking out the temples for sunrise. Actually, we were surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands, of other tourists anxiously awaiting the sunrise.

Sadly, the sun was hidden behind clouds and we could tell the sunrise wasn’t worth sticking around for, so we headed to explore the temples before the crowds had the same idea.

Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world, covering a span of 402 acres to be exact. It was built in the 12th century and was originally a Hindu temple, but was later converted to be Buddhist. The temples are massive! They aren’t as tall as some of the pagodas we’d seen in Bagan, Myanmar but unlike those, which were individual pagodas spread apart from one another, Angkor Wat is more like a village in the middle of a Cambodian jungle.

The vast majority of the temples were preserved extremely well, and the ones with more wear and tear had a more authentic feel which we appreciated anyways.

Now, I’m not a temple guru by any means, but it really is incredible to see how intricately these temples were designed hundreds of years ago. It gives you an appreciation for their work ethic, that’s for sure!

The entire 402 acres are known collectively as “Angkor Wat” but there are multiple temples throughout which are individually named. The highlights of our day were Angkor Wat, which is completely encompassed by a moat, and Bayon, which sits in the center of the massive Angkor Thom. Each temple was incredible in its own way, but we particularly liked Angkor Thom. The ruins are massive, covered in bright green moss, and many had huge stone faces carved into the walls. It was crawling with tourists here, so it was hard to get a great picture without your average tourist dabbing in the corner, but it was beautiful.

We continued to walk around and look at temples for the rest of the morning. We saw the Ta Prohm temple, where the movie Tomb Raider was filmed, another with huge trees growing out of the top of it, and another with hundreds of bats chirping at us from the ceilings.

Being that we are not temple gurus, after a while the temples all start to look alike. (And we had only bought the 1-day pass, there are passed up to 7-days!) I really am happy we came and did this, but after 6 hours we were both ready to call it a day and head back to our hostel.

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Siem Reap

Once we finished our tour we had about 34 hours left in Cambodia. We stayed at the Siem Reap Pub Hostel, which was the cheapest place we’ve stayed and honestly one of the nicest. Big bar, private pool, and our room had 2 queen beds and an ensuite bathroom. It might not sound like much but when you’ve been sleeping on concrete dorm bunk beds in a room with 6+ strangers for a while, it was heaven.

Siem Reap (surely due to the amount of tourists that pass through) was a super trendy town. They had just about every type of restaurant you could be looking for, including a vegan cafe with chocolate&pb acai bowls and hemp protein balls (my prayers were answered.. God is that you?), and of course a Mexican restaurant for Sloan. It was the perfect place to chill for a few nights, eat good food, nap whenever we wanted, and feel no guilt.

That pretty much sums up how we spent our time in Siem Reap, plus checking out a really cute night market nearby our hostel. The abundance of night markets may be my favorite thing about this part of the world. Another funny thing about Cambodia (or at least this area) is a lack of their own currency. They price everything in US dollars and even when you take money out of the ATM, you get US dollars. It was weird and made it feel much less authentic being here, but I guess that’s what you get when you go to one of the most touristy places!

Next stop, Thailand!

Vietnam, Part II

Ha Noi, Vietnam

To continue with our journey in Vietnam, our entire group was coincidentally heading north. How lucky we are to have made a group to travel with for nearly 3 weeks! Our group was split between two overnight busses, and Sloan, Flo, Cameron and I were on one together. We had every intention to get off the bus at Ninh Binh, a supposedly beautiful region with national parks and more caves to explore. However… we all woke up in Ha Noi, an hour north of Ninh Binh. Oops!

So, since all of us decided that THIS was the one time we could all simultaneously fall into a deep sleep on a night bus, we rolled with the punches and started roaming through Vietnam’s capital city of 8 million people with no plans or accommodations. At 5 AM. Off to a great start.

We were lucky enough to find a great hostel, the Vietnam Backpacker Hostel, that let us check in early, so we got to sleep in until a decent hour. Once we were actually awake, the four of us decided to get coffee and wander around aimlessly. I decided to order an “egg coffee” which is apparently a delicacy in Vietnam, and to my surprise it was really delicious. Probably my favorite coffee I’ve had in Asia and we’ve been big coffee drinkers over here.

For being the capital city, we weren’t overly impressed with Ha Noi. As I’ve said before, neither Sloan or I are really interested in big Asian cities and walking around here was honestly more worrisome than enjoyable. For a city of 8 million people, there are more than 4 million motorbikes (that’s a fact, not a hyperbole). To cross the street, you basically have to close your eyes, run, and pray that you won’t get annihilated by oncoming traffic.

That night a group of us left the hostel in hopes of finding the Harry Potter bar we’d heard about. This was a bad idea for a number of reasons, but mainly that a moon festival was taking place, so the already ridiculous traffic was on steroids. See above pictures. Those are taken in the middle of an intersection that apparently becomes an absolute free-for-all at night.

Moreover, the Harry Potter bar ended up being only slightly Harry Potter themed and only served non-alcoholic butter beer… as a true HP fan, I felt slighted.

The next morning’s walking tour was just as underwhelming, so we decided to accept defeat and spend the rest of the day in a coffee shop keeping up with our journals. We’ve been loading so much into our days that we hadn’t caught up on journaling or blogging in a while. Then it was goodbye Ha Noi and hello overnight bus!

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Ha Giang Province, Vietnam

Unfortunately, Ha Noi was the end of the road for most of our United Nations group to travel together, but Sloan and I were lucky enough to get to stick with Flo a little longer. All three of us had heard about this amazing loop in northern Vietnam through the mountains and rice paddy fields that was off the beaten track, and a much more authentic alternative to the popular Sa Pa region. To explore this region, people rent motorcycles and set out for anywhere from 3-7 days. We knew we were interested, but that was the extent of our planning, so our common theme of getting on a bus with no real plan continued.

The overnight bus was an experience in and of itself. The seats are more like personal beds packed in tight and stacked on top of one other like bunk beds. We were the first ones on the bus and, with the assumption that few people would be heading to an area as remote as Ha Giang, the three of us sprawled out on the back row of five adjoining beds. It soon became clear that comfort was not a priority on this bus ride as they packed us like sardines. We ended up with two random Vietnamese men in between us, and there were people even sleeping on the floor, lining up and down the aisles. Imagine when we stopped for a bathroom break and you literally had to step on strangers to get off the bus… and that is not an exaggeration. This is surely not America. After a bumpy 6 hours, we were abruptly woken up by neon lights and were kicked off the bus at 3 AM.

Welcome to Ha Giang province! Thankfully, Flo had a slight idea of where to, so we lugged our bags through the pitch black night until we got to QT Hostel. After a minute of knocking on the door, a woman opened the door, and without a word or a question ushered us to bedrooms. These beds must have been glorified concrete slabs, but hey it was better than sleeping on the street.

Happy to finally see the sun after a rough night of sleep, we made our way to QT’s Motorbike Shop where we met our ride for the next three days, a Yamaha Sirius 110cc semi-automatic hot rod. As we were about to leave, we met an Australian girl, Ash, who was about to start this loop by herself so we invited her to join us. Not your average biker gang, but we played the part!

**Also, it turns out that Ash, who is from Sydney Australia, has a white pitbull named Rudy.  For anyone reading who doesn’t know, my two dogs at home are Willow, a white pitbull, and Rudy, the dog Sloan and I adopted in college. What are the chances of that?

With an already late start and 68 miles ahead of us, the last thing we wanted was the early afternoon rain that we got. Between stops to take shelter, two separate lunch breaks, and numerous stops to take pictures, we didn’t make the best time… 68 miles might not sound like much, but when the whole drive consists of winding roads through mountains and valleys, while adding in the frequent potholes and occasional wrong turns, it took us all day.

But damn, those views were unparalleled. I’ve never seen scenery like this before in my life. Between the rounded mountain peaks scattered along the horizon, the lush green rice paddies and dense jungle, and the huge valleys with small villages tucked along the river, these are views that I’ll never forget.

Our lack of urgency came back to bite us, but not before witnessing the most incredible golden hour as the sun dipped below the mountain tops. As we were gawking at the sky, we realized we still had 18 miles to go and no sunlight to guide us. Coincidentally, these were the worst road conditions of our entire three day trip, and more rain surely didn’t help. We drove through 100-ft. patches of washed away road that was replaced by uneven gravel, all while trying to cover everything but our eyes from the rain. Somehow we managed to get through unscathed. We made it to QT’s Guesthouse in Du Giu, Vietnam right in time for cold beer and dinner. Highly recommend using QT for anyone looking to do this loop; it truly made our first two nights seamless.

We were absolutely beat from the driving and the lousy night of sleep from the day before, so we had an early night in the unique loft-style dorm, where the beds were separated by large mosquito nets.

All four of us woke early the next day and got straight on the road for today’s 94 mile journey. Despite how incredible yesterday was, nothing could have prepared us for the beautiful drive ahead of us.

We had to backtrack a little this morning to get out of the Du Giu valley and it was the perfect way to start our day. Since we’d driven through this area the night before in the dark, we had no idea what we’d missed… particularly the several hundred foot cliffs that separated us and the valley floor. Lucky for me, while Sloan was busy trying not to drive us straight off a cliff, I had a wonderful time watching the breathtaking scenery go by.

Skipping breakfast left us hungry and desperate for a good meal. Flo, our Pho-fanatic friend, was craving exactly that. Pho is a typical Vietnamese soup with fresh rice noodles, cilantro, fresh vegetables, and your choice of chicken, beef and spices. It’s delicious and the best places to get it are usually little shacks that I’d hardly consider restaurants. Not to mention, it’s typically less than $1 for a massive serving. So that’s what we got today, and even Flo admitted that it may have been the best one he’s ever tried.

Update – we’ve been craving this exact Pho for the past two weeks and nothing compares.

With so much ground to cover today, we tried our hardest to limit our photo stops, but some views were just too good to resist, especially the Ma Pi Leng Pass. After the full journey, I would argue that this was the most stunning view on our entire trip. The road hugged the top of a mountain, cut through terraced farmlands with locals hauling off grain on their backs, and offered a birds-eye glimpse of the isolated villagers going about their lives hundreds of feet below. Sloan even found a way to make a friend all the way up here by sharing cookies with a local boy.

Ma Pi Leng Pass

Our home for the night was in Dong Van. We stopped just briefly enough to drop our bags, stretch our legs, and drink some water before setting out for an add-on drive to the Chinese border. We didn’t even bother finding a place to stay for the night before getting back on our bikes. The 38-mile round trip was quite the adventure. We circled through more 180-degree turns than we could count and dodged busses and cars whose drivers thought they owned the road and showed zero regard for motorcyclists. Unsurprisingly, things get more chaotic the closer you get to China.

We got within a few hundred meters of the border when we were stopped by a landslide that had covered most of the road with huge rocks and debris. The road was extremely narrow and was conveniently on the side of a mountain, so there was no alternative route. We had made it so close to the border, though, that we weren’t willing to turn around just yet. I got off the back of our bike and watched as Sloan inched his way along the cliff on a narrow patch of dirt, followed by Flo and then Ash. Sloan and Flo made it without issues. Ash, not so much. Everything was going fine until her bike stalled right before the final drop-down onto the main road. When she went to start it again, she gave the bike some gas, but since it was still in first gear, she took off down the steep decline with no control of the bike. In what was likely the most impressive ninja move I’ve ever seen, just as the bike hit a rock, Ash was somehow able to pull off a Jackie Chan barrel roll over the handlebars and come out relatively unscathed. I genuinely thought she was about to drive right off the cliff, but she stoop up, brushed herself off, and was a little shaken, but not stirred… Best news though, we got it all on video for our loyal followers back home.

Anyways, we made it to the actual border with the help of two local men, who spoke absolutely no English but communicated with pointing, grunts, and laughing at our lack of understanding. It’s funny how even after someone finds out that you don’t speak a lick of their language, they think that either repeating what they said or slowing it down will suddenly make you fluent in Vietnamese. Regardless, they were extremely helpful in leading us up a steep, unmarked path to a marker that physically divided Vietnam and China. So I guess you can say we were in China for a few minutes, that is until we saw multiple granite pillars with a black skull and crossbones on them… even with no border control, it took no further convincing for us to get out of there.

We found ourselves in the darkness again on the ride back to Dong Van, and despite a few aggressive bus drivers, we all survived the ride.

It took us a few tries, but we finally found a place where we could crash for the night.

We hooked up with another group of five travelers to go and grab dinner, which made things that much more difficult. For a remote city in the middle of nowhere Vietnam, we could not find anywhere to feed us all. It got to the point where it felt like they didn’t even want our money. I guess we missed the memo because it felt like every single person in northern Vietnam had converged in Dong Van for the weekend, so everywhere was absolutely packed. We must have tried 10 restaurants before finding a “western” restaurant that served strictly Vietnamese food… and French fries. My highly anticipated sweet potato fries were literally just French fries that had been… wait for it… sweetened. Well played, Vietnam.

Another early night was in order as tomorrow would be a long haul.

Ahhh nothing says good morning like our fifth consecutive breakfast of bread and flavorless, cold fried eggs. Luckily the coffee made up for it, so we had some fuel for our day.

Mentally, we were looking forward to another day of beautiful weather and great views, but physically our butts had taken a beating from the bumpy roads and uncomfortable seats. Thankfully, the road quality was in our favor today and we were able to make great timing.

The first half of our ride was going really well until we rounded a corner and saw a man laying on the side of the road next to his bike. We didn’t think much of it at first because we had seen this a few times before and it ended up being a man a little too tipsy to drive, but this time it was a little more serious. We pulled over and noticed his blood-stained jeans and immediately realized that this was not okay. He spoke no English, and to be honest he didn’t say much at all, but we started to go to work on him regardless. Luckily Flo travels prepared with a first-aid kit, so we were able to cut the man’s jeans at the knee which revealed a really deep gash on the side of his leg. Sloan, being the Eagle Scout he is, wasted no time applying a tourniquet and cleaning/bandaging the wound. It wasn’t pretty, but it was as much as we could do with a little roadside first aid kit. Luckily, the man was able to ride on the back of another man’s bike to find real medical help, so our job here was done.

The most confusing part was that no one else stopped to help this man! A fair amount of cars drove by and instead of offering the man a ride they’d slow down, stare, some would even take pictures.. and then drive off. That was a little disheartening to watch.

From there we continued the drive a little shaken up. We stopped for lunch along the way and chose a restaurant with a lot of locals enjoying their food. That’s always the best sign of a good restaurant, “do as the locals do.” The food we saw on everyone else’s tables looked delicious, but there was a clear difference between what they got and what we got. Sloan, for example, ordered rice and fried chicken and what he got was rice with diced up chicken neck with a significant amount more neck than meat. Think chicken wings, except instead of the wing, it was neck. Something about this concept just made it so unappetizing. We did get some really tasty snap peas with a chili soy sauce for dipping. These Vietnamese love their chili pepper flakes and we were not complaining.

After lunch, the rest of our drive was backtracking. We’d driven a part of this route on our first day, so we made great time and didn’t need to make any more stops for photo ops. As we made our way back to Ha Giang we felt the nice, cool mountain weather we’d been enjoying turn into intense humidity and we were forced into the realization that this trip was coming to an end.

I can truly say, without a doubt, that this was my favorite thing we’ve done on this trip, and maybe the most beautiful & exciting thing I have ever done.

Ash left earlier than us, so Sloan and I got what we thought was our last dinner with Flo to end our 3-week journey with him. It was actually quite sad to say goodbye to our last group member and officially be on our own again. Miss you already, Flo!

Sloan and I had another overnight bus to catch back to Ha Noi, and we waited for this at QT’s hostel. QT is an interesting guy.. not your typical Vietnamese man. He wears a big chain, has a lot of tattoos and basically seems like he runs Ha Giang. When we got to his hostel, he was sitting around with his family and friends enjoying a meal. He welcomed us in and encouraged us to eat, even though we’d just gotten dinner. As boisterous as he is (his catch phrase that he repeats quite often is “I’m not cute, I’m not a cutie, I am Q-T), he’s a very hospitable man. Almost too hospitable… right as we were getting on our overnight bus, he forced the whole group to take 4 shots of rice wine.. and you can’t really say no to QT.

The rice wine seemed to work on Sloan, who passed out before the bus even started moving. I, on the other hand, was up for over an hour tossing and turning. Another girl, Steffie, who had also been at QT’s taking shots was awake next to me, and all the drinks were catching up to us. We needed to pee so badly that I literally had to make our bus driver stop and let us go in a random home to use the bathroom. Damnit QT.

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Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

Our overnight bus dropped us off in Ha Noi at around 4 AM and our bus to Ha Long Bay left at 7:45, so we definitely didn’t want to sit around in a bus station. We convinced Steffie and her boyfriend Gideon, who were from the Netherlands, to come with us to the hostel we’d stayed at here before, as they had a bus to catch at the same time. The four of us slept on the lobby couches until our wake-up call, and just like that we were off to another new place.

Ha Long Bay is Vietnam’s most-visited tourist destination, with over 2,000 islands shaped like mountains rising out of the ocean. Sloan and I were doing a 3 day 2 night tour here, and our first night we were spending on a boat. We signed up with a tour through Seasun Cruises via email the day before and had very little idea of what to expect, but we were promised a 3-star boat so we were just going with it. What we saw at the harbor not only looked like the furthest thing from 3-stars, but I was also slightly concerned that we’d be Vietnam’s version of the Titanic. We were hesitant, but learned firsthand not to judge a book by its cover when the boat’s interior was a lot nicer than we expected. Our private cabin even had a fully tiled bathroom. Not too shabby for a 3-day, $130 package.

The transition from Ha Giang, where we were getting a truly authentic experience, to the outrageously touristy Ha Long Bay could not have been more extreme or, frankly, more disappointing. Our first stop was the Surprising Cave, which wasn’t all that impressive after being in Phong Nha, but beyond that the tours made it that much harder to appreciate. This was the first organized tour that we’ve done in our entire 5 weeks, and after having so much flexibility and freedom in everything we’ve been doing, truth be told it sucked. It’s irritating being ushered along by tour guides, being told when you can and can’t walk, and having to wait for every member of your 20+ person group to finish taking pictures of the 18th consecutive rock formation. Within 30 minutes we both agreed that this would be the first and last organized tour we’d do on this trip.

Our second stop was Titop Island, another touristy area with a manmade beach. The weather was awful and within minutes it started to pour, but it was honestly the best thing that could’ve happened because the beach suddenly went from being packed to empty. A little rain never hurt nobody, so we made the most of it by carelessly swimming despite it and enjoying having a beach to ourselves.

Once back on our boat, we had a big seafood dinner with all the works: crab, fish, squid, and plenty of side dishes. We enjoyed dinner and taught a few other passengers how to play sh*thead, our favorite new card game, before calling it a night.

The next morning was an early wake up call, and it was also ~my 23rd birthday~ !!! Mother Nature didn’t seem to care about that though, because we woke up to more rain and strong winds that caused an itinerary change. We were still able to get in a little kayaking and a tour through Ha Long Bay’s oyster farm before the weather really worsened. One of only three oyster farms in Vietnam, they showed us how they cultivate and harvest oysters for up to 10 years in the hopes of getting a perfect pearl.

We were supposed to go to Monkey Island for the day, but because of the conditions our boat couldn’t get there, so we instead did a hike through the Cat Ba island’s national park. While some of the others in our tour group may have disagreed, specifically the woman who thought it best to wear a skirt, blouse and heels today, we were more excited about the hike than the beach.

The hike ended up being a lot more strenuous than we imagined. At some points we were climbing on all fours to get up the side of the mountain and, after an hour, we reached the top! What a gorgeous view. Cat Ba island was so huge that even on the top of this mountain, all we could see was endless mountains. Even with an incredible 360-degree view from the top, we didn’t see a glimpse of the ocean.

The hike ended up being the highlight of our 3 days, and it was a fun way for me to spend my birthday. We actually ran into Steffie and Gideon during the hike too, which was awesome because we hadn’t gotten their contacts before, so we made a point to do that now and we planned to meet them for drinks tonight.

The rest of the day was very relaxing; we sat in a coffee shop and people-watched for a while. Despite the weather, I was on a beautiful island, traveling the world with with my best friend for the second birthday in a row. It doesn’t get much better than that.

We had dinner and got drinks that night with a few couples in our tour group, plus Steffie and Gideon, and I couldn’t have asked for more.

The next day was just a full day of travels to get back to Ha Noi. We were woken up at 7 AM to have another tasteless fried egg breakfast, and to then be told that the weather was still so bad that the boat couldn’t get to the harbor to pick us up. Perfect. So instead, we spent the day waiting, then taking a bus across the island, then waiting, then taking a speedboat through the rain, then waiting, then getting on another boat, then waiting, and finally getting on our bus back to Ha Noi. A painfully long 4+ hours later through rush hour traffic, we were back in Ha Noi. All Sloan and I wanted was a solid western meal, so you better believe we searched out the best burger joint in all of Ha Noi and indulged.

Overall, Ha Long Bay was not a favorite of ours, but we made the most of it. We were sad to be leaving Vietnam and all of the friends we’d made over the past incredible 3 weeks, but we were fortunate enough to coincidentally meet Flo back in Ha Noi for one last meal (again)! Can’t wait to come visit you in Germany, Flo!

With that, our three weeks in Vietnam were over and done, and we headed to the airport for the next adventure.

Vietnam, Part I

Our stay in Vietnam is so long that I figured I’d keep the fans happy and write two blog posts. I’m definitely getting behind in these because of how much we’ve been doing so I’ll try my best to rehash the details…

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Hoi An, Vietnam

After finding a stupidly cheap flight from Kuala Lumpur to Da Nang (I’m talking $10 cheap), we decided to change up our itinerary a bit again and head straight to Vietnam. The reason these flights are so cheap is because they really skimp you on carry-on baggage allowance. For example, our big backpacks fit the measurement requirements with room to spare, but they were required to weigh under 15 lbs. When packing for 2.5 months of travel, this isn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world. Well, you better believe we put on half of our wardrobe in the middle of the airport, stuffed our pockets with as much as we could, and looked like glorified hobos as we walked through security. But hey, we saved that extra $30.

What was supposed to be a 2 night stay in Hoi An ended up being a 5 night stay, and that still wasn’t enough time. After a chaotic ride from the airport in the country where no amount of beeping your horn is enough, we made it to our home for the next few nights, the Tribee Kinh hostel. After a long day of traveling, we decided to take it easy for our first night in Vietnam, our home for the next three weeks.

What better way to start our time in Vietnam than a 4:30 AM wake-up call to watch USC defeat LA Tech?! The day continued to look up when our hostel had homemade peanut butter and honey buttered toast for breakfast. (After the security guard in the KL airport stole our most prized possession, a jar of peanut butter, this was a major win!) We spent the day exploring Hoi An’s Old Town via bicycles, which was historically the heart and soul of Vietnam’s trading industry. The town is a backpackers paradise, with colorful streets to get lost on, beautiful beaches, great (and cheap) food, and a fun night life with the most incredible drink deals you’ve ever heard of. Not to mention, some beautiful islands off the coast that are perfect for scuba diving… but I’ll get to that later.

Unfortunately we missed Hoi An’s famous lantern festival by just a few days, but we still saw our fair share of glowing lanterns being sent down the river by happy-go-lucky travelers, surely with wishes being made as they were released.

Although the bed was a major improvement from Langkawi, where we felt every single spring against our backs, the best part about our stay at Tribee Kinh was the social atmosphere. Not quite sure what we were getting ourselves into, we headed to the common area one night where the staff taught us (and 60 of our new friends) how to make a traditional Vietnamese spring roll. They were absolutely delicious, and so fun to make!

The best thing we found in Hoi An was our group of new friends and our bond over the game of sh*thead, a card game that brought everyone together each night. (And while it may not be Nertz, it gives the game a run for its money). We ended up playing this card game every single night of our stay here and gained a ton of new friends because of it.

The following day I made an exciting decision. I was going to spend the next three days scuba diving off the nearby Cham Islands to get my PADI diving certification! The first day consisted of the essentials, watching videos and learning basic scuba skills in a pool. Sloan, who already has his diving license, enjoyed his alone time by heading to My Són, a remote archeological site filled with Hindu temples that were constructed in the 8th century by the indigenous Champa people.

My next two days were pretty much replicas of each other. Each morning I woke up early, grabbed breakfast and was shuttled off to a boat to spend the day scuba diving. Luckily since I was just at the tail end of “high season” for diving in this area, I had my own private instructor, Anton. I spent the next two days with him, learning how to dive and experience an underwater world I’ve never seen before. For lunch we would head to Cham Island and enjoy a huge spread of food prepared by a local family for everyone to share family-style. Both days we spent the afternoon on the island before heading back to Hoi An.

Luckily, on the second day, Sloan was able to come with me and spend the day diving. At this point I had already practiced almost all of my skills, so we were able to dive and enjoy the ocean life pretty freely. We saw barracudas, trumpet fish, lion fish, a field of huge spiraled coral, and an eerie frog fish (look it up!) We descended to a depth of 18 meters (60 feet) and just like that, I officially have my diving license!

That night we joined our hostel’s pub crawl and got a taste of the night life in Hoi An. We discovered that a few of us were traveling in the same direction the following day, so we formed a group of six and stuck together. There was Nate, another American from Seattle; Flo, a German who quit his job to travel indefinitely; Cameron, a Canadian working in Australia; and David, the hundredth person we’ve met from the Netherlands. We all went out together and found what undoubtedly has to be the best drink deal in the universe. Here’s how it went: each person bought one cocktail and got another cocktail free, a shot for free, 2 bottles of vodka for the table, and hookah. All for the price of one cocktail each (which was approximately $5 USD per person).. Honestly, you just can’t beat that. We had ourselves a great night and a slow morning before setting off on our next exciting journey.

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Hue, Vietnam

As I mentioned, we were very lucky to find friends that were heading in the same direction as us (for almost the entire 3 weeks we’re spending in Vietnam, as we later realized!) Our newfound group of Nate, Flo, Cameron, David, Sloan and I, aka the United Nations as we nicknamed ourselves, all decided to rent motorcycles and head north to Hue via the Hai Van Pass, supposedly the most scenic drive in all of Southeast Asia.

Let me just say it did NOT disappoint.

Blessed with another day of absolutely perfect weather, we excitedly set off for the day. Our first stop of the day, just outside of Da Nang city, was the Lady Buddha. The tallest statue in Vietnam, standing 220 feet tall, this pure white Buddha sits on a hilltop overlooking the city and the ocean that surrounds it. Clouds were starting to move in over the mountains, so we pushed on to keep up with the sun.

From here, our drive was breathtaking. We crossed bridges that split cities and oceans, rode along highways that mimicked the curves of the mountains, and witnessed unparalleled views of the ocean the entire day. It was SUCH an incredible day.

Our next stop was the Lang Cô Beach, a narrow peninsula with a coastline that was untouched by tourism. It wasn’t anything amazing, but a beach is a beach, and on a backpacker’s budget, beggars can’t be choosers. We grabbed lunch here before heading to Elephant Springs, a mountain-fed stream full of natural swimming pools and mini waterfalls. We bought our entrance tickets and, without any further instruction, blindly started following a woman to what appeared to be her home along the stream. As we were about to jump in for a swim, the lady started saying “my water, my water” in broken English and beckoning for us to pay her. We didn’t understand as we thought we had already paid the entrance fee, but after stupidly realizing we’d been scammed, we handed over the whopping 30,000 dong ($1.50… a steal). It was so worth it to swim in these incredible springs!

We made it to Hue with very little energy left and within five minutes of being in this city we narrowly avoided more crashes than we have the entire trip. I swear, there must be no such thing as right-of-way, or really any vehicular laws in this country. If there are, people surely could not care less to follow them.

The only notable thing that happened the rest of the night was during our nightly ritual of sh*thead, when Nate confidently declared “don’t you just love when you start a game and immediately know you’re going to win?” He proceeded to lose the only two games we played that night and won the nickname sh*thead until further notice.

As amazing as the day was, I don’t think anything could have beat how comfortable the beds were, the fact that they cost us less than $6, or how ready we were for a good nights sleep.

While the following day in Hue didn’t end up being very excited (our own fault for spending the entire day journaling in a coffee shop)… it definitely made up for it that night. Somehow, we ended up being in Hue on the exact night that they were hosting their first trial street festival. There was loud music, a stage, more street food than you could imagine, and a wonderful game of darts in which Nate defied the odds by being the first person to miss every single dart he threw.

After some tasty street food, we got suckered into happy hour at a bar called Brown Eyes by a persistent street promoter. Despite being the only people in this bar, we made the most of it. More drink deals! Buy 1 get 1 free, plus free shots whenever they felt like handing them out, which was often. Half our group played pool while the other half joined a staff member to play an interesting game of truth-or-dare Jenga, minus the “truth” part.

After some liquid confidence, the stage was ours, quite figuratively and literally. That stage I mentioned earlier? Well it was empty now, and for whatever reason we thought it would be fun to go on it in the middle of a crowd and make a fool of ourselves. Apparently the Vietnamese locals found a few drunk foreigners hilarious and trustworthy, and they started sending their children up on stage to join us. One man even had Sloan spoon-feed his daughter ice cream on stage. Some locals jumped up and joined us while others stood by taking videos, but everyone was loving it.

We were drenched in sweat after hours of dancing and decided to head home when Nate, Sloan and David got peer pressured into singing the world’s worst rendition of Hotel California. Like, it was painful. What a way to end the night…

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Phong Nha, Vietnam

Well, the highly-anticipated trip to Phong Nha was finally here, and what do you know? Our entire group was heading the same direction again (minus David, bye David!) Sloan and I had booked our stay at the Phong Nha Farmstay MONTHS ago after reading about it online, and the rest of the group was staying at the Easy Tiger in downtown Phong Nha. Our hotel was in a very different setting; we were surrounded by rice paddy fields where water buffalo, cows, pigs and chicken wandered freely. Though a little more pricy than our $6 hostel in Hue, if you are looking for a truly authentic stay in Vietnam, this is absolutely the place for you. It is a stunning building with wonderful staff, great food, fun amenities including a pool and a nightly movie, and an invaluable, authentic experience in the remote Vietnamese countryside. We took the first night pretty easy, opting for dinner, drinks, and a showing of Forrest Gump on the outdoor movie projector. Vietnam is just like a box of chocolates… you never know what you’re going to get. That especially held true today.

We rented bikes and rode through the countryside, dodging cows and the occasional muddy pothole while waving at the local children. We made our way to the Bong Lai Valley and found ourselves at The Duck Stop, one of the most interesting places we’ve been yet. Welcomed like royalty with ice-cold beers and freshly roasted peanuts, we were offered a tour we couldn’t resist. For $4, we got the following:

• Duck feeding – Exactly what it sounds like, but 10x more exciting that I would’ve pictured. As soon as we walked towards them, it was a symphony of quacks as they realized they were about to be fed. They chased us around the pen and ate straight from our hands (and toes?) After feeding them, we did as the Vietnamese do. Apparently throwing a duck into a pond is a symbol of good fortune in your future, and many farmers do this for good luck in their farming seasons. So, we did just that, we each picked up a duck and threw them up into the air over the pond. The ducks, to our surprise, ran straight back for more after being thrown.

• Donald Trump the water buffalo – Donald is a water buffalo that was rescued from being used as a workhorse in the jungle. Despite sharing a name, this Trump was very much a sweetheart. We actually got to ride this 1600 lb. beast straight into the river where he swam around with us on his back. He was a gentle giant if I’ve ever seen one.

• Lunch – Traditional Vietnamese pancakes and all the roasted peanuts we could want, plus that ice cold beer I mentioned.

• PUPPIES AND CHILDREN – We spent the afternoon playing with three of the cutest little puppies, and two adorable kids who just wanted to hangout with us.

After a while, we left our new favorite place and got a drink at The Pub with Cold Beer (yes, that is its name) before biking home in the dark.

The following day we reunited with the United Nation gang, and we actually found a new David! (His name was actually Nout, but he was from the Netherlands as well so we figured we would just call him new David. He seemed to like it.) Phong Nha is actually home to some of the biggest caves in the world, specifically the 1st, 3rd, 7th, and 8th biggest in the world.

We decided to check out the Phong Nha cave first, which was heavily used during the Vietnam War (known in Vietnam as the “American War”) as a hospital and militia base for the Viet Cong to take shelter from American bombings. We rode a dragon boat into the cave entrance and followed the river deep into the dark twisting cavern.

Disclaimer: None of the pictures I took inside any of the caves do them any justice whatsoever. Like, really, you can barely tell what you’re looking at. So for that reason I won’t add very many pictures, but definitely look each cave up online.

After that, we decided to take the long trek to the Paradise Cave. We rented scooters for the 14-mile drive through the most dense jungle you could ever imagine. It literally felt like Jurassic Park, winding up and down hills to get to this cave, and the rain pelting down on us and creating clouds of mist just added to this feeling.

The Paradise Cave, which extends for 32 km (almost 20 miles) in length was AMAZING. Honestly, I have no idea how anyone could’ve ever found this. It’s in the middle of this crazy dense jungle, and the entrance is at the top of a mountain. It was only discovered in 2005, which makes sense I guess. We only got to see the first 1 km (0.62 miles) and even this was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. At its highest point this cave gets up to 230 ft high.. it’s incredible.

After paradise cave we got caught in another rain storm on our ride home. Completely soaked, we headed back to the Farmstay to shower and dry off. We had another night in while watching Heaven and Earth, an Oliver Stone movie about a Vietnamese girl during the war.

What should have been an exciting last morning in Phong Nha ended up in sadness. We were enjoying our breakfast when we looked at our phones and saw the news back home, The Las Vegas shootings. At a time where we are meeting so many wonderful people and seeing the genuine, kind nature of strangers who come from so little, it’s heartbreaking to see that evil still exists in this beautiful world. What happened in Las Vegas is terrifying and horrific, and it goes to show that no day should be taken for granted. It’s hard being so far away when a tragedy happens at home, but I’m grateful that we are surrounded by such incredible people in an amazing country at a time where everyone needs a reminder of all the good that still exists in the world. Sending all of our love and prayers to the victims, their families, and everyone else who needs a little reminder that there is still so much good in this world.

Holding onto that mentality, we tried to enjoy our last day in this beautiful place. We ended up touring the Dark Cave with our group of friends today. This cave is not your typical experience in Phong Nha. After a 1,300 ft. zip line to the caves entrance, we swam the rest of the way until we were inside. From here we followed a guide into the cave with nothing but a helmet and a headlamp. Soon into our walk, the headlamps were our only source of light. We waded through chest-deep water in this pitch black cave, winding through narrow caverns until we reached our destination: a mud bath. One cavern opened up into a pool of mud and all 20 of us in the group jumped right in. It was hilarious and weird at the same time but no one questioned it as we caked ourselves in clumps of mud.

The Dark Cave tour ended with kayaking and an obstacle course outside of the cave. Like I said, not your typical cave experience, but it was so fun. Afterwards we decided to go back to the Duck Stop and show all of our friends what they’d missed out on. The people here were so grateful that we brought our friends that they gave us free lunch and drinks. And I wasn’t complaining about seeing my favorite puppy, Peanut, again…

Everyone enjoyed themselves and the day ended up being a good one after all. A few card games and some happy hour beers later, we were on the night bus to Hanoi, where the rest of our adventure in Vietnam continues…