Sorry for not posting the last few weeks. It’s been a rush, and I haven’t had the time, energy, and internet connectivity all at once to update you all on what has been happening.

I’m safe back in Singapore now and will be working on remedying the lack of posts over the next few days. I’ll give a quick rundown of all that we did here in this post, but expect some more in-depth posts with pics soon. Sorry for the wall of text here – I’ve decided to forget the pics in this post because they are by far the most time-consuming part of these posts, and I wanted to get an update out to you all soon. Also, Adela has all of the good pics, and I’m waiting for her to sort through the 50gb of photos that she took.

The first stop on our trip was to Hanoi, Vietnam. Hanoi really is an incredible city. It’s vibrant, full of life, and truly a city that never sleeps (trust me, all of the motorbikes honking kept me from getting much sleep myself). We stayed in Hanoi for 3 days and filled our time exploring the Old Quarters of the town. We found plenty to do just walking down streets, trying all the local delicacies, and hopping from coffee shop to coffee shop while trying to stay out of the heat. Despite being a major tourist area in Vietnam, Hanoi was unapologetic about its culture and identity and largely felt like the raw Vietnam we came for, unlike most of the other touristy areas in Vietnam.

We then took a 2 hour train ride to the south to Ninh Binh, Vietnam. The area is mostly an industrial town and not many tourists make their way there. Driving down the main road, you’ll see shop after shop building wooden furniture or supplying the tools to do so. Occasionally you’ll see shops repairing beat-up motorbikes. We ended up staying here 2 days. We mainly came to see the attractions in the nearby village of Tam Coc. While there, we took a sampan through the Tam Coc caves, visited the Phat Diem cathedral, and ascended the Mua Cave (“Stairs to Heaven”). These were all amazing things to see. The Tam Coc caves were nestled on a lake at the bottom of a series of towering karst formations. We took a traditional sampan boat through these caves where I often had to duck my head to avoid the ceiling. The Phat Diem cathedral is an amazing piece of architecture. It’s a beautiful mashup of a traditional Chinese temple with a classic European Catholic cathedral. The Mua Cave is a small cave at the bottom of a hill, but the real reason people come is to climb the 500 steps up the “Stairs to Heaven” where you can find one of the best views in all of Vietnam.

At this point I was travelling with Adela and two of her cousins from Singapore. The first night in Ninh Binh they had an interesting experience at a local bbq place for dinner. I wasn’t with them because I had passed out early from the lack of sleep in Hanoi, and I’m not sure if I’m glad I missed this experience or not. No one at the restaurant spoke english, and they weren’t given an english menu. They decided to point at random things on the menu and hope for the best. After they ordered, someone brought out a translated menu for them. Matching up the menus, one of the dishes they ordered was “Bovine Mammory”. The rest of the menu wasn’t much better with items such as “Osteochondral”, “Pig Stomach”, and “Three Only”. Apparently cow udders don’t taste too bad, but they have a strange texture.

After Ninh Binh, we took an overnight train south to Phong Nha, Vietnam. The first day there we took a tour through the Phong Nha Cave and Paradise Cave. Compared to our experiences in Ninh Binh, these caves were a disappointment. Sure, they were amazing and grand, but there were so many people it was difficult to enjoy them. Paradise Cave is a 1 km walking path into the cave, and the path was full of people from front to back while we were there. The Phong Nha caves were simply a more commercialized version of the Tam Coc caves in Ninh Binh.

The following day, we left on an overnight backpacking trip to go to Hang En (Swallow Cave). This was by far the highlight of the trip. Despite trudging through mud, being soaked to the bone from the rain and dozens of river crossings, and pulling several leeches off my clothes as well as one off of my stomach (yes, I was bit by a leech), the trip was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It was a beautiful hike, we ate a traditional lunch in a local village, and the cave…. the cave is amazing. I just don’t know how to describe it. It’s the 3rd largest cave in the world, and inside you feel like you’re in a whole other world altogether. We  camped in the 2nd largest cavern in the cave which is next to a crystal blue pool that stays at a refreshing 75 degrees year round. We met many great friends on the trip, including two with whom we’d later travel through Myanmar. I’m planning on writing a whole post on just these two days of the trip because it was just that amazing.

After Phong Nha, we took another train south to Hoi An, Vietnam. Compared to all of our other experiences in Vietnam, Hoi An was out-of-place. It was by far the most Western touristy place we went; everyone spoke English, there was “European” food on every menu, and you could find a half-dozen places on each street claiming to have the best pizza. The best way I can describe it is if you were to take the Vietnam station at the Epcot Center and turn it into a city, you’d have Hoi An. The streets are pristine. The buildings are immaculate. Western tourists flood the streets. The old part of the city is actually a UNESCO site now with many of the buildings registered as historical landmarks. All of this made the city feel incredibly fake to me, like it was a shadow of its former self that has been bastardized by the tourism industry and the money it brings in. Hoi An grew on me over our stay there, but not until I started thinking of it as another resort town instead of a true Vietnamese city.

Hoi An is known for its tailors, and going into one of these shops is an experience. They will make literally anything and everything you want, in about as little time as you have in the town. On our first day there, we stopped in a shop and I walked out having bought 2 suits, a belt, and a pair of shoes all custom-made. They were ready for our first fitting two days later (in one of those fittings I saw someone commission a suit to be made in 6 hours, and as far as I know, they delivered). I ended up spending $350 on all of that, which is a little more than most people can expect to pay, but it was one of the highest rated shops in the city and I paid for the nice cashmere/silk blend cloth for my suits. After only one fitting, both suits were the best fitting suits I’ve ever worn.

In the middle of our stay in Hoi An, we take an overnight trip to Cham Island. It’s a small fishing island off the coast of Hoi An which is only accessible by a 2 hour ferry ride or a 45 minute speedboat ride. On our way there we took the ferry. This boat didn’t come across as the most sea worth vessel, and that coupled with the 10 foot ocean swells half way there made for a long 2 hours. It was so bad that half of the locals around us were getting seasick. The village we stayed at is a true fishing village. The shore of the village is lined with small fishing boats and in the middle of the day you’ll see people gathering to make and repair nets and other fishing items. There’s electricity on the island only from 6-10 at night, when most of the locals will gather around the few televisions in town to watch Vietnamese soap operas.

The family we stayed with had their two children recently move away and start families of their own, and is now offering their rooms as a homestay. Very few people on the island spoke English and our hosts were not among them. Despite that, they did an amazing job of showing us their home, their village, and their island. In the afternoon, they took us snorkeling at a local reef where we saw a diverse collection of tropical fish and corral. We decided to cut the snorkeling a little short when we started getting stung by jellyfish, though. Later, we explored the streets of the village, were offered snail by a couple of guys, and got a very enthusiastic tour from a girl our age in Vietnamese.

That was it for our trip to Vietnam. Next we took a flight to Yangon, Myanmar. Overall, Myanmar was an interesting country. 89% of the country is Buddhist, and it’s apparent through just about everything you see in the country. From the countless gold-capped Buddhist temples to the monks walking down the street to the miniature statues of Buddha on the dashboards of taxis.

We met Taylor and Tory (two friends from the trek to Hang En in Vietnam) at the top of the Shwedagon Pagoda. This is one of the most important Buddhist sites in Myanmar and can be seen throughout the city. In the afternoon we walked through several street markets trying an assortment of local street food, including everything from watermelon to durian fudge to various fried snacks. That night we were invited along to a birthday celebration of someone staying at the same hostel as Taylor and Tory. We went out to a rooftop bar where we enjoyed good company and amazing views around us.

We left Yangon earlier than planned to follow Taylor and Tory to Bagan, Myanmar. Filled with over 1200 Buddhist temples and Pagodas, there are plenty of amazing things to see. You can find temples ranging from giant pyramids that you can see for miles to small shrines dotting the hillside. The first temple we went to was my favorite. It can be found on the outskirts of Old Bagan and is carved into the side of a cliff. We were the only tourists there and an elderly man gave us a tour through the tunnels hidden behind the temple. This is a side of temples that is hard to see since usually those parts are locked behind metal grates. Another fantastic temple was the Shwesandaw Pagoda. Each of the four sides of the pagoda have a staircase leading to the top. The view up there is breathtaking, with 360 degrees of golden-domed and red brick temples.

Due to rain in the area and feeling a bit tired of temples after two days of exploring them, we left for Mandalay, Myanmar a day early. We ended up in Mandalay for four days before flying back to Singapore. In that time we climbed Mandalay hill which has a temple overlooking the city, visited several local markets including the jade market (this market is the gateway for some of the highest quality jade in the world into the world market), walked across U Bein’s bridge which is the oldest and longest teak wood bridge in the world, trekked to numerous other temples in the area, and ended our stay with a food tour of the city.

Myanmar is a place being thrust into the 21st century. Mandalay was probably the poorest area that we encountered, with Yangon and Bagan not far behind. It wasn’t too long of a walk from our fancy new hotels to find families selling street food in front of bamboo huts that they call home. The high-speed internet connection that your hotel advertises usually meant you could download your news feed on Facebook if you are patient enough. Walking through Mandalay at night I had flashbacks to old GeoCities webpages from all of the flashing red, green, and blue rope lights. I’m not entirely sure, but the whole country seems to have an obsession with it. They’ll line the tops of fancy hotels and even accent statues of Buddha with it.

The country in general is still learning how to handle their booming tourism trade; walking up to a touristy pagoda you’ll be swarmed by women and children hawking their wares, usually postcards and bells, with cries of “I want to sell to you!” from a half-dozen of them at once. It was only in Myanmar that we encountered beggars and “helpful” locals who would brazenly ask for a “money gift” at the end.

I guess the short version of my trip through Vietnam and Myanmar isn’t so short. I have a lot more to say and a lot of pictures to post so expect them in the coming days. I’ll leave it here for now though so I can get some rest.