2 weeks in Vietnam!

Vietnam has been a journey for us. We came during a really hot time of the year, not anticipating an unseasonable/unexpected/additional heat wave to hit. Because of that, hiking, biking, and generally just being outdoors has been a challenge. I’m not going to lie, it’s been difficult for us to try to rectify. We love to be outside, moving, trekking, and exploring. The heat is so unbearable from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. that doing these things has been few and far between. We’ve made the best of it, though: waking up early, staying up later, finding indoor activities, and counting our lucky stars that our accommodations have had AC. But no one wants to travel to a new country to sit inside in the AC during the day. So we’re adapting!

We planned to spend 2 months here, and it’s hard to imagine another 6 weeks of the same. So we’re moving through the country a little quicker than anticipated, headed north where the weather seems to be a bit cooler and our preferred activities seem to be more doable. I also got the dreaded stomach bug this past week on Con Dao Island, which really rained on my parade for a few days. Luckily, it came and went, and I don’t think it was food-related, as Sam and I ate the same things and he didn’t get sick, and it was pretty short-lived. Sam continues to be the best travel partner a gal could ask for, trekking all over the island for one single banana, which apparently was hard to find because we later found out a few places thought he was asking for 1 kilogram of bananas (lol).

The food and the people have certainly been two highlights. The food is fresh, healthy, and extremely tasty. Dishes range from all different types of noodles to pho (soups), spring rolls, smoothies, rice dishes, etc. We stayed at a farm last week and were welcomed by this family that cooked the food they grew on their farm, I’m talking literally going over to a tree, cutting (insert fruit, vegetable), and incorporating it into a three-course meal with other fresh ingredients. We also took a cooking class where we cooked for ourselves and already have plans to make these dishes for our families when we get back to the States. My favorite thing so far has been coconut coffee. It’s essentially iced coffee with coconut milk blended with ice and pieces of coconut on top. It’s like a coconut and coffee milkshake dream.

The people. If you want to feel like a celebrity, walk through a small city/town in Vietnam that doesn’t usually get Western tourists. The people get so excited, start waving, asking, “What’s your name???” and saying, “HELLO!” We went to the movie theater (they had English subtitles), and a group of teenage girls started following us around the mall, working up the courage to ask us for a selfie. They got a kick out of it, and we were flattered at first, but it got a little old after walking into a restaurant and having the entire place start looking at you, shouting, and waving. In places that are much more used to tourists, we did not have this problem and found people to be incredibly kind and helpful. For example, one of Sam’s AirPods slipped under his bus seat (all the buses are sleeper buses, by the way, makes a Greyhound look bad!), and this man immediately created a search party for this AirPod. I was in the process of taking off my watch to start digging, and he already appeared with it in hand. Thank you, kind sir!

We’ve also met other tourists in the last few days. Yesterday, we went on a boat tour with 10 other people where we went snorkeling, learned about the sea turtle population, and ate banh mi on the beach! I did, in fact, not pack a bathing suit for a day of snorkeling. Perhaps I subconsciously wanted to seem like a local and wear my clothes while swimming! The jury is still out.

It’s amazing what happens when you share meals, stories, and adventures with other people. It really does recharge you, talking to people in your language about the experience of traveling. Even sharing the hard moments makes you realize it really is all part of the experience. I think I’ll always find comfort in talking to other women who have been through travel mishaps. This leg of our trip gave me that, specifically a woman from England who had the best perspective on the dips. I let her know she was a highlight of my trip.

Talking with enough European travelers gave us the confidence to book a plane ticket to Greece in early May, since we were unsure if we’d make it over there due to airspace closures. More on that perhaps soon!

I also interviewed for an SLP job in Colorado the other night, it was 10 a.m. Colorado time, so that means 11 p.m. for me :) I felt quite sleepy going into it… until 3 minutes before the interview started, I saw a cockroach crawling around our room. Absolute chaos ensued, I’m sure you can picture it. Sam ended up trapping it under a bowl, which put me at ease for the interview, only to discover it had escaped said bowl during the interview. We did see our critter friend again last night, and it did indeed escape once again. Strikes and gutters.

Anyway, we’re on a ferry back to the mainland and excited to seek cooler weather and more exercise. Thanks for reading :)