Vietnam was the first country we visited on our trip and I personally had few expectations. I was ready for a surprise and I certainly received one; BAM right off the bat data plan doesn’t work so I can’t contact our hostel lady who was then supposed to contact our driver that would pick us up from the airport so I had to use Erin’s phone that luckily had enough bars to get a couple messages through and then BAM AGAIN the driver does find us but claims he already came up to me and asked if I was waiting for a ride and of course that did not happen otherwise we would have gotten in the car like? so now he’s pissed at us and doesn’t speak English whatever and then BAM AGAIN we get to our hostel at close to midnight and ask our hostel lady where to eat and she says nothing much is open right now so we go out to look for something and she’s right so us weary travelers get convenience store food and I eat half a can of pringles for dinner and knock out.
However, after a rocky start, our next eight and a half days would be chock-full of some fantastic cultural and culinary exploration: We learned about the 54 different ethnic groups spread across the country, ate pho and a bunch of other delicious Vietnamese classics straight from the source, walked past countless stores selling Arcteryx and Patagonia and Salomon with no price tags that surely must be fake but look so real, rode 150 miles on the back of a motorcycle through the most breathtaking countryside I’ve ever seen, and took a cruise through a world heritage site. Vietnam was mind blowing, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to have seen a part of the world so different from the one I’m used to.