Bear with me this week, y’all. This is going to be a long one. (But don’t worry, there are also a lot of pretty pictures to get you through!)
What I did this week:
- Went to lunch with the city team on Monday- Kat and I shared a cab there and then somehow found ourselves paddling a swan boat across a man-made lake because #Hanoi.
#digitaldouchebag
- Got my first haircut of Remote Year Tuesday morning. Note to self and everyone else with western hair in Asia: BE CAREFUL. Ughhhhhhhhhhh I went in with at least five photos of Reese Witherspoon’s classic lob cut and somehow walked out with a LEGIT ANNA WINTOUR BOB. True it looked fine (which I was reminded of many times) but after growing out your hair for six months with the goal of continuing to grow it out, I was NOT a happy camper. Looks like I’ll be adopting the ponytail look for the next month. -___-
- Cafe hopped all of Tuesday- Despite knowing how dangerous they are, I’ve totally embraced Uber Moto. They’re literally the best things ever. So fun. So dangerous.
Sidebar: Why are all of the most fun things also the most dangerous?
Second sidebar: Vietnam coffee is crack. Not kidding, there’s no other explanation for it. I wasn’t a coffee drinker before Remote Year (and I’m still ok without it so far-though the midnight shift might change this..); but Vietnamese coffee is the best I’ve ever had in my life..and also the strongest.
Egg coffee
They love sweetened condensed milk here and put that ish in EVERYTHING. It’s just the perfect combo with espresso. All of the milk and the sugar and the creaminess. I just can’t even. Others have also embraced coconut coffee (where they basically add whipped coconut). It’s too coconut-y for me (is that a thing?) but I can see why others love it. Drip coffee is also amazing. And egg coffee which basically tastes like liquid tiramisu. Can you tell I like the coffee here?
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Perhaps a result of this is a strong coffee shop culture. This place seriously has the best coffee shops to work from- cute, comfortable, dellllicious coffee/treats and there’s never any pressure to leave. Just perfect. Easily one of my favorite things to do is hop on the back of a random scooter, say a prayer, ride to a coffee shop in a part of town I haven’t explored, work, and repeat.
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- Got my first massage on Wednesday morning from Omenori spa. This spa is also a non-profit that works with blind Vietnamese people and teaches them how to be massage therapists, thereby giving them a safe workplace and consistent source of income- something that’s definitely not taken for granted here.
If you’re ever in Hanoi, GO
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One of our Kaizen’s used to work in the beauty/spa industry and has actually dedicated her whole month to working with them to optimize their services and revenue. I’m not sure I’ve actually told her (though I’ve meant to say it a million times) but I’m so happy and proud and excited that she has found something she cares so much about here. She truly is making a tangible difference in their organization and that’s just so wonderful. #allthefeels
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- Finally walked train street. This street is actually right next to my house and I can hear the trains every morning and night yet it’s taken me three weeks to explore it. On this street people live, work and play right alongside, and on top of the railroad tracks- only moving temporarily when the trains pass through.
If you know me, you know I can’t resist a good photoshoot
Parts of it still seem to be under construction?
- Watched a documentary about the American evacuation of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War during our town hall.
Coming into Vietnam I didn’t really know anything about the country or the war- actually I think most of us came into Vietnam pretty ignorant of its history. The war happened at an interesting period for a lot of us- recently enough that we know people who fought in it but not long enough ago that it was in our history books.
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I know I was never specifically taught about it- the extent of my knowledge was literally that it was the communists vs the Americans, that we had no reason to be sticking our nose in other peoples’ business, and Agent Orange (#environmentalsciencedegree). Being here and seeing how the war had such an impact on this country has really been eye-opening.
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- After the documentary we went to a prison where they held POWs (including John McCain) and listened to two northern soldiers talk about their experiences during the war. The two men were so fascinating because one’s job was basically to be in charge of morale- he was an entertainer, and the other was pure strategy- a “true” soldier. Their personalities couldn’t have been more different yet they both played equally important roles.
You can totally see their opposite personalities in this photo
It was interesting to see the two different perspectives- the North (victors) definitely see the war in a different light than the south. The documentary we watched was from the perspective of the South and the museum we toured was definitely from the perspective of the North. I walked away with the feeling that there’s a lot of propaganda up here. (But I also realize that being American certainly colors this perspective.)
Sup McCain
#propaganda
- Left on Thursday night to trek through a Microsoft wallpaper. You know that background photo of the tiered rice fields? Yeah, that’s Sapa. That’s the adventure we were about to walk, *ahem* trek into.
Allow me to present: The Saga of Sapa
- About 30 of us signed up to do a 3-day trek through the picturesque northern countryside and BOY OH BOY did we not know what we were getting ourselves into.
Our saga began on Thursday night when we were all loaded onto a six hour overnight sleeper bus which tbh was pretty cool. There are three rows of beds and two levels- upper and lower. You basically sit reclined the whole time so you can sleep…if you can sleep.
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Aimee and I took the bunk at the back of the bus which seemed like a good idea at the time but ended up having to share it with an annoying Italian couple. Thanks to my big ass headphones (and Joaquin) I was actually able to accomplish some shut-eye, unlike some other poor souls in our group :/ However, the next morning was still ROUGH.
Because of our insane local sim cards I was able to take a few calls from the back of the bus and acomplish probably the most amount of work I’ve done in a reclined position without falling asleep. #RemoteYear
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In order to feel like less of a zombie hoard, several of us did another first on Remote Year-brushed our teeth in the street. Sounds not that weird, right? Wrong? I don’t know- it seemed super odd at the time to do something outside that you’re so used to doing indoors.
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As soon as we left the trekking office a bunch of tiny ladies started following us. They basically each picked out a person and proceeded to become that person’s lady in waiting- helping them jump over puddles, telling them where to put their feet so they didn’t slip and fall in the mud, etc etc.
The view from the top of the hill..before we even started our trek
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Oh, did I mention it’s monsoon season in Vietnam? Aka EVERYTHING IS MUDDY.
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Our first stop was a Hmong village which was actually pretty interesting- I’ve learned a bit about the Hmong’s plight [in America] in a few international communication classes I took in college and it was a really cool thing to see what I learned about in a book in real life.
The sweetest
And her brother was just as cute
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After we got through the Hmong village we proceeded to get on a path that wove through the rice fields and started walking. With our giant packs. And didn’t stop. For hours.
When you love rice so much you dress like it
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We walked through the pouring rain, we walked through ankle deep mud, we walked through rivers, streams and waterfalls; past water buffalo, up mountains and down into valleys. It was warm, cold, wet and well.. more wet. Soaked to the bone and caked in mud, we kept walking.
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After five hours we were finally granted a reprieve when we stopped for lunch at a small outpost. After quickly shunning our heavy bags we proceeded to laugh at the steam that was visibly rising off our bodies and gorged ourselves on noodles and fried rice.
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Of course because Kaizen is Kaizen, booze was brought out and quickly consumed (hey, we deserved it after all of that), and I proceeded to find and temporarily kidnap the absolute cutest asian baby.
Can you tell I love babies?
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We were starting to understand what a ‘trek’ was.
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During lunch our trek leader managed to procure three scooters to take a few people straight to that night’s homestay, aka skip the afternoon walk. Two were immediately claimed by Aimee and Kimberly, who were hurting from falls they took over the course of the morning and I quickly snatched up the last one, mainly because I looooove scooters (and minorly because hiking with a 30lb bag is not my idea of fun).
Ready to go!
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Let me tell you, I’m SO glad I snatched up that last scooter. Riding on the back of a bike on a tiny trail up and down the mountains and through the rice fields of Sapa, Vietnam is one of those memories that will never leave you. Just watch:
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Made it!
When we got to the right homestay we were treated to a delicious dinner and then it was time for my favorite activity- ARTS AND CRAFTS! Yaaaaaaassssss.
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I’m totally not joking though. I freaking love anything creative. While some wandered off for what turned out to be super questionable massages in the local village, the women of the homestay taught the rest of us how to use wax to create designs on pieces of homemade Hmong fabric. The fabric would then be then dyed with indigo and the wax would be peeled off to create their famous traditional Hmong pattered fabrics. I was totally in heaven.
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The next morning brought a breakfast of crepes (“Vietnamese pancakes” …ok) and we were off for our second day of hiking. A small (ok GIANT) favor was that Hong (our Hanoi experience manager) and our guide had overnight arranged for our bags to get taken to the next night’s homestay. Aka praise Jesus hallelujah, lawd have mercy cause those bags were no joke heavy af.
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Sunday’s hike was thankfully less rainy and took us through more rice patties than I could count, through a bamboo jungle that turned into a giant game of who’s going to slip and fall in the mud this time (Yours truly had a particularly fantastic slip after getting distracted eating some “booger fruit”), and across a huge mudslide before we hit a waterfall and rock face that gave us a beautiful view of the surrounding valley.
The beginning
The mudslide was no joke
Just wow
Absolutely adore this gem of a human..and not just because of how photogenic he is
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After lunch and ungodly amounts of angel’s tears, aka Vietnamese drip coffee, we finished up our hike by literally walking down a stream for two miles. No joke, our guide was like well we could walk down this paved road orrrrrrr we could take a shortcut and we were all like shortcut! shortcut! Not realizing that the shortcut was *literally* a stream bed.
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One of my favorite things of the whole trek I think was the different conversations I got to have with the people around me throughout the few days- whoever was in front of you or behind you became your new conversation partner and I got the chance to learn so much more about my family- their hopes, dreams, desires, struggles, most embarrassing moments- you name it, we talked about it.
Our reward for making down the stream was this picture
Our arrival at our second and last homestay marked the end of the second day. Honestly I’m not sure a beer and a sketchy shower has ever felt so good in my life. We quickly settled into the night of creating new never-have-I-ever drinking games and playing psychiatrist for the millionth time (which as always, was completely ridiculous).
Just a tad muddy
The next morning we were given the option of a third short trek of the mountains around us THEN a waterfall, or to lay in bed for another 45 minutes then the waterfall. I’ll give you one guess as to which option I went with.
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The waterfall gang made ourselves at home by jumping off rocks, swimming too close to whirlpools and doing other fairly questionable things and were eventually joined by the rest of the hikers. I knew I made the right decision when Josh told me “I’m pretty sure my sweat had sweat on that hike.”
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Just our local watering hole for the day
This gang <3
After cleaning up we all headed back to the homestay so we could pack up and get in the busses back to Sapa Town and then Hanoi. Everything was going really well- we were all singing and dancing to Despactio in the van, loving life. Loving the fact that we MADE IT. WE CONQUERED SAPA! We’re the kings and queens of the world!! When our van rounded a turn and everything came crashing down in an instant.
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In front of us was a moped lodged under a truck and two men sprawled out on the ground 10 feet away; one bleeding from the head, the other not moving. Apparently less than 30 seconds before we got there, the moped had taken the blind hairpin turn too close and collided head on with the truck, sending both men flying.
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Our first 2 minutes were spent 1/3 in shock, 1/3 yelling at the one guy who was moving to stay down and 1/3 holding our breath hoping that the not moving guy was actually alive. I’ve honestly never wished I had basic medical training more in my life.
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A few minutes later the guy on the ground’s leg twitched. We all let out a collective exhale and immediately sprang into action. How can we help? What can we do? Is there a hospital nearby? A clinic? Can we take them? How will they get there? THEY NEED MEDICAL ATTENTION. One couldn’t get up, the other couldn’t stand without staggering, they both clearly had severe concussions at the very minimum and one was still bleeding from his head.
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There was nothing we could do.
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Our guide got out and spoke to everyone and told us that the truck driver they collided with would take them to the clinic, but other than that, we had to keep going or we would miss our bus back to Hanoi. It was a completely sobering experience and I think a much needed reminder for all of us that although Uber Moto is fun, we still need to be very careful.
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With that heavy on our minds, we continued our trip home. Thankfully we all got back safe and sound on our second sleeper bus of the weekend. Heading to bed that night was both easy and hard, but overall, I think we all went to sleep with a new appreciation for nature, for each other, for courage, for perseverance and for life.