For those of you who don't know, I've set out on a 4-month working adventure to south-east Asia. With the first stop being Vietnam, it's been a beautiful culture shock that I know I will treasure forever- and I'm only two weeks in!
I haven't come on this adventure on my own, even though I didn't know anymore before I landed here. Through a serendipitous Google search (or sponsored ad?!) I found a company called Remote Year. They cater to people like me- we have jobs, careers, businesses, and we want to explore the amazing world we live in. We want to immerse ourselves in other cultures so that we can appreciate how others live, or remember how much we take for granted in our home countries. To start out the cultured journey, we have 31 people on the same 4-month itinerary from 10 different nations, speaking over 6 languages. Together, our group is called Mandala- and they are my Mandaloves already!
Hanoi is a city of orchestrated chaos- the roads are filled with scooters, cars, and buses, and they all seem to have no regard for traffic lights or North American rules. But what they do have is respect and consideration for each other, so it all works beautifully. As a pedestrian you feel like you're taking your life into your hands each time you set out on your journey- but the key is to commit to your path, and for goodness' sake, don't hesitate! Scooters anticipate your trajectory and flow around you... sometimes you need to watch the cars, but that just keeps you on your toes! Don't feel like walking? Take a Grab- it's the city's version of Uber, and you can take a scooter (Scoober?!) or a car, and it that hasn't cost me more than $1.50 so far.
Through Remote Year we have two amazing local women helping us on this adventure. They have come with restaurant and cafe recommendations, and have also taken us to some of their favourite spots. They have tried giving us language lessons, but Vietnamese is a language full of intonation and our English-speaking tongues just don't seem capable of making some of the sounds! With various accents on letters (which I'm not sure how to type!) ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, and ma all mean various things, from ghost to UPC bar code! The one thing we've all seemed to master, though, is oi zoi oi- Vietnam's OMG :)
The food has been amazing.... pho, bun cha, bun bo nam bo, pork spring rolls..... and the best I've had has been on the side of the street sitting on small plastic stools. But the coffee. OH THE COFFEE! A Vietnamese black coffee has been my go-to, and there is something different about the beans. I've heard they roast them with cocoa beans, but I think it might just be magic. If you're in the mood for something sweet, a Vietnamese coffee with milk is made with condensed milk.... so good for after dinner and before the night shift at the office! They also created something called egg coffee, which was born out of a milk shortage during the war, I believe. I got a lesson on how to make this, and I plan on showing people when I get home! I will certainly miss the coffee culture in this beautiful country.
I've had the opportunity to get out of the city twice- once to Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO world heritage site, and Ninh Binh, a gorgeous inland setting with a river running through the most glorious scenery. In Ha Long Bay we were rowed though the local floating village by a resident. People have literally built houses on floating rafts, and together have formed a community. In Ninh Binh we were rowed down the river by a local who almost exclusively rowed with her feet....
The most amazing experience I have had in the city so far was a tour affectionately known as Vroom Vroom.... about a dozen Mandaloves hopped on the back of military inspired motorcycles driven by professional drivers (because if any of us had been driving, we wouldn't have made it around the block!). Hanoi Backstreet Tours took us on the main roads, though the crazy intersections, in back alleys, across bridges, and through farmland. They stopped at their favourite food places, back alley peanut roasteries, one of Hanoi's floating villages, and the most heartwarming thing I've seen so far- Hidden Gem Coffee.
We met the owner and artist of this cafe, Tommy, who has furnished and decorated it with recycled materials that create a beautiful atmosphere. He told us a story of the way his family re-purposed his grandmother's coffin as a door, digging it up after a couple of years (I think to carry out a tradition after burial, but I'll be honest in that I might have that part wrong). He was able to see that there are hidden gems when you look at things that have already served a purpose. He grew up outside the city and has seen the destruction that waste has created in his beautiful country, especially with single use plastics. He knows that something must be done to improve waste to save his town, his country, and the world from overwhelming waste. While I notice this at home, I am smacked in the face with it here. There are so many single use bottles, plastic bags (everything is given to you in a bag, even your takeaway coffee), straws, and no recycling to be seen. I'm doing my best to help- I have a reusable water bottle with a stainless steel straw that comes almost everywhere with me, reusable shopping bags, and I refuse extra plastic when I can. But as Tommy mentioned, we need to spread the word and take more action. My next purchase will be a reusable coffee cup!
I can't wait to continue sharing my journey with you.... I have so many other things to share! I'll make sure to post a separate blog about the market tour and cooking class we had this week...
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