I'm on a sleeper train en route to sa pa, the mountainous area of Vietnam. It's 11pm local time and I can't sleep.
I'm unsure if it's the excitement of travelling and being in a foreign land, or if it's the annoying sway of the train that's keeping me up. So here I am.. Awake and "blogging" on my phone. (This is a delayed post as I have no wifi right now).
After 3 nights in Vietnam I realise that I have horribly misjudged Vietnam food and the Vietnamese people. Vietnamese food is amazing, contrary to the typical Vietnamese fare you find in Singapore. It's also really diverse and yummy. The beef pho (pronounced like "fur") is nothing like those in Singapore. It's so much better with loads of beef & lime, awesome soup and slurpy noodles.
I've had a us$7 meal shared with Eric where we ordered every item on the menu and ate till we nearly burst. Another popular meal with locals and tourists alike is bun cha, which was served to us with fried pork slices and patties thrown together in a soup, one plate of white noodles, one plate of mixed vegetables, and an empty bowl. Eric and I were at a loss as to how to eat it. After watching several locals, we just threw everything together and ate it. It was soooo good! For the more adventurous, throw in the raw garlic. It's the best!
Other than the occasional bitter mint leaf, every Vietnamese meal was fantastic! And no tau geh! :D
Vietnamese people are one of the most industrious and diligent people I have ever seen. Depending on the roles they play, there's no sub-standard work. The lady at the road side fries each egg individually for every order she receives. If she has run out of cut tomatoes she will walk to her store to retrieve another one, cuts it to put in the meal, so that each meal is served with the same amount of ingredients. The dishwasher woman washes each and every bowl separately to ensure that they are clean. And the lady carrying baskets of fruits walks from door to door, tourist to tourist, trying to sell her wares. And whilst they are not of the cheery-eager-to-please personalities, they will do more for you if you only ask, and without complaint. I am very impressed.
We were on a two day one night trip to halong bay earlier and it was gorgeous. The sheer number of islands produce different shades of mountain silhouettes depending on how near they are to you. It is breathtaking.
We slept on the boat for one night and were treated to best night sky I have ever seen. There are no lights to distract you from the glow of the stars and there were just so many! Imagine being in the middle of the sea surrounded only by islands (which you can't see at all as it is pitch black) and it's just you in complete darkness and the sky littered with stars. Words simply fail me to describe the wonder of the experience. I really recommend this to any of my friends going there.
I dragged Eric out the next morning to watch the sunrise. Unfortunately it was a cold cloudy morning with a slight drizzle. We were the only 2 idiots in the tour group that waited valiantly for the sunrise but to no avail. It was so cloudy we didn't even know which side the sun would come from.
The weather was really horrible that day.. We had gone from tank tops + fbts the previous day, to jeans + sweater + north face the next. We did manage to get some gorgeous pictures of Halong Bay though so it was totally worth freezing our butts off in the cold morning.
It's 11.39pm now and I probably should get some rest. We will be reaching Lao chai (I think this is the spelling) tomorrow morning at 5am and I really need my beauty sleep! You'd think my eye bags couldn't get any worse but sadly they are.
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