So we’re back in Bangkok, Thailand, after nearly 3 months around Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. It’s hard to believe that we’ve been on the road four months already. We’ll be here for a bit so we can finally check out the big city, as well as a few surrounding places like the Bridge Over River Kwai. Plus we have our Indian visas in progress.
Our circuit of southeast Asia has been amazing; a journey that was truly eye-opening and educational, both in ways we expected and in ways unexpected. And upon our return to Bangkok, our independent yet nearly identical reactions to being in Thailand were telling.
We have loved every country we visisted, and have had amazing experiences in each. The food in Laos was a bit of a disappointment, as were a few of the logistics, but we also had some of our best experiences there. Our two day boat cruise was made more wonderful with the company of a Canadian couple; our time in Luang Prabang would not have been half as good without meeting local teacher Somphet. And bathing elephants in a river, well, it doesn’t get much better.
Cambodia tugged at our heartstrings the most; that is one country in desperate need of help. The people are poor, surviving on a rice-based subsistence diet. You can’t go anywhere without encountering landmine victims and children too poor to attend school. The government would work on these things, but since corruption is the only way things happen, and the poor don’t have the money for bribes, it’s a very slow development process. Yet the people are incredible. Well, most of them… plenty of people, especially in Siem Reap, are simply looking for ways to separate us from our money (not by theft, but by overpriced everything). But the temples of Angkor, the beaches of the south and even the city of Phnom Penh are captivating. And the food, once you scratch through the surface, is remarkable.
Vietnam perhaps grabbed us more than any other country we’ve visited, and it was definitely a bit hard to leave, although we’d had enough of Hanoi. From the Mekong delta of the south to the capital of Hanoi in the north, we found incredible experiences, sights, people and food throughout. Mattieu and Marjorie, of the southwest of France, quickly became good friends and provided a week of great company. And while there was no Adrian Cronauer waking us each morning with a big ol’ “Gooood morning, Vietnam!” we were excited for what each day had to offer. Even though we found Hanoi much more prickly than the rest, our last day somehow turned out perfect, capturing all we loved about the country.
We left the hotel around noon, after packing for our evening flight, and headed out for some food. We had found an alley with some great street vendors, especially a noodle dish with pork, greens and the amazing addition of peanuts and fried shallots and I wasn’t leaving the country without another bowl of this amazing goodness. While in the alley, not only did we end up with several bowls of noodles, there were also spring rolls, fresh draught beer and fresh squeezed sugar cane juice. We ate so well, so cheaply, and left beaming. Even the noodle lady had a big smile for us since we loved her noodles so much. After that we started walking toward a tailor where we had some clothes to pick up, and found ourselves at the “bia hoi junction.” Bia hoi is fresh draught beer, made the same day it’s consumed and contains no preservatives. You can find it all over Vietnam, but especially in Hanoi, and this particular intersection has about 8 places offering the tasty brew. I decided I should sit down and have a drink, so I picked the place with only one guy drinking. He looked local, and the other places looked filled with tourists. Turns out it was a man born in Vietnam but raised and living in France. He was great fun to talk to, and instead of one beer I had three. And an incredible doner from next door. And then an incredible “soup” with noodles, greens and grilled pork that is just about the best pork you can imagine eating. If Andre had not paid for everything without our realizing it (he can speak the language, so we had no idea he had worked out paying for us and a group of French people he also befriended and had sat down after us), the 3 beers would still not have cost 50 cents. I guess I forgot to mention, bia hoi costs 2,000 dong, and it is 16,000 dong to $1US. And it’s not a small glass of beer you get. And after this, stuffed and giddy, we picked up the last of the clothes we had made and got readyto say goodbye to Vietnam.
So it was with a tinge of sadness that we departed Hanoi and flew to Bangkok. But after a super easy cab ride to a friend’s apartment and a good sleep, we were ready yesterday to walk to to the Indian embassy. It took about 5 minutes for us to find cheap water on the way, make photocopies of our passports, get some absolutely incredible corn, streetside, and to get loads of Baht from the ATM. Then, after the stop at the embassy, we had to walk all of about 2 minutes to have a delicious lunch, cheap, and then we didn’t have to walk too much further to supplement lunch with some fried banannas and fresh fruit. Our shared reaction to Thailand – the ease of everything, the deliciousness of everything – made us giddy. But we were also tired, so we came back to the apartment, popped Little Miss Sunshine into the DVD player, and did laundry while snacking on some amazing pomello.
Maybe it’s because things are so easy in Thailand. Maybe it’s because we’ve spent nearly 2 months here. Or maybe there’s just something about this country that grabs us subtlely, quietly, without any warning and makes us love it. But it feels good; it almost feels like we’ve come home.
