One of my favourite shots of the sunset yesterday...
At Ho Chi Minh, Sianpei and I also went to the Vietnam War Remnants Museum just a day before coming to Phnom Penh. Seeing so much tragedy that happened in the past makes me wonder how the human race can be capable of such atrocities. And sadly, we never seem to learn.

The pursuit of individual ideology, blinds man and conceals all good faith.

So as you know, we are currently in Vietnam.
Hanoi was perfect and it is an absolutely charming city.

But as you can see from my post title, yes, Sianpei and I have met some troubles.

After Hanoi, we moved on to Halong Bay and then to Sapa.

I was looking forward to Sapa so much because it's trekking heaven.

When we reached Sapa via train, we were so excited because the overnight sleeping train was such a nice experience!!! And I thought it was gonna be absolute beauty from then on and ever more.

Sadly, we got cheated by the Vietnamese in Sapa. Not just once, but too many times...

Unlike the other Southeast Asian countries, Vietnam is a different ball game altogether. In other countries, we trusted the people very much and the trust was reciprocated. But in Sapa, omg, they were all out to get our money and when they don't, they get aggressive or dramatic.

Our first experience was getting to Bac Ha market, where a "bus conductor" charged us twice the price of the usual ticket. It was supposed to be 60,000 VND, which is about $3 for a ticket from Lao Cai to Bac Ha. But this hooligan charged us 200,000 ($10) each. Wtf?!??!

But wait a minute, before that happened, two of his crony friends wanted to take us in a mini-van at a cost of 300,000 each ($15) Luckily Sianpei did her research and knew that there was a public bus. And she knew that the bus was supposed to be 60,000 VND. So after much deliberation, we declined and decided against going to the market. The bus then drove away. But suddenly, the bus stopped and the conductor got down and said fine, 100,000 VND ($5) each. For that amount, we decided to give in. After we got into the bus, the ACTUAL bus conductor told us that we just dealt with the mafia. Freakin corrupted shits ripping off tourists?! And we figured that the actual bus conductor probably didn't get any money at all. He was such an honest man and I just.. feel so sad because he was one of the few genuine people we've met while in Sapa.

That was just the first incident. And we were smart by refusing to give in. We moved on and believed it was an isolated incident.

What happened next ON THE SAME DAY was, we got cheated in the market. By a lady who sold us drinks this time.







Holy mother?!?!

That's daylight bloody robbery for drinks that can be bought at, at most $2 each. AT MOST.

We were just like wtf?! And wait.. wait... that's not the worst part. When we refused to pay her and told her we'd only pay 200,000.. guess what?

SHE FREAKIN BEGAN TO CRY. Holy mother, please, somebody, give her an award for Best Actress. Wah knnb seriously. I cannot find other profanities for this woman. I really........

I was ready to leave that place and put just 200,000 VND on the table. Unfortunately, before this whole bloody theatrical show that this woman put on, she had a super friendly facade and placed Sianpei's backpack on her side of the store. So we couldn't leave and escape. Eventually, Sianpei gave in and placed 50,000 dong more into her hands and told her to accept it. After giving a few pouts and bullshit, the woman accepted it AND SHE STARTED SMILING FROM EAR TO EAR AND THANKING US and for the love of God, shaking our hands. I didn't want to shake her hand or look her in the eye, all I wanted to do was walk away from the woman. She even wanted to give us free popcorn and stuff. Wahlau eh this woman, I swear, I've never met someone like that before. Can you feel my anger?

We left, emotionally hurt because we treated her nicely and in exchange, we were cheated.


And finally, hell didn't quite seem to end because we got cheated one last time. On the same bloody day. By another mafia. We needed to go to the main part of Sapa where all the treks were.

This time, I regretted not making the decision to just go to the public bus instead of taking a stupid "mini-van". We should've done the same thing the first time and not used a bloody mini-van. We thought the mini-van could take us directly to our guesthouse since it was a distance away from the centre of Sapa. We paid 300,000 VND to a different dude, whom we trusted, to take us to our hostel. In the end, the driver dropped us off at the centre but what?! We paid to go all the way to our hostel hello!?? So we pleaded with the driver to take us there directly because that was what we paid for. Plus, we had already booked + paid for our guesthouse. We pleaded with all our hearts and drained all emotions. Yet, the man refused. He wanted to drive all the way back to Lao Cai, which was 1+ hours to where we started. And I told Sianpei, let's just get down and find another guesthouse to stay.

That was it. We were emotionally exhausted and hurt and felt like we couldn't trust another Vietnamese. That was all it took to wipe out all good impressions of the Vietnamese we met earlier on. We met TONS and TONS of awesome Vietnamese in Hanoi but these three incidents just made us so damn bloody disgusted and disillusioned.

What's more, while in Sapa, we met even more crazy people who were the rudest of the rudest I've ever met in my entire life. Like... they were all out for the money man. All out. Our sincerest of intentions just got washed away and it felt like I couldn't be nice to anyone in Sapa again.

It was that bad.

I had never seen Sianpei raise her voice before at anyone within my three years of knowing her. And in such a short span of time, I've heard her raise her voice more times than those three years. We are nice people and are the most considerate travellers ever, so to feel like these people don't treat us the way we've treated them and their country, we feel yeah, cheated.

We discussed this, and from what I believe, it could also be because as Singaporeans, we are largely honest people and we trust people easily since we don't encounter such things at home. So we could be a little naive when dealing with people. All sorts of people. I suppose, we'll have to be a lot more discerning now.

But because of this, it has made me miss home - miss Singapore. This is one of the times when you'd feel proud to be a Singaporean, proud of your nation. We may be too clean and too strict, may not be the friendliest people of all BUT at least we're honest people and you won't be getting the shorter end of the stick. The type of governance reflects the nation's type of people.

Yet, I choose to believe that Sapa has been an exception because the people we've met all throughout our travels have been amazing. And I shan't generalise the whole of Vietnam, coz like I said, we've met the friendliest people ever in Vietnam.


And as with my other travels, during the lowest of lows, I'd meet people who are helpful. Right at that point when we were downtrodden after the last cheating incident, we were lucky to have met a bunch of backpackers from Israel, Canada and Italy. I asked "Hey do you guys know a good hostel?" and they were like, "We're looking for one now too!" and I went, "Can we join you guys???" and they were like, "SURE!!!"

They're so awesome. We got a good hostel called Kenpas Hostel at 200,000 VND ($10) a night.

The next day, we had a good day trekking with them, or rather, walking haha, to Cat Cat Village.






Sapa is still beautiful lah and although it's the coldest time of the year, we were so lucky to have blue skies and bright sun yesterday despite the weather forecast saying that it'd rain.

We weren't second-time lucky today coz it's bloody foggy the whole day. We wanted to trek today but we're now stuck in the room. And that sucks. It has made me feel so rotten the entire day, because I contemplated leaving Sapa for Hanoi yesterday but made the decision to stay, thinking that we'd be lucky again. But I'm kicking myself for not making that decision and now I'm thinking we wasted more money for the hostel. Sigh. After all that money wasted in the earlier cheating incidents as well. Sigh sigh. And I'm just annoyed because we didn't really get to trek properly. I was sooo looking forward to it.

Right now, I'm looking forward to getting back to Hanoi already, where people are so much friendlier and less rude.

Yet, I want to give Sapa another shot. I'm thinking about whether I'll ever make a trip here again because they say that July/Aug is a better season when the rice plantations are growing and the mountains are greener. But this place feels so commercialised already, that it doesn't even feel authentic! The homestays and treks feel gimmicky. I really don't know.

But one thing REALLY interesting about this place is the local villagers and mamas who are so cute and speak such good english that I'd come back here to be taken on a trek by one of them. Look at this picture!

The angmohs are so tall and they are sooo small but they're SO NOT afraid of speaking to them in DARN GOOD English and selling them things. Not afraid at all. That's so interesting about them.

These villagers even started a whole black market trade by offering foreigners THEIR OWN trekking packages to their own villages and homes. SO SMART!!!! They will show you a map and tell you where they'll take you and some of them even have a book of TESTIMONIES written by other people who have taken their tours. So so so SO SMART. My newfound backpacker friends attested to that because they did one of the half day hikes before we met them. We even wanted to go on a trek with one of the village mamas today because they're so much cheaper than the tour packages on offer - what's more it's a local bringing you around speaking in awesome English as well. So why not right??? Sadly the weather... argh!!


The Vietnamese are so brave with talking to foreigners and that's one of the conclusions that led us to thinking that they are a different breed from other SEA people. And perhaps, that is also why they won the war against the Americans. The only country that won a battle against a superpower during the Cold War era.

So despite all that we experienced in Sapa, I really got to give it to these Vietnamese villagers because they appear to be so backwarded with their traditional garbs and worn faces, but are so brave and good at thinking of ideas to make money. Good for them.


All they need to do is to fix their greed for money and rampant corruption....

Here's me looking dishevelled at our AirBnb house.

Anyway, we are in Hanoi, Vietnam now!!! Took an overnight sleeping bus from Vientiane, Laos to Hanoi and it literally took the entire day from 6pm to 6pm. But it was an experience!!

I am so friggin excited for Vietnam because food's good, there are cultural sites to visit and nature to soak ourselves in. It's only Day One but I KNOW it will be bloody awesome. I just know it in my veins. Sianpei questions my confidence but I explained to her why and I'm pretty sure, she'll be convinced by the end of our time in Vietnam.

I AM SO BLOODY EXCITED.

I also can't wait to come back and blog about everything... I believe I will have the time because I am still jobless heh.

Btw, I think Vietnam bans/censors blogspot? Because I can't even view zapyou.blogspot.sg, as with all other blogspot pages. Creeeeeppppyyy....

Right at this moment, it's 1pm and I'm in the guesthouse room, the tv is on, and Sianpei is taking an afternoon nap.

We both expected our trip to be sibeh xiong and that we'd be on the move all the time. But fact is, we're also resting and doing nothing for a lot of the time. And that's something I realised while travelling. Sometimes travel is not always exciting, sometimes we're really doing nothing. It isn't exhilarating all the time and there are days when there is a) nothing to do or b) uninspiring. It happens. We perceive travel to be on-the-go all the time because what we read online or hear from people are stuff that they've done so I guess we form certain expectations.

But having met people who have travelled extensively and for a long period of time, they have said that they like to stay at some place for a bit and settle for a while. It gets tiring - travelling. And it's true. There are times when we'd take an entire day on the road travelling from one city to another. We're just sitting and watching scenery pass us by but once we reach our destination, we're knackered. The whole process can be tiring. Once that happens, we'd have to take a day off to rest because we didn't get proper sleep while on the bus/boat. So, ample rest is needed.

At first, I felt that this was a bit disconcerting. Like, why do I not feel as inspired as I should be from my travels? Being someone who constantly needs to have regular injections/dosages of activity, I was also wondering if we're resting too much. Whether we're seeing enough. Whether we're missing out if we don't see everything. But I am learning to accept that travel doesn't mean that we have to do as much as we can or visit as many places as possible. I think travel sometimes is a feeling. As long as the place has given me an impression about something and if it has caused me to ponder about how things work or challenges some of the status quos that exist in my head, then I think it is enough.

For me, I have come to realise that it is the people whom we've met during our travels that have made this trip meaningful + exciting to me. Sianpei and I would talk to people from all walks of life and they've shared with us bits of themselves and their thoughts. After that, we'd go into discussions about these people and their ideas. What we agree and disagree on. I find this extremely exciting and interesting. There have been so many people I would like to tell you about and to help my poor goldfish memory remember some of these conversations, I'll list some of the people and where they're from.

Myanmar
1) A German couple in their 30s whom we shared a lot of laughters and insights about both our countries. We enjoyed guessing other people's nationalities. Up till today I can't forget about them.
2) A group of French citizens who could speak very little English. But we spent a night in the mountains of Hsipaw drinking and speaking to each other in a universal language - Music. We shared songs with one another that we liked and they so happily wrote us a list of French music to listen to.
3) A pair of old German ladies who were proud to be from Munich. Very very friendly and we had a lot of fate bumping into them every now and then.
4) A Burmese family consisting of a Muslim Indian man and his Chinese wife, whom we got acquainted with well. She's a grandmother of really cute children and she fed us chappati on three days (treated us to a piece on the last day) Didn't talk much, but we all had a connection with one another somehow...

Surprisingly, we met all of them in just one city in Myanmar - Hsipaw.

Thailand
1) A couple in their 50s who were old enough to be our parents. The man was mix French + middle eastern and the lady was Thai. I remember how they told us about their love affair when they were younger and how they had to write letters to one another because he was in France and she was in Thailand. They did a really sweet thing for us. After they said bye bye, and left, they came back. They saw us still sitting at the same spot, so they went back and bought two kebabs for us because they knew we wanted to try some of them. We were touched : )
2) Homestay guests in Chiangrai. Our Airbnb experience was wonderful because there was a young American couple, a Singaporean guy and a French man whom we met at the house. I had a great time speaking to them and learning from all of them about their experiences. We even spent an evening together at the Loy Krathong festival, which our fantastic hosts brought us to.

Laos
1) A Chinese man in his late 30s who treated us to some light dessert at a cafe and talked to us about his perceptions about China. Sianpei and I were amused and enlightened by a lot of the things that he shared. Too much to write but thought-provoking.
2) A Kiwi-Korean boy whom I shared a long conversation with about life on the boat ride from Chiang Khong - Pakbeng (thailand) to Luang Prabang (laos)


So far, these are some of the people we've met and the conversations we've had. I can't remember all of them, but the friendships formed definitely made my travelling experience memorable and worthwhile.

For me, I suppose people inspire me and I enjoy learning from them always.

Speaking of people and travel, it's the first time I'm travelling for so long and with a partner.

Similarly, it can be boring for Sianpei and I as well. Like, we know each other well and there were so many occasions when I repeated stories to her. And she would tell me that I had already told them multiple times hahaha yikes. Silence is also common between us because other than the fact that Sianpei is not one to talk a lot, we also know stuff about one another. So there's nothing new to learn about the other.

So yes, travelling can be boring sometimes even when there's a partner.

But the beauty of travelling with a partner is the shared experiences. Someone to gasp and talk to when we see something that affects us.

And even though silence is common, this is what makes it more beautiful - learning something about the other beyond what we already know about each other. There were times when there were actually stories that we hadn't shared and we'd go hey, now that's something I didn't know about you! And that's nice too.


What we see on blogs and Instagram, yeah shows how fascinating travel experiences are but there's also the not-so-fancy stuff about travelling that they don't show you. As with everything. So I think it's important to keep expectations levelled.

I still stick to the mantra that travel experiences are personal and what you take with you doesn't have to be the same as others~ and can never be measured by intensity or quantity.

The day has just begun and life at work is business as usual. Or rather, serene as usual.
My Burmese friends are talking among themselves... I'm sitting beside my intern friend who is super stoked to get back home... And here I am typing.

We're also all waiting to go for a farewell lunch, hot pot woohoo!

On Monday, Sianpei and I will go on our epic tour~ Starting off at Bagan, Myanmar.

And yes!!! She's here with me nowww.


Wahahhaa!! My cray Burmese friends and us.

She came in two nights ago, on a special occasion for Myanmar, which is called the Thindingyut Festival - Festival of Lights. So lucky she was!! Coz the moment I fetched her, the taxi driver was one of the most friendly drivers I've met while I was here and his taxi was freakin comfortable lah? Aircon all and clean~

And then on our way to my apartment, we witnessed people setting off fireworks and floating lanterns at Inya Lake. So pretty!!! And magical ~*~*~* Real lucky indeed.

Then just hours after she landed, we went straight to meeting my friends and checked out a carnival in downtown. It's similar to our pasar malams but a lot more packed...



.... and old school.
We took a ferris wheel and wahlau it's insane can. You need to push to get a damn seat.

But the highlight is the fact that the ferris wheel spins by humans!??! Like a few Burmese dudes will be climbing on the damn wheel and spinning the thing by walking on them till it turns and then when it reaches the floor, they let go and jump off. Wtf?!?! It's damn crazy!!!!

Don't have a photo of them doing it, but here's the view.

I'm getting that strange feeling again like the one that I had when I was in New Zealand coz I know I'm gonna be with these people for who knows, the last time ever? 2 to 3 years ago I was really emotional, and cried myself to sleep but I think I'm a lot less emotional this time. I don't know if I'll cry or not. But right at this moment, my brain is dying from boredom at the office. Like I think I'm literally going crazy and my brain is tired or something - can't think straight.

Supposed to plan the SEA trip properly but I can't... I think my brain is just knackered. In other news, Sianpei is joining me reallll soon wheeehoooo. Tomorrow!!! We'll be so sick of each other, wheeeehooooo. But truth be told, I can't wait to see you my friend lol.

"Most travel, and certainly the most rewarding kind, involved depending on the kindness of strangers, putting yourself in the hands of people you don't know and trusting them with your life."

Was this trip out to see the Golden Rock at Kyaiktiyo and hiking up Mount Zwegabin.

The highlights of this trip was staying at a monastery (coolest thing ever), seeing the most extraordinary sunsets and sunrise of my life and meeting the most amazingly kind-hearted couple ever.

I couldn't have treated myself better on my 23rd Birthday. (yikes I'm old indeed!)
All budgeted to guess what? Under USD 50 for three days of awesomeness. I'll state the prices in brackets.

Here goes!

So I took a train down to Kyaikto (1,200 kyats). I sat beside locals and all of them kept asking me if I'm alone and one man even stood up and asked me "Which country you from?" and when he found out I was Singaporean, he freakin announced it to the whole cabin hahahaha. The locals around me were sooo nice, offering me food every time they bought something. I had yummy watermelons and the locals were just so incredibly nice. Lucky the ticket conductor who sold me the ticket at the counter made me sit beside locals who were getting off at the same station, otherwise I wouldn't have known where to alight.

I waved goodbye to them and they smiled the warmest smiles. People tend to treat you very well when they know you're alone.

I then left on a pick-up truck (500 kyats), which was surprisingly easy to find, to make my way to Kinpun base to start my hike up the treacherous mountain. I was mentally prepared for this 4 hour doom.







Until a monk came to tell me it's the "Thimpunzun" rock. I was like, shat. Now I just wasted an hour resting and doing nothing AND acting so proud that I made it. I knew something had to be wrong...

































Modest with no mattress. It was slightly uncomfortable since I had hiked two mountains and my body was aching all over. Also, the monks kept walking in and out throughout the night to pee so I was woken up several times.
What was nice about this stay was how I got a chance to talk to monks. I've always enjoyed speaking to different kinds of people and the monk taught me about the different types of Buddhism and also life in general. He was so excited to teach me a little Burmese as well~ My Burmese friend told me monks love to teach the Burmese language hahaha. Indeed.

















After that, I collected my bike and onwards to a cave.











The owners of the shop accompanied me and talked to me as I waited two hours for my bus to arrive.

I was so loved on this trip since the time I was on the train all the way till I left Hpa An.