Week 16 & 17 & 18 (Vietnam)

Phong Nha – Ninh Binh – Hanoi – Ha Giang Loop – Hanoi – Sapa

Guys! It’s me!! Lil!!! I’m in Laos!!!! It’s been a minute. I don’t really understand how it’s been three weeks since I’ve last blogged. It’s gone bizarrely fast. I’m writing this from a little cafe in Vientiane, drinking an iced coffee before my night bus to Pakse in a few hours. Luckily I read the reviews and bought two tickets so I don’t have to share a bed with a randomer. Poo vibes. I’ve decided to head down to the South of Laos first, to an island called Don Det in the Mekong River, which is part of the “Four Thousand Islands”. Apparently it’s really chilled and incredibly quiet, and I think I’m on a spend a few days on my own in a bungalow (preferably on a hammock) type vibe. After travelling with someone for the last six weeks, it’s time to readjust to being back on my own. I do feel like I’m in need of kind of reconnecting with myself a bit. Apologies if you’re cringing. The last three weeks have been pretty special. Northern Vietnam is kind of ridiculous, I’ve eaten seriously well, seen some breathtaking scenes, met some lovely people and felt ALL the feels. Like, all of them.

So, back we go…

We were up at 7am for an 8am start for our day trip to Ruc Mon cave. I won’t lie I wasn’t super excited for this particular adventure as I’m not huge on caves and traipsing through small spaces is kind of my idea of hell, along with cucumber water. But, it was definitely something I think I’d have regretted not doing, and a pretty cool experience even if there was a moment where I had to climb BACKWARDS through a crevice just about big enough for me. When I saw it I fully had a lump in my throat, but I managed it, albeit with a bit of a fuss. Anyway, we were picked up at the hostel along with a group of 6 other people all travelling together, and they spent the entire day speaking in Italian to each other. I definitely have more sympathy for people who are backpacking and not from the UK spending their days with Brits. We were dropped off at the tour office to collect hiking shoes, which were basically ugly jelly shoes. I was a little dubious as to how we would be trekking through a cave in these, but you’ll be pleased to know they did the job. Our tour guide was called Rango and he was quite the character, very funny, although not so funny when we were about to effectively abseil into the cave and he told us he’s “no expert, just a local”. Vibes. After an hour drive into the middle of nowhere, we were given helmets and were on our merry way. Truly in the middle of nowhere and the scenery was spectacular, the variation of greens on green here just blow me away, it’s like a painting. So far so good, it was all pretty flat, me likey. WRONG. We then hiked 45 minutes fucking up hill, and not really a hill, more like steep rocks and we were effectively climbing a mountain. That’s probably slightly over the top but you know I love the drama. I was absolutely sweating buckets and for some bizarre reason I was at the front so I really felt like I was setting the pace, which was horrible as I was climbing way faster than I would have liked. I also dropped my sunglasses while climbing a rock and they fell down a crack. Rango tried to find them but to no avail. Quite embarrassing actually having everyone have to wait for me. My own fault for trying to look like Lara Croft. We finally made it to the “campsite” which was set up by the mouth of the cave, the wet one as Rango called it, the dry one was the one we’d be hiking to after lunch to go in and through. We had a lil swim before our lunch overlooking the water and mountains. I’d got chatting to one of the girls while swimming and she was maybe one of the most impressive people I’d ever met. I wasn’t sure about her vibe, but I soon came to the conclusion that I was actually just being a jealous little bitch. 21, lives in Singapore while studying, she’s an ethical hacker who works 2 months of the year and that sustains her for the other 10, used to be a semi pro athlete, speaks 6 languages and has just spent 2 years in the military (which you have to do as an Israeli). You get why I was jealous x I was being a terrible feminist. Anyhoo, after reminding myself that MY PATH IS MY OWN and cancelling my duolingo account I’d just manically registered for we were on our way a little further up to reach another entrance of the cave. Rango gave us a rundown of the cave and how Phong Nha had quickly become a real tourist attraction in recent years after so many caves were discovered. The cave was pretty cool to be inside, incredible formations of rock and stalagmites. We spent a couple of hours wandering around, at one point we all switched our torches off and sat for 10 minutes in complete silence in pitch black which was pretty cool. Onward bound, we reached the bit that shook me to my core. We each had to take turns in climbing backwards through this tiny little tunnel, and then stepping onto a ladder, being strapped into a harness and then some more really fun backward climbing down a ladder to a platform above the water. I honestly felt my stomach drop when I saw this tunnel, but I made it through in one piece. When we reached the platform, we put our life jackets on and each took turns in jumping four metres into the water below. The impact of hitting the water from that height was actually a little more intense than I expected, but I didn’t want to be a big pussy so I swam off with a smile on my face and fear in my eyes x We dried off with some coffee and snacks and then were on our way back to the van. I think it was the light on this walk home, but it was about 4pm, the weather was a bit cooler and there’s something about walking through fields with mountains either side that is just spectacular. I love being high up and looking over a view, but I think there’s something unbeatable about being at ground level and looking up. Despite the stunning views here, I remember feeling quite anxious on this walk back as I felt like I hadn’t really gelled with anyone. I felt like a bit of a loner actually. After I’d stopped feeling sorry for myself that afternoon, we jumped in a taxi to Dong Hoi which is an hour outside of Phong Nha as we were getting on the train from there early the next morning. We’d arrived at Buffalo Hostel at about 7pm and headed out for a quick bite to eat round the corner. We ate a chicken salad and a chicken pancake thing that was apparently quite famous to the area. The food was nice, I was feeling at a bit of a low ebb that evening which wasn’t helped by a young girl sitting across from me that was staring at me for pretty much the entire meal and seriously looked like she wanted to hurt me. Freaky little kid. It’s definitely been interesting travelling with someone and trying to figure out how much of yourself to show. I’d say I’m a pretty chipper person for the most part, but I definitely have my low and anxious moments, and probably at first I was reluctant to show those, but as time has gone on I guess I feel I can’t not show them. That makes me worry about being too intense sometimes, but I suppose anyone I was going to be with would have to accept all of those parts. Flaws and all. Devastated I’m missing the Renaissance tour. 

The next morning we were up pretty early for our 10 hour train journey to Ninh Bin which is about 400 km north of Phong Nha and an hour-ish south of Hanoi. I don’t know why, and Purav definitely didn’t feel the same, but this train journey literally flew by and by the time it was 4pm and the journey was over, I honestly felt like I’d been on there for a few hours. I kept saying this for about an hour which probably got quite annoying lols. The 10 hours were spent listening to music and looking out the window, music video vibes, eating in the food carriage and watching a couple of episodes of Hell’s Kitchen. While we had Netflix on our phones, there were two kids sitting behind us who were gradually getting closer and closer to our screens, and by the end were basically sitting on our laps. I’m smiling writing this because they were so cute and despite not being able to speak the same language, it was a very funny hour. See pictures below for pure joy!!! We arrived in Ninh Bin at about 4pm and made our way to Tam Coc, which is slightly out of the centre and known as Halong Bay on land. We’d booked a few nights at Tam Coc Luxury Homestay as we were kind of in the mood to be in the middle of nowhere, and that we were, surrounded by mountains and rice fields, pretty special. That night we went for a few beers in town, played shithead which got concerningly competitive. I lost so had to buy the drinks, it was happy hour and ended up being £3 for 9 pints so was feeling pretty fucking smug. I’d managed to convince Purav to have a night off Vietnamese food so we went for a really dirty Italian meal. I felt like a beached whale after so probably should have stuck with the noodle soup. Literally rolled home that night. 

The next day I picked the breakfast place and found a cute spot for some avocado baby!!!!!!!! I also tried my first egg coffee which was absolutely delicious. Alot thicker, and I’d been avoiding it because who wants eggs in their coffee? My mistake, fucking BUFF. After a very chilled couple of hours reading in this cafe (I’m reading Tin Man by Sarah Winman and am obsessed) I went for a massage, shock 🙂 I’d been really excited about going for a picnic that afternoon. I was envisioning a couple of beers and Bahn Mis while watching the sun go down, preferably by a body of water. After driving around for a good hour, and getting told off by a security guard for trying to go down a private road, we found a spot by the lake to perch up on my sarong. It didn’t go completely to plan as we were next to a pretty fucking busy road and when we looked down 20 minutes in, we were surrounded by about 6 ants nests. Vibes. We made the most out of it though and the view was pretty stunning. Smoked a lil joint by the water and sat on a tree branch like two little moglies. After a couple of hours we brushed off the millions of ants that had made themselves at home in my birkenstocks and headed out for a local dinner.

The next morning it was time to head to Hanoi. I was pretty excited to get into a big city again and I’d heard mixed reviews about Hanoi (I LOVE it). We arrived early in the afternoon to our hostel and it turned out that our private room was basically in a hotel around the corner and not in the actual hostel. I was gutted………………..? The heat in Hanoi is INTENSE, so we sat very still in the hotel room for a couple of hours and then headed out into the city late afternoon. We wandered around in the quite literally scorching heat, got myself a new pair of sunglasses which I conveniently lost 2 days later and ended up on beer street which is absolute carnage. We managed to find a rooftop bar for a couple of margaritas and some more shithead, and then ate a delicious noodle soup on the side of a back road. Anthony Bourdain style. Eating hot noodle soup in 35 degrees is an experience I’ve still not entirely got my head around, even with a fan blaring at your full throttle. I’m pretty sure there was sweat dripping into my soup. The air con hit different that evening.

The next day was our visa run, so we were off to Hanoi airport for a 1pm flight, a 5 hour layover in Bangkok and then back to Hanoi for about 11pm. The day went pretty smoothly, and we spent the layover at a shopping complex outside of Bangkok airport which was pretty random. I have quite a lot of shame about this but in these three hours I ate at McDonalds while Purav ate Thai food. Super cultural. I’m disgusting.

For our final day in Hanoi before the Ha Giang Loop, we spent the day separately doing our own thing which I was definitely in need of. I accidentally by no fault of my own stumbled across a Zara and replaced my denim shorts which I’d left in Hoi An, restocked some toiletries, took myself for lunch, had a wander around the lake and facetimed Mabs. Wholesome vibes. That evening we went for drinks on Train Street, an 100m row of bars/houses where the train tracks run through the middle and the train passes through a few times a day literally next to where people are sitting. I was expecting to just rock up and find somewhere to sit and watch the train go past, but it was a lot more stressful than expected and the people that run the bars are literally hounding you and you’re basically told you cannot get onto the tracks unless you choose their bar. They kept telling us that the police don’t let you walk down and pointing to the “police” sitting on the side of the tracks. This particular police officer was a 60 year old guy in what looked like a police costume playing on his phone. I respect the hustle. We found a spot by the tracks cramped up next to some fellow scammed tourists and had a Saigon and waited for the train to pass. It was pretty cool, but far too intense so we made our way to a pub we’d heard about a grab ride away. We sat and drank some beers, watched the sky turn pink and drunkenly decided to go for steak and red wine for dinner. This night was particularly lovely as we sat and shared a bottle of red wine, ate some really good steak and got a bit boozy together. Pretty wholesome, despite the fact I was probably getting a little loose lipped with the ol’ emotions. 

It was time for the Ha Giang Loop! One of the most well recommended things to do in Northern Vietnam and famous for its unbelievable views. We’d booked a bus from Hanoi to Ha Giang at midday and as is the way here, there’s about 36 transfers before you actually get on the bus. A particular stand out moment was being in a minivan on the way to bus with four guys from the UK who I’m not joking spent the entire 45 minutes talking about gambling, football, sleeping with women and beer. I was trying so hard not to judge, I don’t want to judge guys?! I was fucking judging. At one point, one of the guys/pieces of shit was talking about how he’d slept with a 10 out of 10. I was both cringing and fucking fuming at the same time. Never have I ever seen four men epitomise all the worst parts of masculinity in one small van. Anyway, luckily they weren’t staying at our hostel so we were safe. The bus from Hanoi to Sapa was about 6 hours, and Purav and I had decided to be frugal and share a cabin. Definitely the last time I’ll share a cabin on a sleeper bus as we were about five minutes from punching each other in the face by the end of it. Both cosy, and incredibly intense. We’d booked the loop through Mama’s hostel as quite a few people had recommended it, the most famous hostel in Ha Giang is Jasmine but apparently the crowd is a lot younger and you go in huge groups. We’d decided on Mama’s and it was the best decision ever because our group was SENSATIONAL and the vibes were top notch. We arrived that evening at the hostel, back to dorm life for a few days, and got an early night ready for the big day!

Those of us that had opted to do the tour with an easy rider were paired up the next morning. Some people in our group were driving it themselves which in my opinion is incredibly brave but also a little stupid. The police are cracking down on people with the wrong licence because of recent accidents, and there’s tons of stories about people injuring themselves, including the urban myth about the person who lost their toe. I’d heard the toe story a few times along my travels, and it came up again that morning at breakfast. Apparently there’s a picture circulating of said toe, although I am yet to see it. Anyway, my driver was a mysterious chap called Chook, he was head to toe in black for the entire three days and had the face of the man who’d seen some dark shit. We all came to the conclusion he was in charge, partly because of his energy but also because we were at the back of the group for the whole trip making sure everyone was safe. I definitely felt very safe in his hands, and maybe even a little aroused? Anyway, I digress. I think I will let the pictures do the talking for the majority of the loop, we did and saw so much in three days I don’t think I have the finger capacity (hehe) to get into all the details. The views were just completely breathtaking, and I’d managed to find a pretty comfy position straddling Chook so despite not being able to feel my arse at various points, I was straight chilling. Each day we stopped at quite a few points to give everyone a break, and at every point the views were just wild. The first homestay was in an area called Yen Minh which was right at the top of Vietnam. Everyone was a little shocked to find that all 12 of us were staying in one room on mattresses lined up side by side, but it was actually really cosy and ended up bringing us all a lot closer xo A few different groups join up in the evenings, so that night was spent with about 30 of us sitting on long benches, drinking beer and singing karaoke. I didn’t end up getting up, I was too afraid (spent about 20 minutes unpacking this in my head but quickly told myself to shut the fuck up), but there were some pretty stunning renditions. Half way through the evening we moved next door for a big dinner and far too many happy water shots. Happy water is basically rice wine and has become a bit of a cult part of the Ha Giang Loop. Worth noting here that Chook bought me a beer and gave me extra happy water shots to do together, a bit of a bonding moment for us. The next day consisted of more outrageous views, and a pretty sensational drive along the China border. See below for some pictures on the border. I’ve never seen so much barbed wire. It was incredibly surreal being there, and a very very cool thing to get to see. That evening we stayed at an even more beautiful homestay in an area called Dong Van, this time there were about 40 people staying in one room. That night consisted of some more good food, more happy water and getting our BOOGEH on. Our group of about 12 had formed a really lovely bond, and I’d felt very lucky to have experienced this with such a great group of people. The next day, myself, Purav and Siobhan (obsessed with her) went our separate ways from the rest of the group as we were doing a day less than everyone else. 2 nights of drinking in a row and lack of sleep really caught up on me this day, my tolerance has seriously shrunk, and there was one point where we were driving over I’m not even joking, boulders, for about 30 minutes and I was pretty close to jumping off the bike and walking. I’m joking, but it was quite intense. I can’t imagine how Chook felt. I was hanging on for dear life and at a few points nearly flew off the back. There was miles and miles of building work going on and the roads weren’t finished, the majority not even started. The infrastructure in the far north is so different and you see much more clearly the poverty in these small villages. 

We arrived back at the hostel at about 5:30pm, said my goodbyes to Chook, and after an hour and a half of hanging around we were back on the bus to Hanoi. I journaled on this trip to soothe my hangover zoomies and after a little self-soothing I was feeling better. I feel my anxiety on my hangovers has maybe gotten a little worse since being away, perhaps it’s being far from home and my friends, or maybe it’s getting older, or maybe it’s a sign that I shouldn’t drink too much. Maybe, just maybe, I’m overthinking it. Purav and I had booked an air b and b for the four nights we were in Hanoi, and we arrived at about midnight to our little apartment down a back alley in the middle of a market. It was really cute, albeit a little loud. 

The next day after a well needed good night’s sleep, it was off for a fish noodle soup for breakfast. Sounds a little rogue, but this was actually one of my fav noops (noodle soup) so far. This day consisted of mooching about, getting caught in the rain, wandering around the shops, finished off by an evening el solo in bed watching The Women King with a pizza delivery. I also had a lovely facetime with Al despite having to mute her a couple of times while I quite literally nearly shit myself. Purav went out to meet a friend and it was pretty lush to have a cosy evening in.  

Purav was djing at a festival called Treehouse on Saturday so to keep the balance between health and debauchery, I started my day with a yoga class at a place called Om in Hanoi. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was such a lovely class. The teacher did the entire lesson in both Vietnamese and English which was incredibly generous considering I was the only non-vietnamese person there. There was a woman next to me vigorously scrolling on youtube next to me in the class and her phone rang a couple of times during which was slightly odd, but I was feeling stretchy and wholesome. I’d booked myself in at a hairdressers to get my hair washed, blow dried and straightened because after four months of curls, I was excited to have straight hair for a day. Bit of a waste of money because within about 10 minutes of hitting Hanoi air the curls were back with a vengeance with an extra layer of frizz. There were three people brushing and straightening my hair which was a testament to its state. It felt like the makeover scene in princess diaries, just hair wise xo Feeling high, fly and beautiful, a group of us met at a local beer garden before heading to the festival. It was me, Purav, Shiv and Max who I’d met on the loop, Purav’s friend Sam and his friend Lisa, and then Shiv’s friend David. Considering I don’t like oomf oomf music, I had a hoot, and maybe I don’t dislike oomf oomf music as much as I thought. We all had a great time, many rum and cokes and good vibes. It was also sexy as fuck watching the person you fancy DJ. I felt like a proper wag. GO BABY GO!!!!! 

After a 5am finish, safe to say the next day consisted of absolutely nothing but food. I sat in bed like a beached whale, only moving to collect food from the Grab driver and then put it in my mouth. I don’t think I went outside which is off brand, but felt entirely necessary. The highlight of the day was the moment the big mac touched my lips. Euphoria. 

The next morning we were off to Sapa. My final week in Vietnam! We were on a bus to Sapa at about 10am from Hanoi. The journey was pretty easy and I managed to sleep the majority of it in my own cabin which was pretty cushty. It’s funny how quickly you get used to the faint sound of honking in the background, I’ve never heard so much beeping in my life. We arrived in Sapa at about 4pm, and were at our beautiful homestay ‘Pavi’s’ by about 5pm. We’d chosen to stay out of Sapa town, about a 30 minutes drive into the countryside and it was so worth it. The view when we arrived took my breath away, and we had our own little bungalow overlooking the hills with two loungers outside. The decor at this place was SO chic, it was giving creams and light wood and bamboo. We spent that first evening sitting outside watching the sun go down over the mountains, drinking tea and then stuffing our faces with some food cooked by the owners. We were a touch disappointed by the food, it was lacking a little bit of how do I say this… je ne sais quoi?

I’d made no plans for the next so I could blog, chill and just generally take it all in. I’ve been slacking on my meditation big time and it’s definitely challenged me to keep factoring in the things I do for myself while being with someone else, so that morning I meditated for the first time in a week or so, and then sat and wrote which was pretty wholesome. For some bizarre reason I forgot to put suncream on my chest, which is OFF brand, and I now have the fugliest strap marks. I’d found this stunning looking cafe up the road called Sailing Sapa and convinced Purav to follow my lead. Stick with me kid. Now this has happened a few times, I’ve chosen places based on the vibes as opposed to food, and this was another one of those times. It was potentially one of the most beautiful cafes I’ve ever seen, with these little platforms overlooking the river and mountains. But … the food was a little merp. I went for a chicken sandwich as I assumed it would have some kind of twist, but alas, it was literally two slices of bread, chicken and some lettuce. Purav made a good point that they probably never serve that because no idiot orders a chicken sandwich in the middle of Sapa. Fair play. Although, he ordered a Vietnamese chicken and mushroom curry type thing and it was pretty bland, so at least I ate bland food on bread. I WIN! That evening we met Purav’s friend Sam who also happened to be travelling Vietnam at the same time, and we headed to somewhere called the ‘Village Pub’ and sat on their terrace with a few beers, some food and watched the sun go down. This was a lovely evening, really chilled vibes. The owner of this bar was one of the most beautiful men I’ve ever met and just made the meal extra special. He even drove Sam back to his homestay for free. The three of us sat outside Sam’s homestay and smoked a joint, and I don’t really know what happened but the three of us had the most intense giggles for what felt like hours, but was probably only 10 minutes. It was actually quite painful at one point, and Sam put it well when he said “You know people say that laughter feels amazing, that was fucking horrible”. It kept happening, and every time the three of us started to laugh, Sam would shout “Not again!!!!” and it would set us all off again. I don’t even remember what we were talking about, but we all found the idea of Purav being a tortoise with two helmets on his back incredibly funny. 

The next day we had breakfast at the homestay, and then decided we were going to switch up where we were staying as there’s so many amazing places in the area. Purav had found a place the night before that in his defence did look pretty beautiful in the pictures, but after trudging there for 10 minutes in the intense heat uphill, we were a little disappointed by the place. It was lovely, but we had quite literally no privacy, the bathroom was miles away and the room was hotter than the pits of hell. Both feeling incredibly guilty, we decided to leave and head to somewhere called Eco Plum House a ten minute walk away. Best decision ever! It was this beautiful homestay in a teeny little village, we had our own bathroom and balcony and was run by a couple called Rex and Rose who made us feel right at home. This day had a few hiccups, as we were on our way to meet Sam we broke down because our bike had no petrol which wasn’t really a vibe in the intense heat in the middle of nowhere. Luckily for us there was a shop not too far, so we shlepped up the road, sodden and burnt, and we were back on our way. This was pretty wild, we had to stop again for petrol about 10 minutes later in Sapa town, our bike was clearly a massive piece of shit, and as we were filling up I saw the guy I got with in Chiang Mai in Thailand at the pump(?) next to us!!!!!!! What are the bloody chances?! I don’t think he saw me/chose to ignore me, so an awkward interaction between the 3 of us was nicely avoided. After a quick stop for my morning coffee, we met Sam (Purav’s friend for those of you that aren’t concentrating) at the cable car entrance to Fansipan, which is the highest peak in Indochina (Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam) at 3100 metres. You can actually climb this, but apparently it’s quite intesne and to be perfectly honest, fuck that. Instead we sat for 20 minutes in a cable car which was built in 2016 and from what I understand has some question marks around where the money goes as it was designed/paid for by Europeans, specifically by an Austrian designer I believe, but don’t quote me. You can see the most beautiful views on the way up and on arrival at the complex so to speak, you can make your way to the peak either by foot or train. We weren’t feeling completely useless so we climbed the 600 steps up and while initially greeted by complete cloud cover at the top, they soon parted and it was pretty surreal seeing the transition from cloud to clear views for miles. Another spectacular view! We’d decided that evening we were going to go and have a Salmon hot pot, Sapa is known for its Salmon as the climate there is perfect for it and we were desperate to try it! The three of us sat in this local restaurant on the side of the road and were given raw fresh salmon, a pan of broth on the heat, fresh veg, noodle and basically you make it yourself kind of vibe. It was delicious! We also spent the majority of the evening joining two words together like the children we are, I like to think I won because I joined spicy noodles to make Spoodles… not sure it gets better than that folks. We were all so pooped that night, which is a testament to the lack of exercise recently. I’ve been pondering whether I’m actually just a lazy person. The idea of climbing a mountain would definitely have been appealing 6 months ago… I think I’ll call this… my slob era. 

For our final day in Sapa, it was time to hike. Sapa is known for its hikes and Rose made us two sandwiches to take away, gave us a “route” via a bamboo forest and waterfall and we were on our way. We began in high spirits, both talking about how excited we were to get a sweat on, and the mood suddenly changed when basically the first hour was all uphill, like seriously uphill, and it felt like 40 degrees. I’m being slightly over the top, but it was pretty strenuous I tell ya. Route was definitely a loose term as we were basically scrabbling down rice fields for about an hour, passing some pretty hench buffalos, but managed to see another group of people heading in a similar direction. We followed them and made it to the waterfall which was beautiful. The water was freezing which was perfect. I was desperate for a can of coke, and it was quite funny because we were running low on water (Purav was genuinely concerned) and didn’t have much small change so could only afford three bottles of water or two bottles of water and a coke and my immediate reaction was to keep the coke. He wasn’t impressed. After a wholesome dip and some rehydration, we were back on the road. We basically had no idea where we were going, and no signal, but we somehow managed to navigate ourselves back through some tiny villages and a few sketchy looking dogs. We made it back to our homestay at about 3pm and we spent the rest of the afternoon being very still. The sunset from our balcony was pretty beautiful, and it was the perfect way to spend our last evening in Sapa and penultimate evening in Vietnam. I was in a bit of a pensive mood that evening, change was on the horizon and I was feeling pretty reflective. It’s just been the most beautiful 6 weeks in Vietnam!!! 

It was time to head back to Hanoi before my flight to Laos on Saturday and despite paying extra for a smaller and quicker bus, Purav and I were given the back seats and had little to actually no legroom, so it was cosy vibes for 5 hours. We’d booked a hotel in the old quarter for our final evening together, and in the spirit of getting shit done, we spent the afternoon getting dollars for the Laos visa on arrival which was a bit of a flap actually. We went for our final Vietnamese meal, a noodle soup which was pretty delicious, stopped by the note cafe and left a post it note on the wall. I fancied Purav so much when he wrote down a quote from his favourite song which is so, so beautiful. I’d had my eye on those scarves that you can make into tops, so I spent £5 on this really beautiful orangey silk scarf that the women assured me would look SO CUTE as a top. Unfortunately I’m not a size -10 so it didn’t really fit in the way I’d hoped, it was more like a tissue than a top. But I managed to make one style work so every cloud!!! 

Our final night consisted of a couple of margaritas in a bar which was even by my standards, far too dark but was good for smooching in, a cocktail picked by the bartenders in a Japanese bar and then an Indian meal round the corner. It was a lovely last evening together. 

We flew to Vientiane together this morning, and I am now officially back on my own. I said goodbye to Purav a couple of hours ago, and couldn’t help but cry. I think it’s a real mixture of feeling incredibly overwhelmed, sad that I won’t be travelling with him, apprehensive and excited to be on my own again and just incredibly grateful to have met him. Whatever happens (if anything happens… debbie downer), I’ve been reminded that there are some pretty amazing people out there who I can connect with, and it’s just been so lush (and fucking terrifying) feeling some of those feels again. It’s been a hot minute!!! Who knows what will happen, we’ve spoken a lot about seeing each other when we’re home, we both seem pretty into it, but I think the focus for now is just enjoying our trips. If I think about actually being in a relationship, I feel a bit vommy and claustrophobic, so I’m just trying to focus on enjoying myself, while also low-key being a bit excited about the fact I met someone pretty sensational. 

So, the rest of this afternoon will probably consist of listening to the Practical Magic soundtrack before I get on the bus to Pakse. I’m feeling quite emotional today, but in a wholesome way. I’m sure I will settle back into being on my own in no time, and there’s something quite special about the fact that I said my goodbyes and now it’s time for the next chapter of my trip. What an experience, here’s to the next part!!!

Until next time,

Lily xx