Explorers 3.0

Being sick sucks. It literally stinks, specially in my case. Before we continue, my dear reader, a word of caution. This post might take your mind to some nasty places. I promise not to be vulgar but I'll keep sincere. So let's move on.

I'm specially grateful for a few details in this story that were actually surprising. One of them was the power of body language. I walked in to the emergency room and a few nurses looked at me. I just hold my belly and made a painful expression and mimicked throwing up. I also looked pretty bad since I couldn't eat properly for more than 2 days and was shivering due to 39° fever. Pronto! One of them lead me to o a bed and started with the standard procedures for "another tourist got got by street food".
In hindsight, it's not surprising at all that without any questions asked, not even saying a word, they knew exactly what was going on. Probably they treat dozens of similar patients weekly. Just the shift's doctor could speak basic English, enough to set into stone my diagnosis, treatment and prescription.

Some of you, the keen ones, might have noticed an obvious omission on the last paragraph. Trust me, I didn't omit it because it never existed on the first place. Bureaucracy. Forms, document validations, liability discharges, insurance coverage checking, god damn copies to sign. None of it in between my treatment. Now that impressed me! I've never seen it in Brazil nor in the Netherlands, no matter if in public or private hospital. I remember sitting on the taxi to the hospital emotionally preparing myself to this utterly stupidity of modern life, wishing for quick waiting lines and English forms. If you never waited in line with high fever, bad diarrhea, broken arm or whatever, you don't know how great it felt. I only got a bill to pay in the end. Much like in a restaurant where you had a good service but without the tip - which I would gladly give.

So there I was, laying on the E.R.'s bed, medicine intravenously administered, my caring wife next to me ... And suddenly I burst into tears. I was briefly stuck in a very negative wave of thought, fearing a worse disease, ruining my wife's trip, having to go back to Europe and so on... It really scared me. I wouldn't call it a nervous breakdown neither a panic attack but I can't name it either. Well, it passed quickly thanks again to my "fofinha". Soon she was helping me take my medicine and we realised that some other ladies were observing us and laughing. They were all locals so all that scene must seen quite odd. I didn't bother and I joked with them.

After 4 hours or so we were back at our guesthouse with a bag full of medicines that I would have to take well past my birthday. We were in Nha Trang, a Russian's Touristic Paradise city with beautiful beaches. I was happy and sad on my day. I was feeling less than 80% recovered, no alcohol, not full of energy and no friends. For so many reasons, good and bad, I'll never forget my 30th birthday and I'll tell its tale with a very humorous tone. Not melodramatic like this post. I call it "Birthday Blues".

So that's one of my most memorable experience in Vietnam. Quite a personal journey, not the best but thankfully overcame. Diana's posts highlight other more pleasurable moments.

Have you ever been hospitalized while traveling too? Let us know.

Cheers!

But Phong Nha was different! The Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park hosts one of the best things I saw in Vietnam: huge and unexplored caves. But also the greenest rice paddies among with sweet people and many happy children. We had a lot of fun there and made me rethink the Vietnam experience.

Planning to go to Vietnam? 

Don't miss it! 

How to get there? 

We got a direct bus from Hué but we started by emailing the Phong Nha Farmstay to get more details - a super cool place run by an Australian and Vietnamese couple known as the engines of tourism in the region. Even though the Farmstay was fully booked the days we wanted to stay the helpful staff gave us further info - other options, description of the places, prices and also the available tours around the national park.

Where to stay?

We decided to stay in a Homestay recently opened called "Farm 2 Home". This is a super unique place: the rooms are in a small common space (with a little too hard mattress), there is a kitchen and toilet all in a concrete building just recently built. Map (you should read it Mop), the owner, her parents and her niece live side by side in a 40 years old wooden house. Around the houses you have chickens, roosters, dogs (also puppets when we were there), pigs, a pepper plantation, pumpkins, coriander, basil and loads of other herbs and veggies. Map is a former Farmstay employee that is starting her own business, even though highly supported by Ben (her previous boss) she is a happy talker, simple and with a vision - make the business grow to be able to help out her parents. Living apart from her husband for over a year, while waiting for the Canadian visa, she is one of the few women's entrepreneur I met in Vietnam...Okay I can say the only one I met...note to self: there is that gender's issue around here, don't forget, Diana.

I'm super happy we stayed over and were able to meet and help her. If you want to stay there - way cheaper than the Farmstay and better than staying in another hostel - check her on Facebook, or email the Farmstay as we did and jump on a homestay adventure - you will not regret it! 

What to do in Phong Nha?

There is plenty to do, it's beautiful and it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site and caves are the thing, in both scale and length. We decided to get one of the tours that the Farmstay offers around the National Park. It included three different caves: 

- the 8 women, super small cave it is dedicated to the Vietnamese that died while building the Ho Chi Minh trail during the war in Vietnam; 

- the Paradise cave, said to be the longest cave in the world because it extends for 31km (you can only visit the first km); 

- and the Dark cave, that I won't tell anything more about it rather than the obvious: it's quite dark inside because of the black limestone that is made from, but don't worry you get torch lights. Another piece of information, non-water proof cameras are not advised to go inside, so no pictures for us:( And please,please, please don't read reviews spoiling all the magic, it should be a surprise, and again, you won't regret it. 

Oh and one more thing to mention, the homestay is in the middle of nowhere, street lights do not exist as well as pavement roads...this is what you get if you get home after sunset.

Don't worry Map will take care of you and you will totally enjoy it. 

Go now if you can :)

Our arrival in Hoi Chi Min City, or as it's still called by the locals Saigon, was smooth - no major problems crossing the boarder by land, no scams, better roads (wait for it, as it was false alarm), massively populated city, thousands of motorbikes, a lot of war memories and glimpses of old European cities. 

Our overall plan at that time was to spend Will's anniversary in a party city - easy to meet people, have some fun and celebrate the arrival of a new decade. We decided to do it in Nha Trang. We thought that we could even rent an apartment for few days where we could finally cook our own food, wash out the dirt of our sneakers and rest. It happened almost that way... We had to adjust it a little because Will got really ill on our way there - feeling like vomiting, vomiting, diarrhea, vomiting a little more, more diarrhea and fever. Gladly we stopped in a city called MuiNé where just wind and sand could stop us, so we did a lot of healing and -resting and yeah we paid a visit to the closest hospital to completely kill the bad-ass bug that attacked him.

MuiNé and Nha Trang are touristic cities. They have loads of restaurants, bars, Russians tourists and also loads of people ready to sell you their soul- books, fruits, drinks, sunglasses, ice cream, cigarettes, motorbike's tour, drugs. They approach you in all different kind of ways, the most common by honking or saying hello. You can ignore them, sometimes, but most of the time you can't because they move around in groups...if you say no to the first one, the next one asks you the same thing, hoping that your decision changed after 1second.

Being polite while saying no, can generate other questions too - the most common: "where are you from?!". When answered the reply is so happy - futebol, Cristiano - that even if I want to get mad, I simply can't.

We moved to Hué skipping the very touristic, shopping orientated and known for the remarkable tailors, Hoi An. Hué gave us a little more "where are you from?!" questions, with less Russians around...

And that's about it...the English level in the streets of Vietnam doesn't allow them to have a chit-chat or build up a connection. You may ask "are you from around?", and the answer is "cigarettes?! buy one from me!". Maybe they don't answer because they don't care, instead of not understanding...but that's exactly where I lose the contact and the connection with that person. And that's exactly what I'm missing in Vietnam, the connection with the people.

I wouldn't be far if I say that all Vietnamese I met are like this...not true. The further North we get, the more differences I notice (or maybe it's just me not caring much anymore). I will write a separate post about the best decision we made so far: visit the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. 

Vietnam is beautiful and worth the visit. Beautiful people, funky almost-roads, a lot of growth specially in the cities, some poverty specially in the villages, loads of history to soak and shock you, loads of cheap clothes, stylish air cuts, nice very nice food, beautiful sand beaches and coast lines, and also nice people, just not as nice as in Cambodia, I warn you.

Lassi, Diana and Will, the professional travellers in Halong Bay

30. That's me. Not flashing the usual huge smile. But that's still me, 100% sincere. My smile is there, shy, smirking from the corner. The not smiley part of me comes from the realisation that being alone on your birthday really sucks. I do have my one-and-only by my side and we are making our craziest dreams come true. But I do miss my dear friends and family. So I'm happy. And sad. The result? Gratitude.

That is the fine print of life, right? Double edged blade, complicated to handle. But cheers to that! And to another unforgettable birthday!

Eer, lemonade for me please, or else I'll screw with the antibiotics.
Peace.
P.S.: Thanks to all the loving cheerful messages. You guys really make a difference.