Kip, Kip, Everywhere!

Have you ever awoken on a minibus and asked yourself, “where in the Viet Nam am I?” Well, I have, and it’s as scary as a Ho Chi Minh. The night train to Sa Pa was actually quite lovely. Fitting six beds into a room smaller than any U.S. prison cell was impressive, but not as impressive as the sleep I managed to get on my plank of wood. After eight and a half hours, Nate and I arose at dawn to an unfamiliar place with the familiar in-your-face harassment. While still in a stupor, we boarded a minibus from a place I couldn’t tell you the name of to hopefully a mountain town called Sa Pa. It worked. Sa Pa was like nowhere else in Vietnam. For all we knew, we could have been dropped in the Andes. The people wore traditional, cultural uniforms that resembled the indigenous dress of Andean tribes. The town was quieter and more peaceful than the rest of Viet Nam, but we couldn’t be enchanted away from our climb. Fansipan, or Fantzy Pants, took two full days of climbing. After bushwhacking through jungle, scaling slippery rocks, and sloshing through deep mud, we found camp on a bamboo platform at over 2,400 meters. The two-man tent did not fit the three westerners and one tribeswoman very well. Yet, the sleepless night did not distract us from our goal, and we reached the summit at 3, 143 meters. Although a strong wind and large cloud cover prevented a view of the valleys below, the summit was still sweet, as was the snickers bar that was ravenously consumed.

After another night train, we were ready to leave Hanoi for Laos. Which brings me to a few words of advice from this world traveler: Do not overstay your visa in Viet Nam, well, that is, don’t over stay your visa unless you enjoy being surrounded and interrogated by several immigrations agents in the back room of the customs/immigration office. Do not lose your yellow customs receipt, unless you want to be further harassed by customs officials. Do not travel without a sufficient amount of back-up U.S. dollars, unless you want to have money extorted from you by immigrations agents. I think the story is unnecessary, but do be aware of these warnings. Not all of them happened to me, some happened to Nate too. It was a lovely experience getting out of Viet Nam, but we made it and landed on our feet…as usual. Although a language wall existed between us and our prosecutors, we managed to talk them down from their extremely extortionist position and get out of there as quickly as possible.

For those reasons and the fifth gear lifestyle of traveling in Viet Nam, Nate and I were ready for a new place, but we were unprepared for the unmistakable “ahhhh” that you let out upon landing in Vientiane, Laos. Needless to say, it is lovely, relaxing, and even if you wanted to, you can’t live too fast here. The people lead a pace of life slower than one found at a Golf Club in south Florida. Living life in first gear could even be described as an exaggeration, appropriately replaced by neutral. So, it is a well needed rest. Also, the people are pleasant and non-confrontational.

One interesting side note is that the money is called “kip.” So, for once in my life, “I am so money, I don’t even know it.” It is ridiculous to hear my name a hundred times a day. I mean really, how can you put a price on me? A cup of coffee is 4,000 kip. And it is delicious.

Nate and I start work volunteering for the WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) tomorrow morning early. Oy. Am I really working when I don’t have to be? Take pity on me cubiclers, its been several months since I have been confined by a computer and desk. Volunteering or working here is technically illegal, so don’t go around spreading this gossip. I am excited to be involved in a such an organization, but I must admit that the man in charge has been here six years, can’t speak a word of Lao, and seems only relatively sane. Should be yet another learning experience.

That’s all for now. Keep those emails coming. Miss you all. Congrats to all those now done with exams.