My 24th Birthday – Vietnam Style

The third night of our journey was to be spent on an overnight train.  Since I’d already had two experiences with overnight trains in Asia, one would think that I wouldn’t be overly concerned.  However, I had heard stories about roach-infested trains in Vietnam.  Specifically, I had been told to arm myself with a bottle of something strong and a flipflop.  In short, I was in no hurry to board this train.  Fortunately, due to complaints about the poor conditions on the 7pm train, Pong had booked an earlier train at 3pm because he had heard that it was cleaner.  And thank god it was!  I actually didn’t see a single roach over the course of the 15 hour journey.  I was in a cabin with three other girls from the tour group.  Unfortunately, they tended to be a little on the quiet side, and so my train ride was tamer than some of the other cabins.  For a while, we were “the girls car,” fitting six girls on the bottom two beds, simply chatting about the travel that we’d done in the past, the people we’d left behind, and our future travel plans.  I am now obsessed with the idea of hiking the Inca Trail – any takers? I’m thinking bar trip after I take the bar in three years – so you all have time to get excited and decide to join me! 

At one point, a bunch of us ventured over to “the boys cabin,” where they were using Silvan’s ukulele to make up songs.  One was about Pong and was hilarious.  Another was simply called “Scooby Doo Scoobity Doo Doo.”  It was a simple tune that turned into a singing contest between the girls and the guys.  I think there were 10 of us squeezed into one cabin!  It was a blast, and we were likely pretty obnoxious to the rest of the train, but it was a great way to pass the time.  Everyone in my cabin decided to go to bed early – around 10pm – since our train was supposed to arrive at our stop around 5:30am, and since it was not the end of the line, we had to be sure to be ready to hop off!  The actual sleeping in this train car was far from fabulous.  The train was very jerky at each stop, and because of the direction in which I was sleeping, I kept feeling myself being thrown from my bed (although luckily I had managed to snag a bottom berth this time).  Also, every time the train stopped, the air conditioning would turn off! So the temperature in our cabin ws constanly changing - generally somewhere between freezing and stiflying. I finally fell asleep probably sometime around 11pm , but all of the sudden I heard knocking on the cabin door, and some muffled voices saying “Room Service.”  I scrambled up from my bed and opened the door to find three guys (Silvan, Esa, and American Daniel), with a lit lighter.  They proceeded to sing happy birthday to me! And then I blew out the lighter.  They then dragged me out of my cabin to share a celebratory beer with them.  It was so sweet, and definitely set a positive mood for the rest of my 24^th birthday. 

We only arrived about 45 minutes late into Hue, the city in which I would spend my birthday.  When everyone woke up on the train, they sang happy birthday to me, and then when  we boarded our bus at around 6:45am, Pong had everyone sing happy birthday to me AGAIN! Three times before 7am. Crazy and unprecedented.  We got to the hotel early and grabbed breakfast and then we all went swimming. The water felt glorious after being stuck on a train for 16 hours, and it was the first pool in Southeast Asia where the temperature of the pool was lower than the air temperature. What a relief!

We spent the rest of the morning wandering around the local market, trying exotic fruits (like green oranges) and haggling for souvenirs.  Apparently there was a back market where they sold meat (i.e. chopped off chicken heads right in front of you, etc.), but as you might all guess, that is definitely NOT something that interested me.  In fact, I feel like I spent a large part of my trip avoiding raw meat. Ick!   

Hue

Straw hats at the Hue market

Hue market

Hue market

Even though not many people wear helmets, at least they sell them!

This is Durian, also known as the King of Fruits.  It's supposed to be delicious,
but it is notorious for having an awful smell; hotels won't even let you take
it into your room because they can't reuse the room for several days
following due to the lingering stench!

After lunch, we headed to Tian Mu Pagoda, which is famous because it is the sight at which a monk set himself on fire in 1963 (officially called self-immolation).  The pagoda still houses the Austin (car) that the monk had driven to the Pagoda.  We also learned the difference between a temple and a pagoda.  A temple can be built to worship anyone: a god, a king, a relative, etc.  A pagoda can only be built to worship Buddha.  Kind of an interesting tidbit.   

Tian Mu Pagoda

The infamous Austin.

Monk-in-training performing prayer rituals

Giant golden Buddha?

We then went to visit Tu Doc’s tomb.  He was one of the emperors of Vietnam, and he actually had the longest reign of all of the dynasties.  He also had 104 wives! I have no idea why. That pretty much sounds like the worst idea ever. Oh, and he also had concubines. So a man with an absolutely gratuitous number of women in his life and at his service.  This day in Hue was possibly the hottest day of the entire trip, and we were all suffering, not only from the heat, but also from a severe lack of sleep due to the train ride.  As a result, we were very slow moving in the tomb, much to our guide’s annoyance, and we were all eager to get back on the bus. 

Chinese characters are present all over Vietnam.

Tu Doc's tomb. Although, big surprise, he's not actually buried here.
It's a false location. No one knows where he is actually buried.

At Tu Doc's Tomb

At Tu Doc's Tomb

At Tu Doc's Tomb

But surprise, no bus.  Following Tu Doc’s tomb, we went on a motorbike tour of the Hue countryside.  This was definitely the most amazing and most memorable part of the trip, although my parents would probably have preferred that I sit this activity out.  We each got on the back of a motorbike driven by a local Vietnamese person.  My driver walked straight up to me and picked me out of our group, which was kind of cool.  The group rode in a line, and my driver and I were second in line, which meant that I was close enough to the front to have an unobscured view, but not actually the first person (i.e. the person who would get hit when coming around a quick turn or when darting through a busy intersection).  I’m not gonna lie… I was initially terrified!  It was my first time on a motorbike, and I was in flipflops – maybe not the best idea ever.  But after the first few minutes, I lightly loosened my grip on the back handlebar.  Very slightly. I had a great driver though.  I never actually felt unsafe, and we never went too fast.  The scariest parts were when we would go off-road on dirt paths through the hills, but that was truly the bread and butter of the tour.  We were able to see rice farmers sowing their rice paddies, we stopped and learned how to make incense sticks, and we learned how they make the traditional Vietnamese straw hats (that you see all farmers wearing).  We were on the bikes past sunset, so we arrived back at our hotel after dark.  Riding through the city itself after dark was perhaps the most unnerving part of the entire ride, especially given the state of traffic in Vietnamese cities. I had to close my eyes a few times when we navigated a few intersections.  Definitely the most amazing birthday experience ever!

Learning how to make incense sticks

Gorgeous View

Rice paddies

Farmer planting her rice paddy

Learning how to make the straw hats seen all over Vietnam

We were on the bikes at sunset!

My amazing motorbike driver and myself; he kept me safe and was awesome!

At dinner that night, I had a hot pepper eating contest with German Daniel.  We basically egged each other on to eat these ridiculously hot red peppers that had come with our meals.  It was super fun, but also ridiculously torturous, especially since all I had to wash away the spice was a beer, and that was more hurt than help.  At the end of the meal, my group surprised me with a birthday cake and a card that everyone had signed.  It was so amazing of everyone!  There were candles for me to blow out and everything.  The owner of the restaurant also happened to be a well-known photographer (it’s his hobby, but he’s been featured in National Geographic), and gifted one of his photos to me, and he signed it “Happy Birthday Priya.”  What a phenomenal keepsake from the trip.

Although everyone was exhausted from the night on the train, we all rallied to go out and celebrate my birthday.  We had all gotten up around 5am and we were out/up until 4:30am. Holy cow. I don’t think we ever actually recovered from this night the rest of the trip!  We started on the rooftop of a fancy hotel called the Imperial Hotel.  It had an amazing view of Hue, although the drinks were weak and expensive.  Afterwards, we went to a bar where we played a little pool, and I got a few tips from Felipe (Colombian) on how to hold the cue.  I have a lot of trouble with pool, and every time I play, I pick up a few new pointers and always manage to be awful.  His tip actually seemed useful, so we’ll see if I can maintain it.  Then we went to a club, which was kind of hilarious.  My friends from the group were buying me birthday drinks and shots all night long, but at this club, I had a really bizarre shot, and no one has yet been able to figure out what it was.  If any of you know from the following description, please enlighten me!  The bartender had some alcohol in a glass that he was warming with a blue flame.  He didn’t actually set the alcohol on fire, but rather warmed the glass by spinning it and surrounding it with the blue flame.  Then he poured the liquid into another glass for me to shoot.  It was warm and tasted a bit like Sambuca, but licorice at the very least.  Then he bent a straw and put one end under an upside down glass.  He gave me the other end and asked me to blow into it. I did.  Then he told me to suck on the straw, which I did.  And then I coughed.  And then the bartender gave me a hi-five.  Any thoughts on this? It was bizarre, but delicious.

View of Hue from the fancy rooftop bar

Part of our group: Daniel, Karen, Ami, Nicole, Matteo, and me!

Learning (and kind of succeeding) to play pool.

German Daniel and me

Around 2:30am, we decided to head back to the hotel.  I was pretty impressed that any of us knew how to get back, but we managed without any problems.  Then 6 of us piled into the tiny, un-airconditioned elevator to go back to our rooms (we had decided to go swimming again before bed – again, maybe not one of the best ideas ever), and our elevator got stuck! I’ve never gotten stuck in an elevator before, and this was maybe one of the worst ways for it to happen. First of all, it was not airconditioned, i.e. there was no air flowing into the elevator at all.  Second of all, it’s Vietnam. Third of all, we were not all quite sober, so many people were less than rational.  Karen (Canadian) was trying to get the buttons to work. Spencer (Canadian) was taking a video of the whole experience (which was hilarious to watch the next morning), Matteo (Colombian) was singing, Nicole (Australian) was laughing hysterically, Kate (American) was screaming and jumping intermittently, and I was trying to keep Kate from jumping because when she did, the lights in the elevator shut off. That part was pretty terrifying.  I think we were probably only stuck for about 5 minutes, but that was more than enough.  When the elevator finally returned to ground level, the security guard pried open the door Superman-style, and we all rushed out.  What a way to end a fabulous birthday! Then we all went for a late-night dip in the pool, which was, once again quite crazy and ill-advised. I was a mellow swimmer, but a couple of the guys were getting a little too rowdy for my comfort.  Everyone was okay in the end, except for the fact that we went to bed at 4:30am and had to be up at 7:30am to leave for our next destination.  In short, absolutely EPIC birthday, and absolutely aVietnamese-style birthday.  I will say, it was one of the best birthdays I’ve ever had, and I owe to all of the amazing people I met on this trip.