Hanoi, Vietnam to Luang Prabang, Laos: kindness that made me cry

Hang's friend knocked on my door to wake me up the morning after NYE.  I was up late writing in my blog (sometimes it takes me 1 hour for a single post!) so I was groggy when she woke me up. 

By the time I made it downstairs, Hang, Lang, and Luyen were sitting at the table.  Hang had prepared noodles with beef for us all!  I was so grateful!  After breakfast, I offered to help clean up but Hang said no, and told me to get ready.  So I took a shower upstairs, and started packing.  At some point, Fung came over and I heard him shout, “Nisha!  Are you ready?” from downstairs. 


I brought my luggage downstairs. They decided that we didn't have enough time to come back for my luggage so Lang and Fung tied it to the back of Fung's motorbike.  I couldn't understand why, or even how, people I just met could be so kind to me!

I had no idea where we were going.  It didn't make any difference to me so I didn't ask where.  Hang gave me a helmet and gloves.  I sat behind her.  Lang sat behind Luygen.  And Fung rode with my luggage.  I even shed a tear as we were driving as I contemplated how kind Hang and her friends had been to me.

Here's some typical views of Hanoi's streets.

Hang looked back at me and said that because my luggage was too heavy, we were going to drop it off at her uncle's house.  We had do drive through a tiny narrow alley to get there.  Her uncle wan't home but her cousin was.

He gave us some candy and we all sat in the living room chatting.  Hang's cousin said he likes America because of "the freedom".  Everyone started laughing and I couldn't understand why.  Fung spoke up, "Freedom in Vietnam isn't a good thing.  Because there are too many types of people who don't understand each other and if they were free they would start fighting against each other."  It wasn't until later in the day during our visit to the Museum of Ethnology that I realized what he meant by "too many types of people".

Hang's cousin asked if I could say anything I wanted to in America. I told him yes, but certain things you can't really say, like "I have a bomb" when you are on an airplane.  I asked what would happen if you said something bad about the Vietnamese government.  Fung said that they would put you in prison or you wouldn't get a job.  He said that they monitor the internet and telephone conversations   Just hearing that made me nervous!  You can't even get on facebook in Vietnam unless you modify your internet settings.

We got on the topic of religion.  I told them that I was Christian.  They responded with blank faces.  "Bible?" I said.  They still didn't know what I was talking about.  "Jesus?".  Only Hang's cousin then made the connection and said something in Vietnamese to the rest of the group.

Hang's cousin joined and we all went to the museum  which wasn't too far from his house.  Once again, they refused to let me pay for my admission ticket.  I stayed with Fung and Hang's cousin most of the time.  Fung was amazing!  It was like having my own tour guide!  He shared so many things with me.  I appreciated it so much.  Nothing in the museum was boring to him.  He told me about the clothing, ceremonies, instruments used by the different people in Vietnam.

Vietnam has several, maybe even a hundred different groups each with its own language and culture.  Its quite remarkable given is a relatively small country.  When we got to the Hmong exhibition, I told him about the book Columbia makes us read at the start of medical school.

When we got outside the museum, we walked around the houses constructed to resemble the variety of homes people live in in Vietnam.  He showed me a home similar to the one his grandfather lives in.  Several of the homes are built on long stilts which I assumed was to protect it from flood waters.  He told me its to protect them from tigers.  Everything is done in the one large room, the cooking, sleeping, and a hole for the bathroom.  The floor feels a bit shaky sine its woven bamboo over a wooden frame.

 Stove in the one room house

 Type of house Fung's grandfather lives in

 House on stilts

Large urns that would contain wine drunk through long bamboo straws

We walked pasted the stage for a water puppet show.  Water puppets are a Vietnamese invention.  It was too bad I didn't get a chance to see a show.

 Water puppets

Water puppet stage

After the museum we went to a Bún chả restaurant for lunch.  Bún chả is a grilled pork noodle soup.  You dip the noodles into the soup and add some pork.  It was very good.  Fung paid for everything.

 They serve a dish with white noodles, a dish of grilled pork, and a bowl of herb soup. 

We went back to Hang's uncle's place to get my luggage.  Then everything happened so fast.  Hang's cousin, sitting behind Fung on his motorbike, held my luggage on his lap.  Then we drove to the bus station.  No sooner did we get there did the bus drive to the stop.  Fung quickly put my luggage on the board, paid for my thicket, I gave them Hugs, got on the bus, and we were off.

It was over.

I got to Luang Prabang in 2 hours on the flight.  I took a tuk-tuk to my hostel, had noodle soup for dinner.  When I got home, I wrote Hang's first reference on couchsurfers :D