“Happiness is a journey, not a destination”
One of my favourite cliche and cheesy quotes. But it also rings true for my my trip to my most recent destination: Vietnam.
I had 2 weeks before I needed to meet a friend in Thailand, knowing that my visa situation meant that I would need to leave and re-enter the country, the question became, where to go? I considered all Thailand’s neighbouring countries but ultimately travelling isn’t just about where you go, but who you go with, so I decided to accompany my favourite travel partner Zak on a road trip through Vietnam.
It wasn’t long after arriving in the capital, Hanoi, that we realised we were not appropriately equipped to handle the sudden change in climate. So we rapidly bought hoodies and raincoats and decided to head south (ish). And that was the only decision we made; a direction.
We loaded up our motorbike with our bags, donned our helmets and set off along the Ho Chi Minh Road. A road that leads all the way to... Ho Chi Minh. We had no idea how far we would get but we didn't mind. We chose the freedom of not always knowing how things will turn out.
Each day over a breakfast of banana and chocolate pancakes we'd map out our route for that day. Then we'd hop on board the bike and just drive... frequently easier said than done!
We’d stop for lunch – a daily game of guess what you’re eating, and we’d take breaks at the side of the road, partaking in the wonderful culture of sharing tea. Vietnamese people are very community focused and incredibly hospitable. On rainy days we were invited into homes for food and warmth. On sunny days they would join us at the side of the road with tea and tobacco and try to make conversation with us, they didn’t speak English and we didn’t speak Vietnamese so this left us all confused but it didn’t matter, you don’t need to use words to be welcoming and kind.
Eventually we would arrive somewhere and try to find somewhere to sleep. In the busier, more touristy places, this was easy, However, we weren’t there just for those stunning locations, we were there for the journey, and sometimes this journey lead us into the middle of nowhere.
We slept on the floor, in bamboo huts, wooden tipis and even on the beach. Everywhere was different, everyday presenting fresh challenges.
Driving a rented motorbike through a foreign country is no easy quest, a morning visit to the local mechanic became routine. Starter plug, fuse, ignitions we all replaced before we went all out on a new battery which seemed to do the trick!
It was a fun night trying to find a mechanic in the dark in a small village in a very remote area in western Vietnam. Then trying to communicate through google translate with a bit of charades!
It was certainly a good test of our patience and stress/panic levels when the bike won't start half way up a mountain in a national park, miles from any civilisation! What a test to our motto of trusting our ability to figure it out!
But it’s kind of difficult to stress out when the view is so beautiful. Because even though there were bumps along the way – and I mean literal bumps, some of the “roads” google maps sent us down (no street view available there) – we embarked on this adventure for the journey, and the journey was bliss.
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