Just Another Day At The Office

For the past two weeks I've been working at a hostel in Hanoi running party tours out to Ha Long Bay.

And it has been incredible.

Not only have I been able to save money and party like a rockstar on a daily basis, but the people I have met here have been AMAZING.

The say a journey is to be measured in friends not miles, and it is true.

The tour I've been running consists of a night on a boat in Ha Long bay, followed by a night on Cat Ba Island. In both places I was lucky enough to work with some really incredible Vietnamese people who were so friendly and welcoming and immediately made me feel like a part of the team. I had heard a lot of negative things about the Vietnamese before coming here, but I can say in all honesty I have yet to meet a Vietnamese person I don't like.

And it really feels like you are their friend, not just some random foreigner who happens to work with them.

Example:
On the boat, there are 6 or 7 Vietnamese staff, including one girl. As a female, I tend to try and bond with the other females as much as possible (lends you more street cred if the girls like you), so it was really important to me that she like me.

On my third or fourth tour, I was sitting at a table in the boat restaurant and she walked up to me without saying a word and put a bracelet around my wrist.

It's not a particularly gorgeous or expensive bracelet, but to me it is one of the best gifts I have ever recieved. To me, that bracelet means I'm accepted and welcomed in a place where I am an ignorant intruding...and as a traveller, I don't think there's a better feeling than that.



I leave Hanoi tomorrow...I'm FINALLY going to meet up with Brandon and Adam in HCMC, then off to Nepal at the beginning of May.

Let the good times roll.