I can admit my mistakes and learn from them. Thus, I decided to take a tour today to a place my friend Sian highly recommended to me – Perfume Pagoda. To be fair, it was also clear that public transportation here really wasn’t an option, but I’m not too proud to admit that once bitten twice shy, I wasn’t about to try it again myself. Plus the cost was reasonable, and I wanted to complete the roundtrip in time to catch an overnight bus southward to Hue. With the next major leg of my trip solidifying, I really wanted to move on out of Hanoi and get to the rest of Vietnam before I head to Manila.
One of the benefits to going on a tour group is the possibility of meeting interesting folk that are also adventurous travelers. Some groups have very little chemistry or people have little interest in talking. Today though, I managed to meet a group of people that I really enjoyed chatting with on the bus and on the hour long hike up to the Pagoda. There was Janice and Steven, two travelers from Nova Scotia; Ronit and Thomas from New York; Joseph from Singapore; and Lisa, an author and adventurer who has her own blog on her ten day biking trip from Vietnam to Laos. I really enjoyed myself as we talked about a wildly-wide range of topics, from comparing travel war stories, to the wonders of an anti-e-coli drug called Dukoral, to my Solio, to general wonderment at the success of the ShamWow and the Snuggie.
In particular, it was a treat to meet Lisa and compare notes on our respective projects. Just like my trip to Morocco last year, where I met MJ, a Korean traveling around the world and writing a book on it, talking to Lisa provided me with both inspiration and hope that “if I write it, they will read” (or something like that!) She actually has a commission lined up for an article based on her travels in a big and well-respected magazine. After talking to her and comparing notes on life and direction (we’re the same age) I came away convinced that this project does make sense, even for someone who has grown up half a world away. There’s something to be said for meeting people who don’t look at you crazy when you say you’re going to four weddings around the world or that you’re going to bike 1000km. Or maybe its just that crazy folk need crazy folk. Whatever it is, it’s good. If you want to read about Lisa's adventures, check her out
here.
One of the benefits to going on a tour group is the possibility of meeting interesting folk that are also adventurous travelers. Some groups have very little chemistry or people have little interest in talking. Today though, I managed to meet a group of people that I really enjoyed chatting with on the bus and on the hour long hike up to the Pagoda. There was Janice and Steven, two travelers from Nova Scotia; Ronit and Thomas from New York; Joseph from Singapore; and Lisa, an author and adventurer who has her own blog on her ten day biking trip from Vietnam to Laos. I really enjoyed myself as we talked about a wildly-wide range of topics, from comparing travel war stories, to the wonders of an anti-e-coli drug called Dukoral, to my Solio, to general wonderment at the success of the ShamWow and the Snuggie.
2 comments:
Hey Wayne - Comparing notes with Lisa sounds interesting. I'm glad that it helped convince you that this project makes sense. =)
Do you have the website for Lisa's blog as well? Sounds like an interesting project (and I'm sure Lisa wouldn't mind the extra pub).
Hey Anthony, I didn't have the link handy when I blogged this, but I've gone back in and updated the post. It's here also, just in case: http://www.lifeinc.co.za/blog.aspx?blogid=1
Post a Comment