By The Numbers: How We Get Around

Well, we're a little bit more than halfway through our year between! Can you believe it? We can't either. 

Since leaving the United States on October 6, 2015, we've used quite a few different methods of transportation, including...

• 18 flights
• 15 bus rides
• 12 tuk-tuks
• Three overnight trains 
• 10 trains/subways
• Two long-tail boats
• Six ferries (both river and ocean)
• Three rented cars
• Five rented bicycles (each)
• Two rented motorbikes
• Three multiple-night boat trips (one junk boat, one luxury riverboat and one liveaboard)
• 30+ taxis (approximately)

Learning About the "American War" in Vietnam

We recently spent three weeks traveling around the beautiful country of Vietnam. From the beaches to the mountains and in between, it's a gorgeous place. Even more gorgeous are all the smiling faces of the kind, welcoming Vietnamese people.

As we explored all that Vietnam has to offer, we learned more about the violent wars that the country has endured, particularly in the past century. With every day and every new piece of information, those smiles we saw became even more beautiful, because we understood them in the context of Vietnam's very sad history.

Let's go waaay back to sometime in middle school. (Fun fact: Mike and I went to the same middle school, but not at the same time!) For us, world history was covered in social studies class. At some point, although I can't remember which grade, we first learned about the Vietnam War.

Maybe we were too young to grasp the horrors that happened, or maybe it was just another chapter in the textbook that we've since forgotten, but honestly, Mike and I both agreed that we didn't fully understand the war or the USA's role until we educated ourselves in the country where it all went down. 

While in Vietnam, we sought out different experiences to learn more about what happened. We sort of felt it was our duty, being young Americans fortunate enough to travel as we currently are. Even more than that, visiting historical sites and museums is something that we often feel compelled to do in order to walk away feeling like we earned the right to enjoy our time in a foreign place. 

So, here's a brief overview of the historical sites and museums dedicated to the American War (as they refer to it in Vietnam) that we visited in Vietnam. 

Hoa Lo Prison in Hanoi

The Hỏa Lò Prison was originally built by the French colonists in Vietnam to hold political prisoners, then later used during the Vietnam War by North Vietnam for prisoners of war. It held many American POWs (including John McCain), who gave it the nickname "the Hanoi Hilton." 

This was our first taste of the discrepancy between how the U.S. describes certain aspects of the war and how it looks through Vietnam's eyes. The fair treatment of American soldiers was emphasized (and likely exaggerated). 

War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City

The majority of the War Remnants Museum is dedicated to exhibits relating to the Vietnam War (there are also a few about the first Indochina War with the French colonialists). This museum was easily the most harrowing for us. In particular, one large exhibit room contained more than 100 photographs showing the damaging and lasting effects of Agent Orange on Vietnamese men, women and innocent children. 

We also saw those affected firsthand in the streets and working at centers for disabled persons. The most horrible realization is that the damage to so many innocent lives could have been avoided. For us at home, the war is over. It is rarely talked about and for many, rarely thought about. But for the Vietnamese, reminders are everywhere. 

Although it's very sad, it's also very informative. This museum offers a powerful experience that is not to be missed. 

One of the U.S. helicopters on display outside the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City

Cu Chi Tunnels (north of Ho Chi Minh City)

The day after we went to the War Remnants Museum, we joined a small tour group to visit the Củ Chi Tunnels north of the city. The Cu Chi tunnels are a network of underground tunnels that were used by North Vietnam fighters during the war (both for combat and living in hiding). They are just one connected system of a larger network of tunnels that run below much of the middle of the country. We squat-walked through and emerged after a few minutes, sweating and all but gasping for fresh air. I can't imagine spending multiple days down there, as many people did in order to survive air attacks. 

Coconut Prison in Phu Quoc

Our last war-related stop was Phu Quoc Prison, also called the "Coconut Prison" on Phu Quoc island. Like Hoa Lo, the prison was first built by the French colonists to jail those considered especially dangerous to the colonist government. Many of the high ranking leaders of Vietnam were detained here before it became a prison used by South Vietnam to detain captured Viet Cong fighters, many of whom were mercilessly tortured. (The various torture methods are depicted in detailed, life-size models. Some are quite difficult to look at, much less imagine.) 

Interestingly, signs at the prison stated that it was run by the "American Puppet Government," referring to the South Vietnam army, which was supported by the U.S. 

Mike managed a smile as he made his way through one of the tunnels in Cu Chi

Lessons Learned?

All of these places provided perspective and particulars about what was an extremely complicated and even sadder situation. (Is war ever not complicated or sad?) 

Still, after all that education, our favorite way to learn was hearing from Vietnamese people firsthand. Some of the most memorable lessons came from people we met who talked about their feelings or the stories they heard about the war from their parents. 

At first, the few we talked to, notably all people working in hospitality/tourism, told us that no one in Vietnam harbors any hateful feelings anymore; that now that it's over, they just want peace. Multiple people told us that the Vietnamese are only looking ahead, thinking about the future and providing for their families. And that they love anyone who visits their country and spends money.

Based on all the smiling faces and the overly-helpful nature of hotel staff, that was easy to believe. But a few weeks in, we got some more unfiltered opinions. 

In My Son, where we were touring temple ruins, our guide told us that there are indeed some older people who still "hate Americans" because they blame them for the death of relatives. He went on to explain that his father spent four years in the Cu Chi Tunnels and all of his father's brothers died in the tunnels during one attack. 

But it is true that many Vietnamese are happy to see so many visitors arriving. For the most part, they are very proud of their country and eager to show off how far they've come. When we were trekking in Sapa, we arrived at Lao Chai village and Lan, our guide, exclaimed, "I love my country!" She was beaming. 

The past is the past. There's no going back to change it. But traveling somewhere with a history like Vietnam's without learning about it would be irresponsible. When it comes to travel, ignorance cannot be bliss. For to leave without understanding a place and, more importantly, its people, is to leave without truly having experienced it. 

I'd like to say that people need to know what happened so that history does not repeat itself. But, as we reflected on our surprise, sadness and even shame at what we'd learned, we realized that similar situations are still happening in the world today. 

And since I can't think of a nice little "bow on top" way to finish this post, here's this: 

FAQs Part II

We’ve noticed some more common questions since embarking on this adventure and now that we’ve been living “on the road” for a few months, we figured it was time to address them for everyone. 

How do you do laundry?

We were prepared to do all our washing in sinks and brought the necessary gear: sink stopper, high-concentration travel detergent and Tide detergent packets. However, more often than washing it ourselves, we've sent it out through our ho(s)tel or dropped it off at a local laundromat. It's usually pretty cheap. We're happy to report that we've been wearing clean socks and underwear in, like, at least 95% of the photos you've seen! 

What has been your favorite place so far? 

G: All of Southern Africa was amazing. If I had to choose one favorite, it would be South Africa for the intense variety, with Cape Town as the cherry on top. I can’t really put it into words, I just fell in love with that city. 

M: I can't pick. And don't want to. Some highlights are the experiences that pull you into the moment in a special way, such as: 

• Etosha National Park, the first time we saw animals
• Surfing in Jeffrey's Bay 
• Almost stepping on a tarantula walking to the dive boat on a perfect beach in Seychelles  

Was it hard being away from your family during the holidays? 

M: Yes, seeing the holidays pass by over social media from so far away feels strangely like being a ghost. Watching while no one knows you're there. 

G: In a word: yes. We will always miss our families, even while we were living in Denver and our parents and sisters were on the east coast, we missed them. However, it isn't as hard when you're excited to be where you are and it doesn't feel like a holiday. I agree with Mike, the hardest part was seeing photos on social media! 

What else do you miss?

G: I don't miss as much as I thought I would. But there are a bunch of small things I miss. Lately the biggest has been turning on a faucet to brush my teeth. (Because the water in SE Asia isn't great, the safest way to brush your teeth is with treated or bottled water, and I hate it! I feel like my teeth don't get as clean.) Also wearing heels and random foods like bagels and turkey sandwiches...

M: Steaming music and videos, Tempur-Pedic anything, Walking Dead, cooking, using my credit card for everything, getting a paycheck, popcorn with butter, fresh smelling clothes.

Have you guys tried to kill each other yet? 

Only a couple of times! Super proud of ourselves. Stay tuned for a post or two about traveling with your significant other… 

Do you have burning questions that we haven't answered? Email them to us at theyearbetween@gmail.com!  

Restaurant Review: Noir. Dining in the Dark

Soon after arriving in Ho Chi Minh City, I was texting back and forth with my dad. (For those who don't know, I definitely inherited my food obsession from him, and not from my mom, whose favorite food is toast.) He is always ahead of the game when it comes to different foods and restaurants to try. Sometimes he even asks where we're planning on eating and then, after checking out their menu online, offers advice on what we should order. It may sound crazy to some, but I love him for it. 

Anyway, that was how we heard about Noir. (Full name: Noir. Dining in the Dark.) He hadn't been himself but heard about it from a friend. I Googled and ended up on TripAdvisor (sigh...), where I saw that it is #1 of 2,000+ Restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City. As if that wasn't enough to convince us that we needed to check it out, Noir is a dining experience totally unlike any other Mike or I had ever had... you eat your three course meal in total darkness. 

So, we made a reservation for the following night. This is how it goes when you dine at Noir: 

Upon arrival, you're greeted and led to a table in their casual lounge area, which is dimly lit. They offer a welcome cocktail, asking "alcohol or no alcohol?" 

"Alcohol!" - Mike and I in unison.

Then, things get really fun. You're brought a game that looks like it's for preschoolers - a wooden board with nine indentations in different shapes and nine blocks in corresponding shapes. You put on a blindfold and try to complete the puzzle. Doing so is a brief but helpful training session on using your hands when you can't see what you're doing. 

The only task left before entering the dining room is to pick which menu you want, east or west. You don't get to select based on specific foods (because that would ruin the surprise), instead it's based on flavors. Wary of fish eyes and snake meat and who knows what else, we chose west. (Given how weird some of those foods ended up being, I'd say we made the right choice!) 

Now, there's one more really interesting element that I haven't mentioned yet. All of the servers in the blacked out dining room are blind. Read more about the restaurant's dedication to hiring and empowering local blind and visually impaired people here.  

At the transition point between the lounge and the dark room, you meet your server and line up with hands on shoulders so he or she can lead you in to your table. 

The entrance is a short maze through thick, black material. It's crazy how quickly you're enveloped in total darkness! Almost immediately, you can feel that your other senses have heightened. Everything sounds louder, each smell is stronger and lingers longer. It's surreal. 

Mike and I giggled as we sat there, unable to see each other or anything around us. We talked about what we were feeling and seeing in a way we never have after sitting down in a normal restaurant. 

Your heart starts racing a bit when they set the food in front of you. My first thought was, "Surely all food doesn't smell so strongly?" The waiter instructs you on which order to eat. Each course was actually four separate small dishes, all served in bowls, making eating a bit easier. 

The bowls all sit on a single tray, with indentations for each bowl. I noticed with a small smile that its design mirrored the game we played before entering the dining room. 

There are also no knives required, and no knives on the table, because duh. 

For someone who considers herself to be well-versed in food, I took my first bite and had no idea what I was eating. As the meal went on, other tastes stood out as more familiar, while there were some that completely stumped us. Those were the most fun, even if we didn't like the taste, because we had little debates in the dark about what they could be. 

After dinner, you exit the dining room and head back to the lounge, where another restaurant employee brings over an iPad to show you what you just ate. This was really cool - there were some that made sense and others that were completely surprising. 

Feeling blind, even if only for an hour or so, was very interesting. While the overall experience was fun, it was also enlightening how helpless we felt without one of our most-used senses.  

Although it was the most expensive dinner we've had yet on this journey, it was also the most memorable. We'd definitely recommend dining at Noir for anyone looking for something different or celebrating a special occasion. 

Good Morning, Vietnam!

I’m writing this post from a van that’s driving us from Hanoi to Halong City, where we’ll board a boat to sail around Halong Bay for the next three days. In case you didn’t catch that, the van has wifi. So, needless to say, life is good. 

We got here a few days ago... wow, nearly a week ago, actually. Traveling from Cape Town to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, was unpleasant, to put it mildly. It took three flights over the course of 30 hours (one delayed flight and a subsequent missed flight extended our travel time) to finally make it here. That would suck on its own, but Mike was battling a nasty stomach ache and I had an annoying cough develop out of nowhere. It was almost like our bodies were telling us to quit. But, of course we can’t do that. We have eight months left to go! 

Thankfully, Mike started a brief but powerful course of antibiotics that we got before leaving the U.S. and was feeling himself again on our second day. After adjusting to the change in time zone, we’re ready to take this country by storm.  

So far, we’ve checked out Hanoi, a bustling city of more than 7 million people where old and new worlds collide, and Sapa (or Sa Pa), a farming region northwest of Hanoi most famous for its dramatic landscape of terraced rice fields in the Muong Hoa Valley.

Both were totally charming in their own ways and we’re excited to share more information, stories and photos from each very soon.

To arrive in Vietnam is bittersweet. A year ago, I would have said SE Asia was the place that I was most looking forward to seeing. For years, I have dreamed about experiencing the culture and eating asian food nonstop. However, we’re a little bit sad that the first chapter in our travel story, Africa, is finished. 

An interesting thing happens when you've been traveling for a few months. You accept that you no longer have a “home” in the traditional sense. And then, as you stay somewhere for a few weeks, you can start to feel connected to it, like it’s your new home. Your new normal. Your new comfort zone.

That’s how southern Africa was feeling to us after two months. We drove around in our own car (a rental, but still). We went grocery shopping. We went to the movies and we even cooked a Thanksgiving dinner. It was home. And we were sad to say goodbye. 

As I think about it more, though, it’s not something to be unhappy about. If we could feel at home in Africa, we could probably feel at home here, too. Maybe in a few months, when we’re once again transitioning, from the Philippines to New Zealand, I’ll be reflecting in a similar way, upset again to leave the region that has begun to feel like our new home. 

Africa is Not For Sissies

We left Africa a few days ago. Before we get on to talking about Vietnam, the first stop on the SE Asia leg and where we are now, we wanted to talk about what we’ll take away from the glorious, unpredictable place that is Southern Africa. 

First, to explain the title of this post: We saw the saying for the first time on a sticker in the windshield of the 4-wheel drive vehicle taking us to Deadvlei in Sossusvlei, Namibia (see photo below). We had only been on the continent for a few days, but we had already experienced a few of its many personalities, from baboons on the side of the road to rural villages in the middle of nowhere and the dry, unforgiving desert heat. So, the sticker made us smile. Africa is not for sissies. But we’re here. We must not be sissies!

We heard/saw that saying pop up sporadically throughout the rest of our trip. A couple of South Africans our age who we met at a hostel confirmed that they too love the saying about their home country. (Second only to TIA, which stands for “This is Africa” - another saying to express that Africa is totally one of a kind - indescribable and unpredictable. It also has a sort of Murphy's Law connotation, but I won't get into that here.)

Africa is gorgeous, scarred, welcoming, rough, playful, forgiving, intimidating and so much more, all at the same time. 

We learned how to roll with the punches. How to tell “African time.” And that while sometimes things seem unorganized or even chaotic, there’s almost always a process hidden in the chaos. 

As far as getting out unscathed, while we made sure to be hyper aware, responsible and cautious, we know there’s always an element of chance involved in all the things that can go wrong when you decide to leave your comfortable home and venture out into the world. We feel super lucky to walk away being able to say we didn't once get a flat tire (a true accomplishment when driving around Namibia), never got pickpocketed or robbed (or worse), never got stranded, or eaten by a lion, or any of the other things that could have gone wrong. 

And we almost made it out without getting sick! Grace got hit week three by some unknown plague but luckily recovered within a week. Later, only three days before departure, Mike came down with a serious stomach bug that wasn’t kicked until a few days after we arrived in Vietnam. (We’ll take both over malaria, though!) 

With that, we say our final farewells...

Thanks, Namibia, for introducing us to your home continent and being patient with us as we navigated uncharted waters, whether they were driving on the “wrong” side of the road or constructing a braai for the first time. You were the most diverse, striking country we’ve seen yet. We forgive you for the hours and hours on bumpy, unpaved roads.

Zambia, you get a shout out for hosting epic birthday celebrations. Victoria Falls is basically a gigantic playground for adults because of all you can do there. We were able to get adventurous and meet some new friends. Honorary mention to Botswana where we completed our Big 5 checklist! 

Seychelles was the first place we went scuba diving together, and the most faraway and exotic islands either of us had ever visited. Knowing we may never make it back made our time there even more special and we appreciated every moment. We’ll never forget exploring pristine beaches, sea kayaking and snorkeling in crystal clear water, spotting various sharks and of course Grace’s ebola scare. 

Last but most definitely not least, South Africa. What a unique and remarkable place you are. We fell in love with your many faces, from the swanky suburbs to Soweto, roadside Wimpy to sushi restaurants in Cape Town, the bush to the ocean to dramatic mountains and back again, and of course the array of beautiful animals. Most of all, we fell in love with the people. The children so full of joy and excited to simply high five or write their name on your hand. All the locals who smile and wave and say “Howzit?” Wonderful families who took us in and made us feel so welcome - thank you for all the knowledge and perspective you gave us! 

Africa, it was a total trip. You’re one tough bitch. We hate to see you go, but we love to watch you leave. And we know we’ll be back for more, sooner rather than later. 

While we didn't get a photo of the sticker in Namibia, I found this one online and am 99% sure it is the same truck we were in! Photo credit: Dalene and Pete Heck, www.hecktictravels.com (a great travel blog to check out!)