Maybe it was because of my lack of knowledge and interest in Vietnamese history, I found Hue a very boring place. Fortunately we decided unanimously to stay there only for five hours, till the next open bus. Hue at the first sight was nothing resembling an ancient capital of Vietnam. The streets were shabby and small, and you didn't see much people there. Once again, Lonely Planet provided useful information for us just as we were wondering how to spend the five hours: we were going to pay a visit to the 'disintegrating treasure'--Hue's Citadel Kinh Thanh, an ancient imperial city on the bank of river Song Huong. The name of the city was called Forbidden Purple City (sounds familiar?), and according to Mickey, it was nothing more than a 山寨 version of the Chinese Forbidden City. Since I wasn't keen on either of them, I just tagged along solely for the purpose of killing time. 

Hoi An was a totally different place. It was a neat and tranquil small town with a population of only 80,000. Its exquisite walking streets were ready to satisfy the different needs of tourists and backpackers. You can find a variety of choices for restaurants to treat your belly, or load your backpack with exotic souvenirs, or step into a tailor's shop and get yourself a made-to-order suit, or if you're tired from the overnight bus, just take a walk in the street, let peace and tranquility soothe your exhausted soul. The last one was perfect for us. 

The international bus left Nanning at 7:30. I got up one hour earlier to make sure everything was packed and ready. It was the first time I travel abroad alone, so you can imagine how nervous I was. I triple checked that I had everything ready in my pouch: passports, money, bus ticket, maps, etc. And I almost irritated the hostel receptionist by asking again where to take the bus. Well, you can't be too safe in those things. It was only 15 minutes walk from the hostel to the bus station and I arrived nearly 20 minutes earlier. I looked around the waiting hall, trying to spot a fellow single traveller like me. But everybody seemed to be in pairs. What a disappointment. I couldn't stop worrying about stuff like how I could go to Hanoi from the bus stop, would it be possible to communicate with local people in English... Fortunately, when we changed bus at the border, I met two Cantonese girls who were heading the same place. I felt like I discovered a log when I was about to drown. 

They were Lavender and Mickey. They were my very first two travel mates (except the guy I met on bus named Tony, but he didn't manage to cross the border due to visa problems), and we were to have great fun during the next few days. 

Mickey was a highly organized and straightforward girl with excellent sense of direction. If it wasn't for her, we would've lost in the labyrinth of the Old Quarter streets in Ha Noi, trying desperately to locate our guesthouses and the Sinh Cafe office. She was also a busy scheduler. During the days we travelled together in Ha Noi, Hue, Hoi An and Nha Trang, there wasn't a moment spent lazily lying in hotel beds, watching satellite TVs and doing nothing (which I did a lot during the latter half of my trip). Our days were always filled with visitings, sight-seeings and all other kinds of activities. I couldn't say I liked such way of travelling but as it turned out, I benefited greatly from it. The northern cities were not suitable for a lazy traveller. Lavender on the other hand, was like a meek sheep, who were always ready to follow Mickey's leadership and seldom did she complain about anything. 
(Lavender and Mickey after lunch)

Ha Noi was a messy, crowded and nevertheless intriguing city. The Old Quarter was swarmed with tourists, street pedlars and motorbikes. Gasoline flavoured air mixed with the tropical heat and the smell of sweat instantly filled us with excitement. The narrow streets decorated by various shops that sell everything from fruits to jewelries, seemed like a perfect place for backpackers.

We spent only one night in Ha Noi, but to me it was the most real part of Vietnam. It wasn't as beautiful as Mui Ne or as modern as Saigon, but it was so full of life. Ha Noi is to Vietnam just as Bangkok is to Thailand. It has the similar dynamic power as BKK possesses, and I can safely say that Ha Noi is also a city always on move. 

Not to mention that I had the most delicious Vietnamese food, the best Vietnamese coffee and the best taste beer in my life.


("Chinese BBQ" stall in Ha Noi, the owner went to university in China and speaks fluent Chinese.)

I'm too busy exploring the local food of Hanoi to write this. I'll make it up some time later.

Five and a half hours from Nanning to Guilin by train.
Stayed at Wada Youth Hostel, shared room with Chilean girl  Lorena, who was travelling across China in a few weeks; a nice guy with a poetic nickname "云游" from Yunnan province, who provided a lot of useful information for my trip to Yangshuo the following day; and around midnight Swiss lad Ivan.

As I traveled it become more and more clear to me that taking other people's advice is not always a good thing. On the contrary, it could become dangerous. Relying too much on someone else's experience can easily lead you to a cul-de-sac, because your eyes only see in one direction, and by doing that you're keeping out all other possibilities. Sometimes (or most of the times) you'll have to find out by yourself what's good for you. I think this is the essence of the backpackers: to explore and experience the world through their own eyes.

Raft tour on the river:

PS: The whole city of Guilin is pervaded with the flavour of Guilin Rice Noodles, and it doesn't exactly smell like "bon appetite". 

After 3 hours flight and 45 minutes shuttle bus, I finally arrived at the first stop of my journey to the south: Nanning. It was dripping rain when I got off the plain, and the ground temperature was 22 degrees centigrade. With the help of the instructions I ripped off online, I managed successfully to drag my starved body to the hostel I booked several days earlier, even though it was buried under thick foliage in a dark alley. This was my first time in a hostel. I booked myself into a 6-bed dorm for ￥50 a night. Not exactly a bargain, but the room was tidy, and the sheets were clean. Pretty much like I hoped. Everything settled, I asked the receptionist for the direction of the famous barbecue street--I decided to start my journey with a treat for the stomach, after all, exotic food is one big perk of the trip. The girl behind the desk was very kind and informative. She gave me enough details of the street in addition to a hand drawn map. 

Two grilled oysters, one bbq eggplant (with special sauce, very delicious) and a bowl of beef pho later, my stomach was completely satisfied. Hadn't it been the sudden storm that caught me on my way back to the hostel, I would've considered this a perfect start.

The next day I woke up with the sun shining in through the window beside my bunk. It was a nice day. I spent the first half of the morning in bed and the other half wandering through the streets of Nanning in my sandals. Being accustomed to neat cities like Hangzhou, I found the streets rather dirty here. My feet were collecting dust and dirt with each step I walked, and the traffic was a mess (not a jam-mess like in hangzhou, but real mess, you never know when or where a car might dash out in the street, and the zebra crossing didn't look like zebra at all). Ugly billboards and ads-shouting speakers were everywhere, even the downtown area looked like a market. 

As I walked pass the banyan shades in the parks, I couldn't stop my attention from being drawn to the crowds of people crouching around large pieces of papers on the ground. At first I thought they were street peddlers, but when I walked up close I discovered they were mostly gambling tables, ones that were usually broadcast in railway stations to warn people against con artists. And there were so MANY of them, almost filled up the whole park (and the next park I passed through too). This whole scene was by far the most unpleasant experience for me.

Well, no city is perfect. At least I can enjoy two big delicious mangoes and a bowl of beef pho both at such a low price as ￥4.50, which I never did in Hangzhou. 

As for my itinerary:
I have almost 3 whole weeks at my disposal, and given that I'll be travelling alone for the most of it, it seems such a waste to spend all my vacation in Vietnam. So I decide to take two days out of it and pay a visit to the neighbouring city: Guilin. Here're the tickets I've bought today:

Last week I went back to NB and had dinner with my future in-law family (yes, you heard it right), which includes a mother-in-law, two uncles, three aunts, and two cousins with their husbands, all in the future sense, of course. The dinner was scheduled almost four weeks ago when I first visited the in-law family. In the heterosexual world this may be just as official as an engagement, because on the day before that dinner, my 'girlfriend', knowing how I dread such social occasions, texted me about the details of the attendants, and the probability that there will be laisee (red envelopes) involved. Now things are really getting serious. A laisee, according to my mother, is a token of the parents' approval and welcome of their daughter's boyfriend to the family. And of course, to comply with the etiquette, I will reciprocate by inviting my 'girlfriend' back to my home, which I did the next day. The two dinners had been torturing us for a whole month, and when it was finally over, we didn't exactly feel like 'phew'. As a matter of fact, once we started this, it could go on and on forever until we get married and pop out a baby to the joy of all the parents and in-laws. We both shrank at the thought of that. It's not so much that we feel uncomfortable raising a child under such circumstances as we're both not the child type of person. When I come tho think of that, it is not so easy being a straight after all.

Despite all the these, I guess we should still consider ourselves lucky that we have each other, and that we're not troubled by the worries which frustrated, agonized or even devastated many others.

I have finally booked the air tickets for the trip. All was done so easily through a few mouse clicks, and in less than two months I will be flying off from Shanghai all the way down to Nanning, a stop for many backpackers as their entrance to the exotic and mysterious tropical city of Vietnam: Hanoi. It's also where my journey to the south begins. Here's a tentative plan I've laid out for the 20-day 'self-exile':

June 2 Nanning
June 3 Nanning -> Hanoi
June 4 Hanoi -> Hue
June 5 Hue
June 6 - 9 Visit a few places along the long coastline of the Mekong peninsula, including Hoi An, Nha Trang and Mui Ne
June 10 - 11 Explore HCMC, meanwhile taking a break from the exhausting bus trip.
June 12 Fly from HCMC to Bangkok, Thailand
June 13/14 Nightbus to the beautiful southern island: Koh Samui
June 14 - 16 Koh Samui (I must motor around the whole island this time)
June 17 - 19 Koh Phangan
June 20/21 Nightbus back to Bangkok
June 22 Fly from Bangkok back to Shenzhen
June 23 Shenzhen - Hangzhou

I haven't worked out the budget details yet, as I've always been a spontaneous person. (Or you can say I'm a bad planner.) But I'll try my best to take this habit this time, for travelling alone is new to me. At the age of 27, I have never travelled more than 300 kilometres by myself, let alone going to another country where I've never been and whose language I don't understand. Before I made up my mind on the trip, there was a time when I was about to get cold feet, but then it was the sense of insecurity itself which had made the excitement so appealing to me. I kept convincing myself that in spite of the loneliness this would be a great experience to me. And I want to do this before its too late. Who knows what will happen tomorrow.