Yeah, it was my first backpacking trip alone in a foreign country and I am not exactly the most sensible person when it comes to logical travelling. I don’t have much money but I did not have any budget on anything, I have 7 days without any itinerary, I want to get out but I don’t have any plans. I just sort of went out and do whatever I want, which is not exactly a very good idea but at least I don’t have regrets or anything that I haven’t tried it at least once in my life.

• Get a haircut from a Vietnamese barber who cannot understand English on some nameless street in Hanoi without any mirror. In short, you just have to trust the barber that he is doing the right thing and he is not shearing you bald. My haircut cost about 4 USD and lasted for an hour. Yep, longest haircut in my life and I was convinced that I am going home to the Philippines bald. Boy, was I wrong, the haircut was by far, the nicest one I had in years. And I actually learned the results 30 minutes after the deed was done when I went to a coffee shop to use their toilet
• Get a herbal bath in Sapa. Okay, I was in Sapa and I was talking to these equally crazy Australian who wanted to try out the herbal bath. I was technically thinking of bathtubs with loads of oils and fragrances and all that spa stuff. Apparently, the Hmong people have another idea on that. Instead of oils and fragrances, they boiled a lot of herbs, put it in a big wooden barrel and put yourself inside that barrel. I was okay with it since I am tiny but how the Australian guy got into it, I have no idea, he said he was in upside down fetal position. When I got out of that barrel, I was feeling refreshed but smelling like I soaked myself on tea leaves haha.

Herbal bath, anyone?

• Go on a Sapa trek using Sanuk shoes. Up until now I could not believe I was that stupid to even try this. Trekking in Sapa during the rainy season would require rain boots and all the necessary trekking gears. It was muddy and so slippery that I fell on my ass so many times I can count that in the end I finally decided to stop walking and just slide down using my butt, seriously, that was easier. I have to retire my Sanuk shoes and my jeans though.

My dear Sanuk, you and I have been to 4 countries now, I’m afraid I have to retire you after this.

• Go around Hanoi without any map. Yep, I am a geographic idiot but I really am a bigger idiot to forget to bring the city map and not know the street of the hostel I was staying in. So there I was at 11 PM walking on some deserted street in Hanoi, feeling very lost but looking very much like I know where I was going.  It was just by luck that I found Dong Xuan market and remembered that my hostel is just a block away from it.
• Get on a motorbike at 5 am in the morning and go around Hanoi. Pretty easy right? Except that I just came from a 12 hour bus ride without any sleep and I was in danger of falling off the bike while the driver was navigating the streets of Hanoi. And the motorbike traffic in Hanoi is really unlike anything I have seen in my life. I actually closed my eyes for a couple of times because I was so scared we would actually crash. But we didn’t and that’s why I am still writing this silly blog on the stupid things I did haha.

I know those things were pretty stupid and no sane person would ever do that, but hey, it really made my trip more interesting