Me, Myself, and the World | S2E4 | Hanoi, Vietnam -- Ba
Welcome To Me Myself and the world I'm your host Pamela Holt and this is the interview but first chocolate yes I love this Welcome To Me Myself and the world I'm your host Pamela Holt I've traveled to over 90 countries and territories and I'm here to Enlighten and inspire you on the art of solo [Music] travel come along with me as I Journey around the globe and share inspiring stories of solo Travelers hit lots of cool Adventures meet the locals and hear their stories and a whole lot more join my solo travel Revolution and discover new lens on the World As We explore this great planet of ours together Welcome To Me Myself and the world I'm your host Pamela Holt and this is [Music] Vietnam we leave off from the previous episode continuing to explore off the beaten path on our Vietnam Backstreet tour with our guide Chinchin and fellow Solo Traveler Pat Chinchin is taking us to the infamous no fear alley better known as train Street Pat has no idea what she's in for I dropped my phone and thank goodness I have this apple protector make sure to arrive 30 minutes early as the schedules are not fixed nice to see you again see you again hello well in 19 1945 we were build you know the railway along this along this area all of them they are train worker they are living here with the train worker they living here and day by day they maintain about the the train track I understood that the train tracks and the train system was built by the French 110 years ago yeah 110 120 years ago yeah so it's not real new nickname no fear alley train street is a narrow Alleyway Ino old quarter the tracks were laid back in 1902 with cafes and shops bringing up in the [Music] 1990s I never Tire of this we just made that train we had like 4 minutes to spare that was cool some notable local drinks to try while visiting train Street are the Vietnamese coffee and hanoian beer which has been brewed here since the 1880s we continue off the beaten path into the Labyrinth of hidden passages known as Hano social housing is this a community kitchen and now is this one her house that is huge they boiling about 8 hours fortune cake wow oh fortune cake bonang referred to by Chinchin as the fortune cake are square sticky rice Delicacies prepared over 8 to 12 hours and placed on family altars during the Lunar New Year celebrations key ingredients gluttonous rice beans pork black pepper salt green onions and a Vietnamese fish sauce for salty taste all of this wrapped up in a Banana Leaf to steam to [Music] Perfection hello hello when say say hello you say cow cow it's when you say hello in Vietnam they can learn hello we can learn cow I know one viam good we have four or five different meanings when we when we change the accent symbol on the top of the pom for example with beer b i a beer and beer like Li in a beer the cover on on the left side the cover of the book beer in the middle like Cho chop yes beer is a fresh spring roll beer under the bottom this mean liar you know beer beer beer beer and beer that was the same word five times but for you for your ear you the tone when the tone change and the accent symbol on the top changing is mean which changings the meaning [Music] [Music] soono as our Backstreet tour unfolds we dive deeper into Pat's solo travel Journey it's been 5 decades since the Vietnam War and we're bringing her to meet an army veteran from the opposing front the Vang hi while she's understandably nervous and excited it's a chance for two veterans once on opposing sides to find an unexpected Connection in the quiet corners of Hanoi on my right hand side we have meet theang you can go quangang uh me the tongue Tom Tom they are a musician they are what you know they can play some instrument they're music both them musician with the m tone you know in the bus he went to China he was translator Vietnamese and Chinese and with theang he know is a soldier he did you know about he fixed the bomb in the Hing Trail Chinchin explained that Mr Quan was just 15 when he fought in his first war and he's lived through three the first Indo war in 1950 the Vietnam Aman war in 1965 and the Chinese war in 79 although fate destined him to live through three Wars Mr quang's desires and passions continue to be on music teaching and family he's the proud father of five and currently lives with his daughter and grandchild one one son four daughters one son and four daughters yeah the wedding photo wedding picture wowow Mr Tong was off to a rehearsal giving us oneon-one time with Mr qu can you ask him what is his dream he said that so now after Independence in Vietnam he wish in our country can change many developed country in the world he wish you know he have you know the the good health and you know they are children either his granddaughter and know and his daughter living here they wish day by day they have a good job and they have the good salary when we have good salary we can have food when we have food we have we wi happy gotta yeah what instrument is this this one about uh TP look we call 16 drings a musician at heart all while being a soldier Mr Quang told me that he often played music during the war this is a Don Trang a 16 string instrument that dates back as early as 1057 ad the 16 strings symbolize the 12 months and the Four Seasons of a year here mrwang is playing a traditional Vietnamese Victory tune called the hoi Min [Music] song [Music] Viet wonderful and this is the doni a two-string instrument its unique soundbox is generally covered with snakes skin at one end and the instrument is very similar to the Chinese aru which mrwang learned to play in China during the Chinese war of 79 if you have a chance to hear a musical performance while on holiday in Vietnam keep an eye out for it it will be a special and memorable treat so it is very surreal for me very emotional do Huger I never thought I'd be in a Hanoi CU I joined the army in 1970 to be a nurse for Vietnam and yeah 50 years later yeah with my generation we never knew about something the war when I asked my parents and my grandparents I asked them how do you think about American war they tell us War R so far all of us we are loser nobody [Music] winner bye thank you g for me it's like an honor to be able to come into somebody's house and to see how everybody lives thank you to be welcome I me you want to be hugged you know with a with a his smiling yes we cannot tell him can you smile we cannot no yeah it's great thank you another successful moment in my solo travel Revolution as we go far beyond vacations and holidays and into self-discovery and connection the true meaning and reward of solo [Music] travel Welcome To Me Myself and the world I'm your host Pamela Holt and this is packing with Pamela apps apps apps there are so many apps that can just open up your whole world of travel things that are good for transportation lodging conversion um translation you name it it's out there I personally am going to talk about a few of the apps that I always carry with me and I would say the number one app that I like to have is Google Translate Google Translate is so handy I've used it over and over in countries where I want to communicate with the local because I really like to get my feet dirty and I like to go to the local places and they don't always speak English and if I want to get my hair washed I don't want to get it permed so it's important that we use Google Translate I've even noticed on this trip that when I hold Google translate up to a written sign it translates it right there for me I can literally hold it up now if you're driving somewhere this can be extremely handy the there are many many different translation apps you can pick your choice use them a little bit before you you head out it's great um another one that I use is transportation we all know about Uber and LT I happen to love Lyft I love the guys I love their story it was originally called Zim Rod Amazing Story how they basically revolutionized ride sharing but there are specific ride shares in each of the sort of destinations in Europe in Southeast Asia in particular there's grab and it's very handy you often need to have a local card which you could buy a SIM card for $5 and suddenly use grab it's really easy and it is very inexpensive so before you go to a destination make sure you explore some of the local apps there are blogs online that talk about everything that you need to know for a specific region before you go some of the lodging that can open up opportunities are the Airbnb app which of course I'm a massive fan of um you have things like hotel tonight you have hosle World couch surfing and couch surfing is not just sleeping over at someone's place but to meet up with people to just have dinner like maybe you're a vegetarian or vegan and you want to know a great restaurant in Vietnam in hoochi Min City you go on couch surfing and you can find people near you that are also solo Travelers and they also want to go to a vegetarian restaurant and you can meet some new people it's really wonderful Airbnb hotel tonight hostile World couch surfing a Goa Expedia manando can never say that Skyscanner and Hopper those are some of the ones that I use and you can get some amazing amazing deals up to like 74 75% off especially if it's the night before and if you're a Solo Traveler winging it those are amazing apps you can be stay at resorts for practically the same price as a lowbudget hotel occasionally not always so do a little exploring and open up your travel destinations your travel ability and close that wallet yeah open up the the opportunities and and close your wallet cuz a lot of this will save you a lot of money converter there is this great converter that you can get online there's a lot of them and what I do do is I on this particular trip in I have the United States dollars to the top and then I have Bali I have Vietnam I have Indonesia Vietnam and uh Thailand right here in order and I can see just by putting in let's say I'll put in a dollar here what the conversion rate is for each of the countries so quick so easy you don't have to rely on asking the locals what the rate is I think is it's really hand Cy so that you're aware of how much you're spending adding a couple hundred th000 dong or bot to each price gets a little disconcerting and next thing you know you're spending $172 versus $17 and [Music] 20 you never know what you're going to see along the Route here in Vietnam um one of my favorite things to do is to find some incredibly unique things that people carry on their mopads this is motorbike [Music] Mayhem [Music] Welcome To Me Myself and the world I'm your host Pamela Holt and this is the interview but first chocolate yes I love this um Pat tell me a little bit just briefly your a little bit of your history you uh I joined the army in 1970 and when I retire because of Vietnam so that is what brings me here 50 years later it is very special you became a nurse you join because they needed nurses for Vietnam and I wanted and to go to nursing school so and here we are 50 this is is your first visit yes and it's it is very emotional because to be in in um Hanoi and to meet so many Viet Kong former Viet Kong Fighters personally and to have them Embrace Americans now I it's one thing to read it and it's one thing to get that hug and it's really heartwarming I have chills going up and down when I retired from the Army in 1993 I decided it was a good time before I started my civilian life to travel and I didn't know any friends who had done this before but I bought a backpack packed what I thought I needed put it on and flew to Europe and I ended up um staying there 6 months I traveled 13 countries how old were you I was 41 years old I was sitting with the 20-year-olds in the train station sometimes barely able to get my back pack up but it it all worked out um no internet um many days I didn't know where I was going to be sleeping that night or staying right and I don't recall being frightened or anything it just um I met many wonderful people along the way I can still see some of them in my mind um so many were helpful and I it was just an incredible experience I actually know I knew at one point that it was not going to get better than this I can't imagine not doing what I did so many people who want to travel who want to travel alone and they say no that's for 20-year-olds that's for people who don't have careers that's that's for someone else outside of their realm and oh it's for everyone it's way more doable than you would think I mean you just have to have a little sense maybe a big sense of adventure um and if you really want to do it it can be done I know because I did it is there anything anything that you would say to women or men who are Solo Travelers that are or Travelers married not married anything that want to get out there and and see something alone what do you recommend travel light carry little very little because you need very little it is amazing I really encourage people who have any interest at all in doing um in traveling please it's it's it's just just too wonderful of an experience to to not do I can't encourage um young middle and older people as much as I can to to follow your dreams yes because I have and I still have dreams and what is your dream well it always was to go around the world always since I was a child and now I've kind of realized maybe I won't do it in one I'll I'll do it in sections and that will be good that will be good enough but that would have been it to go to go around the world yeah that's a that's a an extremely exciting dream to fulfill our interviews have been so different so varying we've been interviewing guys girls young middle-aged I have yet to um find an older traveler but I will and we will come back with that I thought I qualified it no not really because when I'm talking older I meet like 97y old Travelers so you're baby to them oh isn't that nice and that's on camera too yes we will be back next time but um till then from Pat and I here in Vietnam at the the favorite the best um egg coffee we say Cheers Cheers happy travels happy [Music] travels the many reasons people solo travel continues to Intrigue and amaze me a huge thank you to Pat for allowing us to share in her solo travel journey and to Mr Quan for opening up his home and sharing his story with us for me as a Solo Traveler this has been one of my most honored moments to share in their meeting next episode we'll continue our Backstreet adventures and pack up and head off to Bangkok Thailand another top destination for solo Travelers thank you for tuning in to another episode of Meet myself and the world I'm your host Pamela Holt saying cette from Vietnam [Music] m [Music]
2024-04-22 08:43
