backpacking, ben a la mode

i take claim to my week and scattered days backpacking in beijing and vietnam. it really wasn't much, compared to the other travellers that i had met in hostels and on buses. my trips weren't months of waiting for space on trains, bed space just to be next to impromptu lovers, fans of landscape that spand and spand and spand. for me, it was limited to weeks at a time.

like these travellers, i was looking for something. for me to go, literately, to the other side of the world was the extreme. i needed out for some reason. after years of deliberation and research, i found my way to the airport for the first time to go overseas.

teaching was central, a mode to pay for expenses and plant myself steadily for months at a time. however, i quickly learned that it was not only the experience of the ever fascinating "teaching overseas opportunity", but the access i had to see and experience more.

a month in living in Jincheng, Shanxi, we had our first trip to Xi'an. from there, it would start a series of planned small excursions. even just being in the city and visiting a friend's family home, or eating grilled Muslim food and drinking beer in the street with a local teacher (my favourite), or going to the park or shopping with students in the vasts selection of Chinese merchandise, enlighted and opened my eyes.

i should admit, i never realized that anything could surprise me. furthermore, the bug that had enticed me to leave home, was mostly initially just for air. who would have thought that the life we see at home, could not only look different but feel different.

i always recall the moment i got off the plane in Beijing from Toronto, i was almost paralyzed. i couldn't figure my way out. the way people move, was different. you'd immediately see this when you walk in another city.

the first time i backpacked was unfortunate, at least at the beginning, i made the bad choice of rooming with a friend who was in beijing for a different reason. we came to staying in a newly renovated, but badly planned space where to get a shower, we had to leave the main building. before using the shower, we had to call someone to turn on the shower water heater, wait a half hour, go to the shower room and hope that no one was looking through the window or walked into the door. that was the concern of a foreigner in a place like that, privacy stands tall for them. if you've been to china, privacy means something totally different. mosquitoes were also a killer in the room they provided us. after about three nights of that, i packed, wished my girl luck, and went to another hostel. that hostel was 35 yuan, that is $5.25 cdn a night.

i landed at a "foreigner-friendly" hostel. it was pretty cheap, but i quickly realized how they made their money. while their beds were $6 cdn a night, their service prices were way up there. for foreigners who've been backpacking for months, $4 cdn for a western breakfast was nothing. knowing the actual local costs for making western breakfasts, i am appalled how this hostel charges. in any case, i buy in 'cause i crave it. for living in china for over half a year, i deserve to treat myself to "home" food. however, the last time i was at that hostel, i found that they have increased prices for almost everything. they did this except for laundry where they had to compete against the new cleaners that were charging less for laundry a few steps away.

that was all the backpacking i did really in China, in Beijing. i met some hardcore backpackers who were all pretty interesting. some were interested in making friends, and others just mostly stuck to themselves. i did also meet a local friend there visiting a friend at the hostel. it was nice to meet someone who lived there.

my next and last backpacking experience was in Vietnam. i travelled from Saigon (south) to Ha noi (north) on a bus. it took two days one way, and because of the day trips i signed up for, i only ended up staying one and a half day in hostels. with backpack, i started from saigon. we spent evenings on the bus. i thought the charter buses in Vietnam were much better and roomier than the ones in Canada. i believe it depends on the company you go with. i should say that it cost peanuts one way, $24 cdn.

at every major city, we stopped for a few hours at the company office. the bathrooms were not spectacular, but what do you expect. on the way north, i met this lovely local girl from mid-Vietnam who was going to get her papers to study abroad in the big city. we had time in between buses, so we got to see parts of Hue. i had actually seen it already, but it was a treat for her. it was fun doing this with a local Vietnamese person, or even just another traveller. it was random and we weren't sure how safe we were on the back of these two motorbike taxis. she treat me to some nice local dishes and it was good.

there seems to be a great deal of trust when you are in the hands of another traveller. we both don't know where we are going, but we will get there by any means possible. i recall the time my new friend Thor and i were trying to get a taxi to drive us to a certain location in Beijing on a English-ridden map. there seemed to be no way getting there, especially after 4 taxis told us that they "just didn't know". i think back at how Thor was dealing, when i was negotiating with the driver. he must have realized to trust me, or there was no going to chill with other new friends at new hostel.

anyway, back to Vietnam. when i got to the north, i was frazzled. two days on a bus wasn't as bad as i had thought. later after dodging all the pesky motobike taxis, i thought i'd brave the map and navigate myself to my travel company office. however, that backfired and i worked the nerve to ask a driver to help me get there. i was warned about pricing, so i claimed a fixed price with him. i realized i was walking the wrong way.

navigating down the street with a bunch of knock-off agencies with my travel company's name and logo, i bumped into a sweet guy advertising a hostel to stay for about $10 a night. i knew i had an overnight stay out-of-the-city so i just kept the business card and continued on my way.

after registering at my agency, i decided to return to that $10 a night hostel and stay for the afternoon. i realized that i was beat and opt to stay and have a good nap. i did bargain with them, which was such a local experience, at least something i wouldn't do in north america for anything.

the evening i actually stayed in a hostel, i stayed at another "foreign-focused" location. they were cheap, but incredibly unfriendly. i didn't get to meet anyone really, however, i did talk to some guy who was at the bed at my feet, thanking him for turning on the light.

when i was there, i also did get to walk around the area. this was something i wasn't really keen on doing when i was in Vietnam the first time with a tour group. i walked right into a small shop and ordered a plum drink. it was great. i also got to talk to the local shop owners.

from the perspective of a South Vietnamese person, with family telling her that Northerners were not as friendly and to be careful, i terribly beg to differ.

in looking for a a net cafe near the hostel (the hostel had only two free internet computers), i bumped into a local young 20-something who helped me into some dark alley into a small internet show (with a bunch of kids). he then paid for it, too. i was fascinated and in total shock. this was one of many good encounters i had with people in Vietnam. i'll write more about the Vietnam trip in detail in another post.

okay, i lied. i did stay one more night in a various place when backpacking in Vietnam. i bumped into this girl when i was going south. we hit it off when we chilled in Nha Trang with a new local friend for a night. we stayed in the same hotel room, where our new friend helped us get a deal. he was a guy who worked in the travel company we were with. it was totally random.

now, with the backpacking episode done for a long time, i'm taking little adventures here in Canada. i wasn't sure as to what i should call it. i had inquired and taken rides from strangers between Toronto and Ottawa quite recently. i found these willing drivers from craigslist. after personally debating on whether this is hitchhiking or backpacking, i've decided it was more like backpacking. it was structured, a service, yet in some way random, sorta like the mediocre backpacking trips i had taken in Asia.