I spent the past two weeks backpacking around Southeast Asia. Before you get the chance to be impressed, I have a confession to make: it was not even close to the cool and edgy, “only brings the shirt on my back, fifteen dollars, and a compass,” type of backpacking. Mine was more, “brings both fashion and athletic sneakers, has to make friends in the airport check-in line to smuggle my overweight baggage on board, and only stays overnight in places with air conditioning and free breakfast in the morning,” backpacking. Even so, I still travelled around Asia alone, lived out of a carry-on bag, stayed in hostels, and got to explore some of the most incredible places I’ve ever seen.

Did I have any massive revelations about what I want to do for a living while on my adventures? Nah- a career was the furthest thing from my mind. Well, except for when strangers inevitably asked what I do for a living, only to grill me on my future plans, even after I admitted I have no idea what I’m doing. Nothing makes people more uncomfortable than the unknown when it comes to important life questions, and it drives complete strangers to try to help the lost puppy I appear to be, to find its way home. But seriously, if I haven’t figured out my life’s direction in 24 years of non-stop exploration, you WILL NOT be the one to point me to the answer in our conversation in the bathroom line so PLEASE STOP PUSHING, SHEILA!!! (Deep breaths, Al. Okay, vent over.)

That being said (and at the risk of sounding incredibly lame), these past two weeks have been some of the best of my entire life. I got to go places and try things I had never even dreamed of doing. I got to meet new people everywhere I went, and I even got to experience one of my destinations through the eyes of some wonderful locals. Here are just a few of the most notable things that happened in the first week of my travels (tune in next week for stories from week two!).

 

First stop: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

When I decided I wanted to see Ho Chi Minh City, my dad offered to reach out to his coworkers who live there for recommendations on things to do. They not only came back with a full, three-day itinerary, but also with the offer to personally show me around and to stay at one of their houses for the weekend. Their hospitality was unbelievable!

Along with my three Vietnamese tour guides, I had the opportunity to kayak on the Mekong Delta, see a Cirque du Soleil-style show at the Saigon Opera House (still amazed that nobody became a human shish kabob via the massive bamboo sticks being juggled through the air), take a tour of Independence Palace, and try a ton of delicious foods. But seriously, they didn’t let me touch a menu all weekend and had three meals a day of different, traditional Vietnamese dishes (and snails! I had to chew for 30 minutes per bite but I tried snails! Look out, world, Ally Yoh is officially cultured). I was pushed to try countless foods that I would have normally pretended I was allergic to, but ended up absolutely LOVING. The only downside of a diet with three meals a day full of noodles and fruit juices, with no water in between, is that I hobbled around the city with the kind of foot cramps that make you wonder if you broke your toes, from one incredible restaurant to the next. I got to have a truly authentic Vietnamese experience and can’t thank my dad’s coworkers enough for providing me with that opportunity!

I wouldn’t trade my experience in Vietnam for the world, and couldn’t possibly be more grateful to my wonderful tour guides, but there were a few hilarious cultural differences between us that came to light during my time in Ho Chi Minh:

1. Driving. I’ll refrain from making a joke relating to certain stereotypes about the driving habits of certain cultures, but Ho-ly Sh**. My second day in Ho Chi Minh, I hopped on the back of one of my dad’s coworker’s motorbikes and we took off to our first destination of the day. When we arrived at the monument, the coworkers who drove separately immediately started joking with me, asking if the ride there made me nervous (they were laughing as though it was a walk in the park with nothing you could possibly be nervous about). But here’s the thing… We got hit by not one, but TWO motorbikes in the fifteen-minute drive!!! TWO FREAKING CAR ACCIDENTS!!! WITHIN FIFTEEN MINUTES!!! *Pretend faints but actually doesn’t need to pretend that hard.*

I don’t know about you, but I went 24 years without being hit by a motorcycle and really never planned to add that to my to-do list. So when I finally got off the bike, it took my all not to curl up into the fetal position until it was time for me to go back to the airport, let alone to be able to fake a laugh about how easy and breezy my ride was. To be fair, the motorbike situation in Ho Chi Minh resembles what I would imagine “The Running of the Bulls” is like, but I am positive two accidents in that amount of time could be in the running for a world record. Xanax will certainly be involved if I ever get on one of those things again.

2. Site-seeing. I am not a sophisticated sightseer by any means. When at a monument, I seek out the highest-level historical overview of whatever I’m looking at. I’m talking the view from outer space kind of high-level (example: The White House- where the president lives and where Queen Bey brought the (white) house down at Obama’s inauguration. You know, just the essentials). After I get the facts, I snap one quick photo and start to laugh to myself as I let out a loud, “Hey look, the White House!” and then immediately turn around to walk to my next destination as unsuspecting tourists revel in the horror of my lack of cultural appreciation.

In a rare twist, it turns out that my dad’s coworkers have an even shorter sightseeing attention span than I do. They couldn’t have cared less about what each sight represented (to the point that they purchased audio tours at the different stops for only me. I know what you’re thinking and the answer is yes- being the only person in a group with that kind of knowledge absolutely did send me into a full-blown power trip). My Vietnamese tour guides were out to see the sights for one thing and one thing only: a full-scale photo shoot. Did they know how many Vietnamese presidents lived in the Independence Palace? No idea, but they did know that the palace gardener’s landscaping was fire, and which angles would make me look like a movie star strolling through a garden.

Our sightseeing weekend turned into a 72-hour photo shoot where my Vietnamese friends demanded to take pictures of me in front of anything even remotely aesthetically pleasing. And when I say anything, I mean ANYTHING. Even just eating breakfast meant a picture of me with my drink, my meal, any flowers in the café, and of course one of us all sitting together at the table. If you think I’m exaggerating the degree of picture-taking, do yourself a favor and take a look through my recently tagged Facebook photos. There are a minimum of 50 photos per day of me awkwardly standing in front of the most random sh**, not knowing what to do with my hands. They are both excruciating and hilarious at the same time and you will not be disappointed.

 

Next Stop: Pakse, Laos

After a dramatic goodbye at the airport with my tour guides, I took off on my own to explore Laos. If you asked me what Laos was three months ago, I would have guessed the singular term for the word “lice”, but plot twist: it’s actually a country (who knew?!). As my plane landed in Pakse, I couldn’t help but laugh as our school bus-sized plane pulled into its parking space at an airport that was no larger than a small town strip mall (I’m talking one with only a consignment shop and a hot dog stand, not a deluxe strip mall you would actually want to go to).

I walked off the plane, down the stairs and onto the runway. Doing this instead of walking through a makeshift hallway, directly into the airport, made me feel like I was dating a Laker or a Kardashian. As I weighed the pros and cons of dating each of the famous siblings (because I can’t name a single Laker… go sports!) I noticed something very important: everyone else from my flight was preparing their ticket for a connecting flight to the capital city of Laos. I was the ONLY person staying in Pakse (oh crap… do people not actually visit this town?! Should I sneak onto the next plane out of here???). I ignored this slightly unsettling observation and proceeded to the immigration desk, where I was granted a visa for the country in less than 30 seconds, as a family of ants crawled over my foot (oh crap).

By the time I exited the airport, I had already moved my flight up a day and cancelled my hotel booking for the third night in Pakse. Two days there seemed to be more than enough, plus I was convinced that I was entering a “House of Wax” ghost town type of situation, and since the blonde girl never makes it to Act II of a horror movie, I didn’t like my odds. But that was when I found a glimmer of hope. It turns out that ONE other person from my flight was actually staying in Pakse!!! He asked if I wanted to share a cab to the hotel (I tried to confirm we were going to the same place, and he laughed at the fact that I actually thought this was a multiple-hotel town), so I immediately took him up on the offer and smothered him into fast friendship.

I decided that no matter what happened, even if my new friend was a serial killer and I had to ditch him, I was going to make the most of this absurdly small town. It turns out he was (probably) not a serial killer, but instead a 45-year-old English teacher who still used a paper map to get around (they seriously still make those things?! I don’t even know how to FOLD a paper map, let alone use one). And I am happy to report that Pakse blew me away. I climbed a mountain that overlooked the ancient ruins of the Vat Phou Temple, went to two of the most massive and breathtaking waterfalls I have ever seen, discovered my hotel had a BOGO happy hour (where they gave you both drinks at one time- keep making power moves, Pakse!) that ended in watching the sunset from the roof, and even ventured into town at night to go and drink with the locals. My cab-sharing friend and I were the only Westerners for miles, but the town welcomed us with open arms, free beer, and a willingness to shamelessly play Charades when Google Translate failed us.

I don’t know if it was due to my lack of expectations, or my dedication to a positive attitude, but I had the time of my life in Pakse, Laos. Instead of letting the small town and lack of English speakers scare me, I dove in head first and committed to the good time. I even tore it up with a 45-year-old, which I would normally never choose to do (no offense to any 45-year-olds, I just normally opt for friends who have an opinion on if Justin and Selena are soulmates or done for good), and ended up learning so much more about the town because of it. My friend, his map, and his Velcro sport sandals came along with countless fun facts about every sight we saw, and it really did add to the experience.

Ho Chi Minh City and Pakse were two wildly different trips. I got the chance to experience Vietnam through the eyes of locals and spend the weekend with three of the most kind and giving tour guides I could have asked for. Then in Pakse, I got to do everything on my own terms, and was able to create one of the most memorable trips of my life because of it. I went into both situations with an open mind and a dedication to making the most of every moment, and boy did it pay off!

Stay tuned next week to hear about the second leg of my travels, from Vientiane, Laos to Chiang Mai, to Bangkok. I visited an elephant sanctuary (they are even more glorious in person than you could imagine), saw countless ancient temples including the Grand Palace, accidentally dyed my hair black, almost lost my phone (AGAIN), and survived a 28-hour layover. Did I smuggle an elephant back to the U.S.? Did I look exactly like my mother with black hair? Did I have to bribe a homeless man who picked my phone up off the street to get it back??? You know what to do to find out. See you next week!