Once Upon a Time in Vietnam
The weather was clear that night in Kuala Lumpur. Around 11:00 PM; Ian, Mariann, and I were chilling out for a while at one of Indian restaurants in town called Bala's Banana Leaf. For the umpteenth time, thankfully I was able to meet them again after attending their wedding in the Philippines last November 2016. Just info, they had decided to stay in Malaysia since the last few months.
Unfortunately, our meeting couldn't last long, because my visit to Kuala Lumpur was just merely a transit before continuing to Hanoi, Vietnam. After resting for a while in their apartment, Ian kindly drove me back to Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 around 3:30 AM
HANOI
Day 1: November 20th, 2018
After ±3 hours trip, finally the plane landed at Noi Bai International Airport around 09.00 AM. As soon as I completed the immigration process, buying SIM Card, and exchanging money, I immediately took a bus to my hostel at Hanoi Lucky Guesthouse 2, in Hoàn Kiếm District. The crowded traffic of Hanoi didn't surprise me at all, because it's quite similar with Indonesian big cities. And since I barely slept in order to catch up the flight boarding time, I decided to take a rest for a while in the hostel.
Around 02:30 PM, Hoàng Nguyễn invited me to train together in Công viên Thống Nhất (one of the city parks in Hanoi). He was one of the Vietnamese friends that I met in LCG last June. The park itself was just about ±30 minutes walking from the hostel. There were also Huy Văn and Tran Ngọc Minh who joined the jamming.
Alas, when we reached the park, there was some exhibition event being held on that day so that the usual training spot couldn't be used. After all, it was too crowded and many police officers on guard there. So, the next thing we did were moving to Khu đô thị Times City (an apartment complex). There was a public park that could be used for parkouring there.
After training for a while, there were two other friends who joined us: Hoàng Tuấ Trường and Dương Ng. The six of us jammed together until around sunset time. Even though we were got scolded several times by securities, overall the training was quite satisfying on that day.
In the evening; I, Dương Ng, Hoàng Tuấ Trường along with his girlfriend ate dinner together at Dolpansam restaurant in Artemis Trade Center mall. Then afterwards, we did a small jamming again at its 'parkourable' front yard.
I also made an appointment to meet Hoàng Long there, he is an old friend who I met in LCG 2016. Unfortunately, he had a knee injury this time so that he couldn't train parkour for a while.
We immediately finished the jamming session towards the mall closing time. While the other friends went back home, Hoàng Long and I were still chilling out until late at night. After we did a little bit sightseeing around the city, he drove me back to the hostel.
Day 2: November 21st, 2018
It was quite crowded in the Old Quarter that afternoon, many local and foreign tourists passed by. After sightseeing for a while, I stopped by at Bánh Mỳ P bread before returning to the hostel for changing clothes and preparing to train with Parkour Hanoi friends.
Soon after renting a motorbike, I immediately drove
to training location at the park behind '34T' apartment building. I trained together with Te
Khoa, Tài Hiếu, and several other friends. Then, when the jamming was done, we moved
to another park at Netlink.vn area until evening. Speaking
of renting motorbike, to be honest I experienced a little bit confusion during
the early days of driving in Vietnam. This is because Vietnam has the opposite
driving lane compared to Indonesia (they drive on the right side of the road). Several
times I was honked by other drivers because I almost took the wrong lane, but
fortunately I was able to quickly adapt with it.
Overall, I was quite satisfied with my 2nd day training although there were still many unaccomplished jumps which maybe I should have been able to do (but unfortunately not, due to my fear/mental block). Hopefully there would be a chance in the future to come back again with better skill-progress.
Day 3: November 22nd, 2018
Most of the Hanoi parkour crews were still studying or working that afternoon, so I decided to explore Museum of National History alone (Bảo tàng Lịch sử Quốc gia). It's quite interesting to learn a little bit about Vietnam history, from the kingdoms era until its independence from French colonialism.
Around 04:00 PM, I made an appointment again with Te Khoa, Ngô Hiếu, and several other parkour friends to do flip-training at Phước Hưng Gym. Yes, I admit that my flip skill isn't really good, but that's not a problem at all, because we trained there just for fun.
Later in the evening, Hoang Long invited me to eat dinner at Nem Nướng Xuân Dần restaurant around 08:00 PM. Then afterwards we continued to chill out until near midnight around the edge of the lake near Thanh Niên street. We also tried one of the sweet traditional Vietnamese snacks called Bo Bia. Even though the weather was so windy, but I tried to enjoy my last night in Hanoi, because the following day was my time to go to Ho Chi Minh City.
HO CHI MINH CITY
Day 4: November 23rd, 2018
After ±1 hour travel from Tan Son Nhat International Airport, at last the airport-bus arrived at District 1 bus stop around 6:00 PM. Then suddenly there was a motorcycle-taxi driver who forced me to use his service. I kept repeatedly refusing him, but he constantly insisted (even half-threatened) me. So, rather than looking for any further trouble, I gave up and reluctantly used his bike-service to my hostel. Honestly this thing ruined my mood a little bit on that day, but whatever happened, I still tried to think positively.
Shortly after arriving at Phuc Khanh Hotel, I was picked up by Tonny Củn, one of the first three-Vietnamese guys that I got acquainted with in LCG 2016, besides Trần Minh Toàn and Nguyễn Trung Khôn. Time flew so fast, it'd been more than 2.5 years since our last meeting. After a little bit chit-chat, I was immediately driven to Hoas The Coffee, a coffee shop where Trần Minh Toàn worked.
We spent that night there with chilling out and chatting together. It was a very memorable and impressive experience. Language barrier wasn't a problem for me, because the togetherness and kinship atmosphere itself beat the communication limitations.
Day 5: November 24th, 2018
I decided to explore Ho Chi Minh City Museum alone while waiting the HCM parkour crews finish their college or work. This museum shows the history of Ho Chi Minh City (which called Saigon before 1975), and also the history of Vietnam war with USA during the 1970s.
After the museum, I continued to visit Thích Quảng Đức Monument, a monument to commemorate Thích Quảng Đức, a Buddhist monk who deliberately burned himself as a protest form against the South Vietnamese government in 1963.
Then, I was picked up by Tonny Củn around 04.00 PM to train together in a city park called Công viên Lê Văn Tám. There were also Tuan Nguyen (1), Tuấn Nguyễn (2), Trí Nguyễn, and Trần Minh Toàn with his girlfriend Võ Lê Hồng Duyên. We jammed as pleased as we like until ±08.30 PM, right when the rain fell down.
When I came back to the hostel, the rain was getting harder. But as far as I watched, there were a lot of people on motorbikes-convoy waving Vietnamese flags in some main road area. It turned out that they are Vietnamese football fans who were celebrating their national team for qualifying AFF Cup 2018 semifinal, after defeating Cambodia 3-0 in their last match in group stage.
Day 6: November 25th, 2018
The weather was really awful, the rain fell heavily since I woke up until late at night. It really ruined all of my plans. After I checked the news, it turned out that there was Usagi Hurricane which hit the southern Vietnam area on that day, so of course Ho Chi Minh City was also affected.
And that means, all I could do was just stay in the hostel all day, and only went out when looking for food. A day in Vietnam was wasted in vain.
Day 7: November 26th, 2018
Ho Chi Minh City weather was quite gloomy and cloudy that afternoon. The puddle-remnant from yesterday raining was still clearly visible around the entrance gate to Miền Tây Bus Station. With using sign language difficultly and a little help from Google Translate, I ordered a bus ticket to Mỹ Tho City.
It took about 1.5 hours trip to reach Mỹ Tho, then I alighted around its entrance road area because the bus would continue the trip to another city. Soon afterwards I continued using Grab-bike to Linh Nhu Truong's house, a non-parkour friend of mine that I also wanted to meet during my Vietnam visit.
After a little chit-chat in her house, she invited me to have lunch together at one of the local traditional restaurants there. Then we continued to hang out at VIVA STAR Coffee Hoa Viên, one of the most popular coffee shops in Mỹ Tho which located right on the banks of the Mekong River. We had a good quality time there sharing each other story about many things.
Towards the afternoon, we took time to stop at Vĩnh Tràng Pagoda, an iconic Buddhist temple in the region. We did a short sightseeing there until sunset time. And because Linh Nhu had other things to do in the evening, we finally bid farewell at Xe Khách Hùng Hiếu (a travel agency office which serves transportation from Mỹ Tho to HCMC or vice versa). Later I used their bus to return to Ho Chi Minh City.
Soon after arriving in Ho Chi Minh City, I made an appointment with Nguyễn Trung Khôn at Vincom Landmark 81 apartment building. Together with his friend named Mai Tuấn; the three of us hung out, had dinner, and toured around Ho Chi Minh City until midnight.
Day 8: November 27th, 2018
Around 09.00 AM, Tonny Củn picked me up in the hostel for our last training. Together with Trần Minh Toàn and Thanh Tùng Lyo La, the four of us jammed at the city park across the State Bank of Vietnam building (Ngāng Nhà nước Việt Nam).
Feeling enough with the spot, we moved afterwards to another one at Ho Con Ruy park. We trained much there until around midday before I returned to the hostel to pack up my stuff due to my check out time.
I returned to Hoas The Coffee again around 04.00 PM to chill out for a while with other parkour friends. I really, really had to enjoy my last moment in Ho Chi Minh City, because I don't know when will I visit this place again in the near future.
Finally, my time had come to leave Ho Chi Minh City. Soon after I said goodbye with the others, Tonny drove me to Tan Son Nhat Airport around 07:30 PM. Actually it's hard for me to leave Vietnam due to many unexplored things by me here. But of course, I have to return back to my daily routine to save more money for the next traveling.
Hope there will be another chance to meet them again in the near future. Or who knows it's gonna be my turn to host them when they visit Surabaya...hopefully.
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