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Home » Destinations » Asia » Vietnam

Travel Dispatch from Vietnam (circa 2001)

Published: May 8, 2007 by Dave Lee |

I was sitting in my work cubicle, three years into my my first post-college job, when one of my good friends sent me the email below. I can remember my blood boiling with envy and jealousy as I read it. I don't have a record of my response, however I'm sure it was something to the effect of "just you wait, I'll get my chance to travel and then I'll be the one sending you such messages!"

----- Original Message ----
From: A Friend
To: Dave
Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2002 11:39:30 AM
Subject: Vietnam.....

hey mr wannabe world traveler!

whats up?

At the moment, I'm held up in an Internet cafe in the middle of Vietnam waiting out a f*cking monsoon storm. Hopefully it will pass in the next 20 minutes but you never know!

Anyway, I have been traveling and thinking about how much you would LOVE S.E. Asia! Everything that backpacking in Europe USED to be, still exists here in S.E. Asia. The backpacking culture is MUCH MORE pronounced and finding reasonable hotels/travelers ghettos and the like is not only feasible, but quite often, the only way around. Today I'm in a little hotel in an alley run but a Vietnamese French woman for 3$!! Food here is supposed to be expensive and I average 2-3 a meal!! And that is at a nice sit down establishment!

Also, there is simply so much to see and do. There is a very well worn backpacker path and it is truly fantastic. You meet people all the time (though it is low season so it's a lot of older couples, at least in North Vietnam) and then bump into them again along " the path."?

From where I am, I will slowly go south and eventually reach Saigon. Then cut through Cambodia to Bangkok which is supposed to be the backpacker epicenter on the planet. Spend a few days there trying to be like Leonardo di Caprio (which apparently, everyone is) then off to the beaches. Trying to time it for a full moon party.

After a few weeks, I will go own through Malaysia into Singapore to more or less come home.

Anyway, bottom line-come here! It's great! Well, you won't find loads of hot women but everything else is fantastic. You still can find places where few tourists visit and travel can be a real challenge (e.g., China, where, if you don't speak the language, you are totally f*cked and have to rely on your wits to get around-of course, I only hear about this since I am Chinese).

Ok, the rain just stopped do I'm off!

k

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About Dave Lee

Dave is the Founder and Editor in Chief of Go Backpacking and Feastio. He's been to 68 countries and lived in Colombia and Peru. Read the full story of how he became a travel blogger.

Comments

  1. Mike says

    May 08, 2007 at 9:45 am

    Wow! With friends like that, who needs enemies? =P

    • Dave says

      May 08, 2007 at 8:03 pm

      Yes, I told him about the post of his old email and he just laughed today. I did get the chance to send him such exciting dispatches when I was in Costa Rica, and he was working away in NYC. The end result? He flew down there the week after I left for his own tour of the country.

      • Mike says

        May 08, 2007 at 8:19 pm

        It must be nice for him to be able to pick up and leave just like that. I can't wait for that day to come.

  2. dees says

    July 27, 2008 at 12:52 am

    adventure travel vietnamDispatch from Vietnam (circa 2001) | GoBackpacking

  3. dees says

    July 27, 2008 at 5:52 am

    adventure travel vietnamDispatch from Vietnam (circa 2001) | GoBackpacking

Dave at Ahu Ko Te Riku on Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Chile.

Hi, I'm Dave

Editor in Chief

I've been writing about adventure travel on Go Backpacking since 2007. I've visited 68 countries.

Read more about Dave.

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