Eden of Asia

Waiting for Rebekah in the Hanoi airport I recollected my thoughts from the previous night in Nha Trang. My mom had given me enough money to enjoy a nice meal on the beach. As I sat their eating my "greek wrap" I couldn't help but watch all the people dinning around me. I noticed a lot of young couples, maybe honeymooners; I noticed a group of business men sharing a drink and laughing; I noticed two girls enjoying each others friendship over a warm pizza, but what caught my attention the most was the group sitting directly across from me. The group consisted of two older men sitting on both sides of a beautiful Vietnamese girl. I noticed the way she gestured her body towards them, and the placement of her hand on their shoulders and back. I noticed the fear in her eyes. I was there for a while so I also noticed how many drinks they continually kept buying her. I noticed the way the guys would look at each other and then at her in a way of saying "score". I no longer had an appetite. My heart broke for that young girl trapped in that horrible industry. I wanted to walk over to the table, tell those men how disgusting they were. I wanted to tell that beautiful innocent girl about the love of Jesus and how he could save her from that way of life. I wanted to give her hope. I wanted to strip away the glaze that covered her eyes, and tell her that she deserved a much better way of life even if no one else had ever told her that. I wanted to save her because I knew she was trapped. How do I not hate those men? I still don't have an answer to that question.

As I lay on the bench at the airport almost in tears, I couldn't have been happier to see my dear friend that I have talked about in earlier post. The friend that taught me about how to live out my faith, the friend that prayed over my struggling heart, the friend that I had already said good-bye to once. As I lay there with my eyes closed I felt a little tap on my shoulder. When I opened my eyes I immediately jumped out of my seat, dropped everything that was in my lap and gave him a huge hug. Seeing as how we don't speak much of the same language he spoke the little english he knew, "I so happy. I so happy." and I repeated, "I'm so happy too." Ten minutes later we were greeted by Rebekah walking out of the gate. Before leaving for our night train to Sapa we all enjoyed an amazing meal together.

When walking towards the train we were both squealing with excitement. After talking to my brother I was expecting to walk into train cabin that crammed 6 beds in one little room. He actually told us, "It was awful. I didn't sleep at all, and I couldn't even lay sideways because the beds were so close to each other." So walking into our cabin train Rebekah and I were shocked. Our dear friend asked if he could arrange our train tickets for us, and put us in a first class sleeper. We had down beds, slippers, tooth brush, and only 4 people to a cabin. It was a wonderful little surprise.

Getting off the train the next morning we were both feeling a little tired. The trains in Vietnam are not the smoothest trains in the world. There were a few times when I thought I was going to roll out of the top bunk. I remember bracing myself with the blankets (not that the blanket would have actually helped). walking off the train we were approached by people everywhere saying, "I take you to Sapa." Not really sure who I should trust I decided to go to the lady that was handing out tickets to Sapa. I think I made the right choice.

Driving into Sapa our bus was chased buy a group of funny little tribal women already trying to sell us their beautiful blankets, shirts, toys, and fruit. Rebekah and I couldn't do anything but laugh. After walking around the town for a little while we decided to go and talk to a travel guide. She hooked us up with a two day hike and homestay for an incredible deal.

We spent all morning hiking alongside beautiful tribal women and children. It was a pretty challenging hike, and those women were by our sides to help us the whole way. They were so fun to talk to. Most of them spoke english and loved to talk about their way of life and families. Once we got to the village, where we were going to sleep, we had a nice glass of green tea with our host family and got to know the three other people that were staying in the house with us. There was a french couple and son, a girl from holland, and a boy from Germany. I felt like I was living in the hostel world in Europe all over again. It was so much fun. Our Host mom was a hoot every time she would see Rebekah and I she would yell, "Amerdica!!!" I think she might have been a little bit crazy. Right before dinner Rebekah and I decided to go and explore the river. It felt like a fairytale. 5min. after playing on the rocks and taking a few pictures I went straight for the water. I decided I might as well wash my hair since it had been a few days :). The meal that we ate was wonderful. It was probably one of the best meals that I ate in Vietnam. We were also exposed to "rice wine". It was the local wine that they drink at dinnertime in the villages. After gagging from one little glass I decided to hide my cup so that they wouldn't pour me anymore. That night the fellow travelers, Rebekah, and I all sat outside, did yoga, and talked about life, family, and struggles. It was wonderful.

Waking up the next morning my body was hurting from the hard mat that I slept on and the hiking that I had done. I crawled down the stairs of the upper loft and made my way outside to eat crepes and bananas. After breakfast we continued our hike through rice fields, villages, bamboo forest, waterfalls, and the jungle. I remember myself continually stopping in my tracks, taking a few deep breathes, and thinking, "This is so beautiful. I don't want this moment to end. I wish I could freeze time. I don't want to go home!!!!" The rest of our time consisted of shopping in tribal markets, renting motorbikes and riding them through the mountains, and enjoying creation and good friendship.