Wow, so many great pics in here! I just noticed you're from Portland. Me too (sometimes). I also happen to be going to Hanoi next month, so, kinda weird.
Did you get to do a long layover in China? Enough to see anything? Just curious because I want to try that.
You said last time you were in Vietnam, you rode a motorbike through it. How safe do you think that is? Should I try to do that?
I'm in Thailand right now and a lot of people do it, but also a lot of accidents happen and people get injured or killed...so I've been sticking to tuktuks and walking and uber for now.
Also, one last question, do you use a professional camera? Because your pics just look so good.
There's going to be a Portland Steemit meet up this month, on the 24th. But it sounds like you're going to be traveling for a while.
We had about 4 hours in China, but we only saw the airport. As Americans, I think we're required to get a Chinese visa to leave the airport. We just followed the signs for connecting flights and didn't see any exits.
I think that most adventurous and mildly capable people should try riding motorbikes through Vietnam. It's definitely dangerous, and by the time I returned my bikes, I felt relieved that I made it through my trips without a wreck or injury. On the other hand, I never felt more alive or free or excited or in-awe than I did while riding through Vietnam. I'm thinking of making a video of all of the times I said "WOOOOOW!" or "HOLY SHIT!" on my GoPro while riding. I said it multiple times, every day. Being out in the middle of nowhere, with no one to call for help, without even being able to speak the local language, while seeing some of the most beautiful land in the world... it puts you on a fine line between exhilaration and terror.
The people in Vietnam were the most enjoyable that I encountered in 2 years of traveling. At first, I really kept my guard up because the overly-friendly people in the cities are usually just trying to make money through sales or scams. In the country, the people are still overly-friendly, but they'll invite you for a meal at their home and won't even consider letting you pay for anything. As a solo female, it may be a little more difficult because I'd assume that you have to keep your guard up more than a male would.
What part of Thailand are you in? I actually learned how to ride bikes in Pai after spending a month in Thailand promising myself that I wouldn't ride scooters. What changed my mind was seeing 3 high-school-aged girls with 3 cellos get on the same scooter and ride into heavy traffic, at night, laughing. I figured it couldn't be that dangerous on a scooter.
This recent trip back to Vietnam was the first time using my new camera (Canon SL2). I still used my phone on this trip and some of those photos are scattered in my posts (the top photo for this post, and the selfie, and the pink arch over the street all came from my phone). For my first big trip, I only used my Samsung Galaxy S4. So all of my photos from my Viet Road Trip series and my Country By Country series are from my phone. Using the real camera on this recent trip was kind of a pain. I'm not that good with it and it's a hassle to store, transport, and use it. I'm still wondering if it was worth what I paid for it ($650). It did pretty well with the indoor shots and the video, so I'm somewhat satisfied with it. The new camera also gives me a lot more room to fix my mistakes in Lightroom. A bunch of my photos were overexposed and I was able to tone them down and get some useful stuff out of them.
Looking forward to seeing where you go next! Thanks for the great comment and questions!