Departures (2008–…): Season 3, Episode 4 - Vietnam - full transcript

(film reel whirring)

(gentle lively music)

- [Scott] It's hard to come into Vietnam

with a completely open mind.

Everything we know and
associate with the word Vietnam

seems to be somehow related to a war.

Although admittedly,
that is a bit of a draw

as to learn some of that history.

There was a country here before,
during and after the war.

- [Justin] Before we make it there,

we have to pick up a good friend, Fran.



He is Vietnamese.

The whole thing is he's
never been there before.

So we're gonna pick him up
in Tokyo and head to Vietnam.

(gentle lively music)

- [Scott] Every step of this world trip

has taken us further away from home

to places we never expected to see.

- [Justin] Two years ago I
would never have understood

how much this journey would change me.

- [Scott] This is why we travel.

This is the reason that we're out here.

(gentle lively music)

- We're gonna meet up
with Fran in Tokyo first

before heading to Ho Chi
Minh City in Vietnam.



Fran and Justin and I all went

to the same high school together.

Now he's agreed to take
some time off of work

and to go finally meet up
with his side of the family,

explore his family history in Vietnam.

- But the thing is he's
never been to Vietnam.

He's actually never been outside of

pretty much North America.

- Hey man.
- Hey man.

- Good to see you.
- Good to see you.

- I know you've been brushing
up on your Vietnamese, right?

You've been practicing a little bit.

'Cause last time I talked to you

You were like, "Oh yeah,
I've been, audio tapes."

- Yeah, I started with the
tapes, I finished that.

But then I went onto the intermediate

and it's pretty dang hard.

- Being in the country is
gonna be like the tapes

times a thousand.

So hopefully by the time you're done,

when you go home you'll be like
this close to being fluent.

- I'm a little freaked out

'cause trying to put all
this family stuff together

and I'm not sure if
it's all gonna work out.

I'm a little bit scared but
you know we've got a lot to do

in a short period of time.

- All right, let's roll.
- All right.

(lively music)

(plane engine humming)

- We're leaving Tokyo and
the sun's heading down

over the horizon for like
the second time today.

Anyway in another five and
half hours we'll be in Vietnam.

(gentle music)

We've arrived in Ho Chi Minh City

or as people who would
date us by a few years

will probably know it better as Saigon.

- This is my mom in Brantford.

This is Ngo's mom.

These are my three cousins,

and this is my girl cousin, Luu Anh.

She hasn't even been
outside of Ho Chi Minh City.

We're planning on having her come with us

for the majority of the trip.

- Big moment for you, eh.

Look at this, walking in slow motion here.

- We gotta step outside the airport.

Where?
- Right there.

- Ngo?
- Yeah.

- Oh Fran.

- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.

- Hi.
- Hi.

- Fran, nice to meet you.
- Yeah nice to meet you.

- This is Justin and this is Scott.

- Scott. How are you?

- So this is my cousin and
this is my cousin as well,

both on my father's side.

- It's like I'm watching
this reunion on TV.

Well it's not even a reunion,

it's the first time they've ever met.

- Interesting to see how his
reaction is with everything

and I think he's overwhelmed right now.

I really don't think
it's really sunk in yet.

(gentle music)

(lively music)

- [Scott] Driving here in Vietnam
and just smelling the air.

It's a great reminder of Southeast Asia.

- Hello! Hello! Hello!

- Watching these guys
buzzing around like crazy,

like a bunch of wild bees.

Is it dangerous to be
riding around on these?

'Cause it seems pretty dangerous.

- No, the more crazy, the
more interesting. Don't worry.

- One.
- One.

- [Scott] We know that
being a socialist country

we're gonna have a different experience.

The war is going to have
affected this country

but there's a lot more to this country

and a lot of years have passed
since the end of that war.

(lively music)

- The breeze.

(lively music)
(car horns honking)

- It's crazy just driving around here man.

This is pandemonium.

I can't believe how many
scooters are out here

on the road right now.

- Stopping here we almost
got rear ended by a van

but everything just works out magically.

- Yeah it doesn't even matter

because you can't look cool on a scooter.

So you can put flowers on mine,

it doesn't even matter because
you just never look cool.

So you just bought ice cream for yourself?

- Pretty much, man.

- What about these guys?
Look at all these guys.

Who wants to ice cream?

Put your hands up if you want ice cream.

(men speak foreign language)

Round of ice cream for everybody dude.

- Ice cream, ice cream, ice cream.

- I think we got the coolest
gang here in the city.

The cool, the ice cream gang.
- [Fran] Yeah.

- I don't think anyone's gonna
mess with a couple of dudes

eating ice cream on scooters.
- That's right.

(man speaks in foreign language)

- Bye bye.

- They're off now, we're leaving.

And we are gonna go on our
way to Luu Anh's house,

my cousin.

(lively music)

- Hello. Scott.

- Hug it, you gotta hug-

I hugged her, I hugged her.

- [Justin] There it is.
That's what we like to see.

- How are you?
(man speaks foreign language)

- What was your first impression?

What you thought you were gonna see?

- Yeah, I didn't expect
to see this at all.

Much more beautiful than I thought.

- Better than your
apartment, I think by much.

- Yeah definitely it's
better than my apartment.

- Every country, different types of food,

and frog will be a first.

- Okay, Justin, will you
wishbone this guy for me?

- Why not?

- Ready?
- Oh man, I don't like that.

Ah, I guess I lost.

- You do know in Vietnam,
where you throw a party,

a family party, no drunk, no go home.

- So basically you have to
be drunk to leave the house.

- No, no, if you're drunk you can't leave.

So they make you drunk so
they can keep you captive.

- You can't leave if you're not drunk.

(upbeat music)
(glass clanking)

♪ Well I sit back in Minnesota morning ♪

♪ Don't look like I'll be
coming back to this place ♪

(men cheering)

(glass clanking)

- No drunk no go home.
- No drunk no go home.

- No drunk no go home.

♪ One two three ♪

♪ What do you want from me ♪

♪ Four five six ♪

- Lots more alcohol upstairs.
♪ Bye bye pretty baby ♪

♪ You won't see my shack face no more ♪

♪ Well I could quickly hear
that morning whistle blowing ♪

- My dad warned me about you.
(men laughing)

He said for me to watch you.
- I know.

- [Fran] I know.

♪ Just singing in the station ♪

- No drunk no go home.

♪ But its one two three ♪

♪ What do you want from me ♪

♪ Four five six ♪

♪ You know I'm gonna
head back to the sticks ♪

♪ So it's bye bye bye pretty baby ♪

(gentle music)

- Now that we've met up with
a bunch of different parts

of Fran's family, had lunch,
we've had a few drinks.

We've loosened ourselves up

and we started a cruise through
a bit of Ho Chi Minh City.

What are you most looking forward to?

Like what do you wanna
see in Vietnam the most?

- As much as the city is great here,

I don't get a sense of
the entire culture yet.

So I'm really looking
forward to the country.

- I always wish I have a chance to travel

to the North to visit Ha Long Bay.

Okay, so this the picture of Ha Long Bay.

- How many times back when
did talk about Vietnam?

And we were always like,

"Oh how cool would it be like
to go back there together?"

And we're doing it right now, so-

- We're all family, we're
all family, aw. (laughs)

Group hug, group hug.

- Get in here.
- Get in here.

- One, two, three, Vietnam.
- One, two, three, Vietnam.

(gentle lively music)

- I'd like to introduce this
my friend. He's from Hanoi.

Yeah my very best friend

and he's been traveled
to all areas of Vietnam,

to the middle and to the south,

so he knows the country very well.

- Chung's actually from
the North from Hanoi

but um, you've traveled a lot haven't you?

- Yeah cool. I love to be here with you.

- This is our driver here, Han.

He's our driver and he's gonna
make sure that we get safe.

So hello, Han (laughs)

Lots of room because
we've got lots of people.

- We're heading southeast
of Ho Chi Minh City

to the small town of My Tho.

We're gonna be hooking up with
another one of Fran's aunts.

Some relatives that live just
outside of Ho Chi Minh City.

We gotta pick up some fruits, some foods,

some things that are gonna
make life a little bit easier

for his aunt too who's
recently suffered from a stroke

so she can't get out, she's not
as mobile as she used to be.

(upbeat music)

We're just chugging down one
of the little tributaries

of the Mekong river.

We're gonna head out into
some of the floating markets

around this area,

not only to give ourselves
the experience again

of Southeast Asia, to give
Fran a real experience

of Southeast Asia and Vietnam

and the real day-to-day workings

of a typical village like this.

(upbeat music)

- Can you say a couple of dozen?

- You're a translator,
no help from your cousin.

You gotta do it all yourself.

(Fran and trader speak Vietnamese)

- I know you're trying buddy

but we've gotta bring something.

- Maybe Luu Anh you can
help me out a little.

- No, no, no, no, no, no, don't ask.

(trader and Fran speak
in foreign language)

- I'll give an A for effort,

but you know I don't have any plantains,

you don't have any plantains.

(Fran and trader speak
in foreign language)

- Woo, got it.

(upbeat music)

(Fran and trader speak
in foreign language)

- This one went a little bit smoother,

we're buying five
pineapples for 20,000 dong.

- We're learning something too.

What'd your parents Fran
think when they see this?

- I think they're gonna be proud.

(Fran speaks in foreign language)

(upbeat music)

- That's a pretty cool way
to do grocery shopping, eh?

- (heaves loudly) We got lots of coconuts

for lots of coconut drinking.

- I got some pineapples, that
banana's not doing too good.

(slow lively music)

- Well we've come to meet Fran's aunt.

And the thing is we spent
all morning collecting,

going round the market.

Fran did a fantastic job translating.

(Fran and his aunt speak
in foreign language)

Did he give her a hug?

'Cause if he didn't give her
a hug, it's not official.

- I don't think I saw a hug.

- [Justin] We really gotta keep pushing-

- Yeah I don't think I saw a hug.

- Fran, did you hug her? Did you hug her?

(Fran speaks in foreign language)

(guys clapping)

- This is my uncle.

(uncle speaks in foreign language)

(Fran speaks in foreign language)

- This is the local beer
store here for the whole town.

And this is the garage

that attaches right to
Fran's aunt's place.

- To family reunions.

- I can't understand why
we brought this stuff

maybe we'll trade her up.

(slow lively music)

(gentle music)

- We're working our way
out of Ho Chi Minh City

to get up into the highlands.

But on your way out of the city,

you get to these narrow streets

of really heavy industrial
areas and trucks,

repair shops and stuff.

- Yeah yeah, woo.
(car horn honking)

- Yeah.
(Fran claps)

- That's what we need to do,

is add to the noise pollution.

Come on everybody keep
honking, keep honking.

- I don't know if you ever
really get used to this,

but I mean this is the first time

you've had to deal with this kinda stuff.

- You know I don't mind this at all.

Everybody's getting to
where they wanna be.

- There's like all these old
remnants of the war and stuff.

And you have like these old boxes here

that used to keep like ammo.

- Vietnamese creativity here.

You know this stuff's not
garbage, they can still use it.

- [Justin] You go to countries
and see this beautiful church

or this beautiful monastery.

There's always a dark side of the country.

Everybody thinks of Vietnam,
not as a country but as a war.

- You're not gonna go through Vietnam

and completely ignore or avoid the war.

There are a lot of reminders
of it still around.

A lot of places that
shouldn't be forgotten

and shouldn't be ignored.

We're in the area right now of Cu Chi

and although we're only
about 30 kilometers

from the edge of Ho Chi Minh City,

this was actually one of the
most heavily bombed areas

of the whole country
during the Vietnam war.

During the late sixties,

once heavy fighting had been
going on in this whole area

the VC troops were able to
dig a network of tunnels

that stretched from the
edge of Ho Chi Minh City

all the way out to the Cambodian border.

- I think it's a very
original with the same side

in the war.

Two legs first,

- The light turn it on.

- All right your mission, to
tell me what's down there.

And tell me if you see any cobras, ready?

- All right.
- This one.

- You're actually gonna close it up on me.

- No, you're gonna close it up.

- Yeah.
- Okay, okay hey.

- [Justin] What do you see down there

'cause there's a tunnel.

- Lots of bugs.

- [Justin] Okay.
(Scott laughs)

- [Justin] Yeah!

(leaves crunching)

- Okay, see you later Fran.
- [Chung] Okay.

- The enemy troops coming,
attack, attack, attack, attack.

- Dammit.
(group laughing)

- [Justin] Did you lose your sandal?

You lost a shoe?

- Yeah, I lost a shoe.

(footsteps plodding)

- Let's check this out.

- You wanna go try?

- Uh, I don't wanna be the first one

'cause I can see a bat right there.

- I feel like you hear bats too.

- No he's sitting right there.

I'll play rock scissors with you, okay?

- You're doing it with me?

- Yeah, yeah yeah.

One, two, three, shoot.

(guys laughing)

- Oh God.
(guys laughing)

Oh no, oh God.
(guys laughing)

- I wish he came out.

- I know, I thought he came out.

That's why I was freaking out.

- [Scott] Did he go
deeper in or something?

- [Justin] I don't know what he's doing.

We'd be really great soldiers.
(guys laughing)

Oh my God it's a bat.

- I really don't wanna go.

Don't look, just go.

I can't believe like the VC
troops to have to live down here

all the time, that's tough enough,

but the Americans did have
specially trained troops.

They caught tunnel rats
that would come down in here

try to scope these places
out and clear them out.

I mean, it's tough as it would
be to be on the friendly side

of being in here.

I can only imagine coming in as an enemy

in this kind of tight quarters,

not knowing exactly where you're going,

how to get around and any
corner could be a booby trap

or a couple of soldiers waiting to

pump you full of AK47 bullets.

- All the bad things that
happen in these tunnels.

These tunnels are made for
the purpose of winning a war.

We're playing around with
the bats and stuff like that,

but you just gotta think of
like the purpose of this.

It just blows your mind, man.
- Yeah.

(gentle music)

(upbeat music)

- We've gone about 300 kilometers
now from Ho Chi Minh City

up into the highlands

and the light of refuge
for a lot of people.

You come up here and you get
the mountain and the fresh air,

you also get a different
part of Vietnamese culture

and the artistic side of things.

And that's why you find places like this.

This here is Crazy house.

This guy is just the tip of the iceberg

'cause it's supposed to get even crazier.

We've been given this light
to help us get to our room.

I imagine it is gonna show
us more than we wanna see.

- It's like walking through
some sort of bad dream.

- I don't know about you but
I'm starting to get paranoid.

Can't find our room so I'm freaked out.

- Take it easy.

- I can't figure out if
these frogs are real or not.

That sound when we came in-
- They're real.

- They're real or fake?

- So this is just like everywhere else

you've seen in Vietnam?

- No, it's very unique.
- Yeah.

- Hey, look at this.
Do you think it's real?

- It doesn't look real but it feels real.

- That's a real frog dude, touch him.

(frog croaking)

Oh where'd you go buddy?

- [Justin] Must be cold.

- (laughs) Now that's gonna creep the hell

out of somebody tonight.

- Are you kidding me?

- What's going on?

(indistinct conversation)

- That's creepy.

- I don't know how I'm
gonna sleep tonight.

(door creaking)

- Every time I try to say something,

there appears to be some
type of annoying noise

that goes on in the background.

(Justin laughing)

(suspenseful music)

- An artistic expression like this one,

in a socialist country like Vietnam

is kind of the last thing
you expect to see here.

What's more is that Dang Viet Nga,

the woman responsible for this

is actually the daughter of
the third president of Vietnam.

He was a close follower of Ho Chi Minh.

- The room of my parents.

- Up in here?

- This is probably the room
that has the most heart

and most attention to detail

because this whole room
is kind of a memoriam

for her parents.

- This Ho Chi Minh and my father.

- That's Ho Chi Minh and your father?

- And you father was the third president-

- Yes third president
- Of Vietnam.

- Of Vietnam.

I am crazy woman in crazy house.

My work is crazy house.

- And that's why you
call it "Crazy House"?

- Yes, crazy.

(indistinct) it is nature

because from the end of
last century until now

the people had been so
much history in nature

and environment and
now they have problems.

- So now they can come
here and be in nature.

(gentle music)

We're gonna head North
through the highlands

and out to the coast

and following the coastline
all the way up to Hue,

in order to meet up with Fran's
mother's side of the family.

Back between fourth and 14th century AD,

the Cham people decided that
this was an important enough

and special enough and
beautiful enough place to build

this massive series of temple complexes,

to bury kings and to worship.

There's a lot of destruction
to some of them as well

and more of that sadly comes
from the the American war here.

The VC troops used this as
a bit of a headquarters.

Consequently, it took on
a lot of heavy bombing

from the Americans.

- [Justin] It's eye opening
when you're traveling

with someone who's a first time traveler.

Me and Scott take a lot of
things for granted sometimes.

- You can read, so symmetrical.

- In some ways he's having a
much richer travel experience

right now than Justin or I ever have

from a level of personal history.

And it's something I don't
think we can really feel

unless we do it ourselves.

Everything, a lot different
than how we're used to.

Almost dying in Hawaii, we were what,

getting pulled in by a-
- A rip tide.

- A rip tide in Hawaii.

And then Vegas, well alcohol poisoning.

- Basically like rope
swings and going to Vegas.

(Justin laughs)

- Oh it's good to grow up a little bit,

growing up a little bit.

You know leading up to
coming on this trip, right,

like you're talking to your
parents as much as you were,

you know I'm talking about emailing,

conversations with them.

There must've been like
a bonding process there

that you probably didn't have before.

- It's been an opportunity
for me in that aspect

'cause I haven't been able to
talk to them about anything

like this before.

So certainly our relationship
has grown through all this.

- To completely new
travel experience for me.

The joy of watching someone
retrace their family steps,

to gain an energy and new
found appreciation for travel.

(gentle music)

(gentle lively music)

- You head through Central
Vietnam you get blown away

by these beautiful
scenics of rice pastures.

The mountains in the
distance, the South China sea.

And then as you start to
get to that breaking point

of Central Vietnam to the
beginning of Northern Vietnam,

that's where you have
the marble mountains.

Nature has done 90% of the beauty

and the last 10% has been
done through the inspiration

of a couple of different
religions over the years.

(gentle lively music)

- Do these go somewhere?

(gentle upbeat music)

- Just like the Buddha is looking into us.

- Yeah, exactly. That's exactly it.

Seeing this stuff, I didn't
really expect to see this stuff.

I expected more to see you guys

but getting to see this stuff

and seeing you guys is a bonus.

- It's very special for me too.

- You know sometimes I
think I've seen it all

and I've seen some
amazing things in my life.

This here, I've never seen
anything like this before.

This is world can shock you
every single day if you'd let it

and coming in here and
just seeing this is just...

I didn't know anything like this existed.

These unique experiences,

that really is the glue that
holds a friendship together

and it really brings us
all closer, a lot closer.

(gentle upbeat music)

(upbeat music)

- We've reached Da Nang
and also getting close

to where Fran's mother's
side of the family comes in.

This is where his grandfather
owned a little business,

an old factory and that's
where his dad worked

and that's kind of where his parents met.

- How cool is it if we find it.

And then I go home and I tell my dad,

"Hey, guess what? I found that factory."

I had a name and I got
I think an intersection

or is it just a street?

(Fran and driver speak
in foreign language)

The factory that we're looking for

in the time that my parents were here,

it was used as an ice factory

and they made ice for the
fishermen for their catch.

- When did your parents leave?

They left Da Nang in, I think
it was 77, around that time.

(lively music)

Do we have a jackpot? I don't know.

- I don't think so.

(lively music)

(driver speaks in foreign language)

- Don't get distracted,
we've almost found the place.

- Buy two of these roses and
then we'll lay the two roses

down for your mother and
your father, how about that?

Everybody says I'm not
a romantic kind of guy.

That's pretty nice.

- Could you spare me 2,000?
- Wow.

- He knows the direction now.

- Oh does he?
- Yeah.

But not exactly the place.

(lively music)

(driver and woman speak
in foreign language)

- Right here.
- Oh is it here?

(woman speaks in foreign language)

- So the four stores, four
store fronts right here.

This is the ice factory.

- It's a gaming and internet bar. (laughs)

- It's actually exciting here.

- Hey, look at this old desk.

This could be the part of
the old factory, hey Fran.

- This could be the desk your dad sat in.

- Let me see. No, no, no whisky in there.

How do I say flower?
(speaks in foreign language)

(old woman speaks in foreign language)

- This property is belong to her father

and her father rent it to your father.

They got evidence that property
belong to the family, yeah.

- She still has that?
- Yes.

- You wanna see?

(Chung and old woman
speak in foreign language)

- Okay, let's go.

- Apparently this was old woman

who came out to see what all
the commotion was all about.

It turns out that her father
actually owned this land

and had leased the land to Fran's father,

which he used as a factory.

(machine whirring)

(gentle music)

(old man speaks in foreign language)

- The name of the tenant is Chu Ping Mi,

maybe something related to you Troung-

- Phong's my last name.

- Maybe your grandma
- Grandmother.

- His father and Fran's
grandma right here.

Troung Ping My, you can see, M.Y, My.

- I'm Troung.
- Yeah.

- 'Cause he's got three copies,

is it possible for him
to give one of them up?

(Chung and old man speak
in foreign language)

- Wow, so this is great.

I have something to bring
home and to show my father

that we came here and we found it.

So a little choked up inside.

- It's the real deal dude,

that's the actual piece of
paper your grandma signed

for this land.

When it rains it pours, eh.

Half the country later we're here

and like everything unravels
in one street corner.

(old man speaks in foreign language)

(Scott and Justin laugh)

- He never really expected
to find the factory

that his dad was managing
when he met his mom

just down the street.

This is crazy, this is like Fran Troung,

this is your life.

It wouldn't have been a
failure if he didn't find it,

but he did and it was
just that much richer.

That whole experience for me,

watching that happen was fantastic.

- It's amazing what you can
find if you just look for it.

- That's the funny thing you know.

Instead of thinking that
this was gonna be more us

showing Fran something,
giving him an experience

and it was really quite the opposite.

(upbeat music)

We're in the market here

just shopping around for these brass hats,

these conical shape ones
that are pretty typical

of the Vietnamese culture.

There's a bit more of a meaning to it.

Fran's mother used to actually make these

when she lived in Vietnam.

- When my mom and my dad
were seeing each other,

kind of not seeing each
other or seeing each other,

my dad would come by her shop a lot

and he would always buy a hat

for an opportunity to talk with her.

So she told me that he ended up

with like 20 or so of these hats.

- This is old fashioned
Fran. High fashion Fran.

Welcome to 21st century.

- Very handsome for you.

- Very handsome oh, here comes that charm.

- I'm just gonna pick up three of them.

One for me, my mom and my girlfriend.

I'm not gonna pick up one for my dad

because he's bought many in his lifetime,

so we're good with that.

(lively music)

- We're at this barbershop,

just gonna get ourselves cleaned up

in order to meet the family.

You could use a little clean up yourself.

- Yeah, maybe on my knees.

- The only hair you have
is on your kneecaps.

So let's clean those puppies up.

And we're gonna pick out a
special razor here for it Justin.

(lively music)

The funny thing here too is that

this side of the shop is a barbershop.

That side, they're repairing like old fans

and TVs and stuff.

- Gotta little Elvis
Presley going on there.

Thank you very much everybody.

- Is there anything that came out my face?

- Yes.
- Wow.

- He said you were pretty hairy man.

- Do you call that metro-sexual.
Is this metro-sexual?

- No this is stupid. (laughs)

(lively music)

(upbeat music)

- This is more typical of
what your mum grew up in

and worked in and lived in
this kind of village life

as opposed to like your
dad which we've seen is

both in Ho Chi Minh city and even Da Nang,

was kinda like big business, big city,

high roller kind of stuff.

- Oh yeah, oh yeah.

Before she moved to Da
Nang, this was her life.

- Ho Chi Minh was a lot more
modern, a lot more westernized

than I had ever expected a
city in a socialist country

like Vietnam to be.

Come out here and look
at these rice patties

and not a lot's changed.

- I'm excited, anxious and-

- She looks like your mom, dude.

I can swap her, this is really her.

She looks like your mum.

(Suu speaks in foreign language)

- I'm Francisco.

(man and Suu speak in foreign language)

- So this one she's showing
a picture of her son

who works as a car painter in Hanoi.

(Suu laughing)

- Ooh it looks like I haven't
had a shower in a while.

Looks like I've got a little
niece as well and a nephew.

(Suu and Chung speak in foreign language)

- Say that she really surprised
that Fran get here today.

(lively music)

- Let's get some hats on,
protect ourselves from the sun.

Normal one.

- Dre gets a hat too.

That's where Andre's head is.

- We're gonna get to work

and try to help out the
neighbors and Fran's family.

Fran's got some fertilizer here

that looks like flavored salt.

- Well now that we're dressed for the part

we should probably get to work.

Scott's got the hoe,
Fran's got the fertilizer.

- I'm already sweating up buckets here.

I got this fertilizer all over me.

(lively music)

- The woman said that Scott
is messing up everything.

Maybe he can harm the trees.

- Apparently I'm still doing it wrong.

Seems like a simple task
but I'm not doing it right.

I'm being shown how to do it again.

- It's actually harder than you think.

I think I got maybe like 20 feet

and my shoulders are getting sore,

my arms are getting sore.

- I don't think she's
gonna give it back to me.

- I think I heard them
saying when I was doing this,

"It's okay, we'll do it again tomorrow."

(upbeat music)

- Hey guys, come and get it.

Fran, here you go.

Take it the rest of the journey my friend.

- Working the fields.

- Weren't you the one that
offered to bring them beer?

- Yeah I did.

(upbeat music)

- Beer?

- Okay, okay.

- Woo, it's getting hot.

(upbeat music)

- Beer?

(crate crashing)

- It's hard to find good
help nowadays apparently.

- Chap chap chap chap.

(upbeat music)

(serene music)

- This, look at this,
look how far it goes.

- Almost goes right out the door

and we got beers now.

This guy knows me, look at that he's just-

- [Fran] It's time to party probably.

- I'd like to say that

we've really earned this delicious meal

that's been laid out for us.

That we've toiled in the fields
and worked up a good sweat

to really earn the bounty that
we're receiving right now.

But the truth of the matter is

is none of us really did anything at all

except inconvenience
a bunch of good people

who are really trying to
work hard to earn a living.

To those people I say,

I'm sorry on behalf of all three of us.

- Cheers, I'm humbled by that.

- We just had an amazing dinner.

I think what we're gonna do
is we're gonna give thanks

for the dinner to my grandparents here.

- [Scott] I have to
admit I'm a bit envious

of the trip that Fran is having
and experiencing right now.

- [Fran] It's been a trip
that I've always wanted to do

for myself is to be able to
retrace the steps of my family

and how important all of that is.

(Fran speaks in foreign language)

29 years old but it's still
part of a growing up process.

You know I think the older you get

the more you realize
how important family is.

- There's a lot of
really intricate origami.

There's little tiny bills as well

but I kinda kept these souvenirs.

That's a perfect fit.

And I think we need to leave
a little Canadian memento

of our visit, of Canada.

- Canada.

- Bye bye.

(light airy music)

- We don't have a heck of a
lot of time left in Vietnam

but we'd be doing this
whole country an injustice

by not seeing the North.

And we're gonna hop on a flight
here from Hue up to Hanoi.

- [Justin] Thank you,
good driver, good driver.

- Yeah, thank you.

- I'm kind of concerned here.

- About?

- Scott and I are drifting apart.

- Why is that?

- Normally I sit here, he sits there.

I don't know where he is anymore.

- He's in the tenths.

- We're in the twelves.

Scott. He's not even responding to us.

(slow upbeat music)

We're in Halong Bay.

You starting to see why this
is a world heritage site

and why so many people come
here it's 'cause it's gorgeous.

About to give the boat a little shape

and a little bit of style with this sail.

And it's a newer material

but it has that authentic look to it.

You actually look at the sail

there's like pieces of bamboo.

Like right here, that's all bamboo.

(slow upbeat music)

You know I really hope Fran
got something out of this trip,

meeting a lot of new family members.

And not only is he doing that,
he's soaking in his culture,

his past, his history.

Now that he's seen the way
his parents used to live,

the lifestyle that they had
before they moved to Canada,

I think he has a great appreciation

for what his family has gone through.

We're getting swarmed here,
look at this, look at this.

(lively music)

- A lot of these houses are
separated by enough space

that you really can't
get from one to another

unless you have a boat or you swim.

But in some cases, the decks
are all just connected.

- And you get from one place,
from one end to the other end

you gotta use everybody's
property to cross,

But they have everything,

like they have everything
you can possibly think of.

I even saw a couple of
televisions when I was walking by.

- I just think that this is
completely a different world

from my world and maybe
from all the people's world.

It's more or less better.

Just when when I standing here,

I feel like I'm in a fairy land.

(gentle lively music)

- [Scott] Initially the idea for this trip

was supposed to be one that allowed us

to share the travel
experience with somebody new.

But whatever it is, has
been a big draw for me

to do a similar trip.

I've been able to travel so many places

and yet never end up in a place

where I can explore
what makes me who I am.

- So you know, seeing the
country through your eyes

and stuff like that you know
it's refreshing for all of us.

- There's a lot of stories.

My family has been involved in war.

You know there've been
soldiers in my family.

There have been doctors
and nurses in my family.

There have been amazing stories.

I'm out here doing this and this is great.

I don't want to let the opportunity

to make that personal journey disappear.

Sun goes down on Halong Bay,

we get to swim in the South China sea.

(brief crosstalk)

- [Justin] I think the
trip was really important

for all of us and doing it
with a good group of friends

and exploring someone's family,

it's a good way of seeing a country.

(gentle lively music)

Moving onto Papua New Guinea.

A country where everything I've read,

every picture of I've seen is
jungle in it's purest form.

(gentle music)