9-5-2012 Setbacks and a Silver Lining

There will always be setbacks in traveling. But when they hit, it's hard to have been prepared. Even harder to be easy going about it. When your whole life for the next month or few months is on your back, it's a bit of a disaster if anything happens.

After an almost 30 hour bus ride through the night and the rain, our bags underneath the bus got soaked. Luckily not mine as much, but Kathleen and Julia's were spake through. They had to send everything to the cleaners. After our days in Hoi An and the amazing time we had, it was a difficult pill to swallow.

The upside to sewage bags was a nighttime ride through rural, farm Vietnam on a top bunk with no safety guard, reading a book in a pouring rain lightning storm. Really not a bad way to spend the night.

After the rough start to the day, we had some of the best food. Just what we needed, too. We found a random place on the corner of a busy intersection, the seats were all on the sidewalk- arms length from the busy evening traffic. Small, short plastic tables and even smaller chairs you'd buy for a children's party. Not the most comfortable, but the food looked amazing. How it worked was there was a whole table piled with different skewers of fish, meat, vegetables, meat wrapped in vegetables, vegetables stuffed with meat, everything. We chose beef wrapped mushrooms, beef wrapped lettuce, bacon wrapped peppers, beef and tomatoes and zucchini, some salmon, some marinated chicken, and possibly some marinated pork. You put them in a little basket, bring it to the workers, they cook the skewers for us, bring over a little stove type contraption and put the cooked skewers on the heater to keep them warm. We also got baguettes that they grilled with a honey glaze and cut for us so we could make little sandwiches with the meat and vegetables. It was incredible. We feasted. Such a cool atmosphere too, traffic buzzing all around, meat sizzling at the table, the rush of life infiltrating you, juxtaposing. A calm, enjoyable dinner with the buzz and hum and rush of lights and traffic and speed on pavement. Something you'd never see back home. Beer, good conversation, amazing food, great company. Silver lining.

9-3-2012 History Repeating

It's amazing how prevalent history still is in this country. Posters of Che Guevara in every home and establishment. The war is still so prevalent, you don't always notice it, but the beliefs are still so strong. It is definitely strange seeing the hammer and sickle and being reminded where you are an where it all came from.

So far, I feel the best way to see a city or country is on bike or motorbike. There is a certain freedom of exploration that you feel, an exhilaration or force that compels you to go off the beaten track. Kathleen, Julia and I rode bicycles around Hoi An today. We got a little lost and ended up in a completely Vietnamese neighborhood, just watching and looking, seeing how they live. We came across a group of young boys playing a huge Congo-like drum, just hanging out together, having fun. It is so nice and refreshing to see innocent, outdoor, technology-free fun. No dependencies, no expectations. Simple smiles and friendships.

We rode along a river and met a wonderful older Australian couple who suggested a beach called An Dang. Secluded, lesser known beach with cream sand and turquoise water. Straw umbrella huts lined up to lounge under. Indescribable views and landscapes here, powerful and breathtaking. Our trip over to the beach took us through rice paddy fields with people working, things you only see in books and don't eleven is actually real until you nonchalantly ride by on a bicycle.

I think travel is mellowing me out. TW people I see and meet, the lifestyles I witness, life is too short to be worried or to spend time on meaningless options. It has been only about 5 days or a week and already I feel like I can take on anything. (knock on wood).

Another aspect of Vietnam I've fallen in love with is the people. Even when ordering our clothes the be made, the woman was laughing an joking- so conveniencing and helpful. Just a good person working for her living, brothers and sisters helping her out. Her saying for everything requested was a cheesy English line, "Easy peasy lemon squeezy." funny little things like that just rub off from one person to the next so easily, we'll be saying that for days now.

9-2-2012 Hoi An- Unfinished

I have so much to say about my favorite city, but haven't the words. So I will be short and hopefully sweet about the place I've loved most so far.

Beautiful Hoi An. A city of fusion- food, style, architecture. A port city, taking all of the good. A lazy river running around the outside of the city with boats resting at bay, all surrounded by beautiful colorful lanterns for their Independence Day. All of Vietnam comes alive at night. Foreigners, natives, locals, families, all come out with their friendly smiles and. Prices calling to you, inviting you, sit here, eat here, buy here. Everywhere else a nuisance, but eased by the buttercup yellow buildings and the relaxed European style buildings, it's less of an annoyance here. Tuned out by the beauty, you feel like magical things could happen here, or maybe they did- the twinkling lights, boats in the river, old town feel- like walking around in Neverland. And it will suck you in. If you don't have a time limit or place to be, there is so much to still explore that foreigners don't know about and that hasn't yet been adopted by the West. But you can feel it coming. There is a sadness to Hoi An, if you look and listen for it. One that is easily overlooked and overshadowed by the friendly smiles.

9-1-2012 Ho Chi Minh- captain, drummer, and floating bartender

Such an interesting, fun day. We signed up for a tour of the 4 islands surrounding Nha Trang- the 3 of us, me, Thom, Julia, and Kathleen, and a couple that Kathleen knew. The tour ended up being us 5, about 30 Vietnamese men, and 2 men from the Czech Republic. From the minute we got on the bus we were laughing. It really hit me today that every situation can be made better with humor. Every situation should be embraced with a laugh. We could have been upset at the lack of English, upset at the large amount of Vietnamese men, mad that we couldn't interact in English, but a quick exchange of words, as Kathleen was handing out nuts like a soccer mom asking if anyone wanted any, commenting "we got a whole group of 'em right here". It was true. We were all a bunch of nuts. The Vietnamese men with their cameras all smiling at our group of ladies, us delirious from waking up and laughing at everything, we were all nutty. The whole group of us. And it turned into an amazing day of snorkeling, singing, dancing, lounging in the water, drinking, singing and dancing some more. The crew of our boat brought out guitars at one point, and a contraption made of PVC pipe, a few barrels, and cymbols to form a makeshift drum set for the captain. (a man who undisputedly resembled Ho Chi Minh). We were the only tour boat to get live music. At one point, we docked and they threw out foam rings- simplest little floating devices, for everyone on board to get in the water and relax. Hoch climbed into a littlw high chair type contraption and proclaimed himself "bartender" swrving wine that tasted a bit too much like whiskey. We were thirsty. And we werent complaining. The day couldn't have been better simply because of a shift in perspective. We had the best tour guides, amazing weather, incredible company. Irreplaceable pieces of the perfect day.

8-29-2012

Being in a country in which The majority of its inhabitants don't care or need to think about superficial problems is a bit freeing, and more than a little eye opening. They live so completely in the present. It makes you stop and wonder, "Why do these issues plague me? How are these the important things on my mind?"

These people live here with no options, no choices. They don't have the option to live alone, to take time off and explore, to be who ever they want. They work to survive, to live, to help their family. Work the best job they can to make as much money as they can to live day to day. And I worry about what short to wear and how I look. The littlest things I need to change.

8-28-2012 Vietnam War Memorial- Agent Orange

Going to another country opens your eyes. Especially one that has been so affected by your own. It's hard to not feel ashamed, disappointed. Vietnam was almost completely ruined by my country, torn apart by chemicals and metal and left alone to rebuild on infected ground.

I know you can't change the past, but it is a sad past and one that deserves reflection and both sides of the story told.

The Motorbike Experience

Feet move with pedals
Rotating with engines
Revving by hand
Flowing as one
Metal bodies
Swerving, moving
Opening, closing
Waves of helmets
And headlights
Until they're a speck of red
In the distance

As soon as the darkness
Takes over the sky
The city opens its neon eyes
Swallows you whole

The night is alive
Awake, beckoning you
Granting you
The kind of peace
That only comes
From facing fears
And enjoying the ride
Wind in your hair
Fear in your heart
Smile on your face.