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.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
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.
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.
8-27-2012
I think I'm going to see that being in a new country is always exciting. Getting to Vietnam, you are hit right away with the rush, hurry of the scooters and vehicles on the street. Babies without helmets, children standing on their parents laps, full families of 4 on a scooter, and they move with each other. As one mind.
The first day in Saigon we experienced a fruit market and tried what felt like hundreds of strange, sweet, sticky, prickly, bumpy, delicious fruits. So muchflavpr, so much beauty. So much action in TW market. Little Vietnamese women sitting on the ground in their traditional straw hats, their goods spread out before them on thin blankets, cutting the fruit for eager, hungry customers like ourselves. Wry small market, but so full of life. A different kind of life, too. One with purpose and reason, not choices and indecision.
Following the fruit market, we found an indoor market with different trinkets and odds an ends for sale. They ranged from beautifully woven clothes and bags to chopsticks and fans and keychains. It never ceases to amaze me, the amount of things- mainly people- Southeast Asians tend to fit in one area, car, scooter, building. There must have been a maze of a few hundred little shop stalls in an open building the size of a football field.
Later on we were lucky enough to be invited to a Vietnamese family's home for dinner. An extremely modest place, 2 main rooms- one for living or dining the other a kitchen with the matriarchs sitting on the floor happily creating our meal. . They used as much space as they had to fit about 20 extended family members and a few foreigners. All smiles everywhere. Children running throughout, laughing and playing, staying outside in the streets without a care.
In the kitchen floor, the women were preparing rice paper spring rolls and steamed prawns cooked in banana leaves. Incredible food outmatched only by the atmosphere.
Men sitting around one table, each with a beer in hand, laughing, enjoying one another's company, happy to be with family. Women walking in and out of the room, making sure everyone is happy, bringing plate after plate of delicious food.
The simplicity is inspiring. The happiness infectious. The family beautiful.
The first day in Saigon we experienced a fruit market and tried what felt like hundreds of strange, sweet, sticky, prickly, bumpy, delicious fruits. So muchflavpr, so much beauty. So much action in TW market. Little Vietnamese women sitting on the ground in their traditional straw hats, their goods spread out before them on thin blankets, cutting the fruit for eager, hungry customers like ourselves. Wry small market, but so full of life. A different kind of life, too. One with purpose and reason, not choices and indecision.
Following the fruit market, we found an indoor market with different trinkets and odds an ends for sale. They ranged from beautifully woven clothes and bags to chopsticks and fans and keychains. It never ceases to amaze me, the amount of things- mainly people- Southeast Asians tend to fit in one area, car, scooter, building. There must have been a maze of a few hundred little shop stalls in an open building the size of a football field.
Later on we were lucky enough to be invited to a Vietnamese family's home for dinner. An extremely modest place, 2 main rooms- one for living or dining the other a kitchen with the matriarchs sitting on the floor happily creating our meal. . They used as much space as they had to fit about 20 extended family members and a few foreigners. All smiles everywhere. Children running throughout, laughing and playing, staying outside in the streets without a care.
In the kitchen floor, the women were preparing rice paper spring rolls and steamed prawns cooked in banana leaves. Incredible food outmatched only by the atmosphere.
Men sitting around one table, each with a beer in hand, laughing, enjoying one another's company, happy to be with family. Women walking in and out of the room, making sure everyone is happy, bringing plate after plate of delicious food.
The simplicity is inspiring. The happiness infectious. The family beautiful.
8-26-2012
The day of departure. Such a fun night last night. Enjoying and laughing every minute. Never idle, constantly being present, and just happy in Rena's company.
After a day of odds and ends, a night of carefree dancing, laughter, gifts, good food, good people, good night.
I'm a bag of mixed emotions now on this plane. People around me taking pictures, excited, happy faces ready for what lies behind Gate 1. Am I ready for this? For all of this? Leaving, goodbyes, moving on, exploring, living? I think the emotion I'm feeling most right now is fear. There's no going back. I've made my decisions, there's only forward.
The plane is taking off and I feel as though there are strings pulling me in all directions. The people behind me, the adventure ahead. Although I am afraid, I want to know what I am made of. And so I go forward.
8-19-2012
One week before my journey- 7 days. I'm a well of emotions. Unfortunately, sadness is at the front- followed very closely by excitement- but still sadness is my main emotion these days. It is difficult to remember that a window is open when you're stuck watching a door close in slow motion... For seven more days. Some of the most incredible people I've met have been on this leg of the journey. Ones I'm not ready to live without. I think the fear of never seeing these people weighs heavily on my mind. That such an impact on my life will only be a freckle, a speck of dust in the past, when given time. Amazing to see how time makes everything minute. And it never stops.
One thing I do think about is, if I could stop time, choose one moment to stop time and live in forever, even though I love everything about here right now, I know this wouldn't be where I'd choose to stop moving. I have south growing and changing to do. And though I'm sad to leave and scared of what lies ahead, the thought that I'm not ready to stop growing and changing propels me forward. Gives me hope. It feels now, after writing this and thinking a bit, that my sadness is giving way to something more tangible, something more appreciative. I feel gratitude. To my family, friends, country- old and new, the past, the present, the future. I'm ready.
One thing I do think about is, if I could stop time, choose one moment to stop time and live in forever, even though I love everything about here right now, I know this wouldn't be where I'd choose to stop moving. I have south growing and changing to do. And though I'm sad to leave and scared of what lies ahead, the thought that I'm not ready to stop growing and changing propels me forward. Gives me hope. It feels now, after writing this and thinking a bit, that my sadness is giving way to something more tangible, something more appreciative. I feel gratitude. To my family, friends, country- old and new, the past, the present, the future. I'm ready.
So it begins...
I am now 25 days and 4.5 books into my travels and I've decided to start blogging everything I've been writing in my journal. These are my thoughts and emotions while being in different countries. I've begun to see that every country, every city, just as every person is different. In order to fully appreciate a place for what it is you must go in with an open mind and that's what I will be and have been trying to do. I have loved every place so far for better or worse and hopefully will continue to do so as I move from place to place. I hope anyone that reads this will take to heart that experiences vary from person to person and will still be encouraged to explore and experience these wonderful places on their own, regardless of anyone else's opinion. The world is, more and more everyday, an incredible place. We are lucky as human beings to be able to have adventures of this magnitude, whether in our own backyard, another city, or another country. Maybe the old saying isn't as accurate as we once thought; "A rolling stone gathers no moss." I feel I've gathered my fair share- whether it e people, sights, emotions, things, insights, to prove this untrue, if only for myself. For those reading this that are too timid or intimidated by the world, I would have to say- it is a scary place. But it is also an incredible one. As someone who was intimidated, and honestly terrified, to journey alone, I have found that with the right mindset and outlook, it can be done. And if it's something that weighs you down, always on your mind, do it. You might not find what you're looking for, but you will find what you didn't know you were looking for. Roll on.
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