My Vietnam Summary

It's six thirty at night (not quite sure the day) and I'm writing this from my bottom bunk in my hostel in china town, in Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia (in the world, in the magical universe). Listening to Jean Leloup singing 'Paradis City', just came back from getting a tattoo of the Ohm symbol and a quote from the super amazing zen monk Thích Nhất Hạnh, translated to "Compassion is a verb."

From this comes where am at and where I want to go. 

I spend almost 2 months in Vietnam (minus a week in the beautiful kingdom of Laos). From South to the North. Which both hated each other, and are so different in just about everything, but were both enjoyable enough to go back (well maybe not Saigon). 

Saigon was busy, it was the slap in the face welcome to Vietnam I had sort-of expected. Hot, super hot, and busy. I remember screaming the entire time I was on my rented scooter going continuously around the round-a-bout over and over and over until I got the nerve to get out of the loop. There definitely was an immensely diverse culture and population there. Had bottle service with friends, went to a Japanese whiskey bar, had famous Vietnamese pancakes on the street in a busy alley, many massages (not as good as Thailand), and remember dancing- a lot. A bit frustrating but it was just growing pains.

North a bit to Hoi An. I wouldn't be opposed to moving to this little slice of true, boldly and brightly colored life a bit. The lanterns, there are so many of them, and every single street looks like it came out of a Disney film. Dragon bridges, (lanterns everywhere), paper birds, street are of ancient cobblestone, beautiful shops filled with goddess clothes, and shops where you get anything you can imagine hand made for you to wear for under 10usd.  Great food, great Indian food, tons of veggie food and the best local veg stands. I helped with the Vietnam Animal Welfare over this Christmas holiday and lived on the "outside" of the town with a duck in a clinic. The country people are the nicest. The expats are taking over but its whatever, the locals are sweet, the energy is alive, its all walking and bicycling streets and a UNESCO World Heritage site. What more can you ask for? It looks like a dream come to life just after the director yells action. For the beach you just take a bicycle through the rice fields to the aqua ocean freckled with the bowl-shaped boats on sugar sand. I remember wishing I could snap my fingers and all those I truly cared about would instantly appear there with me. 

Lastly in Vietnam, Hanoi. After surviving the bus from hell (the properly named 24 hour bus from Luang Prabang, Laos to Hanoi) I spent a few days seeing an old friend, partying with a unicorn, and drinking .15 cent street beer on micro plastic stools. Met up with a new friend ( (I had met on NYE in Vientiane, Laos) and for a week we broke every rule in the universe. It was one of the most- god this is cliche-fun weeks probably of my life. Ordering all the take out food possible for 2 human beings, getting lost every single day, laughing almost at all times, and learning a lot, ha a lot. I left- after he went back to French Canadian snowland- to the valley of Mai Chau, South West of the city. Stayed in a home-stay and cycled until I could not stand. But I felt athletically accomplished so there is no complaint here, and it was nice to be with myself, just myself and my thoughts for most of my days there. When you spend this much time with yourself its trippy, in the way you want trips to be, you answer questions you've always had and at the same time, always have had the answer to. Dreams become just as opening as your reality and I think that we all need this type of experience, this type of escape and road to clarity life has given us for free..we just need to do it. Clearing your mind is just as important as finding your way.
When I went back to Hanoi I had an odd feeling of being happy to be home. Which was different. But when you feel yourself smiling and excited to walk gray cold streets, something is right int the universe. I stayed in Hanoi for almost 3 weeks, I saw how the people rose in the mornings, and how the city closed down late at night. Had my favorite vegan hole-in-the-wall places for rice porridge and for fried sticky rice, made friends with hotel staff from several places, and found a little smokey bar I could listen to locals jam out on classic rock while sipping on Johnnie Walker with couch change. I really, really liked Hanoi. 

I kept a little list of "things learned" on my phone, here is how it was written, from my beginning to end of the Vietnam leg of this journey:


-This is where Water Buffalo and Starfruit come from
-The sweeter the beverage they serve you, the more they care
-Download Chet Faker
-Having a long pinkie nail means that you are above manual labor
-Don't eat street Pho
-I am an excellent moped driver
-Don't cry for the lost, smile for the living
-A translate app does not work when the people can't read
-To ration water and food on bus journeys
-Always have tissue, always
-Never bring Indian food on a 24 hour bus ride
-I keep hearing 'ba nay nay' and I laugh every time
-I can play the bowl instruments
-How to walk in the streets of Vietnam, takes about 3 weeks
-Durian tastes like bubble gum
-I have FOMO

Quotes to remember forever:
"If your nerve deny you - go above your nerve." -Emily Dickinson
"Listen to your own voice, your own soul, too many people listen to the noise of the world, instead of themselves." -Leon Brown
"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." -William Ernest Henley
"Compassion is a verb." -Thích Nhất Hạnh 

I would do it all again. I would go back. I would bring people I love back. This part of my life makes me happy, makes me feel the electricity running through my veins that is passion. Passion for living, for traveling, for learning, for growing, for culture, for people.

Vietnam was worth it.