Ok, so it has been 2 weeks since my trip and I have been slacking on updating the blog. What can I say? After a good vacation, all I want to do is take naps in a hammock. I took a ridiculous amount of pictures and have countless stories. However, I really hate it when people talk about their vacations for eons at a time, so I'll spare you and let you in on the things that are still in popping into my dreams.
So yes, there were obviously beautiful beaches. Talk about a Corona ad. Nha Trang is a dead-on match. The waves are wild and the sun is unforgiving. Toppling islands and coconut boats meet a misty horizon and once again, I feel as small as the sand I walk on. It feels great. The shores are littered with peddlers and sometimes, you just have to say yes. To a book, a beaded bracelet, or 3 fresh pinching lobsters for the price of $15. You bet it was delicious.
Touring the islands put me in a state of constant relaxation. Something most of us aren't used to. We all kept wondering, "why am I so sleepy?". Then we realized that maybe, just maybe, it's what it feels like to be relaxed. There were beers to be had, parasails to be filled, and sea fare to be eaten. By the end of the day, my skin was burned, coated in salt, and the happiest I've been in a long time. The untouched islands and poverty stricken fishing boats made for a painstackingly beautiful scene.
My first scuba adventure was met with much anticipation. It takes a lot to wake a group of hung over 20somethings at 7am to catch the bus. The dive masters and crews have got it right. They don't drive a lexus, they probably don't even drive. But their wrinkles are from laughing too much and spending their days among the reefs. Not a bad way to acquire some age lines. The dive was more than I thought it would be. Fish corkscrewed around us and the eels scared the hell out of me. I got to touch the fish, wiggle through coral canals, and realize how completely quiet it is in a sea full of hustlers and bustlers. Besides the sounds of my bubbles and my regulator, it was the thickest quiet I have ever experienced. This day was the highlight of my whole trip.
Saigon is a city to be reckoned with. The vendors are smart and the street kids are smarter. The dogs are mean and the chickens are wild. Mopeds in masses sound like killer bees on the loose. Forget safety seats. Families of 5, infant and all, can pile onto a suzuki and speed through town effortlessly. The same mopeds and street boys stole the purse right off my arm and sped off into a nights traffic. I wasn't hurt but I realize that I'm just a dollar sign in a city in Vietnam.
The rickshaw driver told me he's been hit a few times, and he is also guilty of a little pedestrian battery. All in a days work. The markets were plenty and in the corners where the tourist tried not to look, were the remnents of a country hit hard by war. Napalmed faces and disfigured legs were sprawled on the sidewalks. I don't think I could ever forget the toothy grin from one such vet. Although he wasn't grinning, he just didn't have a face anymore. His skull visible around the eyes, nose, his lips burnt away. He wasn't begging, just playing cards.
The food was exotic and I wasn't even mad at the French influences. It beats rice and kimchi any day. The coffee was thee best I've ever had in my entire life of constant coffee sipping. Slow dripped at my table and naturally sweetened with a kind of cocoa taste. Oh how my heart aches for more of this coffee. Street pho and sandwiches, spring rolls and local beers. Vietnam knows how to speak to my heart.
Mugging experience aside, I am completely gratious for my time spent in such a glowing country. It is by far the most beautiful place I've been. The poverty and child labor are enough to rip your heart out, and again I feel that tug. It's God, reminding me of how sickningly sweet I have it and how I need to thank my lucky stars. I am also thankful for my inability to turn a blind eye to this country's culture. Everything lives to be seen.
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