One month in Vietnam.

Despite having no real plan when arriving in Vietnam, I would say my month long trip was pretty fulfilling and my first 'taste' of the country met above satisfactory needs that will lead me longing for another trip in the future once I save up enough moola. 

When I think of Vietnam, I see a poor country and air pollution, lots of motor traffic and a city that wakes up very early but also sleeps very late. Food and services are very accessible for very cheap; sometimes you get what you pay for or you find hidden gems (many, in fact) that is well worth the low price. Morning life is constantly bustling and everyone seems to always have a place to go. Morning is dedicated to business and purpose. Mid-afternoon is when the scorching heat reaches its peak and it seems a bit quieter (maybe by a half decibel) because people are hiding indoors or taking late naps. By night, the streets fill up with people again and the vibe shifts to something more festive and rowdy; people getting off work, picking up their children from school, or setting up street stalls. The lifestyle is different from what I'm used to and although I would have loved to document daily life in Saigon, the city became a part of me and I went with it. 

Stranger Times.

When I said that I was expecting to 'find myself' through my trip to Vietnam, I did not actually expect for it to happen. Yet, days after settling back home, I feel a lot melancholic because the trip exceeded my expectations. I can't pinpoint how I feel or what I gained, but in retrospect, something intangible was discovered. Perhaps because my preconception of Vietnam was flipped and I find myself saying that I could perhaps live there permanently if it wasn't so hot and the air wasn't so polluted. The culture shock wasn't anything of a shock because our lifestyles are quite traditional already. However, if I had to list one absolute gain from the whole experience, it would be the deep human connections.  The idea of my distant relatives were always a 12-hour difference that I took for granted. On the surface, I couldn't communicate clearly from my lack of ability to speak the language, but for the first time, I grasped the idea of the people and their importance in my life.