Stag-nay-shons.

The title lingo is from Cute Overload. I live there right now.

Anyhow, I've been meaning to write for a while. And gotten a smidge of pressure on the VisageTome about it, so voilà, here I am.

First, some business of sorts: I never finished writing about my 3-week Vietnam adventure, for a few reasons. Primarily, I lost the momentum, and it took so much effort to get all the photos up on Facebook, due to internet troubles, that once I got 'em up there I felt done with the sharing. Secondarily, work got super stressful, leaving me with very little energy to write about the trip, when I just wanted to get home and vent about work. Which I also didn't want to do, so I avoided blogging altogether. My apologies. All my photos, minus those taken by new friend Katy in Halong Bay when my camera was broken, are online now. If you're not a Facebook friend and want to see them, let me know, I'll send you the public links.

So. There's that.

Today's topic is: stagnation. And, I suppose, perspective. Usually I am good at perspective, knowing when something really, truly matters and when it doesn't, and how it'll work out in the long run. Something that I am really bad at is being nice to myself. I never really let myself off the hook for stuff, such as watching too much television, or not "going out" enough, etc. I tell myself that I am lame, and a loser, etc. And I'm working on this. However, it's even harder after returning from my trip, because my trip was exciting and adventurous, and I had no time to loaf around like I generally do. Then, returning to the grind and being thrown back into work, where I am frequently thinking What the hell am I doing here, I lose the adventurous steam that I was running on before. I'm exhausted, I get home, I find a show to watching online, I do crosswords, I lie around. And I feel utterly useless. And then I get to calling myself names, and it all gets depressing from there. And, frankly, it sucks.

Recently, while wallowing in my perceived loserdom, a friend of mine gave me a reality check. Some perspective. He said, "Look Arielle, so what that you're not out tonight, and that you're home loading CSI: NY online, and feeling sorry for yourself? You are NOT a loser." He reminded me that, while on that particular night I felt like a loaf, like I should be working out or doing some art or--ahem--blogging or reading or something, when in fact I didn't want to leave my bed, that I am, in truth, not a loaf. In the grand scheme of my life. Lazy bums with no motivations or ambitions do not move to Ho Chi Minh City for a job. They don't go gallavanting around Vietnam by themselves for fun, the don't go to Cambodia on vacation and hug elephants (see much earlier post for those details). Put into perspective, I am an interesting person. And I have to tell myself that a lot, because then maybe eventually I'll believe it.

It helps that I have amazing friends, who will a) give me reality checks when I need them (and when I think I don't, which is also when I do) and b) think I'm interesting enough to want to read my thoughts here, on the interwebs. I feel super appreciated, and I hope you do, too. Thank you.

That'll be it for now. Love.

Huế

After 4 days in Hoi An, I was ready to head north to Hue, a city located directly in the middle of Vietnam. As I was heading north, I could tell that I would be leaving the sunshine and beaches behind. Hue is more inland, and north enough that it starts to cool off. So, after a week of lazing around in the sun, I was welcomed to Hue with rain.


I arrived in the evening and immediately sought out dinner, followed by an early bedtime. The next day, I booked myself on a river boat that goes to several tombs of Vietnamese kings, as well as a pagoda. It was nice, if gray. After one day of this, I knew that I wouldn't need to spend much more time in Hue, so I booked my bus to Hanoi for the following night.


The next day, more rain. Lots of it. Unlike Saigon, where it rains for a few hours at a time and then stops, Hue has rain like we get in California--steady and long-lasting. I got myself up and walked to the Citadel, where the Imperial City was located when Vietnam had a king. Soon after getting inside the Citadel, I dropped my camera, and it promptly broke (this was the second time my camera had broke during the trip; the first time was in Hoi An, was not my fault, and I got it repaired). This time I will admit that it was entirely my fault. All my photos then looked like this:


Luckily, I was leaving Hue anyway, and could get the camera fixed in Hanoi.

The next stop, Hoi An

My next stop on my great Vietnam adventure was Hoi An. Tom and I were on the same sleeper bus, which was...loads of fun. As in, our driver was nutty and I think determined to hit every single pothole along the way. I'm a light sleeper, so you can guess what that means. I did a lot of lying awake listening to my ipod, staring at the sky. In fact, I saw two shooting stars, so I guess that part is nice. Tried to doze, but only managed maybe an hour or so of the eight.


We arrived in Hoi An at around 6 a.m., and almost as soon as Tom and I got off the bus we spotted Steffi getting off her bus. So we collectively chose a hotel (Steffi and I shared a triple room, Tom got his own), sought out breakfast, and then decided to rent bicycles (about 60 cents for a day) and head the 4 km to the beach.


Spent the day at the beach, then met up again later for dinner and drinks. And this was basically how the whole 4 days that I spent in Hoi An went, except Tom and Steffi headed north earlier than I did, so I had an extra 2 night and day on my own in Hoi An, bicycling and strolling around.

Hoi An is gorgeous. Sun-soaked stucco, children running around, silk lanterns hanging everywhere, excellent local cuisine, people selling fresh beer for about 20 cents a glass...the recipe for a leisurely few days, for me. The two main things to do in Hoi An are stroll around and shop. Well, three things, including going to the beach.


If you know me, you know that I hate shopping, unless I have a clear goal in mind. I can't just wander around trying things on aimlessly, or I get tired and cranky and my head starts throbbing. However, in Hoi An I had some vague goals: I know that some day soon I plan on parking myself in New York City for a while, and for that I will need more winter coats than I have (last I checked, the 2 that I have from H&M in Paris are getting a bit tired-looking), so I had that on my list. I ended up getting 2 winter coats handmade. Then, as shoes are hard for me to buy here, because I have giant Western clown feet, I decided to get some leather shoes made--and ended up with 4 pairs, including knee-high leather boots for New York. I was a bit baffled at my shopping in Hoi An, but the way I see it, these purchases are good investments. They're hand made, tailored to my body and feet, and will last a long time. Hopefully. Plus, I allowed myself to spend a bit more money than I'm used to, being that I was on vacation.

So, shopping happened. And when you're working with tailors, it tends to structure everything else. I would go order something and have to be back the next day to try it on and have it adjusted, then return to pick it up. Between these appointments, I'd stroll around, or bike to the beach, or get a juice in a café and read. (I always had a novel with me.) The sun was glorious, the air was clearer than Saigon, and the feel of the town is rather Mediterranean. Excellent.


And, on my last day, during lunch before heading to the bus for Hué, I struck up a conversation with Katy, a brassy New Yorker, who I would later meet up with in Hanoi and tour Halong Bay with. Another new friend! More about her later.

Photos from Hoi An are here. Enjoy!

Love.

Beginning at the beginning: Nha Trang

After wrestling with my camera, my laptop, and Facebook, I have succeeded in uploading photos from my work computer. Not during work hours, of course. [Cough.] Never. So I now can write about my adventures and link you to the albums as I create them.

On Sunday, September 13th, I left Saigon for Nha Trang, which is a city on the coast of Vietnam (see my map in the older post for a reference). The bus ride was easy enough—the bus wasn’t full, the 9 hours passed uneventfully, and the weather was nice. I arrived around 5 p.m., found a hotel that was $6 and run by some friendly folks, and then set out looking for somewhere to get dinner.

[Me on the first bus]

While strolling the backpacker/tourist district, I was beckoned over to a table already covered with empty beer bottles, and introduced to some new friends—Sheri, a Canadian, and Tom, Andy, and Steffie, all German. Later we met Thomas, another German, at another bar.

Something to explain: Nha Trang seems to be known for primarily 2 things: the beach and the bar scene. It is a party town. Practically every bar had ridiculous drink specials (For example, the bar where I first met these guys was having a happy hour that lasted all night, where you could get 2 bottles of beer for 15,000 VND, which is about $0.85.), and because all the bars are competing with each other for business, they all keep things super cheap. We went to one place where a double cocktail (2 shots of vodka, splash of tonic or whatever) was 10,000 VND. That’s $0.60. And most places gave you a free shot just for walking in. Needless to say, once I had found a good group of people to hang out with, we did a fair amount of drinking. (Nothing unsafe, Mom and Dad, I was responsible, I promise.)

So, that first evening, I made new friends, and we drank some beers together, had dinner, and then played pool (or, as I like to say, “playing pool,” as I have zero pool skills whatsoever) over more beer. The next day 3 of them (Sheri, Andy, and Steffie) went with me on a boat tour of some of the islands off of Nha Trang. At the first island, we were given snorkels, and waded into the sea. The water was clear but the marine life was limited, save for millions of these small, translucent jellyfish that stung us; they are harmless, just annoying, and leave little bug bite-looking marks all over one’s body. After snorkelling we got back on the boat and had lunch, followed by a “floating wine bar,” where all of us hopped in the ocean in inner tubes and drank local wine from plastic cups. And met more jellyfish, some of them less friendly than others, and these were fished out by the guides. Following this, we went to another island to chill out a bit, and then went to yet another to go to the Nha Trang aquarium, where they had sea turtles that looked incredibly disapproving, and giant fish and moray eels, looking sufficiently intimidating. After returning to Nha Trang in the afternoon, we all went back to our hotels and hostels to shower and rest a bit, before meeting up again for dinner and drinks.

The next day, Sheri, Thomas, Steffie and I rented 2 motorbikes and headed off in search of a waterfall that was supposed to be scenic. Thomas had ridden one before, Sheri had motorcycle experience, and I was just eager to try it. It turned out to be a nice little motorbike adventure—not enough traffic to be truly terrifying, and enough straight highway for practice. On the way out of town we stopped at a temple with a few giant Buddhas, which was exciting, as I’ve been working on a book about them for months, and there they were. Then, after 40 km of biking and a few near accidents in puddles (I now know that instead of trying to swerve around them, you should just power through them, otherwise you have the tendency to lose your balance and topple over), we found the waterfall—only to be vaguely dissatisfied. But the ride was a rush, and now I feel a smidge more comfortable on a bike.

[Sheri, rockin' it on the bike]

I was never planning on spending more than a few days in Nha Trang, since I had expected to be on my own. However, since I had connected with a good group, I was easily persuaded to stay longer. So, on my third day, we all slept in and then headed to the beach, where we had some wine, listened to music, read our books, and just chilled out.

That evening, we parted ways, somewhat: Sheri was staying in Nha Trang before heading south to Saigon, and Tom, Steffie, and I were heading north to Hoi An. It turned out Tom and I were on the same sleeper bus that evening, and as soon as we arrived in Hoi An we spotted Steffie getting off her bus. The group was not disbanded! The three of us ended up exploring Hoi An together.

So: Nha Trang was a great introduction to my trip: the weather was beautiful, I got the beginnings of a tan (for those of you who know me, this is a feat), and I found some awesome people to hang out with, so I wasn’t wandering around on my own as I had anticipated. The photos are here, and there will be more to come soon.

Love!

And I'm Back

I have just returned to Saigon after 3 weeks of delicious adventures, and will be writing about them soon. Possibly tomorrow.

For right now, I am, as I like to say (and I think I got the phrase from my mom), decompressing, as well as uploading oodles of photos.

More to come.