I'm Here!!!!

At the moment I am sitting on the last leg of my trip, headed straight for Ho Chi Minh City, slightly drunk off sleep deprivation. I’ve had a long— but very exciting— journey (which technically began yesterday at 9 am, but since I crossed over the international date line on my way here I skipped a day and thus it’s been “2” days since I left) I keep glancing out the window hoping to see my first glance of Vietnam.

I began the trip in Orlando, Florida, strangely. My family is in the process of moving from Maine to Florida so I was down there with my sister, dog and mum. Saying good-bye to my mom was harder that I anticipated. It happened very fast and I wanted to cry but was headed through security. I didn’t want to be tearing up on them as they bark instructions. She looked very sad as we said our goodbyes and I watched her walk briskly away, crying I’m sure. I cried too, a little. But like I said, I swallowed them up.

From Orlando to New York I had a 2 hour flight and then a 9 hour or more delay before the actual flight to Hong Kong. That was rather annoying since there was only one Cathay Pacific flight headed out that night—mine—and the desk didn’t open up for check-ins until 5:30, but I had been there at 2:30. The flight left JFK at 11:10 and then headed to Vancouver, where we disposed of old passengers and refreshed with some new ones. Lauren and I got a greasy bleach blonde Canadian male seat-mate, donning a Hong Kong t-shirt. He was headed for Beijing and considers China to be “the second Mother Land.” Lauren and I stayed up for the first 5 hours, ate two dinners, and then I Tylenol PM-ed myself to sleep which was off and on for the rest of the trip, with periods of in flight entertainment in between.


We landed in Hong Kong 20 hours after initial departure (!). A few of us went exploring and ran into a Cantonese candy shop, also conveniently supplied dried fish and many kinds of rice cakes. We purchased a big assortment of candy, our favorite flavor yet being red kidney bean. Naturally I was trying desperately to document the entire thing via camera until the

AHHH I JUST SAW VIETNAM

…. Nice cashier said “sorry no picture.” The packaging was just so cute and colorful and Chinese. I wanted all of it. Forever in a picture. That’s ok though. There are plenty of other chances. We explored a bit more, exchanged some dollah billz into Vietnamese Dong and headed back, boarded, and voila, on plane, destined for Ho Chi Minh City. We did get to eat some mediocre Chinese cuisine on the airplane—I got chicken and noodles with hot chili sauce and some interesting fruit that looked like an albino kiwi. Lauren, being lactose intolerant, got a special meal consisting of potatoes and vegetables with some ban curd dessert, which was essentially sweetened, silken tofu. The texture was interesting but it wasn’t bad. Like watery, more gelatinous pudding.

And here I am now, writing, eyes heavy, belly bloated, hair a little poofy, but also excited/nervous/exhausted. It all feels so surreal and indescribable—I can only attempt to explain by relating what I’ve done and seen. But the emotions don’t seem to seep through. As we were landing in Hong Kong, Lauren and I kept laughing and whispering “ahhh we’re in Asia, ASIA!!!!!” Yes, I’m in Asia, but it has happened so fast, it hasn’t hit me. I keep expecting to feel this sudden feeling of “so this is Asia, so this is where I am, so this is what it is like, you are in ASIA, you are in VIETNAM” but I don’t know when that will actually come, or if it will… I’ve noticed in the times I have traveled before that it sometimes doesn’t fully hit me that I am thousands of miles away from my home and family in a different culture. Yet, since my last experiences were in much more “Western” places, Switzerland and Brazil, maybe perhaps in Asia I will finally feel like I am in a completely foreign place. We’ll see… in a few minutes ☺

This trip has also showed me just how small the world really is. Our tiny little planet. I can’t fathom that I’ve traveled half of it in the past 24 hours.

motorbikes!

our room!