I am not much of an assessing kind of blogger. If anything, I tend to be more of the stream-of- consciousness kind, with a flair a tad too much, for the melodramatic. I speak mostly of feelings rather than of events or details. I truly believe observing the littlest things is not one of my pursuits or strengths.But I am at a point of my blogging life that my mind is preoccupied with vague insinuations of things that are neither here nor there. In other words, I am mentally flaccid, waiting for eventual death. So I deemed this would be the best time to at least talk of something more….fact-based. Hence, a nervous attempt at recollecting my thoughts, of my first-time ever to leave home and travel abroad.
Vietnam was my very first destination. It was an almost cursory decision to make, even if the person I was traveling with (B) had goaded me forever to do it. Back then, traveling simply didn’t appeal that much to me. But after I did, in his able hands, I got hooked for life. The first time he broached the subject of going to Nam, I thought duh? Honest. I was blissfully ignorant of the world outside me, being cocooned all my life in my little bucolic world of carabaos and mangosteens. And I thought the only place worth calling a “vacation” is in Europe. Which incidentally I could never afford, even if I held five jobs at one time and saved every penny I could by eating instant noodles at every meal. I still can’t afford it today, but I’m not as ignorant anymore of the bliss at having traveled places and gained experiences.
So fast forward to the whole rigmarole of securing travel documents, and we were off to the international airport. Like a desperate city slicker (slacker?), I had my new beige backpack two sizes bigger than myself, which I lugged around everywhere, nearly breaking my back. Two hours of relatively calm plane ride, his hands over mine, sensing that I was a little jumpy at the prospect of setting foot at alien soil, and I had my first view of the Hanoi runway…..
And you thought I was so psyched up to do this piece. Apparently, I couldn't. Now, I will have to slog and sweat over the next paragraphs and will post again sometime. When I’m ready. First off, cold HANOI up north…..Then the long bus rides and innumerable pit stops to many many places on the way down south, ultimately ending the whole gamut in Saigon, now known as HO CHI MINH city . I know how bitin it is, and I'm strangling myself right now if it's any consolation....
Don’t blame me if this account will come in very patchy and far far in between episodes. I warned you how this is always my achilles heel...
