I'll have to say goodbye soon, but I wish this moment could be frozen in time. Standing in my grandparents backyard overlooking the rice fields, flag leaves now stained gold by the sun. The egrets still float the paddies and the sparrows still circle the skies. Inside ông ngoại sleeps in his hammock and bà ngoại fans herself while watching movies on her phone. The wind chime's faint jingles sing next to my ears.
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And thus concludes the last of my travels. I heard horror stories about the overnight train and even still I took the longest stretch, 35 hours give or take, from Hanoi to Saigon. What could’ve been a 2 hour plane ride turned into a multi-day endeavour. Whatever, you only get to live once.
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I've had so many failed social interactions at this point that honestly I think I'm immune to it being debilitating anymore, is this what progress looks like?
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DO NOT GO TO PLACES POPULAR WITH COUPLES BY YOURSELF, EVEN IF YOU ARENT LOOKING FOR A RELATIONSHIP, IT WILL MAKE YOU FEEL MISERABLE
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devhank
1 week ago
đồng ý (ko muốn ng quen ở mấy nơi kiểu vậy nhận ra mặt mình trước khi mình bay màu trc ;))
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I put my sketchbook and pens into a small plastic bag I got when I bought a seaweed flavoured snack and some mango gummies because I didn’t want to wear a backpack just to carry a sketchbook and pens. I didn’t end up drawing anything and walked along the beach for two hours until I got hungry.
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mekongred
2 weeks ago
Many hours later I wanted to head to a cafe and draw a little so I began looking through my room. Turns out I put it down and didn’t pick it back up, never to realise until I needed it. I started digging through my already fading memories of the day to find where I might have left it.
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mekongred
2 weeks ago
I’ve been resistant to speak any English throughout this trip preferring to blunt force my way through better Vietnamese, but as the restaurant picked up I could only find English coming out of my mouth. It wasn’t until they confirmed they had it did I speak Vietnamese again.
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mekongred
2 weeks ago
(just gonna start posting excerpts from posts because im too scared to write full entries because of how much my backlog is)
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im on a sleeper bus to da nang from da lat right now, cramped in a small bed, soft murmurs whisper from the cells behind me, loud conversations sound off between the drivers in front of me, my stomach hurts and my lips are dry.
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mekongred
2 weeks ago
Every few days I check neocities to see what the good people are doing, then I check to see if people suddenly hate me. Then I check myself to wonder what is wrong with me. Then I get over it. Not for long but for long enough.
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mekongred
2 weeks ago
All this is to say, I’m still trying. Trying to get better at talking, trying to care more, trying to be a better writer, all of these and many more, I’m still trying. So thank you for believing in my capacity to try.
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Ok i lied i am just as busy in the city as i am in the countryside, BUT, i will in a few days be spending many hours on a sleeper bus and hopefully i can get some writing done :)
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beginning to adjust to HCMC (DAMN!! IS IT BUSY), i might just do the updates for saigon as they come and trickle in the mekong delta entries as i write them
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mekongred
3 weeks ago
i dont think ive ever been pushed this outside of my comfort zone in my life, and its incredibly scary. rewarding when things go good, but debilitating when things go bad
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mekongred
4 weeks ago
finally updated, still 2 weeks behind entries, having a good time, hopefully when i get to HCMC ill have more time to write
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mekongred
4 weeks ago
still really devasted on the camera situation, hopefully i can find a card reader or a cable in the big city, my iphone 11 pictures arent cool AT ALL!!
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fearoffun
4 weeks ago
aww the frog :.D ur hu tieu looks so yumy..... please take more photos of food and have so much fun !!!! +_+
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plumeslegumes
3 weeks ago
i see those birds all the time and never thought to look up the species, that's cool!! ya learn somthing everyday. Ooo if u haven't tried bún bò huế yet please do it's my fav :]
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mekongred
1 month ago
finally UPDATED!! i'm behind but the rest will come soon (hopefully) also i forgot to bring the data adapter cable for my camera and so theres no photos from my camera until i get a cable AHHHHH, only shitty iphone 11 photos will do enough for now
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mekongred
1 month ago
my laptop is really bad and really slow so doing anything other than writing posts and adding pictures is kinda difficult, turns out keeping it charged and never shutting down for three years of university isn't good for its health
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I kinda did want to stay in Hanoi for a bit longer, mostly because I found a really cool café only a moments walk from my accommodation that I liked to go to at night, drink a latte and maybe eat a baked good while I pretend to draw and go on my phone.
I thought I got lucky and I would have the four-bed room all to myself but only after a few hours an older man probably older than my father but younger than my grandpa took the beds next to me. Then he offered me an orange and I found out we’re from the same province or at least my roots are. Maybe not so bad after all.
I’ll still be in Vietnam until April the 2nd so still a few more days to go and stave off the future.