Good Morning Vietnam

I am in Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh to be exact. Since my last update, I stayed a few days in Cairns with not much to report. I didn't dive, I just kinda hung out and got a few things out of the way before flying to Darwin and then to Vietnam. Darwin was kinda cool. I met some cool people that I hung out with while I was there. The first night I there there was a festival going on. Every Thursday night during the dry season they have a big party in a close by park. Go for sunset (the dust in the air during the dry season makes them awesome), stay for food, music, and fireworks (things that explode into flames are perfect ways to celebrate the DRY season). Lastly, I got everything I needed straightened out and even looked for books on chi/psi/qigong, but didn't find anything worthwhile.
Then, I jumped a flight and got in late last night. I shared a taxi with some old dude who got kinda clingy and wanted to hang out with me. Thankfully, it took a good long while to find a place to stay because it is apparently a national holiday weekend celebrating the end of the American War (kinda awkward). I did find a place, thanks to the help of a hotel owner who was full (I'm using their computers to type this too). I walked around a bit and grabbed some pho. Lots of prostitutes...
OK, so after one night and one full day, here are my first impressions: I hate it. Just joking. I can tell that I am going to love it. The people are sooo friendly. They go out of their way to help. Even when they are working.

There are lots of new things to try.
One of the hardest things is going to be getting food. Not because there is a bunch of stuff scary food - I'm up to try a lot of stuff. The reason is, I have no idea what it's called or what I'm supposed to order.
My last first impression is that it is extremely odd seeing all these old white dudes here for the sole purpose of getting a much younger Vietnamese girlfriend. It's really disturbing.

I've been reading Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel again. I took it with me because it is incredibly inspirational. It's a super romantic look at travel. You know how you'll get shivers with certain songs. I've been getting shivers reading this book. In fact, even more so the second time around because I'm actually living the book, at least to some degree. What I mean by that is that I'm not quite vagabonding; I'm a Long Termer (see Traveling Techniques for more detail). One big thing about vagabonding is that, in it's essence, is a way of reclaiming the most important thing that we were ever given; time. And in order to become truly wealthy, in order to get back mass amounts of the most precious commodity on earth, we need to slow down. Racing around fills time, and it doesn't give you any time. Esp. not to appreciate the small little details that make life fun, like the chance smile from a stranger and sharing a joke about what someone's food resembles (it was poo) even though it was in a language you don't understand. These little minute details will be missed if you are busy. Getting a little side-tracked here. Where I was going, was that, even though I am traveling for a year, I am doing it an incredible pace.
I make this recommendation, do not plan your own trip to move as quickly as mine. One thing that you must understand is that I absorb, digest, and assimilate visual information at a pace much faster than most. That's probably why I'm so good with directions. For me, this travel works. In fact, if I stay somewhere more than a few days, I start to get restless. I can go for a long period of time this way and not get burnt out. I guarantee that you will not be able to keep my pace. I have always been this way, so I've had plenty of time to get used to it. When I was a child, I used to force my mom to take a different way to and from school everyday. I also operate on a favorites basis, which means that I move fast and find places that are my "spots" that I revisit and spend time at. I had about 5 of those around home. However, this raises an interesting challenge, which will work well in SE Asia since I don't really have a ton of stuff I want to do and see in Vietnam (my main objective here is to just absorb) and distances aren't as large here. Part of traveling is personal growth. Yes, I've grown in many subtle ways. And yes, I have challenged myself here and there. However, the challenges were more haphazardly just part of being on the road in rural areas and I haven't officially come across a personal challenge. The challenge to myself is that when I find somewhere interesting over the next few months, I am going to stay there for over a week. Doesn't seem that hard does it? Consider the above about me, and that the longest I stayed in one place was 6 days in Alter De Chao.

On other topics, one of the funnier things I've been hearing has been, when people ask if I want a picture of myself somewhere and I say "no", they ask, "don't you want proof that you were there?" It makes me laugh every time. I ask first ask, "do I need proof?" and "who am I proving this to?" Based on the answers I've received, the general idea that these people need some sort of validation. For some it's from their friends, and in their head, whether their friends give a shit or not, if they aren't in the picture, their friends can deny that these people ever saw/did these things. Others need it from themselves and again (and even stranger), that if they aren't in them, it's not beyond a shadow of a doubt. Who knows, maybe they're scared that they'll get Alzheimers and not be able to put it together that they were there if they aren't in them, but there's obvious plot holes in that one. Or maybe to show to their children, but that seems the same to me as the friends one above.
The whole question is somewhat akin to not understanding how I am traveling alone cause I don't have anyone with whom to share in the experiences. For me, as it is for the whole doing shit alone thing, I don't need others for validation. I know I did these things, whether I have pictures of it or not and I don't give a shit if someone doesn't believe it. I can't even imagine what it would feel like to give a shit. My pictures are of things that I find interesting and me being in them takes away from the whole thing I found interesting enough to take the picture of in the first place (because I'm so stunningly beautiful). I guess to a much lesser extent they are to serve as a memory jogger, but many of the most memorable things I never got a photo of. To these people, not only is it annoying to take photos of you for you, but it's also annoying that you want to take them of me for me. If you find yourself doing this everywhere (including group photos), stop and think about what real purpose it's serving. Be gentle on yourself though.

PS - I can eat lettuce again.