Oh, the beauty of simplicity

Spending 10 days in central Vietnam was blissful and definitely put many things in perspective for me. I thoroughly enjoyed traveling and sightseeing the beauty of nature in the countryside that I have never encounter in my life.  Born into the city life, I did not experience the farm life with the miles long rice fields and leafy green trees that stretches across to the ends of the sky.  I always ponder on what my life would be like if my family never left Vietnam and stayed in the countryside with my grandparents.  Would I be able to receive the same education that I am lucky enough to acquire right now?  Or will I be working in a field or shop to barely make it through the week with no bright future?  It makes me ponder and wonder all the possibilities that my fate may have been if and only if… 

Our first stop was Quy Nhon, a little lovely city with less commercialized beach and heavy tourism.  A peaceful town that I adore its infinite ‘sinh to’ street vendors and ‘com ga’ that are out of this world delicious! Although the night life is much quieter than the craziness of Hanoi’s nights, I still enjoy the beach and its giant wide streets where people can walk or sit to have a drink with friends. There were less automobile and less motorbikes in the streets. MELLOW is the word I would describe the city of Quy Nhon. The hotel was the most elegant hotel I have stayed in which is position on the beach with swimming pool, which all of us swam happily in the humid weather. 

However, I think the biggest impact for me during the trip would be the home stay in the Bahnar village up in the mountainside.  The 1.5 hour hike through the mud and narrow paths were intense because I never hike that far in my life! However, it was not that bad after we finally arrived to our destination.  The view was breathtaking and shocking because the greenness of nature was like waves in the ocean, swallowing us up without a hesitation.  We were like ants climbing the mound of dirt in some respect.  It was rigorous but it was worth it in the end! We enjoyed the feast prepared for us with 2 liter of green rice wine! After devouring bamboo shoots, wild boar, chicken, and rice wrapped in bamboo along with other the delicious dishes, we saw and participated in a gong ceremony. Life in the village was very simple and everything was on the basic needs.  No demands for new technology. No ipods, fancy clothes, lavish furniture, and any other excessive material goods.  It got me thinking about what do we really need NEED in our lives to make us happy?  Why do people rely on material goods to make them happy? How long does that last?  Is being progressive and being advance to simply means acquiring more technology and expensive things?  People in the village seem more than content with their lives and the children are outside playing until pitch darkness creep into the night.  On the contrary, the children in the city are sucked into playing videogames and sitting in front of the computer and TV like zombies.  Sadly, I cannot lie that I was happy to be back in a more comfortable space – a hotel with a shower and mattress bed.  Nevertheless, I think living in excessive of good really spoil people to neglect to appreciate all the basic needs that people really just need. 

Our next stop after the Bahnar village in Kum Tom was Da Nang. It was a pretty city but I was not too fond of the city itself. I actually enjoyed the spaces around it such as Hoi An – tailor village – and Cham Islands along with Cham museum and old structures on the outskirt of the city.   I was in Hoi An for the mid autumn festival and it was very lively with many lion dances and people walking the streets.  Cham Island among of the most memorable moment in Central trip! It was like living on a paradise with no one around but us! Snorkeling around the islands and swimming the transparent crystal clear water! It was a great day fill with fun and delicious seafood for lunch! To top it off, a nap on a hammock with a slight breeze was the icing on the top of the trip to the Cham Island. 

Hue is the center of food GALORE! The best thing about the trip over all must be the food because they were all so tasty in comparison to the blandness of Ha Noi’s food. I love the spices and flavorful of every bite in the dishes.  The first night in the city, we went food hopping and end up trying around 10 dishes on the streets of Hue and they were AMAZING!  It ended with food coma on my behalf because I was stuffed with yummy delicates. How can I NOT?

Touring around Hue was an interesting experience because we went to see many tombs of the old kings of the Nguyen dynasty as well as pagodas.  The most peaceful pagoda that I’ve seen is probably the one where we had lunch prepared by the nuns.  I had a hands-on experience with the daily chore of washing the dishes for over 30 people and it was rigorous and tiring! It is a peaceful place for me to reflect on everything in my life and how nice it is to just take a step back from the hectic city life that I am costumed to.  It really puts me in perspective of time and how the western culture place so much emphasis in scheduling every hour of their day accordingly. “Time is money,” is the most common quote that we use in the western hemisphere but then again, I question is money everything?  From the time we wake up to the time we go to bed, do we take the time to appreciate our surrounding and what is present in front of us or do we only seek for the future benefits?  We keep seeking for this farfetched future benefits that we missed out on enjoying the journey to reach it.  On the contrary to this idea, the eastern culture and what not do not place as much importance with time—seeing it as flexible mechanism that can be alter in correspondence to the value of time being spent by one.  Hence, people’s lives are not strenuously bound to time rather time is the boss over their lives.  

Live, Learn, Love.

Live outside the boundaries, Learn to understand & appreciate, and Love life for its simplicity.