Give Passion Life

Thanksgiving is came to a close in Ha Noi. I spent it with Ryan (New Zealand), Ariel (Philippines), Amy (Australia), Terri (United States), Monique (New Zealand), and Jess (United States). We were served a traditional Thanksgiving meal at Jafa. There were a few extras like cauliflower, watermelon salad, and tomato soup that had Jess and I giving each other odd faces, but overall the food was great. Though the environment was completely different, Thanksgiving with this crew was great.

I had booked a tour earlier in the week to Halong Bay and it took off Friday morning. Halong Bay is a literally thousand of rock isles of the coast of Northern Vietnam. The tour started with a three hour bus ride to Halong where I got acquainted with the group I was going to spend the next few days with. It was a lot of young twenty-somethings from all over the world. Anna and Andre were from Canada, Matilde and Johanna from Denmark, Jason from the UK, and Conner and Kieren were from Ireland. They were nice lads.

The first night we boated over to Cat Ba Island. Cat Ba Island is one of the largest of the rock isles in Halong Bay and it happens to have enough horizontal surface to be inhabitable. The rock formation are incredible. This island boasts seemingly endless beauty that made us feel like we were walking around on the set of Jurassic Park.

After getting off the boat we were shuttled in a prison type bus to our hotel that was five dollars per night. After getting settled in our rooms and eating dinner we had some free time and a group of us headed to the beach. I started talking to one of the guys in the group named Andre and got to know his story a bit. He is 23, and has been traveling the world for just over two years. We were sitting on the beach talking, looking out into the sea with the glow of fishing boats illuminating some of the surrounding rock isles, and Andre says “Ya know, I just feel so lucky, I don’t have a degree, in fact this is my degree (travel), I have just a few possession, and not much money, and I get to see stuff like this (referring to our view) all around the world.” We continued to talk and our conversation moved to an email a friend had sent him two week prior. His friend had told him of all his recent success, a new Jaguar, new house, beautiful women, and yet he wrapped up his email telling Andre how miserable he is.

There could be a multitude of reasons that he was unhappy, but contrasting Andre and his friend, its hard to not make a point about those trying to keep up with the Joneses. Andre and I continued on this topic for a bit. He mentioned that when he talks to his sister she seems like an empty shell talking to him, acting so happy, but so superficial in asking him about his life. “It’s as if she is talking one of her students at school (she is a teacher) when she is asking me about my life”. I am not by any means indicting teachers or any other professions. Nor am I saying that Andre has everything figured out or everyone needs to travel. What I am saying, is so many people seem to be so caught up in the rat race that they sacrifice their passions and become near robots in pursuit of winning.

I was really glad to have met Andre, despite his age, his perspective rubbed off of me quite a bit. He’s educated by experiencing other cultures, and when he was telling me about leaving Canada to see the world he just said, “I thought, I want to do it? Why not?”

One a final note, I’ve met two sets of americans so far. Two! I’ve met at least 20 Canadians. It’s strange how confined our culture is. Happy trails my friends.

“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.” – James Michener

Noodle soup for breakfast and street food for lunch and dinner has been wearing on my palate. I could kill some Chipotle right about now. Instead I ordered a bacon sandwich with fries a small salad. I’m in Cafe Nola. It is another expat hangout. This place has 5 levels but all the levels are staggered so I can see 3 other levels from where I am sitting. There seems to be an abundance of great cafes in Hanoi. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I am spending it at a Cafe called Jafa for all the Thanksgiving fixings and bottomless wine. It is yet another expat hang that I went to Tuesday morning to watch Monday Night Football. I love being away from home but crave some football for sure.

So the salsa dancing didn’t go to well the other night. Apparently I was only good skilled enough to warrant 3 1/2 dances. And much of those dances were filled with laughter. So I went with Sofia and her friend Polish friend Anette to salsa lessons. It was an English speaking class taught by a German and a Bolivian. There were 11 total people and out of those I was the only native English speaker. I felt so cool. I started using crazy slang just to show off. Just kidding. It was so interesting to visualize this web of the languages that each person knew and how everyone communicated. The lessons were fun and I learned a great deal. I would love to be really good at one dance.

Well on a final note I lost my phone and my camera. I can deal without the camera but I had taken some pictures and video that I planned on using in blogs that don’t really translate without media. I’m sure I will have plenty in the future. I’m off to sleep for now. Cheers