My days in Vietnam

My Vietnam coffee, my journal and the dock in front of me..

I have to enter Vietnam in order to extend my visa. As I am holding on to a multiple entry Chinese visa, I need to get out of China every 2 months in order to extend my stay here. Thankfully it is my fourth time here, and I am actually quite used to the Vietnamese culture and food,

Here, let's talk about my stay over in Vietnam. Vietnam is so much different from China. I can see so many foreigners walking on the streets, and there were so many of them that half the population on the streets is a not a local. Though I looked very much like a Vietnamese myself (the Asian look), when I open my mouth to speak, my identity was exposed.

I appreciate the hot weather over here in Vietnam because I was here during late Jan and early Feb, which is the winter season in China. Finally, I can walk through the streets of Hoi An, wearing shorts and t-shirts, exposing my snow white legs in the hope to make them darker. I felt so light once again, without all the layers of clothes wrapping around me. Maybe that’s the reason why there were so many tourists in Vietnam during this season. I guessed they must have come here to escape from the bitter cold winter (like migratory birds huh?).Well, I enjoyed walking along the crampy streets of the old town in Hanoi and Hoi An. it has been quite a while since I saw sea. Ever since I arrived in China, I am only exposed to lakes and rivers, but not the sea.

Whooo, I love the sea. I love beaches. And being here in Vietnam really makes me as happy as a bird.

I was sipping my Vietnamese drip coffee at one of the street shop just beside a dock, at Huong river in Hoi An old town. Sitting down, drinking coffee, reading book and writing journal are some of my favourite past time here. I enjoy just sitting down and watching the world past by me, I like people-watching. I am fascinated at how people from different part of the world living their lives so differently from mine. My life as a typical urban Singaporean, compared to a Vietnamese dessert street-vendor... that is so different! Yet sometimes, I envied their lifestyles. That simple with no frills. All they just need is to sell as many bowls of desserts as possible in order to earn a living.This can be quite a busy dock. Activities are filled at every corner: There were vegetable sellers shouting some unknown languages and bargaining with the housewives; Fishermen were there weighing the sleek slivery fishes on the weighing scale; Hawkers walking up and down carrying a bamboo pole across their shoulders with 2 big baskets of fruits at each end of the pole.

Negotiation going on...

The boat is a mean of transport for the locals who stayed at the opposite coast. It was loaded with bicycles and students and will leave once it is filled. Every where is so noisy and people were very busy with their different lives. Things keep going on around me, and I am like watching a live 3D documentary movie with surround sound system.

Although my surroundings are filled with noises and movement of people, I am still. I felt peace inside me and its like I am watching the world goes past me. How I wish I can always be in this position, as an outsider, watching my surrounding. As I looked back at my time spent in Singapore, I am just as busy as these hawkers, fumbling with my work, rushing for time and meeting agenda. I am in the picture and not outside the picture. Now that being in this position where I am, I am able to see more and think more.

Noises just filled the space around me but not in me. It was so quite that I can hear my own breathing and my heart beating.