Saturday, May 25, 2013

Hello again world!

So here I am, back in Asia again.

For those of you who don't know, my childhood friend Patrick and I decided to embark on a 14 week adventure to Asia. We've been friends since third grade, when I first moved to California, and have stayed friends ever since. He's really easygoing, and I'm getting a lot better at it, so I think we make a good travel team. Seriously, it's day 45 right now, and we've bickered maybe once or twice? And resolved in 5 seconds later?

Right now, I'm sitting in a hostel in Ho Chi Minh City, in the south of Vietnam. We've just spent almost three weeks in this dichotomous country, and it is time to move on to Cambodia, lest we run out of time on this trip! It is amazing how time flies, and I can't believe we're almost halfway through this trip.

We've experienced the expat lifestyle of Hong Kong for 5 days, been treated wonderfully by [Patrick's] Taiwanese friends and family, relaxed in Filipino tropical paradise, and taken in sights, sounds, and emotions that make of the, for lack of better words, dichotomous country of Viet Nam.

So far, I have had an absolute blast, and have had virtually no homesickness (I thought this would be a recurring problem). I do miss my friends, but Facebook and iChat are quite helpful for keeping in touch halfway around the world.

I've learned quite a bit about myself this trip already, and am continuing to develop as a global citizen, and understanding how my brain works, and how I operate in a wide variety of circumstances. Needless to say I've already met quite a few cool people, and I'm really happy that I'm taking this trip with such a flexible, longtime friend - I really think knowing each other so well is quite helpful, and his go-with-the-flow attitude complements my efficiency-obsessed ethos. Especially as one of my 2013 goals is to be less efficient at life. Strange, but necessary, I think.

Anyway, without boring you too much more, I will get to the short-but-sweet point of this post:

Although I'm not blogging this trip officially, I am keeping a daily log of my travels, just some notes and a little commentary, so that I can better remember the details of this trip for the rest of my life! I have decided that I will post them here, as a brief blog of sorts. Do feel free to ask any questions you have, and of course, you can see my favorite pictures on Facebook (and if you want to see ALL of the pictures, as I only post my own personal favorites, we'll see what we can do...)

So until I next see you, peace and love from SE Asia, and if you're in Cambodia, Thailand, or Malaysia (or maybe Singapore, too), let's meet up!

<3 dacrON