As I have my last breakfast here in Hanoi and my last meal in Vietnam, I am full of so many thoughts. One more stroll down one of Hanoi’s pleasant avenues is all I have time for now. I said my goodbyes to my fellow travelers and we promised to meet in the future in Australia, the United States or somewhere in between. I lamented having to say goodbye to Anh, my Vietnamese friend and tour guide. I grew to call Anh a friend and the hug he gave me when we said goodbye indicated to me that he felt the same way. It felt good inside.
It seems impossible at this time for me to think about what I will remember most about my time in Vietnam. My mind is full of so many experiences that have helped me grow so much in such a short period of time. However, when it comes down to it, it is pretty simple. It is the people.
Vietnam is a beautiful and special country but it is the people that I will remember the most. There was Twuy, the woman and her son that befriended me at the Internet shop in Hoi An, Mimi in Hue and the woman on the boat in Halong Bay. There was Quien and Ly and a host of others in Saigon including my cyclo driver. I will remember the smiling children on the side of the road outside of the floating fishing village we visited and will not soon forget the smile and wicked laugh of the “mad monk” in Dalat.
There is one unified Vietnam but there are two very different regions within this country. There is the North and the vastly different South. Regardless, the people throughout the country are extremely hard working. They do an excellent job of farming every portion of land that hints at having any fertility whatsoever and they do it proudly.
Vietnam is a poor country that was held back due to the fact that it was caught in the middle of a capitalist – communist show of strength by superpower countries that had no real concern for the welfare of the country or its people. Whether it was France, the United States, the Soviet Union or China, none of these countries had any real concern for Vietnam or its people. Their interests in the region at that time simply happened to coincide perfectly with finding a nation that was divided and ripe to be used as a tool to propagate their views. They all used Vietnam and they will always be indebted to it in some way.
When I left for my trip to Vietnam, I didn’t know what to expect or whether I would like or understand the things I would see and experience. Now as I prepare to depart back to my home, I look forward to returning some day to recapture past memories but mostly to see the changes this welcoming and rapidly evolving country will undoubtedly continue to undergo.
I will never forget my first trip to Asia, and it will not be my last. I almost feel like someone has dissected my brain, shaken it really hard and placed it back inside my head. The pictures of people working in rice fields with water buffalos or using the street for every conceivable type of business will remain vivid and will hopefully never fade. They are engrained in my memory. Driving through the country allowed me to see things I never would have witnessed if I flew or took trains. I learned much from my travel companions, and as a result, I can now truly say that I have friends to visit in the ‘Land Down Under’.
I definitely learned a thing or two about life from 75 year old Sebastian and 79 year old Claire. I hope to follow the script they provided me with when I am older and retired some day. People assume that you can’t do things but in reality you can do anything you want. It is all about your perspective.
Live it. Enjoy it. See the world. Don’t wait to die.
I will use what I have learned from them in my life. I don’t have a choice because that is the only way that I know how to live. The smiling faces of the Vietnamese and the contentment they have are another life lesson that I will take with me.
Be happy with what you have instead of always focusing on what you think you need.
And smile because you are alive.
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