Back to Reality

The Forbidden Purple City, Hue

After almost 3 months of travelling around China, Vietnam and Hong Kong we are now on our way back to China to start our new job and the next year of our life. It feels really good to be going back to China, and I'm really looking forward to having my own room and finally unpacking all my stuff again, but it also means coming back to reality and work. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to get to Yinchuan, meet our new friends for the next year, and to start teaching again but it is going to be a change of pace.

For the last 10 weeks we've been working on our own schedule and pretty much doing what we like, when we like; and the freedom is fantastic!

An Bang beach, Hoi An

In Vietnam we wound our way down from Hanoi to Hoi An, via Hue and Da Nang, in a perfect combination of culture and relaxing beaches. Vietnam is a beautiful country and some of the beaches are truly stunning. In Hoi An we went to An Bang beach, supposedly one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, and it didn't disappoint. Miles of white sand meeting an impossibly blue sea with green islands sitting comfortably on the horizon; a little piece of paradise by anyone's estimation...that is until the sun went down. In typical Asian opinion pale is beautiful and so while the Westerners laze on the beaches in the blazing sun, the Vietnamese wait until the sun is going down to descend on the beach in hoards. By the time 5pm hit, the beaches evolve from a serene paradise to a sea of Vietnamese shouting and splashing around; a stark contrast but it's also fun to see how the locals enjoy their beaches.

One of the nicest things about our time in Vietnam was how relaxed it was, we got in our fair share of culture in the form of the Forbidden Purple City in Hue (a mini and equally beautiful imitation of the Forbidden city in Beijing), the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) tour and the ancient My Son ruins in Hoi An (I have never seen so many phallic statues in one place, nor have I ever seen phallic statues being so enthusiastically talked about and stroked), but we also did a lot of wandering, shopping and generally lazing in the sun. Hoi An was a particularly lazy few days, the combination of a beautiful ancient town, amazing beaches, and a pool at our hostel made the whole atmosphere completely relaxed. The highlight of the time in Hoi An, and perhaps in Vietnam in general, was a trip to the Morning Glory restaurant. Morning Glory is said to be the best restaurant in Vietnam, and I could easily believe that; the premise behind the food is traditional Vietnamese street food elevated to the next level and it was all ridiculously good. Five of us managed to get a table without a reservation (no mean feat we later realised) and decided to go for the 'order as much as we can and share' approach, which turned out to be an excellent idea. With every new dish that was brought out and tasted our levels of giddy excitement rose to a point of almost delirium, the food was really that good. The best part though, although the bill looked terrifying (any bill that comes to a 6 figure total is scary) a favourable exchange rate meant that the entire meal – that left us rolling to the bar area – cost us less than £10 each, including wine! A true culinary success for all involved. I also had a 'wow it really is a small world' moment in Morning Glory when I bumped into a couple who I'd been talking to on Instagram during our travels; it's a weird moment when you see people you've only ever seen on a screen in real life! But that's the great thing about Instagram, blogs and the general online community – you can communicate with people who you think that you will never meet in real life, and most of them you won't, but when you do it's great to be able to connect an online person with a real life person.

A statue of fallen comrades on the DMZ tour

I had an amazing time in Vietnam and it is definitely a country that I want to go back to and to finish exploring. It is beautiful, manic, and very importantly has a delicious cuisine. Despite all the Western tourists and slightly 'gap yah' feel in some places (not necessarily a bad thing), Vietnam seems to have maintained it's sense of self and culture. The communist feel is stronger than in China, or at least it seemed that way to me, loud speakers in the street played music and speeches every afternoon (even on the beach), posters with the iconic style and imagery of a communist state are common and Uncle Ho is ever present, but this just adds to the country's uniqueness and fascination.

Looking back it is amazing how much we have managed to see and do in the time we had and, as cheesy as it sounds, I feel very lucky to have been able to do it. It's a real joy to be 22, living abroad, and to have job that you love and that allows you travel and experience so many amazing things. Teaching is fun and amazing in so many ways but one of the major draws for me was, and continues to be, the freedom to work and travel at the same time. The ability to live in a completely different culture, not as a passer-by but as a part of the community. For the time being this is the dream situation, maybe one morning I'll wake up and think that I want to be back in London and in a stable 9 to 5 job with a steady progression path, but until that day arrives I'm going to keep appreciating (and trying to make the most of) the job and lifestyle I have now.

My Son ruins, Hoi An

My Son ruins, Hoi An