Recap

17 juni 2018 - Cẩm Sơn, Vietnam

I am pretty sure that today was the first time since uhm, well actually since forever that I was seriously considering to type this piece of work in Dutch. I don’t know why. Considering everything it actually is kind of a weird moment to have this thought. First of all for the first time in forever I am surrounded by English speaking people only, secondly, the only time I speak Dutch is when I’m talking to my friends back home on What’s app or Messenger and thirdly... Well, there isn’t a thirdly. Is that even a word? Sounds Weird.. Okay, focus Kai... In the end I decided it had to be English, because otherwise at least half of my fans can’t understand the shit I’m typing. So this blog is for those fifteen people. You’re welcome!

By the way, am I the only one or where you guys also singing that catchy Frozen-song when you read the passage in the third sentence?! No? Well, I’m probably playing too many Disney songs then.

It’s been a while since I reached out to you guys. I can’t even remember the last time and place where I enlightened you with a story. So, although I try to avoid this kind of writing, I am going to do a little recap. Keyword is “Vietnam”. Man oh man what is this country awesome. I mean Thailand was “okay”. As no one does, I loved Bangkok, I enjoyed Chang Mai and I hated Pai. Not instantly, but mainly after I got really sick and spend three days in bed. Laos gave me back my faith in Asia and Asian food and on top of that I met the most awesome group of people. They gave the saying “friends make your trip” a new meaning. After saying good bye to Laos and nearly surviving a thirty hour (!!) bus trip to Hanoi, the journey through the country I was looking forward to so much could start. 

I don’t know what the reason is that I was so excited about Vietnam. Maybe it were the stories of people I met while traveling, it could also have been all the things I read about this country before I came here or maybe it was due to the fact that I learned so much about the history of this country when I had to study the topic of the Vietnam war in sixth grade of High School. Thing is, I had high expectations.

And the thing with high expectations is that it can go horribly wrong or amazingly good. I could give you guys a drumroll now to make this moment extra exciting, but I sort of gave it away already. Vietnam has been amazingly good so far. And it probably will be amazingly good for the last week and a half as well. Why do I know that already? Well first of all, because I am a boy/young man with a really positive mind-set. So when I say it will be amazingly good it just will be. Second of all, history tends to repeat itself so, well, it will. And last of all, a lot of good things are happening in these last couple of days: the World Cup has just started, the build up to the Tour de France is real, the people around me will be there till Ho Cho Minh from where I will fly to Bangkok, there are beaches, there is a sea, there are a lot of new and fun people and to top all of this there is a lot of good food around here. Ergo, it will be good. 
Pause! We are heading for the beach and I’m surrounded by nice people so I’m gonna socialize. 

Unpause! We are two days further now. It’s a cloudy Sunday (yes, I had to look up what day it was) and me and the boys are chilling in the hostel. At 5 pm our bus to the Ninhvana hostel close to Nha Thrang will leave and I finally had a peaceful moment again to finish what I started.

Where was I? Oh yea, a rare recap. So what happened so far and more important why is Vietnam so amazingly good. First of all there was the North. Apart from the fact that they know there that “winter is coming” (although I doubt if they really say that out there) it is a beautiful and off the grid piece of Vietnam. Sleeping and eating at a local’s house in a valley filled with rice fields, motor biking 400 km in three days and after all of these intense adventures having some quality time on a island in a stunning and world famous bay. Doesn’t sound that bad, does it?

With the days passing by quite fast because of all the cool things we do, the day that my trip will end is also coming closer. Ten days and twelve when I started typing this blog. Ten days on almost fourteen months. Seems like nothing. It is nothing. But still, I will enjoy every single one of them. 

For those who are wondering if I’m sad about leaving I can be really clear: NO! I mean can you give me one good reason why I should be sad after everything I have experienced? I mean the things I did, the people I met, the things I discovered about myself, the confidence I gained, the goals I have set, the places I have seen and so on and so on. I did that, I enjoyed it, most of it I caught on camera and in the end I will take all of that home with me and it will shape me into the person I am and will be. So why be sad? 

Apart from that philosophical talk (a.k.a. “crap” according to some people) I am honestly really looking forward to go back home. It was for good reasons that I decided to book my ticket back home about six months ago. First off all traveling should be about exploring, enjoying and learning and I had the feeling I couldn’t do that anymore for much longer. And second of all, I felt that it was time to face the challenges and goals I set for myself once I would be back home. This trip gave me time to think about myself and my future and as soon as I knew what I wanted (at least for the coming one or two years) I wanted to live up to those plans. I wanted to put myself out there again for other people, for society, in a different way then I did while traveling. I wanted to suffer, fail and succeed again. I wanted to “do” instead of “be”. 
So yea, I’m not sad at all. I’m excited, nervous, thrilled and scared again. But all in a good way.  It’s time for a new chapter in the book of life and I’m massively looking forward to writing it. 

And you know, to write a new chapter you have to finished the last, hence the recap. See, I knew I would find you guys a logical explanation for writing my first ever recap in a year! 

Cheers, and I see you (or at least some of you) soon!

Kai

Van reisblog naar fotoboek
Laat een prachtig fotoboek afdrukken van je verhalen & foto's. Al vanaf € 21,95.
reisdrukker.nl

2 Reacties

  1. Karel van de Wiel:
    17 juni 2018
    You've found (new) eagerness to do en be Kai. Love you.
  2. Ad en angeliwue:
    17 juni 2018
    Hallo Kai. Bedankt voor het delen van je reiservaringen. Ik heb er van genoten. Geniet nog van de laatste dagen in het mooie Vietnam. Groetjes