Wow—I’ve been meaning to write an update for a while now, and I just realized that my last post was at Christmas! Before leaving, I thought that keeping a blog would be a nice way to process all the new experiences and share them with family and friends, but I’m realizing that I’m not really a verbal (or public) processor. Through this process of cultural transition, I’m experiencing more and more my need for space and alone time to think and try to make sense of so many new experiences, challenges, questions, and interactions. Sometimes the idea of sitting and writing about everything seems more draining than the experiences themselves! But because I REALLY want to stay connected with you all at home and share with you like I would if we were together (or at least attempt to), I’ll try to be better about writing 🙂
I’ve been here for seven months so far, and I am just now starting to feel like I know what I’m doing…or at least kind of know. I’m beginning to notice things I didn’t notice before and feel more part of the flow of everyday life rather than just an observer. One huge factor in that was a trip I took in February.
I went with four other Americans to central Vietnam (Phong Nha, Hue, and Hoi An). One Thursday evening after class, we took the southbound overnight train and spent almost a week travelling.
In Phong Nha, we stayed at a lovely little farmstay surrounded by red dirt roads and rice paddies.
While there, we ventured into the caves at Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park and enjoyed the fresh air and gorgeous views. We weren’t able to go into this cave, though.
My favorite part of Phong Nha was visiting a semi-wild primate area. German primatologists have set up the area at the national park as a rescue for endangered primates traded illegally in Asia.
There, they are able to transition back into a life in the wild. Anyway, our directions for getting there were to bike through a small village, turn right, look for a mountain that looks like a camel’s back, then turn left. After a few wrong turns and many muddy roads, we found it. Everybody we talked to said we probably wouldn’t see any of the monkeys because of the rainy weather, but we did! After trekking around the perimeter of the mountain, we found a group of them and had a good enough view to watch them swinging in the trees and leaping along the side of the mountain.
It was a fun adventure, and I loved getting to see the beautiful scenery as we went!
On our way to Hue, we drove through the DMZ and stopped to see a system of tunnels where people lived during the war with America. The area was the most heavily bombed area during the war, so we saw many craters serving as a reminder of the not-so-distant history.
Then we arrived in Hue, the former imperial capital of Vietnam that sits along the Perfume River.
We stayed there for day—long enough to visit the old imperial city, walk around town a bit, and visit a small café where the owner takes these gorgeous photographs portraying life in Vietnam.
At night, the old town was lit up with lanterns along the river. Beautiful!
Seeing different parts of the country led me to a new realization (that should have been obvious from the get-go). For my first six months here, I had been equating Hanoi with Vietnam–that’s about as ridiculous as thinking all of America is just like New York City. I didn’t realize it while it was happening, but many of the challenges from the beginning of my time here were in adjusting to life in a big city, and not necessarily adjusting to life in a new country (although that was definitely a huge part of it). Seeing more of the country helped me to understand the culture and the people just a little bit more–and I came back to Hanoi refreshed and actually feeling ready to return!