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Greetings from Vietnam!
Other | Tuesday 21st January 2014 | Natasha
Simplicity can be one of the most beautiful things in the world. A few years ago, a few friends and I decided we wanted to travel the world. Fast forward a year, a lot of long working hours and hardcore saving I find myself sat in Bangkok airport. The departure lounge was filled with adventures alike, all on their own journeys. About to board my plane the sun, shining through the window, warms my arm and just as I look up to smile back my number is called out as the plane is ready to board. Several hours later I arrived in Vietnam, greeted by three welcoming familiar faces.
It was Thursday, 2nd January 2014. I’ll forever remember this day because I experienced a new type of feeling – they call it, ‘culture shock’, I was in complete culture shock. To cross a road in England is normally a straightforward process. Stop, look left, look right, cross. To cross a road in Vietnam, however, you need to have some sort of two week intensive training course that’s finalised with a certificate. There is a matter of split second gaps that you need to keep an eye out for in order to reach the other side, but once you’ve reached there is some strange sense of achievement. We only spent a matter of 24 hours (which was enough) in the hectic city of Hanoi.
20 (plus) hours on a sleeper bus later, we arrived in a more relaxed and quieter town of Hoi-An. Hoi-An is a very peaceful part of Vietnam, the people are relaxed and friendly – later I would find just how their behavior and their friendly attitudes would be a testament to them as people. The Guesthouse we stayed in was quiet and quaint and acted as a gateway to a river. The room’s standard, as expected, and came complete with two courtesy pets, Dave and Frank – the lizards.
Literally laughing our way through Hoi-An, we road our rented bikes through the town and explored all it had to offer. That same night we decided to check out the Vietnam nightlife. Usually used to a warehouse rave in East London we went in search of music that would keep our spirits lifted. We were the only English people in the ‘Backpackers Bar’, a lot of Americans and Australians and some other Europeans filled the venue. The one thing that stood out most to me – and I will always believe this to be true: music is a universal language. It doesn’t matter where you are from, what you do, or who you are because when you feel that beat, or you hear that track, you unite together.
Four days passed us by and we found ourselves back at the bus station with another 13 hour journey to Nah Trang. Sleep eyed, after taking a sleeping tablet (something that is deemed necessary in order to make such a trip bearable) we arrived on Nah Trang ground. First impressions: not as fast as Hanoi, but louder the Hoi-An. After a good meal later we decided to try out the ‘Sailing Club’ and definitely ended up representing the UK – something which we later ended up doing several times with some serious shapes and one or two dance circles/offs. Well, we were doing good until we nearly got kicked out when we thought it would be a good idea to use the tables as our performance stages -I blame the bucket of mixers they sale for a ridiculously cheap price.
The club itself was half inside and out, with huge king size beds that acted as pillars leading you towards the dance floor. Walk further and you’ll find the rest of the club is outside on the beach where the DJ was playing his set from a huge raised stage and the night stars act as your ceiling. The music, well, after a few drinks was fine. Being a hip-hop head, lover and writer I was excited to hear the instantly recognisable intro of a Dre track, but then they remix it with some sort of shit that leaves you feeling like someone stole your drop, literally. Why do they do that?
We didn’t come travelling to party the whole experience away, collectively, we wanted to learn and soak up cultures that were unknown to us. After all, we are all human beings on the same planet and we all share the same desire. What we do day-in and day-out is ultimately for the same purpose: The pursuit of happiness, we just have different paths that we follow in order to get there.
Although fairly recent, we didn’t know a whole lot about the Vietnam War so we decided to educate ourselves. The Vietnam War museum took me on an emotional journey through a part of history unknown to me. Just like the feeling you get when listening to that track that moves you, the images and words overwhelm you with a feeling of sadness, but followed shortly by inspiration. The Vietnamese people were tortured and suffered in ways you couldn’t imagine, but they came out the other side asking only for peace. Their history and pain will forever stay in their hearts, but the importance of living, once again, in harmony is stronger than living with hatred that will be too heavy to carry. A true reflection of the Vietnamese people. ‘Sometimes you just have to start again in order to fly.’
Vietnam has taught me a number of things: there is a huge and important lesson to learn between the difference in your wants and needs – the simplicity of a ‘need’ is much greater than the (sometimes) greed of a ‘want.’ I believe in humanity – seeing images of people all around the world that protested, and even sacrificed their own lives in order to protect the people of Vietnam humbled me in ways I could never explain. And finally, if you take time out and stop. You’ll see life really is beautiful.
Dedicating this first post to Katie Helms, Hayley Baxter and Katie Skelton – the three amazing women I’m sharing this adventure with.
Natasha Artwell.
