Leaving Vietnam was easier than I thought it would be. Leaving Hue city, not as much. By the end of my time there, I had a life, a routine I enjoyed and friends. Our work towards the end was chaotic but even so, the farewells felt difficult emotionally and were full of small kindnesses. Souvenirs and parties and gifts and trips and banana pancakes. We visited our ever-kind and gracious coffee lady (and maybe used an open window in her house to drop a gift when the coffee shop was shut), we said bye to people at the Indian restaurant, we had farewell parties with staff at CORENARM and with people at our hotel (Khach San Duong Sat). Spending time with a lovely three-year old Suri made everything a lot more fun.
I went to Saigon and I have to say I did not look forward to the 2 days I had there. Simply because by this time I felt exhausted and unable to explore. I wished I had flown out directly to Delhi. A separate recommendation is to travel at the beginning of the field experience (but I will have a separate post about that). But I think the universe intervened because a friend I had made at a random school visit day at Humphrey works in Saigon. She and her partner invited me to an evening out and there I met another fun couple. The girl had lived in South India for 5 months and that was a fun evening that started at Aura restaurant and ended at a rooftop place. I am often socially awkward and I almost chickened out, worried I would be strange with new people, but I am very glad I went. People were kind and engaging and I had a great evening, debating about lots of things including how does it feel to be brown and travel in the world. I enjoyed the evening in a way I could not have alone. The rooftop view was gorgeous (as were the lychee martinis). The next day I went to my first friend's house. Her partner kindly offered to come get me on a bike and I saw Saigon from District 1 to District 7 in a way it is unlikely I would have by myself. We went over flyovers, we went through different streets, stopped at a fruit market, saw the landscape change from shops and offices to high-rise shiny buildings. The day was lovely, full of delicious Greek food and breezes in the house, swimming and sitting by the poolside, making sort-of-friends with a cat, coffee and conversations. By myself, I was at the stage where I would have slept in the room the whole day. I came home, packed and fell asleep.
I was flying back Malaysia Airlines and I would be lying if I said it didn't make me worry. I reached the airport almost 4 hours before the flight only to find they don't open their counters before 8 am. So much for planning! Checking-in was arduous with a lot of back and forth based on my overweight baggage (and unlike other airlines they did not allow a small suitcase as cabin baggage). I doubt I will fly them again ever, I am not impressed by the lack of consideration (even as the counter lady was polite). The Saigon airport had non-functional wi-fi and that was no fun. I fell asleep on a couple of seats (a first for me) and woke up just in time for boarding the flight. I saw the Grand Budapest Hotel and loved the movie. Such fun!
The Kuala Lumpur airport is fancy and fun as ever. I had almost four hours there and sat and played games, went online, listened to music and tried to drown out the rude Hindi conversations I was overhearing. I spent some time observing a cute toddler in a dress, fascinated by the moving walkway, her parents' love for her evident in every word and it made me happy. Having learned that even in Vietnam girls are loved less has made me sadder than I thought possible.
The flight home was long and fairly empty as well. My least favorite part were the returning honeymooners, sitting on the corner row with two seats. He put his head on her lap and his feet out in the aisle because of course, that is how you should sit in a plane. I have always though peeing in an Indian railways train is hard but I think peeing in an aircraft when it hits turbulence and you are caught there is also very challenging, if unique. For the first time in my life I was almost airsick subsequently.
I landed, we (I +family) had some chaos around which gates to meet, and then I was home. Only one gift broke and one liquid exploded. By this point, I couldn't care anymore. My packing (in the process of un-packing) elicited horrified gasps from everyone but I have been too tired to care. I was so disoriented the first day and am finally settling in. This staying-away and travel business can be taxing. All I want do is eat: dosas, paan, khichdi, kheer, golgappas, laddoos, barfi, saunf, biryani, bhindi, roti. I will leave too soon and for a few days I want to pretend I have some stable trajectory and am not zigzagging all over the world randomly.
I went to Saigon and I have to say I did not look forward to the 2 days I had there. Simply because by this time I felt exhausted and unable to explore. I wished I had flown out directly to Delhi. A separate recommendation is to travel at the beginning of the field experience (but I will have a separate post about that). But I think the universe intervened because a friend I had made at a random school visit day at Humphrey works in Saigon. She and her partner invited me to an evening out and there I met another fun couple. The girl had lived in South India for 5 months and that was a fun evening that started at Aura restaurant and ended at a rooftop place. I am often socially awkward and I almost chickened out, worried I would be strange with new people, but I am very glad I went. People were kind and engaging and I had a great evening, debating about lots of things including how does it feel to be brown and travel in the world. I enjoyed the evening in a way I could not have alone. The rooftop view was gorgeous (as were the lychee martinis). The next day I went to my first friend's house. Her partner kindly offered to come get me on a bike and I saw Saigon from District 1 to District 7 in a way it is unlikely I would have by myself. We went over flyovers, we went through different streets, stopped at a fruit market, saw the landscape change from shops and offices to high-rise shiny buildings. The day was lovely, full of delicious Greek food and breezes in the house, swimming and sitting by the poolside, making sort-of-friends with a cat, coffee and conversations. By myself, I was at the stage where I would have slept in the room the whole day. I came home, packed and fell asleep.
I was flying back Malaysia Airlines and I would be lying if I said it didn't make me worry. I reached the airport almost 4 hours before the flight only to find they don't open their counters before 8 am. So much for planning! Checking-in was arduous with a lot of back and forth based on my overweight baggage (and unlike other airlines they did not allow a small suitcase as cabin baggage). I doubt I will fly them again ever, I am not impressed by the lack of consideration (even as the counter lady was polite). The Saigon airport had non-functional wi-fi and that was no fun. I fell asleep on a couple of seats (a first for me) and woke up just in time for boarding the flight. I saw the Grand Budapest Hotel and loved the movie. Such fun!
The Kuala Lumpur airport is fancy and fun as ever. I had almost four hours there and sat and played games, went online, listened to music and tried to drown out the rude Hindi conversations I was overhearing. I spent some time observing a cute toddler in a dress, fascinated by the moving walkway, her parents' love for her evident in every word and it made me happy. Having learned that even in Vietnam girls are loved less has made me sadder than I thought possible.
The flight home was long and fairly empty as well. My least favorite part were the returning honeymooners, sitting on the corner row with two seats. He put his head on her lap and his feet out in the aisle because of course, that is how you should sit in a plane. I have always though peeing in an Indian railways train is hard but I think peeing in an aircraft when it hits turbulence and you are caught there is also very challenging, if unique. For the first time in my life I was almost airsick subsequently.
I landed, we (I +family) had some chaos around which gates to meet, and then I was home. Only one gift broke and one liquid exploded. By this point, I couldn't care anymore. My packing (in the process of un-packing) elicited horrified gasps from everyone but I have been too tired to care. I was so disoriented the first day and am finally settling in. This staying-away and travel business can be taxing. All I want do is eat: dosas, paan, khichdi, kheer, golgappas, laddoos, barfi, saunf, biryani, bhindi, roti. I will leave too soon and for a few days I want to pretend I have some stable trajectory and am not zigzagging all over the world randomly.
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