#todayithought

#humantravel...

An extract from my note #abouttoday...

"#imangry about the amount of water I've already had to leave behind at security check points, I let go of the full- unopened bottle of water, went through the body scanner thing- it beeped- he directed me to her- she felt me up or patted me down [or whatever it's called] and I'm not sure why but I laughed and she said sorry... 
I like that the sounds are foreign, that english is not the first language heard over the speaker and the music is not familiar. It's strangely comforting to me that the majority of us sitting here don't seem to be from western countries. You'd think I might feel out of place but I just feel like another human and I like that..."

#welcomtovietnam...

an extract from my notes #abouttoday...

"Anh asked around to try and find witnesses while i sat in silence at the police station. no one saw anything or as he put it "they only see what they want to see"...
while the bare footed police men were smoking and laughing and questioning, Anh, a Vietnamese stranger i had met through our common enjoyment of bubble tea, sat with me for hours translating my iphone theft report. i spent the majority of the time in silence and there were moments of complete silence- the police officers looking at me and me looking back at them and in those moment we all thought alike and our thoughts were loud and i knew what we were all thinking "what are you doing here?" 

Yet none of this was enough to make me feel as uncomfortable as to get upset about it- i find its not so much the physical thing that gets taken from you that effects you but the experience that is given in exchange that stays with you; replying that moment over and over in your mind, wondering what you could have changed, wondering why humans do these things to each other.
Realizing that although you're just trying to be a human someone will always see you as a number or a piece of paper, a rain drop or a tiny needle and then you feel the weight of being nothing and it makes you forget for a moment why you try...

i looked at flights to hanoi, i dont know what im doing or where im going and my only plan is to continue to let myself be moved by #thehumanexperience... #whoneedsaniphoneanyway right? [i really miss my music...]

#justfortoday...

#abouttoday...

"i decided to indulge myself into a false sense of security by being herded like cattle on one of those classic tourist tours, for a day trip to My Tho and Unicorn Island. A two and a half hr journey from Ho Chi Minh by bus. The landscapes i saw were colorful and disturbing and stunning and since mental pictures where now the only way i could capture moments, i was attempting, more than ever, to just be there and take it all in. The herd was made up of 3 Germans, 4 English, 2 Israelis, 3 Americans, 2 French, 4 Vietnamese and 1 Australian [#me]. After 2 bus trips, 6 wooden boat rides, a canoe trail, 3 islands and not one unicorn in sight...[clearly false advertising] i agreed that to be herded was exactly what i needed #justfortoday..."

#whenmoneylookedbeautiful...

February 18

#abouttoday
"today was... i hate starting sentences like that. Judging the day. why do we feel the need to say if it was good or bad? In any day there is the possiablity for everything, both good and bad and what it really comes down to is what we focus on... 

today while i was stopped on the back of Huy's motorbike, at an intersection, money flew into the air from a street shop on the corner. It was a very beautiful sight. The man next to me quickly got off his bike and assisted in collecting the money from all over the road and handed it back to the shop lady and i think i was more greatful to him than she was or it could just be a cultural thing, where they say thank you with their eyes, not their whole face or their mouth... in a way being witness to that made me feel good about life again...its insteresting how a simple act can do so much within you.

One of the girls who works at the hostel gave be the lonely planet vietnam guide for #free and im pretty happy about it. i keep wanting to write about all that i see but instead i just end up writing how i feel. i think im more interested in being than doing, here... and this whole concept of "feelings" is actually quite new to me i think. Since moving to Melbourne i feel i have become a 'truer' version of myself or maybe thats just what happens when you get older...
ive never really been in a place where everyone else can tell that you're 'not for around here' #nam...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNS74B6io4w

i feel like sweedeedee has been in my head for days..."

#myheartwillgoon...

#abouttoday....
"i booked a flight from Sai Gon to Da Nang, i was just glad to have plans since i had already expired all other plans i had made. The flight was meant to depart at 8.15pm, i got to the airport at 7pm and i boarded at 11:30pm. I consider my time as something precious , i value it more than money, and this place is spending it like there's no tomorrow...maybe there isn't. besides i threw myself at Vietnam when i booked flights thursday night and flew out friday morning... [jetstar Pacific is the equivalent to Tiger in Australia, and in every way tiger outshines them.] 

Trin was my taxi driver from the airport. He said he liked driving. He said i was friendly. He said vietnamses music makes him want to go to the water and jump off the bridge. He said it sounds too sad. He said he likes english music much better and wanted me to hear his #englishmusiccd... he played 'my heart will go on' from the titantic- celine dion and that love song from the movie 'ghost'..." #namtownadventure — in Da Nang, Vietnam.

#whereareyoufriends...

#abouttoday

"This morning i woke to white light, the echoing sound of children playing and some kind of woodwind instrument and i asked myself if i was still dreaming but my dreams had never been like this.
I walked onto the balcony and saw the primary school across the road. The pastel colours of the rooftops combined with the white haze over the city was indeed a sight...my eyes didn't believe my eyes.

Da Nang is a ghost town compared to Ho Chi Minh, i walked to the ocean and i was taken back to the beaches of the Gold Coast, it was comforting. The air is thick here which makes the mountains beside the sea look further away than what they actually are...the salt water is good for me.

i saw a little mouse on the beach, there frozen, i could see it breathing, i watched it closely and the first thing i thought was "where are all your friends little buddy?" and the second thing i thought was "i wonder if the Vietnamese people see me like i see this little mouse...where are all your friends little buddy"
i dont know, i guess a friend could just be the next stranger you meet, but here, trust is something different.
that feeling like it'd be nice for someone else to say your name out loud, cos its been a while- ive had that one now...

the sand has tiny little specks of fools gold and im glad i got that pedicure even though i was overcharged, maybe im made of fools gold or maybe im just a fool...either way im content to look down at my feet and have pretty red toe nails. i walked 14 km today and the sun burnt the back of my neck and the tops of my feet and palms of my knees. Its times like this i think maybe i should have packed sunscreen or a band-aid or had some kind of vaccination or told my family i love them haha #sodramatic."