I think it is a sign of how I've settled into being on the road that, now Dan has departed back to Blighty, there is a faint sense of returning to reality.
Going travelling is, I'm beginning to think, a quite selfish act, and having a good friend join you and catching up on gossip about friends, football, and general 30-something issues and angst reveals what a self-centred bubble you can create around yourself. You get used to intense but transient friendships, living more in the moment of a beautiful view or enjoyable meal than in the complexity of life back home. The contrast of going back to being on my own, combined with the incessant noise, oppressive humidity and general chaos of Saigon and the prospect of a new continent in a couple of days, has put me in a limbo. I'm trying to suck the marrow of Vietnam one last time while allowing myself to be happy about leaving the place and moving on to something different.
But I'm impressed with Dan for venturing to this amazing place. He's not an instinctive traveller, and 10 days out of his annual leave is a big commitment. It was easy for me to act the seasoned wanderer, but he didn't see the days in Vientiane and Hanoi where I wandered around the same streets trying to get up to speed with SE Asia and pluck the courage to sit down for a road side meal. There are many Dans, but there is only one Man.
1 comment:
sounds a facinating country as does that part of the world. reminds me a bit of sri lanka what with the heat and humidity and street traders tring to sell you everything. wonder how that place has changed in thirty years!
happy travels
uncle alastair.
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