The experience was nothing short of phenomenal! Hope you enjoy. More to come…

My Paradise island crew (minus 1 swimming Frenchie.) We roll deep.

The Universe conspired to make my sojourn on this unknown island one of cosmic proportions.

Each natural element aligned and shone unabashedly before me in a myriad of forms. The life force of the pregnant moon breathed awe-inspiring life into me and my Paradise companions each night. Even days away from completing its monthly rotation, it appeared as though each night we were all on some other planet where the moon is always full. It’s affect was extra-humanly.

At night, phosphorescent light glowed and swirled between the undulations of our fingertips in the salty sea reminding us once more how connected we are and how much life is teeming all around us, even if it just takes a wave of a hand underwater to see. The feeling is nothing short of pure joy.

The “we” and “us” I refer to is the community of friends I made on the island. Each residing in our own wooden bungalows on the beach, we came together to eat, drink, marvel, and discuss the merits and challenges of this life of travel and this world we navigate. Choosing to lead these lives independently of one another, it amazes me just how seamlessly we connected. It’s as though the constellations converged on this small stretch of beach – which I hadn’t even really planned on going to – connecting Thai, Australian, Italian, French, British, German, American, and New Zealanders in a cosmic boom that brought with it the most beautiful calm you can imagine. It was beautiful and I will cherish it forever as we all continue on our respective paths, knowing in my heart it wont be the last time our paths will cross.

Between us we’ve adopted so many new customs on all our travels and lives, seeing who knows how much of this beautiful planet and its people, speaking on average 2 languages fluently and learning new words in different dialects every day – the simple beauty and the monumentality of these endeavors begins to strike a chord. Seems like the more one realizes the need to carry on in this kind of life, the clearer is becomes that it’s not always just you achieving your dreams, but a whole Universe guiding you, illuminating your path and other seemingly disparate paths along the way. As one uncertain step connects with the other, I fully embrace the purity and the power of faith, trusting that everything is as it should be.

And everything, ladies and vagabonds, is beautiful.

Well, it’s more like a wad of cash. Sure, it’s about 1/4 of what I made at my lowest paying job, but dude, I’m feeling golden right now! I have a job that I find fulfilling, friends I can laugh with and learn from daily, and I’m calling a place I always wanted to visit home.

The past few days, in general, have been fan-fucking-tastic! I feel like I’m looking at this experience and Thailand in general with what the Thai call a “cool heart”. I’m realizing that old lesson once more: that life can be easy if you just let it be. Every night I’ve been riding home on my motorbike just laughing with glee and yelling “I LOVE MY LIFE!” at the top my lungs. Nothing can shake this feeling and it has less to do with money and more to do with my outlook: shifted.

A weight has definitely been lifted.

One day.

Wake up. Late morning. Light, cool breeze.

Take a walk. Rent a motor bike for the first time in your life. Lie and say you have ridden before. Take the fuck off on the open road with no direction. Learn you are quite skilled at riding said motor bike.

See live tigers interact with people. Crack the fuck up as they cuddle with the wild animals. Feed koi fish. Take off on said motor bike again. Drive indiscriminately into the Thai jungle with no sound but the music of said jungle.

Share some rice wine with your newly formed motor bike gang – “The Chicken Leg Gang” – and some new awesome friends at a dimly lit outdoor patio. Barefoot – as is the custom.

Get invited to a house warming party for an Italian expat. Revel with men, women, and children from all over the world and learn phrases in three languages, three dialects, and seven accents.

Get in a truck. Drive. See a fucking lone elephant! Scream and point. Witness your camera man eat shit as he practically fractures his coccyx on the asphalt after leaping from the moving vehicle. Witness his awe inspiring recovery as he then bolts to film the elephant. Cherish the 4 second clip he captures.

Take your motor bike to an awesome reggae bar. Meet more people from more places. Dance on benches with beautiful women. Listen to live music.

Drive motor bike back to guesthouse on a lone stretch of dark road, through an alley, past a Buddhist temple, and dismount.

One day.
Best day.

Yen, Anh and I have gone out a few times for dinner and beer. It’s not always easy to find time to get together because we are all busy. Yen works for a Japanese travel agency and on top of that, she and her husband are about to open their own Japanese curry restaurant. Anh is a university student and works for a Travel company. As for me, I sill have two jobs and a half. But somehow, the three of us manage to get together.

Anh, Yen and I eating out at a local restaurant.

Yen

Pig faces

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SOIREES FILLES

Yen, Anh et moi sommes sorties plusieurs fois le soir pour dîner ou boire une bière. Ce n’est pas toujours facile de trouver un moment qui convient à toutes car nous sommes toutes les trois assez occupées. Yen travaille pour une agence de tourisme japonaise et en plus de cela, elle s’apprête à ouvrir son propre restaurant de curry japonais, avec son mari. Anh est encore étudiante et travaille dans le secteur du tourisme pour les tours operators. Quant à moi, j’ai toujours deux jobs et demi. Mais on parvient tout de même à se retrouver toutes les trois régulièrement.

#1 – Look Both Ways Before Crossing the Street

I have never seen traffic like this before.  It comes from all directions and very often appears on the sidewalks as well.  You are not safe anywhere.  There is also a lack of street lights which means that when you want to cross the road, it’s an “every man for himself”, jaywalking situation.  They do have a system here, though.  You start to slowly walk into the road and the vehicles go around you.  You take steady steps forward and the drivers swerve around you.  It’s terrifying at first, but you do get used to it.  My biggest near-misses have come when I’ve crossed a one-way street and thought myself safe after checking the direction the traffic SHOULD be coming from only to find a motorbike flying down the street the wrong way. It’s truly crazy and cannot be explained – you really have to experience it (and do your best to stay on your feet).

#2 – Use Your Horn Liberally

Drivers at home use the horn in a “fuck you, ya cut me off” kind of way. Drivers here use it as an essential communication tool for letting other motorists know where they are – if they’re passing on the outside or inside, coming up behind you, etc. People can be pretty unpredictable on the roads and there is an absence of turn signals so at any moment someone can swerve and take up that tiny space beside you. I learned this quickly and now ride my motorbike around town with my thumb permanently on the horn.

#3 – Don’t Tempt Fate

If memory serves me right, I recall that I was the one was said “I can’t believe no one has gotten sick yet!”  Famous last words. Everyone knows you can’t say stuff like that and get away with it. Lo and behold, not long after I was taken down pretty hard by a stomach bug (I will spare you the details). I was also the one who said “I can’t believe, with all this traffic, that we haven’t seen an accident yet!” Not one hour later we pass by an accident scene that consists of a dump truck, a motorcycle on its side behind it, two pairs of flipflops and a helmet on the ground, and a pool of blood that starts at the back tire of the truck and spreads behind for a metre or so. Maybe I’ll keep my mouth shut next time.

#4 –  Always Be Spontaneous

Some of the coolest things we’ve done or seen so far have come to us last minute, sometimes in a text or message that doesn’t contain much information, but simply says that we’ll have a good time if we go. My personal philosophy is to say yes to absolutely everything that comes my way. Doing this means I’ve shown up to things not knowing a single other person and at some points flirted with exhaustion for consistently going out at night and then teaching early classes the next morning. But it’s worth it and hell – there’s too much fun to be had to worry about money or sleep.

On Sunday, Serene and I decided to check out Vung Tau beach, a nice touristic place about two hours south of Ho Chi Minh City. We had a great day, except that we didn’t actually get to hang out on a beach!

We left our guest house around eight o’clock in the morning. It took us about 45 minutes to get to the main bus station where we took a second, very uncomfortable bus- it felt like the bus wasn’t equipped with suspensions at all- to Vung Tau.

A great day ''on'' the beach!

The feeling of wind in our hair, the sound of waves and the smell of fish felt awfully nice! Quite surprisingly, Vung Tau was also very quiet.

One of many pagodas in Vung Tau

We visited a pagoda. We gazed at numerous fishing boats, fishermen and oil platforms. We had a nice cheap lunch of rice, meat and eggs with a fresh pear juice (or at least I did). We saw the back of a Jesus Christ statue overlooking the South China Sea from the top of a mountain.

Fishermen in Vung Tau

We had a very long walk along the shore and a little ride on a pedal boat in the hope of getting to Bai Dau beach, the supposedly smallest, safest and nicest beach in the area. Unfortunately, it was a little too far. So, we went back to the bus station so Serene would be back almost on time for her Twilight movie date with Kris, and I would get a good night of sleep before my first day of work.

* * * * * *

UN DIMANCHE A VUNG TAU

Dimanche dernier, Serene et moi avons décidé d’aller jeter un coup d’oeil aux plages de Vung Tau (Cap St Jacques), un petite ville côtière assez touristique à environ deux heures au sud de Ho Chi Minh Ville. Nous avons passé une super journée, même si nous n’avons pas vraiment eu le temps de nous poser sur la plage!

Nous avons quitté notre chez-nous vers 8h00. Il nous a fallu 45 minutes dans un premier bus pour atteindre la gare routière au nord d’Ho Chi Minh Ville. Arrivées là, nous avons pris un deuxième bus très inconfortable- à mon avis le bus n’avait pas de suspensions- pour Vung Tau.

Le vent dans nos cheveux, le bruit des vagues, l’odeur de poisson! C’était délicieusement bon! De plus, l’endroit était plutôt calme pour une station balnéaire en plein un weekend.

Nous avons visité une pagode. Nous avons contemplé de nombreux bateaux de pêcheurs, les pêcheurs eux-mêmes, et des plateformes pétrolières. Nous avons fait un bon repas de riz, de viande et d’oeufs bon marché, accompagné d’un jus de poires frais (du moins pour moi). Nous avons vu le dos de la statue de Jésus Christ surplombant la mer de Chine méridionale, du haut de sa montagne.

Nous nous sommes longuement promenées le long de la côte et avons fait une petite ballade en barque-pédalo dans le but d’atteindre la plage de Bai Dau, la plus petite, la plus sûre et la plus jolie de la ville (d’après le guide du routard). Malheureusement cette plage était un peu trop loin. Nous avons donc rebroussé chemin vers la gare routière de Vung Tau afin que Serene arrive à peu près à l’heure pour son rendez-vous télé Twilight avec Kris, et pour que j’ai une bonne nuit de sommeil avant ma première journée de travail.

Having escaped near disaster in Tokyo the team begins to recover in Seoul.  Is traveling while working possible?  Yes.  Is it easy?  No.

This is it, let’s crack the seal on Season 3: Seoul.  About freakin’ time, if you ask me.  It’s going to take me a while to catch up with the crew’s adventures, but hopefully you won’t find them any less entertaining now than they were two months ago when they actually happened.

Besides having new adventures in Korea we’ll be shaking up the format slightly with Season 3, adding a “Previously On…” segment to highlight interesting episodes which tie into the story, and making some changes to the overall editing style.  Shout out if you see something you like (or don’t like)!  We do pay attention, even though we can’t do much to fix things on our budget…

This episode features some new music, too: “This Uphill Battle is Going Downhill From Here” by Behond! True Believers.  They’re a local Northampton, MA “band” but they don’t have a website.  Actually, they don’t even really exist, but they sound good none the less.  I’m hoping to make use of some more of their music soon.