WHAT MAKES ASIA SPECIAL?
I’ll admit it. Asia was never on my bucket list of places to visit. In fact, before I came here for the first time a few years ago, it wasn’t even one of the places I ever wanted to see! That all changed four years ago…and I’m so glad that it did!
We’d made plans about four years ago to visit Michelle’s family in Australia. We were both still working then and somehow we each managed to get three weeks of vacation at the same time. (I remember thinking how long 3 weeks seemed to me then, as I’d never had 3 full weeks in a row off work before) We planned to spend 2 weeks in Australia and then, because Michelle’s parents had started vacationing in Vietnam every year, we decided to fly with them to Vietnam and spend the week with them before we flew back to the U.S.
I’ll admit it. I didn’t really want to go to Vietnam. I think it’s because of all the things I’d heard about it while I was growing up. When I was a kid, the Vietnam war was happening, and I’d only heard bad things about Vietnam and its people. I once went to see “Miss Saigon” on Broadway in New York City (only because I wanted to see a show on Broadway once in my life, and also because I didn’t know that “Miss Saigon” was a musical), and I remember thinking while watching the production, “What an awful place that must be!” I really didn’t understand the musical. I just remember how chaotic everything seemed, and it strongly dawned on me then that I never wanted to go there…ever!
But Michelle’s parents seemed to like Vietnam, so I agreed to go.
It didn’t start out very good upon our arrival in Da Nang. We had requested a large car to transport the 4 of us, plus our luggage, to the hotel. The car that actually showed up was tiny! The driver did his best to try to fit everything in, but eventually realized it wasn’t going to happen and called for another car to come get us. He waited with us until a larger van showed up. After putting everything in, we started our 30 minute trip to our hotel in Hoi An.
I remember sitting in the back seat, looking out the window in amazement at all the chaos that was taking place outside, both on and along the streets. There were THOUSANDS of motor scooters everywhere, zooming in, around, behind, and in front of our van! Some of the scooters had 5 people on them! I’m not joking. In Vietnam, a family of 5 can ride easily on one motor scooter!
There were people everywhere too! Walking along the sides of, and almost on the streets (because every sidewalk was full of parked motor scooter which made them impossible to utilize), hundreds of Vietnamese were out living their lives and going places. Street Vendors were out selling Vietnamese street food, and there were food carts of every type and shape imaginable…everywhere!
By the way, the easiest (and only possible) way to cross the street through this kind of traffic is to do what the lady in the middle of the picture is doing. She just started to walk, steadily and with purpose, through the traffic. The Vietnamese are masters at driving scooters and they will go around her. As long as she doesn’t make any sudden moves to the right or left, she should be fine and will get to the other side of the road!
After arriving safely at our hotel, we were warmly greeted by the hotel staff. However, I was still not liking things very much so when they asked for our passports so they could make copies of them, I became highly suspicious and whispered to Michelle, “Don’t let those things out of your sight!”
After getting our passports back without incident, we went up to our room and began to unwind a little. I think we ordered room service that evening. We went out just long enough to buy a few essentials at the local convenience store, and headed back for the night. The next morning, we had breakfast and headed out to explore.
I have to be honest. I didn’t really like it at first. I found everything to be confusing and chaotic. I didn’t like the fact that I couldn’t walk on perfectly good sidewalks simply because there were hundreds of scooters parked side by side by side on them, making it necessary for pedestrians to walk out on the street. I also found the noises, smells, and activity extremely overwhelming. And to top it off, I couldn’t understand what anyone was saying because I don’t speak or understand Vietnamese! It wasn’t until about the 4th day that I started to appreciate what I was experiencing. I started noticing that what first appeared to me as chaos, was actually a well oiled society that learned how to get along with each other, while having a bit of fun along the way! And people were polite to each other. Traffic that would threaten to trigger road rage in many places throughout the West, didn’t seem to have that effect in Asia. I starting realizing that Vietnamese people are very forgiving of each other and have found a way to thrive under extremely difficult situations. Most of them seem to have joy no matter what job they have. They’ve also learned to relax when they can. Coffee shops are everywhere! Most restaurants and coffee shops are open air, and it’s very seldom when Michelle and I go out to eat or get a coffee that we sit inside 4 walls. It’s always outside. I’d even say that it seems foreign to me now to think that most restaurants back home are mostly “in-door” places. It’s nicer to eat outside! In Vietnam, coffee shops normally have their chairs all facing out towards the street, which makes for a wonderful time to “people watch”!
To say that Asia overwhelms your senses is quite an understatement! Everywhere you look, there is life happening! Walking down one block, you might pass everything from barber shops to restaurants, coffee shops to massage parlors, bars to travel agents, food carts to pharmacies, tuk-tuks to 7-Elevens, tailor shops to leather goods to souvenir shops to cell phone stores to…well you get the idea!
And the smells!
Asia overwhelms the senses with its smells. Most are great! Some are not. But we both agree that the aromas of Asia just can’t be found anywhere else and that’s what makes it special. Walking down that same city block noted above, you’ll pass food vendors cooking all manner of meats on a grill. It smells amazing! Food in Asia can be spicy, and you’ll smell this spiciness many times a day as you walk by these places. Occasionally the spice will find its way all the way to the back of your throat and you’ll need to cough to clear it out. Soon you’ll walk past a fish market, and depending on whether you like fish or not will determine whether this place smells good to you. And if you happen to come across a night market, get ready for another sensory overload of your nasal membranes! Night markets smell like carnivals on steroids and it all smells wonderful!
Of course, there are other “less agreeable” smells that you’ll encounter, but these are smells that are often found in any big city and just something you’ll want to pass by as quickly as possible!
Moving on!
As I said above, it took me about 4 days to start to appreciate my experiences in Vietnam and I found myself starting to really like it there! The people are beyond friendly. The “chaos” that I found annoying at first, started to become enjoyable and fun! And did I mention the coffee? As a coffee snob, I’m very particular, but Vietnamese coffee is “next level” delicious! (Huge bonus points for this one!)
We found ourselves going to a select few restaurants and coffee shops more frequently and thereby got to know the people who worked in them and it was enjoyable to see them and interact. It started to feel like we were seeing old friends, even after only a few days!
By the end of our week in Vietnam, I was surprised to find that I’d fallen in love with it, and so did Michelle. As we were being driven to the airport from our hotel on that last day, we both felt real sadness that we were leaving because we weren’t sure when we’d ever be able to come back. It’s hard to explain (although I’ve done my best in this blog to try) what exactly happened in less than one week to change my mind about Asia. What it comes down to mostly are the people!
We’ve now been to Asia three times. We’ve visited Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand and we’re planning on traveling exclusively in Asia throughout the rest of 2024 because we love it! Every place we’ve been, the people have been so nice! I often wonder what makes them tick. What gives them this seemingly inexhaustable amount of kindness and happiness? Some of these people are dirt poor, and yet they greet us with a smile and say hello to us as we pass by on the street. Their wages are extremely low compared to salaries in the West, and yet they always seem content and happy. I’ve tried to come up with the answer to this mystery but I can’t. I don’t know the answer. But I do know that simply being around them makes me a happier person and I love being here for that reason!
That’s what makes Asia special to me! I hope I’ve done a good job at convincing you!
Safe travels everyone!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts to what seems to me a “Beautiful, Heartwarming, Friendly Place” most of would not have on our radar to visit…..”Most”! Sometimes we have a tendency to believe thing’s we’ve been told in our younger years or read without having the ability to “Open” our grown-up minds to understand the world constantly changes and maybe we should take another look! It doesn’t mean if we do that we will have the same feelings as you do about “Asia”, but personally for me anyway I think it’s definitely worth it! Thank you my friend 😊
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You realize so much its almost hard to argue
with you (not that I actually will need to…HaHa).
You definitely put a new spin on a subject that’s been written about for ages.
Great stuff, just excellent!
thank you so much for your nice comments!