I made it back home safe (barely) to Tianjin on Saturday afternoon. The end of the trip was really a whirlwind, and it was definitely sad to see it come to a close. This, in fact was my first true extended holiday, the previous highlight was just two short weeks in Portugal and Spain. This has trip has really opened my eyes a lot about the importance of travel in my life, so much so that it will certainly change my outlook on any job that I take in the future. My priorities have changed so much over the course of the last three years, and now my top priority is to see as much of the world as possible. My next "big" trip will be in April, when I have a month of unpaid leave time from work. I am weighing the possiblities of either returning to Southeast Asia to see Cambodia, Southern Laos and then head through Vietnam from Saigon to Hanoi-OR-the other idea I have is to fly to Pakistan and travel through Kashmir, India and Nepal by land. I'll probably think of a dozen other trips I can take in the next six months, but these are my initial thoughts.
This trip was a learning experience in so many ways, the ups and downs of backpacking are what make the trip worthwhile, and the contrasts of experiences add a unique flavor to each and every day. There certainly were some hardships and annoyances along the way. The arduous bus journeys, constantly haggling and negotiating for fair price, avoiding con-men masquerading as tour operators or friend seeking locals, enduring uncomfortable beds, cold showers, mosquitos, and travelers diarrhea! These of course are outshadowed by the joys: smiling locals that wave "hello" as you pass, finding the right mix on your iPod during a long bus ride, sweeping panoramic views of endless countryside, jumping into a spring water swimming hole, wandering into the unknown, following your instincts, making lifelong friends and savoring local delecasies.
My final day in Hanoi after returning from Sa Pa was a perfect mix of ups and downs, as I suffered in bed all day with a stomach bug most likely picked up eating the dodgy food in the village. I managed to pull myself together and get outside to do a couple hours of gift shopping before heading outside the city center to meet my date Phu'o'ng Chi, our farewell before I would depart the next day. She insisted on foreign food for dinner, which I thought would mean eating at one of the many wonderful international restaurants in Hanoi city. Instead we ended up at Pizza, and she happily munched on her pizza while I tried to choke down a bowl of soup to settle my still ailing stomach. We caught a taxi into the city and walked around the lake again. She kept telling me of a "cheese fair" but she may well have been saying "street fair," I couldn't quite decipher her Viet-lish. In any case, on the way to the cheese/street fair we stopped for a few photos in front of a beautiful red bridge that led to an illuminated pagoda in the center of the lake. As I tried to coach a local on how to use my camera, I was pick-pocketed. I could actually FEEL it happen, and I tried to get Phu'o'ng Chi to take my camera so I could check, but she couldn't understand what I was saying, "Please TAKE MY CAMERA." By the time she understood and relieved me of the camera, I felt my pocket and not only the wallet, but also the thief had disappeared into the massive crowd. It was a sour end to an otherwise incredible week in Hanoi. I was flying out of Hanoi at 8:30 the following morning, so Phu'o'ng Chi had to take me to meet her sister to lend me a bit of money for the road to ensure I could get back to Tianjin safe. It was a really thoughtful gesture, and we tried our best not to let it spoil our last night together in Hanoi.
The ordeal with the wallet was not so bad, the worst part about it was that I lost several email addresses for people I had met along the way and intended on staying in touch with. Not to mention, a sentimental item that was a gift from my mother which I've had in my wallet for TEN YEARS. More money will be earned in the future, but lost friendships can't be replaced easily.
So now I return to Tianjin to resume my second year in China. I'm fifteen months in and have enjoyed the experience thoroughly, grown immensely and learned a lot. I spent a lot of time on this trip thinking about my goals for this next year, which admittedly are quite ambitous if not impossible. I've come back to Tianjin with some circumstances vastly different than I expected when I left, namely in regards to the melodrama that unfolded with my now EX-girlfriend in Tianjin, and also some worry about how I will cope with another year in a foreign place which, frankly can be a challenging place to live at times. I began a new job in a differnt school yesterday with added responisiblity and more pressure, and I also am still on searching for an answer on what the path is for the future of my career. All of these questions will be answered soon enough, and for now the best I can do is continue to walk through any doors that open up and keep a positive outlook on life, as I do feel very lucky to have stumbled into the situation I am in now. Again, in the words of Tom Petty, "Time to move on, time to get going, what lies ahead I have no way of knowing, under my feet, grass is growing, time to move on, time to get going."
I'll be posting a photo archive of the trip once I've finished re-sizing and re-formatting all of the photos. That's all for now, I envisage my next trip in December, a journey into the countryside far from the reaches of Beijing.
