Halong Bay was an experience that I can honestly say does not compare with anything else I have ever done.
I met so many nomadic souls just going and experiencing life and it really inspired me to be that way. To have less of a specific plan for now and more of a general concept of how I want to be living my life.
I would love to say, “Yeah I’m in Vietnam for about another month, I’ll go back to Hanoi for the week and then Ho Chi Minh and just see what happens afterward, maybe Thailand or Bali” like one Scottish guy I met.Or, “Oh I just landed this awesome job but told them I had a trip planned so I couldn’t start for another 4 weeks, this is a last go around before I start.Obviously just until I build up more vacation time” like Peter from Belgium.
That is the kind of life I want. I don’t want to be stuck in one place. Even the idea of living abroad in one area for too long sounds monotonous to me. It’d be an adventure at the start, but I’d adjust eventually and then I would want another adventure.
The last four months in general have sparked a serious need to keep going, but my time in Vietnam specifically pushed me into that mindset even further. I don’t want to settle, not for anything. I can’t picture myself stuck somewhere and I don’t want to depend on anyone else to get to where I want to go.
Nothing in my life has felt quite the same as floating on my back at 3 am with the soft bass of background music from the beach slipping away as I stared up at the stars that created a perfect ceiling over the cliffs of Halong Bay. I can say without a doubt that in that moment, I have never been so wholly content.
Those two nights on the island, I lost track of how many times I stopped what I was doing to just look up at the world around me. I asked so often what on earth my life was going to be after that. How could I ever bear to go back home to the world that I left in what felt like a different lifetime?
The answer is to not stop going. To go back and finish school but to plan trips and make things happen and create the life I so desperately am seeking now. It’s funny how fast life can change. Just like that, in the blink of an eye, everything is a little different and what you wanted before just isn’t applicable anymore.
As many moments as I have been in total wonder of, Halong Bay really took me by surprise as one of the most awe-inspiring. The cliffs were unreal and the isolation was incredible. The stars were so bright and seeing real constellations from our private island was like something out of a dream I would not even dare to have.
I am in love with the life I get to live, and I know that things are going to drastically change from this but I hope I can find more moments like these.
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