This week has been filled with a lot of time outside. The typhoon thankfully just touched Hội An one morning I was there with heavy wind and rain, but no sustained damages. Outside of that and one day of rain in Phong Nha, the weather was toasty and perfect for outdoor activities.
LOCATIONS
- Dalat, Vietnam (Oct 23 – Oct 26)
- Hội An, Vietnam (Oct 25 – Oct 28)
- Phong Nha, Vietnam (Oct 29 – Oct 31)
ACTIVITIES
Canyoning
Dalat is well known in Vietnam for its canyoning, and it was a big reason I was excited to spend time there. It didn’t disappoint.
We got to do five activities through the canyon:
- an 18m dry waterfall abseil
- a zip line
- a 25m wet waterfall abseil
- a natural waterslide
- a free hanging abseil into the current of the waterfall, which carried us a few seconds down the canyon.
The wet waterfall was legit. We had to keep our heads down to have any visibility, and even then, it was almost rappelling down blind with how forceful the falls were. Good fun was had.
Lang Biang Hike
I took a hike with some of my new friends from England up the tallest “peak” in Dalat, Lang Biang. Dalat sits at 1500m, and Lang Biang took us up to almost 2200m. Apparently, they don’t believe in switchbacks here, so it was a steep two-hour trek up. We had great visibility and were rewarded with an incredible 360 view of Dalat and the surrounding highlands.
My Son Sanctuary
I took a tour to My Son Sanctuary, about an hour outside of Hội An. We started early in the morning and were nearly the only people there to enjoy the sights and learn about the history from our guide.
It’s a collection of ancient Hindu temples from the Champa people built between the 4th and 13th centuries. Unfortunately, the site sustained some significant damage during the Vietnam war from both bullets and bombs, but the architecture of the remaining structures was unique to see.
Cooking Class
In Hội An, I did a cooking class and boat tour. We started the morning in the market where we gathered some ingredients and then took a boat ride to our kitchen for the afternoon. We got to make four dishes including deep fried spring rolls, papaya salad, lemongrass chicken, and an egg pancake. As hard as we tried, we didn’t get anywhere close to finishing everything we’d cooked.
Ruc Mon Caving
I went back and forth on whether or not to stop in Phong Nha, and I’m glad I made the decision to go. Phong Nha is home to the largest cave in the world (Sơn Đoòng), as well as a host of others.
I didn’t get to go in Sơn Đoòng, as it’s a multi-day trek you need to book over a year in advance (and pay three grand for!), but I did get to do an excursion through another cave called Ruc Mon. We arrived after a 45-minute hike, got to swim in the mouth of the cave, and work our way up and down the cave, eventually swimming back out the mouth.
At one point when we were deep into the cave, our only source of light was our head torches. Our guide had us sit down and turn all our torches off and we spent a few minutes sitting in the utter darkness, listening to only the sounds of water running.
REFLECTIONS
The Challenge of Balancing Priorities
At home, I have a pretty clear routine. Here, not so much. Even with theoretically “all day” to do what I want, it’s hard to fit everything I want to do in each day, especially while wanting to leave some room for spontaneous conversations and opportunities. Still early in my travels, I can feel a pressure to see everything I can in a city, and I haven’t been as intentional as I would like to be about setting aside time for other things like writing or planning out what the next few months will look like beyond the next few days.
Another challenge to this is a lot of people I’m around have a tendency to socialize late at night (often around alcohol and smoking). I don’t operate very well on late nights and low sleep, and I don’t particularly enjoy partaking in the same activities. Often socializing late at night means I’m sacrificing a good chunk of my morning, and sometimes I have been glad I’ve made the decision to stay up later, and other times not so much.
When I was in Dalat, I met someone who reminded me that it’s okay my priorities aren’t the same as everyone else’s. There’s nothing wrong with early mornings, doing activities alone, creating time to exercise, and space to just sit and reflect. Eventually you’ll find some people where your priorities align (at least for brief bouts). It’s also a reminder that who you surround yourself with has a large impact on how you spend your time, and who you become.
Priorities will always have give and take, and I’m hoping that I can find a flexible balance in the aspects that are important to me as I continue on this trip.
Building Space for Quality Alone Time
One of the priorities that’s easiest for me to miss when things get busy is blocking out quality time for myself. By quality time, I mean extended time alone with no agenda, to give space for my mind to process what it needs to. It can feel like a waste, especially when traveling. I only have so much time in each city I am in, and it’s counterintuitive to take an evening to do absolutely nothing.
One of my nights in Dalat, I went out to dinner by myself and quickly realized as I was walking that I was in desperate need of some extended solo time that night. I ended up sitting down on some steps overlooking a square, and people watched for about an hour. I let my brain wander wherever it desired to go, and there was a surprising amount that came up. I’d been moving so fast, I hadn’t emotionally processed some of the joys and challenges of the trip.
I’m realizing that this is something I will likely need on close to a weekly basis, just to have a time to check in with myself and get out of “traveler” mode and into “Trevor” mode. It’s space to evaluate, to make adjustments going forward, and to remind myself that this is my trip and not anyone else’s.
Each person needs a different rhythm, but I think alone time is incredibly underutilized. It can take some getting used to, and there’s a bit of discomfort at first, but there’s a high value to prioritizing it. If this isn’t something you regularly practice, I’d encourage you to give it a shot in a way that works for you. Ditch the phone, set a time, and go. Go for a walk. Sit down at a coffee shop or at a park. Listen, and see where you end up going.
BLOG POSTS
I’ve got some ideas in the works, but nothing new wrapped up yet. We’ll see if I have time to finish them by the end of next week as I’ll be without my laptop for at least the first half of next week. I’ll also be working on getting some more pictures up so you can see my trip from a visual perspective.
Thanks to those of you who responded to my Joy of Tears post from last week! (You can find it here if you missed it). My goal with anything I write is that you get something tangible out of it, and I’ve loved hearing what you all have taken away from it as well as my first few newsletters.
NEXT UP
I just finished up a few days in Ninh Binh, which has been my favorite city from a landscape perspective thus far. I’m headed to Ha Giang tonight and starting a four-day tour through the Ha Giang Loop. There are very few experiences that I’ve heard such consistently good reviews on from people, and I’m stoked about it. Fingers crossed for good weather!
After that I’ll wrap up my time in Vietnam in Sapa and Hanoi before heading to Thailand in a little over a week.
As always, if you know anyone that you think would be interested in anything I’m writing about, I’d ask that you consider sharing this with them.
Thanks for being here. Talk to you next week.
-Trevor