Up to Nothing

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It's been four months since I departed from Merry Old England and whilst being on the road I have become accustome to my own company as a solo traveler yet at the same time have often had to contend with the somewhat contradictionary circumstances in which my personal space has actually shrank significantly... Equally, despite backpacking on my own (with the notable exception of the tour in North India) the reality is that I have found myself surrounded by more people on a day to day basis than I would back home!

After volunteering in Phnom Penh for a month, a busy city in which I often found myself surrounded by armies of excitable school children in class, and feeling slightly fatigued by the cumulative effect of experiencing the most significant cultural difference between the west and Asia on a day to day basis - the maddening yet utterly innocent and endearing fundamental inability to understand the concept of personal space - I headed to Vietnam very much looking for a change of pace and hoping to find some quiet time away from the crowds... I did so without much optimism, given the countless stories about the aggravations of the Vietnamese!

I need not have worried...

Of all the places in the world to take some time out and temporarily retreat from the world Hoi An is probably the best...

Sitting off on a pretty terrace drinking Vietnamese coffee, dimly lit Chinese lanterns reflecting off the Thru Ban River as modest crowds of tourists and local merchants slowly wander over the Japanese style bridge and through the charming riverside city, the incredible lengths that have been taken to preserve this ancient city can surely escape no one...

There is no disputing that the place is somewhat "touristy" (whatever the hell that actually means) but very much like Luang Prabang this fact simply cannot take anything away from its charming historic core, a fusion of Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and European architecture...

Wandering aimlessly through narrow alleyways of two hundred year old wooden fronted shop houses, handicraft workshops, lavish Chinese assembly halls and local market stalls is as rewarding experience you'll get whilst actually essentially doing nothing you will ever have...

There's no sense of urgency here... No stress... Just time... And lots of it...

I absolutely love it.

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