[/caption]Well, it was never meant to last. We even tried to hold back - unsuccessfully - from buying anything of significant size or weight, because we knew, some day, we will go home. Well, now that time has come.
[caption id="attachment_1096" align="aligncenter" width="519" caption="Bitexco Financial Tower, with Duxton Hotel in the foreground"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_1101" align="aligncenter" width="519" caption="Sky Garden, Phu My Hung"]
[/caption]After 17 months in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, we have decided to go back home to Jakarta, Indonesia.
[caption id="attachment_1097" align="aligncenter" width="519" caption="at a HCMC traffic light"]
[/caption]I'm still at a loss to describe the multitude of roller coaster experiences that we have experienced here, but I dare say it's an experience that I will never get anywhere else. We lived in a city where the only direction that traffic won't come at you is from the sky, and where the food is absolutely fabulous. We got to experience being an expat in an exotic city, and enjoyed the virtues of a city not as crowded as Jakarta. On the work side, it was a constant plunge into the movie and TV industries - industries I may have not been able to learn if I were in Indonesia - and then some. Obviously, I learnt a lot. The good and bad of my experience in Vietnam has helped me obtain new possible perspectives to looking at problems, and at life itself. That, by itself, is already a blessing.
[caption id="attachment_1098" align="aligncenter" width="519" caption="Grilled Catfish, specialty of Cha Ca La Vong restaurant"]
[/caption]I must admit, one of the main reasons we came, was that we had to get away. Clear our heads, and get a completely new life experience. But now, as fate would have it, it's time to return home. And I'm coming home, with a fresh head, to tackle fresh challenges. But let's talk about that later...
[caption id="attachment_1099" align="aligncenter" width="519" caption="Sunset at Mui Ne Red Dunes"]
[/caption]Ho Chi Minh City, as a reflection of modern Vietnam, has its quirks - there's never a day that goes by without seeing or experiencing something absurd - but you can feel the energy to the city. The city's energy is definitely positive, optimistic and carefree [to a fault], compared to Jakarta's negative, survival-of-the-fittest energy.
[caption id="attachment_1100" align="aligncenter" width="519" caption="Floating Market at Can Tho"]
[/caption]So. Vietnam. I've found a second home there. I'll see you again soon :)
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