Day 27
Friday 

The entire week i saw boats fishing. Of course the boats were there before but now i noticed them. Suddenly i felt the need to go fishing on a boat. Of course i could have went in the harbor close to my home, with my host as a translator..pretty easy. But when it comes to exploring i don't like to go on a paved road, i want to find another way, usually a complicated one. Hahah. 

      So i finished work and i went down south. The plan was to find some fishermen, ask them if i can go fishing with them the next day, then find a place to sleep. I arrived there in the afternoon, i couldn't describe An Thoi as a town, it was more like a village with people selling pretty much everything on the side of the road, strong smell of fish, (i wonder why) lots of tight roads perfect to get lost in them. I went in the harbor, plenty of ships to choose from. I didn't even get to look around when a local came and asked me if i want to go on a tour the next day. There are a lot of small islands in the south that are worth visiting you can go snorkeling, just spend a nice day on one of those beaches or even go on a small island where  just  one family lives. That's pretty cool, to have an island for yourself and your family. The price for that trip was smth like 45 usd. Thank you but no thank you. 

I saw some people who were sitting close to a boat and i went to ask if i can go fishing with the. "Toi mun da" means i want to fish. I couldn't understand what they are saying so i called my host to negotiate with them. Yeah, they wanted 20usd to take me with them. I guess that the locals when they see a foreigner they don't really see a person they just see a bag of money with legs. It drives me crazy, i knew it would be like this and i tried to prepare but it's hard for me to accept it. I just wanted to help somebody fish. Of course i'm a beginner and maybe i would be a burden to them  but i wanted to help somebody fish. So i went at another ship and with this guy i set up a meeting at 8 am but i wasn't sure if he knew what i wanted or he just said okok. So i decided to look somewhere else. I found a big ass ship with some scurvy sea lions around it. I asked if i can go fishing with them, but all i got was a shot of rice wine. Pretty strong one. Yeah they didn't want me on their ship either, it was getting dark by now so i decided to search in another place.

       Of course i took a wrong turn and i arrived on a hill, it had an amazing view. A light house was being built and since it was kind of late i asked the people guarding the place if i can sleep somewhere around. The answer was no. Nobody wanted me that afternoon. I felt like a broken condom. Then i turned around and went on a road that wasn't on the map. When i reached the end of the road i found a few houses and some people. I saw also the shore close by. It was dark and they didn't have a lot of lights but whatever. What can go wrong. hahah. I was tired and this was my last stop no matter what. So i talked with a few men and they all wanted money to take me on their boat. I asked my host to write them a message in Vietnamese about what I wanted. After they read it they smiled a bit but the answer was the same. Then out of nowhere a lady came, she spoke English and Vietnamese also and i managed to make a deal with the fishermen. Free fishing the next day.

     I guess the lady felt sorry for me or she understood that i am really poor because she came back with some money and wanted to give it to me. I thanked her but i can manage. She insisted a bit and i told her that i don't want to involve money. I didn't receive any money and i didn't give money. She helped me translate and i hope she got some good karma in exchange, i found a ship to go fishing for free and the fisherman got a pair of extra hands. The money circuit stopped for a second. Maybe it's stupid, and it's a small thing but everything has to begin somehow. It was getting late, we had a few shots of rice wine and we decided that  it's time to go to bed. Again the same lady  offered to host me because she had a free room but i didn't carry the hammok for nothing right? She showed me  a hotel that was being built and she said it's ok to sleep there because she knows the owners. So i went on the second floor tied the hammock and went to sleep.  And the next morning i got the chance to see what was actually around me.

  The workers who came next morning at the hotel were surprised to see me, one of them spoke English and asked me why was i there and after explaining it, he said "oh" and went away. I "packed my bags" after an hour and went to meet the fishermen. I was really excited and guess what? We didn’t go fishing. Fuuuuuck. The weather wasn't good so we couldn't go. I felt frustrated but i couldn't do much about it so i just accepted the situation. I went along the harbor and i met a guy who had a boat and he took me around for a little bit but we didn't get too far. After that i went back home.

Day 20

I'll be good by the week end.

Weekends are all about exploring. I have 0 work to do, so i just check the map, i search for a place that might be interesting, i double-check with my host and off i go. This time i went with Max, i can call him a friend even though we hanged out for 2 weeks or so, but i guess that we were on the same page when it came to living. We found a place up north and we said that we'll go check that out. So we took our bikes and off we went. The road there took smth like half an hour, i  enjoy driving around, looking at the landscapes, this coconut trees are killing me, i'll try to stack one in my luggage when i leave, or i ll just tie it to the plane or smth, the fares for transporting this stuff are ridiculous. Everything looks and is tropical, i love it. If during the geography lessons i could have felt the air, see the landscapes i would have done this trip sooner. Yeah and besides the landscapes the houses and the people around, there is always something new that i see. It's funny to see locals riding scooters and carrying all kind of objects. From pigs, long pipes that look like spears to mirrors and paintings i've seen a lot. Sometimes i'm worried for them, if smth happens and they fall with a big piece of glass, maybe they'll cut their toe off or smth.

So as i was saying we went up north, when we reached our destination we were hungry so we went on a pontoon where we found a restaurant. Everything was made out of wood, the tables were almost at the ground level and we didn't have seats so we just sat down. We had some goat tongue, fried dog and some good old rice. Just kidding, seafood everywhere. A bunch of big ass shrimps, fish, rice and that sauce that can turn an average meal into the best thing u ever had. And nature provided us with a breeze that u can't ignore and also with some neighbors that sang like nobody could hear them.

Since we were up north we could see Cambodia in the distance. Right now i know little about Cambodia but there is something about it that sounds appealing. I have to make a visa run in January anyway so i might stop there for a while. Who knows?

After the meal we decided to go for a swim on a beach, but the road was closed so we chose another one. In the meanwhile the weather got angry at us for having a good time and it soon started raining. Of course it started raining like there is no tomorrow. We stopped, put our raincoats on and off we went.  I kept on going and as it rained harder i was pulling the gas harder. I felt the raindrops like needles but i didn't care. Sometimes i go bezerk. I know i can't mess with Mother Nature but i feel alive when i'm not in a safety bubble.

Eventually i stopped to wait for Max but he wasn't coming so i gave him a call. He was waiting for the rain to stop so we just concluded that we ll meet later.

Day 12

Sugar spice and everything nice.

The session of antibiotics is finally over. They took away the flu and everything associated with it. This means that now i can also smell, taste and smell again.
It's like the first 10 days i was here, i wasn't fully here because i didn't have all my senses running at full capacity.
I remember riding the scooter to meet some friends when it hit me. It's like the street had a baseball bat and it punched me right in the brains. The amount of scents that invaded me was overwhelming. I slowed down and tried to understand what was going on. I'll do my best to describe them but it will be hard. If you try to talk about an image, a place, a person it's easier. But scents are harder to explain because i haven't met with this before. In China maybe it was kind of similar but i guess that i don't remember how China smelled. When i think about it it's just a blank page..i should go back to refill that page. hahah.
  And another thing is that it's hard to associate a smell that you don't know and you don't know where it's coming from with something. And even though i was looking around, a lot of stuff happened/m2 so i couldn't tell if a smell came from a certain place. Since most kitchen are outdoor most smells come from there but never underestimate the ability of a regular shop to smell like a butchery.  Anyway this were the smells that hit me: fish, bbq, exhaust, fried chicken, pancakes, feet,seafood, coconuts, spices, pepper, street food, drugs, burned rubber, honey.  Kidding about the drugs though.

Now let's focus on food.
The taste is also a bit different after the cold went away. Yeah, they eat rice often even though they have other options, but i guess that they prefer it. Noodle soups are also appreciated and are quite tasty. I went once with my host and a friend to try some traditional noodle soup and it was delicious. It had big pieces of fish, without any bones and all those sweet sauces, it's a mix worth trying. Since we're on an island you can find fresh seafood/fish everywhere but pork, chicken, duck are easy to find. Actually since i arrived here. I don't think that a day passed without eating bbq. The thing is that i don't know what sauces they use, how they make them or what they put in it but they are delicious. The food is sweet in general, they can make it spicy af if u want it, but i'm not a big fan so i'll just stick to sweet, salty isn't really an option at least in the places that i eat. I'm sure that if you eat in a  restaurant you can have whatever you like but i'm eating where Vietnamese are eating and now that i think of it, i didn't see an expat eating in the same place with me. hahah. The food is kind of cheap the prices start at 0.90 cents and you can have a decent meal with 1.5usd. It can go up to whatever you are willing to pay but i'm on the principle that if my daily "dose" of calories, proteins, carbohydrates fats and so on is met i couldn't care less if i am eating argentinian beef out of a golden plate or potatoes with soy out of  a plastic plate. Since i ain't rich when it comes to money, i ll just eat in normal places. I have a theory of my own that time is more important then money. If today you lost some money you can try to make more tomorrow. But you'll never get back a day that you lost. And it's kind of sad that most people focus on making more money and are willing to give away hundreds of days that they will never get back to get them. And for what? A bigger tv? A bigger car? Impress a girl/boy? Show off? We won't take in the grave any material possessions but i think that what we experience will stay with us forever. Anyway, as long as you are happy doing something,(even chasing stuff that i think are not worth the effort) don't stop. It's your trip. But if you are in limbo and you feel that life is more that work 9-17,  5 days  week start doing smth about it. Quit your job, travel, paint, ride bikes, start doing what you love, unfold. Don't worry about leaving the system, there is order in chaos and you'll be juuust fine. Or not, you ll fail  and be a hobo.
And yeah, i miss sweets! 

Day 7

Rain, mosquitoes and traditional Vietnamese music.

The  rainy season will end this month. Usually it rains at night. Excuse me did i say rains?  It pours. Pours isn't enough. No, water drops out of the sky like there is no tomorrow. Like it's trying to commit suicide. Like fuck that area in particular. Usually when it rains like that i'm just waiting for Ponta to arrive on a boat and give instructions. But it never happens. I don't know where all the water goes but i'm pretty sure that if it rained like this in my hometown we would have a loot of floods. Often. But during the day we don't have a lot of rain, maybe in the afternoon but even if it catches you off-guard you can actually enjoy it. Since it's hot outside it's like taking a shower while you buy some eggs or whatever.

 I hosted on couchsurfing a while ago 3 people. One of them hated mosquitoes so much that while we were all chilling at my place he kept on hunting them. I asked him why all the hate and he said that they have no use except to annoy us. I didn't understand it then but now i think i do.   I keep on using a spray a few times a day but when they get a chance baam they are all over me.  Can somebody send me a truck of mosquito spray?  Seriously if you know a way to keep them away, let me know.

I visited a doctor to do something about this cold, she gave me antibiotics, this rhymes with no alcohol and no alcohol rhymes with not so keen on partying. So I’ll behave for a few days. The doctor consulted me at her house; I guess that I don’t have to be in a hospital to diagnose a cold. What was pretty weird is that she gave me some strong medicine; I know that because my mom takes them for a serious illness. I wasn’t going to take those pills so I just approved and did what a friend suggested.

  Anyway the other day my host invited me to a wedding. I was honored to attend it, we got dressed properly and off we went. When we arrived we were welcomed by the godfather, we shook hands with the bride and the groom, dropped an envelope in a cute little house and somebody lead us to our table. It wasn't a big wedding and it was pretty similar with what we have in my country. What’s different about their weddings is that they end fast and I don’t know much about fashion but the bride wore a red dress. The couple cut a cake, took photos, went at tables to say hi to people. Towards the end of the wedding a bunch of guys started dancing and singing on a stage; they invited me to dance also but I don’t think that Vietnam is ready for my moves… Just kidding, I was too sober because antibiotics. I sat at a table with a bunch of guys also, we smiled at each other for most of the time since we couldn't communicate and after 2 hours or so the wedding was done. Yeah they end their weddings faster then us and I think that’s cool because most weddings we attend are just obligations or we think that one day we’ll get married and get the money back. That’s like in a list of 10 stupid things people do.

In order to move around the island easily i need transportation. We have here a lot of scooters so I decided to buy one. Renting them is kind of expensive and buying one is expensive also. And i don't know if I’ll be here another week or for the rest of my life. And I ain't rich either so I have to overthink the situation and see what happens.

Well it happened that I somehow bought one. After a lot of wasted time and energy i found a decent one and i hope I’ll (ab)use of it as much as possible. There are a lot of places to explore and even though a dirt bike would be the best option I think that a 125cc scooter will do.

  In other news some weird stuff happened 2 nights ago I was coming home by myself, I got bored of walking and decided to take a taxi.  A scooter passed slowly by and i thought that it's a taxi scooter so i said

-Hey, can you take me to the city?

-Where do u want to go?

- I showed him the destination on my phone, the dude checked it out, then with a move like when you first meet a dog and you show him your hand, the guy touched my dick while saying. "Why so big"?

I was surprised. I didn't see that coming.

So he said:

-Come on I’ll take you in the city.

I tried to be cool and I told him: man I think you want to go to the city of love and I don't wanna go there with you.

Then he did it again. At this point I put on my angry face and I told him to get out of my sight. After 2-3 minutes of driving around he finally understood and went away and after a while I found a taxi that just brought me home, no touchy touchy :))

Day 3

Landed.
An acquaintance gave me the address from a hostel. I was too tired to wait until my host from couchsurfing arrived. I needed a bed, bad. So i jumped in a taxi and went to that hostel. On my way there i had my first contact with the island. A lot of tropical forest, seasoned with some brown cows and people selling meat on the side of the road. Can't wait for my first food poisoning. There i was looking left and right when i saw it. The ocean. Calm, blue, huge, just like your eyes. I couldn't wait to jump in it. And that feeling when your feet meet the dry sand,then the wet one, then a wave  hits you like a bomb but instead of shrapnel it's only water. Don't worry, the water is warm, the air is warm, everything is warm. The only cold place here is inside a fridge...I felt like i slept for years when i woke up but i only slept 4 hours or so. Not enough Mircea, sleep some more. I woke up in the afternoon, went to eat smth and i met a German guy and i also get to meet the Vietnamese girl that recommended me the hostel...
Funny thing about traveling alone or doing smth alone. When i tell people that i went in a place and they ask me with who and i respond alone they seem surprised. Something like wtf man, don't you have any friends? Why go in a place by yourself? Well i have a few friends but i guess that taking blablacar to a random city or raving or traveling around the world isn't their thing. Last time i went to the seaside it was a total random thing. I was supposed to go in bucharest at a party with a friend who was already there, the party got canceled and i didn't want to go back home or to stay in bucharest, my friend didn't want to come to the seaside so i went by myself. It was the best thing ever. I did things i never thought about doing with people i'd never thought i'd hang out with. 
What i'm trying to say is that if you feel like doing something, going places and you're by yourself just do it! Be yourself and you'll see that the people you have to meet are already there.  It's like they are there waiting for you. Accept this freedom and do things by yourself. You can do whatever u want, whenever with whoever you want. 
Back to our story though. We decided that it's time to see a few places on the island. We went on a rooftop bar, really nice view, then we visited another hostel where my vietnamese friend had some russian friends. We drank a few beers then i thought that it would be a good idea to taste some tuica that i brought with me. We had a few shots then everything became blurry. I remember coming back to the hostel, it was pouring and i was singing "i've been working on the rail road". 

Next morning i felt like crap. Actually since i was back home i had a cold that didn't went away. Mixed with the hangover i needed a few hours to get out of bed. In the meanwhile my friends went on a tour. I met my host and he showed me around also. We went at a beefarm, checked out a waterfall and in the evening we went on the beach.
That waterfall was in a forest. I liked that. All the sounds from all kind of insects, birds, the wind blowing those big green coconut leaves. It was music to my ears. Mother nature is awesome, too bad that man is wicked and doesn't treat it with the respect she deserves. But we'll get what we deserve sooner or later. You know what i'm worried about? We'll adapt. We'll find a way to survive even thou nature might not. But that's just a thought. And the waterfall is just a waterfall. It wasn't a big one but that's even better because i went under it and got a free massage from mother nature. I forgot to say thanks but i'll say it now. 


   Then off we went to the beach. I bought a bag of fruits that i never saw before, found a swing on the beach and we just sat here. This sand feels really nice when u step on it. It even makes a funny noise if you spin your foot in it. My host said that it's because it's soft. So i just put my ass in the swing and started swinging. There is that moment when you feel like there is no gravity, that feels nice, and just swinging around, looking at the sea, enjoying the breeze made me feel the happiest man on a 1000 km radius. 

We came back, had a beer and went to sleep. I was tired.

Day 1

Day 1,

  Here I am “busy” af in an airport in Hungary, I arrived here a couple of hours ago, way too fast for the check in, way too fast for finding gates but just in time for a random passport check. This is what happened: out of a sudden the airport personnel closed an area where a bunch of people including me were sitting; a dog was brought to find any possible threats.  After 15 minutes everything was back to normal but the cops started checking people. And by people I mean me. There I was just playing with my cards and 5 cops came asking for my passport and destination. I guess they verified if everything was in order and they let me go but they didn’t want to give me any information.  After I insisted a bit the cops told me that it was just for security reasons so nothing to worry about.        
   Anyway, I like airports, you can always find a mixture of races and people, some excited some sad, terrorists, angels, it's like a rainbow of feelings and souls, all gathered here to say hello or goodbye, to depart to new destinations or to return in their comfort zone. I met a lady from Brazil, I never met somebody from Brazil before, we talked about the world, Brazil, Europe, drugs, tradition, food and guess what. In the south of Brazil they also cook our traditional “mici”. Well at least we still have Dracula to impress people with. Btw we didn’t talk about drugs but I noticed that every time when this word comes along people pay more attention to the discussion.

         Yeah and just as I was saying here I am, "busy" af starting my blog-Why am i doing this? I don't know- But I know that I love adventure, sunny days and the seaside. Yeah I’m 27 and maybe it’s time to get married, settle  down, have babies,  buy a house, adopt  a dog and so on. Sounds good but kind of boring and I’m not ready for this yet so I have to enjoy the freedom I have and explore the world, meet people, do good, receive whatever and when I feel like it’s time to stop I’ll take myself to the next level... I should go and check my gate; I think it's time for takeoff #1…

 Teleportation.

I've been flying/sleeping for 20 hours now (summed up). My right ear is kind of fucked up because I have a cold, combined with constant flying,  I feel it clogged especially when we land. But whatever man, if Van Gogh cut his ear for somebody I’m ready to lose it for something. Interesting thing about losing a part of your body. I often thought that if I had to choose what to lose, which one would it be? Which loss could I cope with better? If I’d lose an eye i would definitely wear an eye-patch. And I’d buy a big ass parrot. And a ship. And enough with the Jack Sparrow shit.  We’re about to land in Saigon and i have to fill in some forms. I hate forms. And I especially hate the ones that I can't fill with the answer they need. For example a question sounds like this: “in the last 21 days have you developed the following symptoms: sore throat, coughing or short breath”. Of course I did numbnuts. Most people in the plane cough like they invented a new Morse code and they are exchanging recipes for treating the damn cold…

I sucesfully passed the control point, where I showed the form. I had to wait an hour for my visa. All the people who applied before and after me got their visa, I didn't. I was already on a bad trip,  I mean maybe they didn't like my face, maybe they did a background check, maybe I filled in the form wrong. Fuck it, I’ll go and talk to them. And just as I was about to do it they called my name

- "mirsea pasto"?

- Yees:)

- is this your first time in Vietnam?

- Yes. 

- If so you don't have to pay the visa fee.

- Really? Great 10x.

Now with a big smile on my face I went to find my luggage. It passed over an hour since i was supposed to pick it up and of course I couldn't find it. After I asked a few people somebody suggested searching it at lost and found. And there it was, waiting for me.  After we were all reunited I went outside the airport to see what's up. I had to wait until the next morning for my final flight so I had plenty of time to look around. I found a place where to store my luggage’s. It feels great when u don't have to carry stuff right? I think so too. So I had a noodle soup and after that I decided to go and try to talk to a bus driver or with somebody maybe I could do a tour of the city or smth. And I found 2 guys they were busdrivers, I went inside and started chatting. They still had 20 min until they had to start their engines, so in the meanwhile I asked them to teach me some Vietnamese.  Of course I forgot everything but knowing myself I saved the words in a note. So here are my first words:  caam an-thank you, sin loi-sorry, bau niu-how much, toi la-I am, gai dep-pretty girl. With these massive improvements we started our tour.  The guy drove around for about an hour, it was dark so I couldn’t see much but I used my vocabulary a lot.

We arrived back in the airport after 1 hour and we went together to have another noodle soup. Another friend of theirs had smth like a 1 meter bong where he put what I assume was tobacco. When he inhaled I thought that a train was passing by. Pretty impressive.  Then everybody went home and I returned to the airport. It was 2AM I still had to wait 3 hours or so until my flight  so I tried to sleep where the ground seemed more comfortable. I don’t like sleeping on those waiting seats, I don’t know why.

Morning came and I headed to the domestic departures, I found my flight and before I knew it I was landing in Phu Quoc.

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