The last week in Thailand was a bit of an adventure.
I climbed a mountain [again], tried Muay Thai Boxing, played some tennis [you may be noticing a theme]…But then I had a little trip to the hospital [after a slight over-exertion at an amazing fitness boot-camp… please see previous theme]
The experience in the hospital was better than most others I’ve had, the doctors were brilliant and the food was pretty good too. I had a couple of EXCELLENT humans keeping me company with LOTRs and banter so the time went fairly quickly and it was all good.
It did mean that I didn’t finish Thailand strongly though.
I was exhausted in mind and body by the time we packed our bags [or more accurately someone packed mine for me] and went to the airport to fly to Hanoi. It’s fair to say that I was flagging at best.
It began to dawn on me that two months of The Nomad MBA was over, more than anything else this was weighing heavily on me.
The gift of these 23 individuals, all who had shown such love and care of me when I was ill.
Who had encouraged me in my work life and learning.
Who cried with me, saw me, accepted me.
That was going to come to an end and then I would be alone again.
Now of course this isn’t actually the truth. I don’t actually believe that I am ever alone and my tribe is now an expansion of the community that makes up all of the people in my life.
This all means that Vietnam is going to have a hard time measuring up to Chiang Mai and Canggu and is starting off at a disadvantage given my mindset.
Hanoi is BIG and loud and noisy and FULL of bikes. Everything you read everywhere is 100% true about the roads and as I walked around on my first morning I felt lucky that I reached church without being run over.
I love the ingenuity of the Vietnamese people, everyone everywhere seemed to be creating something – food, plastic decorations for weddings, phone cases, paintings, make-shift parts for broken mopeds.
Everyone is busy.
There is a serious over-stimulation of lights, colors and smells compared to the relative quiet of Chiang Mai and the island life of Bali.
None-the-less the second day we went to the Vietnamese Museum of Fine Arts, sat in a lovely coffee-shop-come-art-gallery [Manzi], had a DELICIOUS steak dinner at RICO Steakhouse, drank some wine and I remembered how nice it was to be in a metropolitan environment.
The co-working space we have [Toong] is super fancy, but slightly lacking in a fully functioning coffee shop.It does have high ceilings and a colonial vibe to the building which seems to fit in well with my working ethic.
As I sit down to start I can feel that this month will be all about finishing things.
So as I say good morning to Vietnam I’m actually looking forward for ways to finish well.
To not be exhausted in body and mind by the end but instead be full of gratitude and ready for the next leg of my journey in this extraordinary life I’m living.
I’ll let you know how I get on.
GibneyGoesGlobal 