After an incredibly exhausting and revealing 2 1/2 weeks of work and life, I’m finally ready to relive my recent adventures. It was just so depressing reading back I just couldn’t do it! So for that, dear readers, sorry. Better late than never though eh? Stick with me, I’ve a rocky few months ahead.
Here it goes:
‘Friday 13th March 2015 ~8pm
And so it begins. I am at Bewleys Hotel in Manchester. The waitress is already bothering me and my quiet repose. The guy beside me keeps scratching his cutlery on his plate and it is sending shivers down my spine. Brr!
I’m looking forward to a drink tonight. As far as I am concerned – the holiday has begun.
I’ve been doing some reading of The Rough Guide to Vietnam. The more I read, the more I feel – how on earth are we only going for 2 weeks?!
I have been reading about the Northern mountainous region of SaPa and surroundings.
SaPa was a French hill station, liberated back to the local ethnic minorities as late as 1954.
1954? This doesn’t feel like history to me. This feels very much like the present tense.
Why did I not read about this before?! How can we fit it in too?!
I suspect the answer is we probably cannot…
8.30pm Post dinner
…As I sit here, I can hear music coming from the bar. A background hum of snippets of conversation. Would it be rude to eavesdrop?
It reminds me of my holiday in Spain last year – a beautiful idyllic location – a proper beach holiday. I saw for the first time the merits of doing so.
It evokes feelings of San Francisco for some reason. Maybe because the bar has a bit of an American diner vibe to it.
It reminds me of Mussoorie. That hill top cafe where I ate pizza and Tabasco sauce, and a creamy strawberry milkshake. I miss the person that I was then. The work that I was doing. The freedom with which to do it.
The wine is helping. It’s bringing a sense of calm…’
And then I proceeded to wind myself up.
…’Travel – travel always does this. It throws those harsh realities of life into a cold light.
My hairs are on end. My body is shivering. I am weary. There are knots in my back and my brain is switching off.
Time to go.’
Tiny Indian Girl Up A Mountain 