Thursday things
Its really Wednesday afternoon. Almost evening. Its one of the days where the puppies seem lazy. Sleeping for some reason right by our door. My wife is out doing the things she likes. Rest of the family is still here. No idea when they will go home. So I just hide out. Its our bedroom here for me. Its the only room with an AC in it and I just will sit and vegetate after the nice walk, yoga, and food.
I also enjoy writing whatever. The diary things always seem on the surface to me. A casual observer looking mostly from the outside in. I have been watching different videos and found some new vlogs and subscribed. One is a person just moving back to Cambodia to teach after almost a decade being away. The replicating thing to me from all this is that people want to get away from a place and situation which burns them out. When I left a decade ago I had no idea what I’d do next. I decided day to day but when 2019 came along, I also knew I wanted to be gone all year because in early 2020 I would head back to America and see my daughter plus fulfill one dream on Amtrak. That dream ended up being in two parts but the first big thing was traveling across America in a sleeper on amtrak. I ended up doing that in almost both directions. Before that though I had some places to go. I had never figured then staying in a single place and doing the so-called retirement gig. I had no real interest in staying. People that complain about vietnams visa laws so recognize none of it is meant for long term stay. For me it worked really well before the pandemic. There were more visa choices for american passport holders. I could do a month or three months or six. Even a year.
Each time if I got the longer visa, I had to leave every 90 days. Once I went to Hong Kong. Other times back to Cambodia. It never really bothered me leaving after 90 days because I was not seeing myself retired in Vietnam. I was just living there. If I were still doing that, I would not look at it as retiring in Hanoi. It would be staying there for 3 months and going to a place or places I would want to see. Then come back and do the things in Vietnam which caught my fancy.
Retirement really only came along in 2022 when I knew after three days in California I was done there. There was something after a year in Mexico that just got me. It was like some switch thrown in my soul. I realized then that America was not a place for me. There was nothing left I wanted there. Nothing it held for me.
Vietnam when I would go back for whatever time never felt like a retirement thing. I wanted to live there. Find a home there. I never called it retiring there. I was more than willing to move along as the visa laws said.
Now its different. We are more stable here and I just get the retirement visa every year. I’ve settled for a visa scheme that’s easy and my daughter here does them for me. I have to really do nothing to get the year extension. Pay some money. Surrender my passport. Provide a photo or two. Wait.
Of course, I am thinking of all this on Wednesday. It ain’t Thursday yet and I called this Thursday things. So that means this drifts across from day to day. I cannot talk about Thursday things on a Wednesday. Therefore, this will stop at some point and I’ll find some things for Thursday that need to be said. Or thought. Or both.
I’ll probably add a few more little things later. The puppies like attention and love and playing. I’m good with that on any day.
later
Now it’s Thursday morning and the blog lingers in some unfinished state. Since the morning segues to coffee and walking, I’ll just let this go and catch up maybe at a coffee place not done in some time. It’s still early. Quiet in the neighborhood. My best times. We still have my wife’s family here. No idea when they will tire of it and go home. Best thing for me is to get out in the mornings. First I need to go see my little puppy family. They are asking 😀.
Now I kinda feel like this is a done deal. You want some random photo? Okay. Let me see what it is I can do to facilitate.
One of my favorite photos. This may have been taken when I visited Hue in 2020 during the pandemic. I ended up going more in Vietnam during the pandemic than before. During 2020, travel inside was very nice.
I love the colors of the bridge. How it reflects in the Perfume River at night. If you have not been, you owe it to go. The history, culture, people and food!
☕️ 5 min read