Hello friend!

Over the past two weeks, I’ve been cruising through Vietnam on a motorbike. My butt is painfully sore from riding 4+ hours on a vibrating vehicle every day. (That sounds way worse written down than it did in my head 🤔 )

Turns out this “Don’t think, just go” mindset is really working.

I tested it the moment I landed in Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon). On my second day in the city, I signed up for a local driving lesson to learn how not to die in Vietnamese traffic (highly recommend).

To my surprise, it wasn’t that bad. As long as you move slowly and stay alert, you kind of just go with the flow. Like water. Like fish. Or other things that don’t get hit by trucks.

Feeling slightly more confident, I set off the next day and promptly got soaked in the rain. I also added an extra hour to my travel time from getting lost and avoiding risky left turns, but I decided to follow a rule I learned in SCUBA training:

Since then, I’ve zig-zagged from mountains to valleys to beaches to coastlines back to valleys and mountains and so on. Right now, I’m in Phong Nha, which means I’m roughly 70% of the way through my journey!

You can follow along on Instagram here.

Surviving turbulent times

One particularly long stretch had it all: I got two flat tires, nearly ran out of gas (multiple times), and had a small crash when I under-braked before a turn. 😱 

But weirdly, I stayed calm through it all.

Even as my gas meter hovered near empty, I realized there wasn’t anything I could do—so I might as well enjoy the scenery instead of stressing. I found mechanics to repair my flat tire, found gas in a roadside shop, and walked away from the crash with nothing more than a bruised ego and a bent mirror.

I think that part of it is that riding a motorcycle requires you to stay fully present. You’re constantly scanning for potholes, wandering cows, and grandmas barreling toward you on the wrong side of the road. There’s no room for overthinking. You just deal with what’s in front of you.

There’s something very refreshing about that.

Closing thoughts

I’ve absolutely fallen in love with Vietnam. The food is incredible, the cafes are mind-blowing, and the landscapes are stunning. And to top it all off, the USD goes incredibly far here. It’s $1-2 for meals and drinks that would be $10-20 in the US. I know I’ll be back one day for sure.

Coming up next, I’ll be doing a 3-day 2-night jungle and cave expedition in Phong Nha. Originally, I was planning on doing a different tour that would let me camp in a cave overnight, but due to the rain it had to be cancelled. Oh well!

See you all next time 👋 

Cheers,
Tim