I've enjoyed reading your travels. It reminds me of my off road adventures on my little step through 125cc bike through the valleys and mountains here in north Thailand. Your comparison of Hanoi and Saigon made me think to compare Bangkok and Chiang Mai and confirmed to me that I'm still a country boy at heart. I wonder if your trip would've ended different if you had no deadline?
I think driving around rural Asia on a little motorbike must be one of those senses of archetypal nostalgia that people get even for places they've never been.
And that's an astute question about the ending of the trip defining its trajectory - the implicit answer on this and all others is that yes, having a psychological ending (both time and place) planned absolutely impacts everything about the trip and how it plays out. Sadly I've rarely got to indulge in a truly limitless period of travel (bar in many ways my time in Vietnam as a whole) and do wonder what that sense of absolute freedom is like (though I've also written extensively that when i have experienced it i was a form of psychological chaos and torture - see travel Diaries 10 - 21 from Japan 😃) - and I suspect it is one that's only truly navigable by the most spiritually resilient and self-sufficient
The Epilogue can be a Bible “Why travel”. Rephrasing a bit , I agree that travel is a bridge between the reality and our dreams. Well said. All lines.
I've enjoyed reading your travels. It reminds me of my off road adventures on my little step through 125cc bike through the valleys and mountains here in north Thailand. Your comparison of Hanoi and Saigon made me think to compare Bangkok and Chiang Mai and confirmed to me that I'm still a country boy at heart. I wonder if your trip would've ended different if you had no deadline?
I think driving around rural Asia on a little motorbike must be one of those senses of archetypal nostalgia that people get even for places they've never been.
And that's an astute question about the ending of the trip defining its trajectory - the implicit answer on this and all others is that yes, having a psychological ending (both time and place) planned absolutely impacts everything about the trip and how it plays out. Sadly I've rarely got to indulge in a truly limitless period of travel (bar in many ways my time in Vietnam as a whole) and do wonder what that sense of absolute freedom is like (though I've also written extensively that when i have experienced it i was a form of psychological chaos and torture - see travel Diaries 10 - 21 from Japan 😃) - and I suspect it is one that's only truly navigable by the most spiritually resilient and self-sufficient
Thanks for reading, to many more adventures
So well written and honest.