Notes From The Road: this is the real world muchachos and we're all in it. A brief lesson in Vietnamese economic policy as follows: if you can't buy something for 1000 dong, you can buy it for 5000 dong. Complete understanding of this concept is vital for your success when traveling in this nation. It never stops, it rarely slows down and if you have the money, you will be forced to spend it. A sort of neo communist movement sweeping the Asian continent. It's much more difficult to get off the tourist trail and still have a successful journey in Vietnam, but I refuse to give up. Just returning back to Hanoi after a 3 day nightmare cruise in Ha Long Bay and that will be the last time I ever book any sort of tour through an agency, especially in Vietnam. Ha Long Bay is beautiful, but it acts as the Vietnamese Disneyland of sorts. A lesson in analogies as follows: Southeast Asia is to Thailand as Vietnam is to Ha Long Bay. Anyone traveling to the former visits the latter. Basically a massive tourist trap all shapes and sizes welcome. The food sucks, the tour guides are rude and everybody wants you to buy some crap from them. The only solitude to be had is found deep within the night when your body finally collapses from exhaustion after hassling with the huge pile of Vietnamese s*** that is the Ha Long Bay cruise that so many of my fellow travelers spoke so highly of. I know I have said this before, but I did not come to Southeast Asia to hang out with a bunch of foreigners traveling in Southeast Asia. Unfortunately, I am here during the wrong season. I have also told you about how my travel plans change constantly, but I have a small itinerary setup for the next month. I've decided to skip Cambodia. Yeah, yeah, Angkor Wat and the rest of that s***. Everybody goes there and im not interested right now. Besides, there are a lot of things that I would like to see in Vietnam and trying to rush through them is not my style. I have to move fast enough as it is. So, Dien Bien Phu is next. Supposedly there is a cool war museum up there and I have not met one person yet traveling in that direction. Sounds like a gold mine. I just have to get through a 16 hour, hell bus journey to get there. But, I have had worse and there is nothing I have come to enjoy more about Asian life than the cramped local buses filled with pigs, chickens, guns, bags of rice and all the people in between. The seats are too small, the roads are complete s***, the horns blare all night and day, but what a slice of life most tourists choose to avoid. This is real Asia. Trying to get comfortable where there is only one position your body can possibly fit into, your neighbor sleeping all over your shoulder, somebody 3 rows back blaring music on their phone for all to hear and none to enjoy and did I mention the roads are s***. I guess it's nearly Christmas back home, but it makes no difference to me. I live on a constant holiday and don't have to look for excuses to celebrate anymore. I celebrate whenever I want to. And that happens to be almost every night. Im not here for the sights, im here for the sounds, im here for the smells, im here for the burns and the scars. Im looking to get dirty with Southeast Asian culture and every now and then, I find a piece. The cities are a good place, but as you probably know by now, I don't deal with crowds too well. Plus, these shallow 3 day relationships suit me just fine. It's really hard to get along with most people once you crack the outer shell anyways. After that, it's more just tolerating the crap and hoping to have good times in between. When the good times are no longer worth the crap, I usually call it quits and its worked for me so far in this life and as with most of my philosophies, until I find a more suitable way, ill stick to this one. I choose a simple life because it allows me to spend my time contemplating much more important issues than who has checked my my space page or what phone calls I have missed today. Technology clouds our heads and prevents us from seeing the true issues clearly. Any useful information available can be found on the internet anyways, no need for TV. the internet, however, should be used with caution as well. It is a drug more addictive than most and can be damaging to creative minds. I find my time is more usefully spent outdoors, playing music or reading something of substance. I never went to school to get good grades; I went to school because I like to learn. But, there are so many other places in the world where you can expand your knowledge. It seems the Renaissance man is no longer in existence. I think my grandparents' generation wiped that concept completely out of our minds. Staying with the same company in the same field seems to be the most common form of work and knowledge now. Find a "career!" A good one where you can be sucksessful, a.k.a. make a lot of money. I don't define success as by money and neither does anyone else that I choose to waste my time with. These people understand a part of the world that has been forgotten, or at least swept under the rug for the benefit of the cuntry. Keep that economy growing! But, my quality of life that I enjoy so much back in the states is what enabled me to come out here in the fist place and I am grateful for that. Not every situation is win or loose as many Americans choose to believe. "If you're not with me, you're against me" is a concept engrained deep within my American brain and even though I am aware of it, I still struggle with trying to eliminate it. So, as the sun sets today, as any other, try to remember that both of us, one day, will be dead. Along with all of our hopes, dreams, goals and material possessions and I am circling back to my ultimate philosophy. Just do what makes YOU happy. If it doesn't make you happy, it isn't worth the stress. Ill leave you with a few brilliant words written with every bit of the intention implied by a hero of mine, Thomas Paine; founding father, fellow atheist and true revolutionary. "The world is my country, mankind is my brethren and to do good is my religion." Amen, Thomas. Amen. Till we meet again, Kelly