Nothing is more gratifying than seeing my name in one of the most important travel magazines in the world. After hundreds of trips and countless travel articles, I had the great honor to sign a story about Ho Chi Minh in National Geographic Traveler Romania, spring issue.
„The colors of the chaos in Ho Chi Minh” is about the atmosphere in the Vietnamese city, about the places I visited and experiences I had there. Is about tastes, perfumes, colors, sounds, architectures, cultures and lifestyle – all of them fascinating for the European eyes.
And so it begins…
Tens of horns beeping simultaneously, caught in a traffic jam, with everybody in a rush and an overall mess. Here I am in front of the crosswalk for ten minutes already. Scooters with four persons aboard pass by. While I seriously weigh the decision of stepping on the street, I suddenly hitch my neck trying to look in all directions with my eyes wide open, when a scooter bypasses me from behind, on the sidewalk. I feel like being trapped in a web made of tens, hundreds, thousands buzzing two-wheels vehicles, surrounding me as they speed towards the crossroads, even though the traffic lights turned red.
…I was caught in something they see normal: the traffic jam. After finding my hotel in a maze of streets, I went to a guided tour. „We take the bus to to to the first and «za mos importans» objective of the city: The Independence Palace.” I saw Notre Dame Cathedral, Postal Office and the War Museum, which messed me up forever.
The pagodas, a landmark
First, I went to China Town to see one of the most famous temples, Thien Hau.
„The silence, the prayer gestures of locals, the sunlight that enters the wooden structure of the opened ceiling, the Mandarin symbols on poles, the spherical red paper lamps attached to the beams and the fine gong sounds from a loudspeaker I couldn’t find with my eyes, unexpectedly took me in the heart of China.”
A walk in the center of the city while going to see other temples gave me the opportunity to study the people: relaxed and happy to see tourists. And they live their lives in the streets: they sell, cook and sleep in the hammocks here.
Vietnamese cuisine
The Vietnamese gastronomy is a supreme art which I could not forget to remember. The street food and the entire ritual of eating impressed me a lot. I tasted foods I didn’t even know it existed.
”I learned each type of food doesn’t taste the same from a stand to another because each cook seasons different the food in order to personalize their dish.”
You can read the entire article in National Geographic Traveler Romania, spring issue.
This way I want to thank the people who believed in me and offered me this great opportunity! One of my dreams just came true! <3
Posted by Educated by Travelling on Sunday, June 25, 2017