Life of Chung

Life of Chung

Chung Nguyen  //  http://chungnguyen.com

Jul 22 / 12:30am

My Location

N 12°13'54.39", E 109°11'25.17"


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Filed under  //  travel  

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Jul 21 / 2:02am

"I like cake but I don't want fucking candles on them," said the Canadian (unrelated to the whole Israeli debate)

My life is so damn weird and random sometimes. So I took a bus from Hoi An to Nha Trang, which took all night. Here's what happened:
  • A Canadian boy met an Israli girl during traveling and I guess now they're going together. That's great and all, except at about 9PM, they got into a heated debate about the whole Israel/Palestine thing. She, of course, got completely emotional about it (understandable). Did I mention that I was sitting directly in front of them? It reminded me of this.
  • Oh, and I was supposed to get two seats because I booked a "sleeping" bus but got stuck with a "sitting" bus. Bummer. So this cute'ish Vietnamese boy sat next to me and tried to talk to me, but I was totally curt because, well, I am like that sometimes when PEOPLE TAKE MY SPARE MOTHEREFFING SEAT! (Why didn't I speak up about the discrepency? Because I'm lame and can't defend myself. Duh.) So, the seats are small, but luckily so are both of us. You would think it'd be smooth sailing, right? No, not so much. After he fell asleep, his leg would very so slightly take up some space on my side. Normally, that would be fine, I would just move my leg over to be nice. But after a while, it just got ridiculous and there was nowhere to go. But I figured - and BTW, this is naive Chung talking - that he's so asleep, it'd be kind of mean for me to perpetually move/wake him, right? Right? Especially after being so curt in the beginning? Oh man. Long story short, I guess the guy takes that niceness to be an "OK" to be all chummy with me. At about 4AMish (I'm so tired by this point because of lack of sleep), he's holding my hand. Like, "you're my girlfriend and this is how we hold hands" holding my hands. I'm sitting there thinking, "What. the. fuck." (Yes, pardon my French.) So I took our hands and promptly let go of his on his own lap. Seriously now. Sheesh!
  • This was the second "sleeping" bus SNAFU, and thankfully the last. I've been so tired from these journeys, that I've had dreams about transportation while on the bus - that's how traumatizing it was. The first time, I dreamed that I was having an AWFUL bus ride only to wake up to realize that the dream was, in fact, a true nightmare in real life. Le sigh. This time, I dreamed I was getting coffee. mmm speaking of which, haven't had any today....
  • So I got to Nha Trang around 6AM, sans-Vietnamese-pseudo-boyfriend. I went to 3 different hotels before finding a room. I'm walking down the street to go find a particular dive shop when I stumbled upon one that offered certification for $190. Pretty cheap! It's Russian owned. My instructor is French. And was translating the lessons from his French cards into English. ZOMG. Seriously. And usually people teach you in the pool? Nuh-uh. I got hands-on, sink-or-swim training out in the ocean. Verdict thus far? It's not too hard, but it hurts the ears. Apparently you get used to this. (I'm still waiting for my hearing to return, several hours later.) But the crew is pretty cool. Reminded me of America because there was a tall, thin Russian named Dima on board. (:
I have 2 more days of instructions to go. WISH ME LUCK!!!
Filed under  //  chungsanity   overheard   travel  

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Jul 18 / 6:35pm

My Location

N 16°28'13.07", E 107°35'42.55"


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Jul 17 / 6:29am

I cannot believe I'm overhearing this guy spell out "Ho Chi Minh" over Skype, and then explaining who he was. Friggin' ig'nant Americans!

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Jul 17 / 6:04am

On Noodles & Broccoli

I feel like when I get into a serious relationship with someone, I make compromises and concessions of my own volition in order to please the other party. This is all done without them specifically asking (or even hinting) me to do them. I just feel like I should do it. And guess what? Over a long period of time, resentment builds up on my part, which becomes explosive for the other party. And they don't actually understand fully why things are that way.

It's my fault for trying so damn hard and consequently sacrificing myself unnecessarily along the way. What a terribly vicious cycle, right?

Going forward, I will not assume that I'm doing them a favor by doing or not doing something. My (future) boyfriend should be an honest and open communicator. So, for example, if he wants  me to stop seeing other boys on the side, all he needs to do is ask! Until then, I'll be leading my life as I see fit.

Well, at least with big things, I stay true to myself. For example, I would not have a baby just because the one I'm with wants to be a dad or something. That is a non-negotiable for me. However, the small stuff adds up, too, so I shouldn't let those things slide either.

And what's with the subject heading? Well, when Dima and I were together, I found out that he liked neither broccoli nor noodles. I love both. Sometimes even together. I found myself slowly weaning away from them because he didn't like them. Ridiculous, right? But that's how it was. And whenever I had a bowl of ramen, I'd feel like I was cheating on him or something. Ri-friggin'-diculous just reading that now, but in the moment, you don't realize your insanity. (:
Filed under  //  chungsanity   relationship crap  

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Jul 17 / 5:54am

Sunday Secrets

www.postsecret.com

   
Click here to download:
Sunday_Secrets.zip (80 KB)

Filed under  //  link   postsecret  

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Jul 15 / 9:07pm

I'm Californian!

Dude: Did you just call me "dude"?
Me: I call everybody "dude"!
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Jul 15 / 10:39am

Week One

In summation: learned to deal with the heat a tad better, 8+ bug bites, tremendous first-world yuppie guilt, took a few rides on the back of motorbikes with strangers (twice wedged in between two people), ate on the street numerous times, drank with foreigners, nearly slept under the stars on the back of a boat in Ha Long Bay, saw indigenous mountain tribes and their TVs in the single-room mud homes, slept on buses and trains, crossed the street by myself (and quietly cheered after successfully doing so), sat in a metal 5-seater boat during a huge downpour and pondering about the boat sinking, and had some of the most amazingly simple yet oh-so-delicious pho in my life. The noodles were indescribable, but I'll try if you ask me in-person. Yum.

To week two....

New city, new ways to unwind.

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Jul 13 / 6:04pm

Life Lesson #39,182

As a lightweight, I should never drink vodka with Russians either in theory or in practice.

And on that note, bia hoi is super delicious and refreshing. And only 6,000-dong a glass! Win-win.

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Jul 12 / 4:02am

On Turning 30

I'm turning 30 in 2-point-something years. It's not the end of the world, clearly, but it's the changing of the decades and I think it is a great opportunity to set big goals and try to accomplish them. I thought about it quite a bit (traveling buys you time, doesn't it?) and I've boiled it down to this:
  1. Traveling: I want to use up all of my visa pages. Simple as that. And, I want to get my motorcycle license and cruise around the USA. And, I want to see the northern lights. After Sarah Palin steps down from office in Alaska, perhaps? Yes, very simple.
  2. I want to write a book. Or, simply put, complete some impressive (in terms of quantity and quality) piece of writing.
Filed under  //  chungsanity  

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