Cinediary - Page 3

“Hermit Mode”
When was the last time you took a solo trip to a different city or country? On this page of my Cinediary, I visited Đà Lạt, one of my favorite city in Vietnam. Da Lat is known for its beautiful scenery and vast pine tree forest. Da Lat also has very cool temperature that can get really cold comparable with winter weather in the States. You can see why for Vietnamese people it’s such a popular destination. People usually come here to get away from the heat of the big cities, and enjoy steamy hot food in chilly weather. Da Lat is also coined as a city for lovers. Couples enjoy coming to Da Lat to snuggle under the cold weather and dress up in beautiful stylist outerwear that they don’t usually get to wear in other places in Vietnam.

So what was I doing there by myself? This trip to Da Lat was quite spontanous for me. I had just came out of a couple busy month of working in Vietnam and I wanted to take a small vacation. I remember asking my friends if they wanted to join, but they all had responsibilities and so I was the only one that could go. So I figured it wouldn’t be too bad to travel solo. I rented a bungalow style airbnb in the heart of the city for some what affordable price. Hilariously, the day before the trip, I sprained my ankle playing basket ball. Unable to move much I was on the verge of cancelling the trip. However, I already booked everything and I figured I was just going to relax anyway so there was no need for me to move too much. So the trip went on.
The morning I got to Da Lat was quite interesting. I arrived a bit earlier than expected so I couldn’t check in into my airbnb for a few hours. So I went to a coffee shop near by where there were no customers. Then I talked to the owner and asked if she sell food since I was incredibly hungry after the long bus ride. She said no, but she could cook my some ramen which I politely said no to. I don’t remember if she ended up giving me something to eat or not, but I called for some coffee and worked on my project. At this point I was still editing the series Handle With Care of team Bearbrickbtws. After a few hours of editing, I checked into my airbnb and began to relax. I made some tea, bumped around, order some food and just stay inside. The night came and I enjoyed a nice relaxing time on the porch while wrapping myself with a blanket and drinking a beer. The airbnbs corgi also joined me for a bit and it was the most peaceful and relaxing I had felt for awhile.

The next day I slept in quite late and then went out to sightsee. Until now I’m not sure how I managed to walk so much with my cripple leg but I walked so much while taking alot of photos. It was painful at time, but overall I enjoyed the journey and how free I felt. Skip forward the 3rd day, one of my friend who his hometown being Da Lat came and picked me up. He then drove me around and showed me all the good spot and food and it was such a nice addition to my solo trip to be able to interact with a friend.
Overall, it was such a memorable trip. I love traveling solo because you can do anything you want without waiting for anyone. You can be spontaneous, and you can go to sleep as late as you want and sleep in as much as you want. You can spend hours just sitting there and enjoying the place without having to rush around checking things off the list.

I hope I was able to translate a portion of the peacefulness and freedom I experienced while on this trip through this page of my Cinediary.