Jet Lagged Wandering
Jet Lagged Wandering
Landing at Tan Son Nhat International Airport was a bit of a surprise, having not seen it since 2006 (before the major facelift). It looks like an alien mothership now compared to The Little Airport That Could that I knew from before. It's a great improvement, and definitely underscores the fact that Vietnam is a DevelopING country, constantly changing; especially coming from the "developed world," that static, "we're good enough," "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality that I've grown so accustomed to just accepting as "reality" for so long.
It's easy to forget, apparently.
But half-informed musings aren't the purpose of this post. I'm really here to whine a little about jet lag. Walking around busy streets, half-awake, as if looking at everything through the walls of an aquarium. Those of us familiar with trans-Pacific crossings know that there's no easy cure and that it doesn't get easier with experience. It's just another box to check, another thing to do. Which can either be an excuse for me to be a martyr (not that interesting) or to take it as an exercise in mental/physical endurance (I love a self-imposed challenge!).
For now, it's time to reacquaint myself with a city in which I used to live. Sounds easy enough, but we'll see if the quasi-translucent jet lag membrane allows a quick transition. Connections to remake, old landmarks to check on, streets to learn again - I've got a lot of work to do.
So far, the coffee has been dismal, mere addiction-maintenance (I'll follow up with a separate post and a few photos). I brought some coffee from Olympia, mostly partial-bag leftovers I had stored in preparation for the trip, but had to leave my burr grinder behind (weight limits caused me to let go of quite a bit, as we wanted to avoid the expense of shipping anything to ourselves).
Finding a good grinder (and a few of those other essentials) provides a good reason to leave the relative comfort of our little air-conditioned, temporary apartment, to get out into the hot streets and to slowly transition into my new, developing reality.