A list of why I feel like being alive again in HCMC:

The view while having breakfast on the street on a sunny Monday

  • Everything is within my reach.
    • Food stores are at every step on my way on the strets
    • With my scooter, I am just 30 mins away from any friend (modulo traffic jam). (And my friends in HCMC are the best.)
    • I can see the art performances of my friends.
    • I can go see the wood, the beach, the mountains, etc. virtually every weekend.
  • Things are pleasantly cheap.
    • My breakfast today – banhmi – costs $0.6 and was served faster than a normal fast food restaurant in the states.
      • And it is YUMMY.
    • Rent is less than $100/month.
    • I can live comfortably with 3-dollar meals ordered from Grab with free ship (for 2 months, just enough for my time here).
  • People are very nice.
    • One day, I was stuck in a heavy rain without a raincoat. I stopped my scooter and stood by the sidewalk under a tree to not get wet. A Grab driver nearby saw me, stopped, held a raincoat in his hand, and waved at me to come to him. He gave it to me, refused to tell me even his name. I cound’t say anything rather than “why are you so nice?”
    • People in a wet market called me “con” like calling their son, showing me way to buy the thing I wanted to buy.
    • The guard where I stay always smiles when talking, also calling me “con”.
  • I feel a lot of more human-ness here compared to Dallas.
    • In Dallas, I’m no one. Here, I’m someone.
    • If Dallas is abundant with roads, cars, lands, and materials, HCMC is abundant with humans and human-ness.
    • Here I feel the abundance of love by friends, family, and acquaintances.
    • When I approach some random stranger here, they care about what I have to say.
  • I am close to what made me me.
    • I am with my family!
    • I can see art events about the region where I grew up.
  • (Not quite about the city, but about this vacation) No research deadlines to run after. No more late nights being stressful of whether I can finish a manuscript by 7am. Just normal lowkey machine learning research that benefit the local people here.

I am very grateful for this.