Hi!
It is a pleasure to welcome you to my blog.
First and foremost, please allow me to give you a little introduction about myself.
I come from Vietnam, and for those who have visited that beautiful country you would most likely agree with me that it has blossomed into a heavenly exotic travel destination to satisfy all the senses. I was born in Ho Chi Minh City (then Saigon) in the South of Vietnam, and I grew up with a love of street food. My childhood memories are full of travelling (lots of walking and biking in those days) to discover, to patiently wait, and then to devour with immense satisfaction the goodies I longed for.
With time my appreciation for good street food would gradually expand to include a deep interest in beautiful locations, historical architecture and the arts, each with their own story to tell. It is like the appreciation for fine wine. Both, coincidentally but naturally, come with age.
As we go through life we make choices that change us, and there are times that choices are made for us that take us on a completely different path. Leaving Vietnam did just that for me. I migrated to Australia when I was 12 years old. I had to relearn the English language in the Australian way (no longer the American way) and it did make those quick-to-pass-by teenage years a bit easier. I longed with unimaginable wistfulness to be back in Vietnam, and as a teenager growing up in what was then to me a very foreign country felt utterly isolating and painful. The smell of pizzas, burgers and fries, while intrinsically coded in my memory, didn’t awaken any other senses. At the same time my memories of Pho (Vietnamese Beef Noodles), Bun Bo Hue (Vietnamese Spicy Beef Noodles), Banh Cuon (Vietnamese Rice Flour Rolls) with fish sauce and other traditional street food dishes were evaporating into the thin Western air and the unreturnable past.
Then, I fell in love. There was not a moment in time that distinctly marked that turning point. Unconsciously and unexpectedly I fell in love with Australia, and the East and West love affair was sown in me. It has fatefully blossomed into a boundless appreciation for all of my senses.
The smell of eucalyptus leaves swept along by the warm breezes that reminded me of how much I missed the petrichor scent in Vietnam is now embedded in me just as it is surely essential to a koala. I live, I love, I laugh and be who I want to be – in love with Australia.
That does not mean in any sense an end to my love affair with Vietnam. I love Vietnam to the core – the people, the food, the culture, and most significantly, the diverse landscapes throughout the country that allow you the ultimate escape from reality.
Where the cliff meets the sea is where you can truly appreciate the beauty of nature and its diversity, I think. The stark physical contrasts can subject one to an immense feeling of awe in the beauty of this world, and a desire to leave some small traces behind at sunset.
Time will always fly away. We often hear, and sometime can’t help but blurt out ourselves, “Life is too short.” But how often do we make time to pause that clock and evoke all our senses? So often it is much easier to be driven than to drive, and perhaps that is because it is less challenging.
Working almost full-time, life did seem to get in the way, and those “me time” moments seemed to be a thing of the past until another indistinct turning point occurred and a compass from within pointed in this direction. I simply couldn’t let this thought slide past me without turning it into reality. So here I am, blogging with a hope to make a difference to the lives of others.
If you would like to be on this journey with me so that I can share with you a few thoughts, a few recipes, and a few tips here and there that may enhance your experiences, please subscribe to my blog for my regular updates. I hope that this journey will be as rewarding for you, in every sense, as it will be for me – in all senses.
Yours,
Tina H