Filed under: Creative Non-fiction, Get Creative, Red Letter Days, Travel, Vietnam
She could hear the rooster’s crowing and smell the intoxicating salty scent of the ocean as she opened her eyes. It was still dark outside. She brushed her teeth and tucked her increasingly unruly hair under her filthy old hat and headed out the door to meet her trusty tour guide.
It was 5:30am in Mui Ne – a small fishing village on the south-central coast of Vietnam. At the driveway she was greeted by Vinh, a Vietnamese university graduate who had offered to show her around in exchange for some English practice. She swung her leg over his motorbike and held on tight for the journey ahead.
Off they roared, out of the alleyway and onto the main road, which was silhouetted by coconut palms. In the darkness, she glanced up at the sky. It was still full of bright twinkling stars, and to her right she recognised the Southern Cross – a beacon of familiarity in a land so foreign. With the crisp morning air lashing her face, she stretched her arms wide and let the air glide between her fingers. She felt alive for the first time in months.
Suddenly she could see the Pacific Ocean. Shadows cast from the pre-dawn light danced across the waves, beckoning her to play with them. The incandescent outline of salty sea puddles stretched for miles along the shore, like a snail’s slimy trail.
The motorcycle veered up and over a hill and all at once the scenery changed. They were surrounded by enormous sand dunes. It was like the deserts of Arizona meeting the seas of the Caribbean. She jumped off the bike and ran up the dunes, sinking deeper with every step.
The sun was beginning to rise and as its first rays caught the ripples of the dunes. She was overwhelmed by the beauty before her. For a moment, everything seemed clear.
We go through life worrying about each ripple, without appreciating the overall majesty of the dune. The journey is not about climbing to the next level, but about appreciating the overall picture – the gift of being on this Earth, if only for a moment in time.
Tearing herself away from the sunrise, she saddled the bike and they took off. After several minutes of speeding down the highway, only slowing for the occasional goat or cow, they arrived at the White Dunes.
Accompanied by a friendly desert canine, she hiked to the top of the dune and did a 360-degree swivel. The dunes stretched for miles – like white marble meticulously carved into the Earth. She turned to her guide and tried to explain how she felt. No luck, so she gave him a grin and the universal thumbs up.
Back in Mui Ne, she sat on the beach and watched a group of children playing makeshift volleyball in the sand. As the waves lapped the shoreline and the palm trees bent to shade her. She felt a tremendous sense of gratitude to be alive and enjoying her morning in paradise.
