So I met three French backpackers on the sleeper bus to Hue. I've decided to tag along just for the fun of meeting new people (they're heading in the same general direction anyway). In many ways, they travel around like myself: cautious and thrifty but always up for adventure - whether it's getting lost on bicycles or trying out random foods at roadside stalls. One thing though: they really take it slow.
So this morning, we were all having breakfast. Everyone else had finished theirs. I still had my cup of tea which I proceeded to gulp down as quickly as I can. Aurelie turns to me and says (in her French accent which I find amusing), 'Woah! Slow down. Take it easy.' Double take.
In some ways, it's doing me good. I'm learning how to take it easy and to once again enjoy myself. It's been some time since backpacking's been enjoyable for me and I need to rediscover that which attracted me to it in the first place. For once, I'm taking in the sights and soaking up the atmosphere (the Frenchies' favourite phrase) after every meal instead of asking for the bill and leaving just as fast as I got there.
***
So we're walking along the bank of the Perfume River. The promenade is filled with people selling wares and snacks. I'm desperately looking for sugarcane juice. Oh god, it's been years since I last had some - a faint memory of a taste as if from a long-forgotten dream.
Here in Hue, sugarcane is crushed with lime by the same hand-operated machines that you find in the night markets of Malaysia. The novelty makes it taste better until I find a sugarcane vendor in a small street. Lime-less but the taste of pure sugarcane juice freshly crushed is so good. Someone kill me now, honest.
So this morning, we were all having breakfast. Everyone else had finished theirs. I still had my cup of tea which I proceeded to gulp down as quickly as I can. Aurelie turns to me and says (in her French accent which I find amusing), 'Woah! Slow down. Take it easy.' Double take.
In some ways, it's doing me good. I'm learning how to take it easy and to once again enjoy myself. It's been some time since backpacking's been enjoyable for me and I need to rediscover that which attracted me to it in the first place. For once, I'm taking in the sights and soaking up the atmosphere (the Frenchies' favourite phrase) after every meal instead of asking for the bill and leaving just as fast as I got there.
***
So we're walking along the bank of the Perfume River. The promenade is filled with people selling wares and snacks. I'm desperately looking for sugarcane juice. Oh god, it's been years since I last had some - a faint memory of a taste as if from a long-forgotten dream.
Here in Hue, sugarcane is crushed with lime by the same hand-operated machines that you find in the night markets of Malaysia. The novelty makes it taste better until I find a sugarcane vendor in a small street. Lime-less but the taste of pure sugarcane juice freshly crushed is so good. Someone kill me now, honest.
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