Wanderlust

As we maneuvered the winding and narrow alleys of the market I let out a frustrated sigh, “we are never going to get out of here”. The air was heavy and thick, filled with the constant chatter in a language I didn’t understand. Around each new corner we were confronted with vendors selling unidentifiable animal parts as we fell deeper and deeper into the labyrinth. A man approached with what appeared to be a platter of cow brains, and I silently cursed K for talking me into this. When he had spoken of “adventure” I had envisioned a romantic sunset horseback ride with my hair blowing in the ocean breeze and soaking up the sun at luxury resort in the Caribbean. Instead, here I was, halfway around the world trying to find my bearings in the middle of a market in Ho Chi Minch City wondering “how on Earth did I end up here?” We made a few more twists and turns into the maze before plopping ourselves down onto tiny plastic chairs at a food stall, our faces bearing the look of defeat. Before us appeared steaming bowls of pho packed to the brim with fresh herbs and thinly sliced beef, carefully ladled out by the elderly stall owner. As we slowly slurped up the delicious noodles we took a moment to take in our surroundings. We watched as people went about their daily routines, bartering, bantering and smiling throughout the market. As we continued to devour our meal the vendor smiled with delight as these two weary travellers had chosen her stall amongst many others. She chatted to the surrounding vendors periodically pointing in our directions and a few of them came over to shake our hands as if we had completed some sort of heroic task. As we reached the bottoms of our bowls we felt rejuvenated and ready to take on the world, or at least the market in Saigon.