Update from An Bang (the beach of Hoi An)

Monthly Nomadic Notes update, and a bunch of good travel reads from around the web.

Greetings from An Bang Beach in Hoi An. This week I have split my time between two popular beach neighbourhoods of Da Nang and Hoi An. There are some green shoots of recovery here, with more places opened than my previous visit at the end of 2020.

I follow this Instagram account that tallies the Covid statistics for Southeast Asia. Vietnam had a momentous day this week with no covid deaths reported for first time in nearly a year.

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A post shared by The ASEAN Post (@aseanpost)

I don’t where I will be this time next week, which is the first time in years I have been in this position of making it up as I go. I’m waiting on some news, but I will most likely be inland for a month. For now, I am getting in one more beach walk.

Where I’m At: May 2022 – Saigon

Where I’m At is my monthly travel and site update, and other random ramblings from the editor (me). More regular updates can be found at the weekly travel newsletter, which includes interesting travel reads from around the web.

Where I’ve been

This is an overview of where I’ve been over the last month. Detailed blog posts and trip reports usually follow a month or so later.

Australia

April began in Melbourne, where I had returned to my homeland after being away for nearly 2 and a half years. I had 18 days in Melbourne, which was barely enough time to catch up with family and friends. I paced out my meetups, in addition to attending other admin duties and getting health checkups. I didn’t get around to seeing everyone, so I could have used more time here.

I would have liked to stay longer but I didn’t have anywhere to stay, and staying in Airbnbs and hostels in your own city is weird. I ended up looking at apartments displayed in real estate windows, dreaming of buying a crash pad for more regular visits. When I first started out as a digital nomad in the 2000s I rented a cheap room in a house with friends in Melbourne, and I would spend about half the year travelling. That wouldn’t be a bad option for the future.

While it was great to be back, after about one week back “home”, my mind was already set on my other “home”.

Vietnam

I left Vietnam in August last year, not knowing when I would be back. The country closed its borders for regular travel and didn’t reopen until March this year. It was strange – a good strange – to be back after all that had happened in the intervening months. I of course had a first meal back in mind, so as soon as I dropped my bags off I knew where to go…

I booked a hotel for 3 days, not knowing if I was going to be here for 3 months or 3 weeks. I have been using Saigon as a base for a number of years now, but with visa uncertainties, I arrived not knowing how long I could stay. It turns out that Vietnam is currently only issuing a 30-day visa without the option to extend, so that has taken the decision of how long to stay out of my hands. They have probably done me a solid by making this decision for me, because I had intended to do more research travel for Future Southeast Asia once travel restarted. I might have been tempted to stay put for 6 months if the visa was available again.

So I am still in hardcore digital nomad made, and luckily I am still in the mood for it. I have one month in Vietnam this time around, which I have filled with meeting friends and eating at my favourite places. I did one sidetrip to Binh Thuan Province, and I have another trip planned next week.

Assorted travel reads

• Get stranded like Odysseus on Italy’s most secret, mythical islands

• When solo travel met the ‘Great Resignation’: Meet the workers who quit and hit the road

• The world’s smallest country hides a real-life garden of Eden

• Escape to Zoom Island

“When the pandemic untethered millions of workers from their offices, a new species of digital nomad was born. They set off with laptops and passports, and have made it clear they’re never coming back. Now, on a sun-dappled island in the middle of the ocean, a group of them is engaged in a novel experiment that might foretell the future of work.”

• Night in the city: Capturing the fading age of neon lights in Tokyo and beyond

• Marriott spends up to $90 million a year on bathroom soaps

• 40 of the best beaches in Europe

• Cycling in Singapore has never been easier or more rewarding – and it’s about to get even better

And another Singapore cycling story here:

Dad, 38, brings daughter, 2, on 166km cycling trip around S'pore in 17 hours

• Take a look at this old Japanese railroad that was turned into a bike ride

• The world’s first airport for flying cars opens in the UK

• Travel blogger finally writes obligatory article about Maldives

I found this travel satire site (The Onion of travel blogging?). I forgot I had subscribed to it, so I actually thought some of these posts were for real (like the Onion being harder to discern from satire these days).

Writing humour/satire is hard at the best of times, so it is not surprising that this genre is rare in the travel space. It is like musicals - best not to attempt it unless you know you will knock it out of the park. Having said that, I enjoyed this article by Brent and Michael Are Going Places: Travel writer blamed for major Athens olive shortage.

• 60 Orang Asal Sarawak in ‘Sirat’ make presence felt in KK

I loved this video of a delegation of 72 Orang Asal Sarawak boarding a flight from Miri to Kota Kinabalu, with 60 of them wearing ‘Sirat’, the traditional costume of the Sarawak natives. Imagine being on this flight!

And if you’re new to Nomadic Notes, here is that time I got dressed up for a tribal wedding in Sabah.

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A post shared by James Clark ✈️ (@nomadicnotes)

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The Nomadic Notes Travel Newsletter is a weekly newsletter of the best travel reads and interesting travel news from around the web, and random ramblings by the editor.

- James Clark