By Liam Walker
As I step outside onto the shimmering asphalt, my feet feel as if they are about to melt. I have been dared to see how long I can stand the smoldering blacktop on my bare feet. Long story short, I only lasted about 2 seconds. After putting my flip-flops back onto my raw feet, I feel immediately relieved. Next comes the hard part.
The art of crossing the street in Phan Thiết, Vietnam is a skill that takes years to master. The sound alone of the motorists zooming past and people speaking to relatives across the road is more than enough to give you a migraine for days. The only piece of advice I received from my girlfriend was, “Whatever you do, don’t stop moving. They will go around you.” At the time, I didn’t understand that what she had just said would be a golden rule.
Do you remember when you were a kid and you found tadpoles in the pond? If you’re from the city and have no idea what I am talking about, let me fill you in. When you stick your finger in the water, all of the tadpoles will disperse in every single direction away from you or act like you aren’t even there and swim around you. When you are crossing the street, you are your finger and the motorists are the tadpoles.
DO NOT STOP MOVING.
FEAR CANNOT EXIST OR YOU WILL GET HIT!
After my experience with the tadpoles moving 65mph, I had to stop to reapply sunscreen. Even with this melanin I still get sunburnt! We all rave about how nice hot weather is, that is until we are actually in direct fire of the sniper we call the Sun.
As I stuff my sunscreen back into my bookbag, a street vendor offers me phó. Phó is a traditional Vietnamese noodle soup and is served in North America usually as a dinner, but in Vietnam, it is an all-day food. I learned this the hard way when my girlfriend’s family ordered phó for us all at 8 am for breakfast. Now don’t get me wrong, I love phó, but not at 8 am in 97° weather.
Looking around the busy downtown of Phan Thiết you will see so many different people, food choices, and even some wacky pets on leashes. The food selection is my favorite (what a surprise, right?), but let me explain why. There is one older woman who walks around every day downtown selling this delicious coconut ice cream on a stick. Mango and dragon fruit are to die for. The mangoes almost have the texture of butter and there are no fibers that get stuck in your teeth, and the dragon fruit is grown only 15 minutes down the road. This is a freshness you could never get back home in the states, and to be honest it sucks that I have to travel this far for my tongue to be this happy.
My favorite part of the Vietnamese food culture downtown would be the small street restaurants. You would never know they were there if you didn’t have a local from the city to let you in on all the best eats because they don’t look anything like our restaurants. The vendors have around three chairs and a small Blackstone they use to cook on, and usually only specialize in one specific dish. And let me tell you, they don’t need to cook anything else because wow, is it amazing.
After reading about my time in Vietnam, I’d like to let you in on a little secret. I’ve never set foot out of the United States. All of these accounts were a merging of stories and descriptions provided by my girlfriend Zoë along with my imagination. Because of the pandemic, most of us cannot travel right now (and you shouldn’t be!), but the purpose of this essay was to show my readers that traveling does not need to involve movement in space. Travel is whatever you want it to be.