🛑 I Got Robbed In Vietnam! 🛑

In 2014, I was in Ho Chi Minh for the first time…

After a full day of class, I decided to check out the city with my assistant

It was about 9pm and we were chatting enthusiastically. About what? I forgot

But an exciting enough topic to be unaware of a motorbike racing towards us

Next thing you know, my kindle was yanked out of my hand. I was shocked… So was my assistant…

101 thoughts raced through my mind…

What just happened???

OMG, I got robbed!

NOOOO not my kindle!

Why did this happen to me?

Why didn’t I chase the bike?

Why am I so careless?

What do I do now?

I don’t even remember the bike license plate number.

All my ebooks gone

This is a birthday present from someone special

Gone

I hate Vietnam

I will never come back to Vietnam again

Five years later today… I am back in the same city where I was first robbed. The same city I swore never to return…

And guess what…

I was robbed again…

This time it was my heart And I was the willing victim.

I had the chance to meet a lot of locals during this trip.

A big group at the seminar I was speaking at

Though they couldn’t understand a hundred percent of what I was saying, they were very attentive. They took notes

They asked questions. You can see

– from their eyes

– their hunger for learning

During the entire 8 hours session, they clapped a gazillion times to express their excitement towards the strategies I taught

Now this is new to me. I don’t even get that in my own country haha. And then during the evenings when I walked the bustling streets of Bui Vien, I had the chance to befriend a number of locals. Yes they are that friendly

I recall during one evening, I was invited to join four strangers for drinks at Boheme. Though they don’t speak very fluent English, we had a great time… Google Translate helped a lot. So did the Milo cocktail

Though they weren’t as ambitious as the people I met at the seminar, they were equally earnest and genuine. At the end of the drink session, they even offered to pay! These were just 20 something kids. But so generous. With zero agenda

As I am typing this email on the plane home, I am smiling from cheek to cheek. Can people be that nice?

It seems like the answer is yes… here in Vietnam. Everyone I met wore their hearts on the sleeves

If I really have to pick a bone with Vietnam, I would say their language is hard to learn. But I will try

I can really see myself coming back to this country

Have you been to Vietnam?

Do you have similar experiences?

Please share with me too