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Heya, I’m writing you on the tail end of a most intense, surreal, first-ever international business trip — currently in the empty bar of a hostel on an island off the coast of Vietnam that reminded me of those floating islands in the movie Avatar on the ferry ride over this afternoon. My buddy (pictured so resourcefully sleeping above) and I got a little mixed up with the Hong Kong / China visa situation, turning this trip into a roller coaster of an adventure. We had planned to spend an afternoon an hour north of Hong Kong by high speed rail at a sauna-building workshop. However, after purchasing the train ticket, we found ourselves moving deeper and deeper into an unending infinitely of cameras, checkpoints, and sci-fi distopic levels of security, which, of course, caught our mistake: Hong Kong visas have nothing to do with entering mainland China. We were pulled aside, questioned, and held in a series of detainment rooms — the unknown in which was quite unnerving. Perhaps two hours later, we were most relieved to be released back into Hong Kong. Exhausted from a day and a half of flights culminating in Chinese detainment, we collapsed on a bench in defeat and wondered, “what the hell do we do now?” A monkey wrench had been heaved into the gears of our plans. We were still waiting on visas for Vietnam (business stop number two) and had just flown all the way to China to visit a place a mere hour by train away… After hours of googling, phone calls, and reddit threads, we had a complex solution: 144 hour visa-free transit. We booked a 35 minute flight north into Guangzhou, a flight out two days later to Cambodia (as China could question our ability to enter Vietnam without approved visas), and finally, a third flight to Vietnam. As someone who has flown virtually free his whole life on the back of credit card bonuses, the cost uncharacteristically stung, but we persevered, and had a theoretically solid solution. We hung around Hong Kong for another day, acquiring negative covid tests, passport-sized photos of ourselves, and wandering our way into a sauna on the top floor of the twelfth tallest building in the world — which we felt boded well for the rest of our trip. Landing in Guangzhou, China Sunday morning, we were nervous, but had nailed every detail of the 144 hour visa-free transit exemption and aimed to finally pass into mainland China. Little did we know, we were marked men for attempting to cross the border without visas. After another four hours of detainment while the decision climbed the chain of command, we were finally given a straight answer: “you not allowed to enter China.” We’d been highly cooperative and perhaps a bit sheepish in Chinese custody up to this point, but this was pretty ridiculous, we were there to explore business after all. We argued through a translator with the customs agent, who begrudgingly agreed to run it up the chain of command again. Five minutes passed. A phone rang. We were in! From this point forward, things were smooth and swell. We spent two days with the friendliest sauna builders you ever did meet, touring their workshop, exploring ideas, and drinking copious amounts of green tea. Tuesday morning, we nervously passed through the Guangzhou airport without incident, flew to Phom Phen, Cambodia for a few tuk-tuk rides and lunch, and then took two more flights to Hanoi, Vietnam — three countries in a single day. That night, I slept in the overwhelming mix of sweet relief and exhaustion with the immovability of a dead whale. Anywho, the story rolls on with a two wonderfully busy days in Hanoi with our editing team and heading out to this sweet Avatar-like island they recommended. This afternoon, precisely seventeen minutes before our ferry was to leave, two backpackers rolled up on scooters and it dawned on us: we could rent scooters too. We ran up the street, found a shop that rented us two scooters at $8 a day for the next three days, and made it back to the ferry with less than a minute to spare. So here I am tonight, having taken a ferry through the floating islands of Avatar, relishing in the afterglow of a twenty mile, giddy-with-joy scooter ride across this verdant Vietnam island of farms and rock spires. It’s so late and I’m alone with the night and these three dogs that keep coming in and out of the hostel bar and exhausted and happy and wondering “how did I get here?” and life feels well lived. What a ride. At the most intense moments — particularly while being detained in China — I’ve been singing myself that little Beatles lyric atop this letter: Turn off your mind
Relax and float downstream
It is not dying
It is not dying
With love & stoke, Ethan P.S. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I’m calling “the dream we inhabit while awake.” If you have a few minutes, dig the article below and drop a comment. The article is an incitement, and I would love to dive into deeper discussion and insights with you wonderful people there!
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