I left Australia for those three months with a fresh degree, no job and no address. I am going back to go to my official graduation, with a job in my dream career field and am excited for whatever it is that comes next. Life is truly too short to stay rooted down if that is not what makes your heart happy.
The full moon lantern festival happens once a month, and it is essentially a celebration of the moon. As the sun goes down, the streets of Hoi An's old city light up with thousands of lanterns, people come out to celebrate and the moon casts a calm glow over everything. It is magical.
Hai Van Pass encapsulates lush green mountains of emerald and lime green, views of a coastline that is so blue and picturesque it seems impossible, a bright blue sky, and a road that winds through the mountains at angles so crazy it feels like you are on a roller coaster of epic proportions. The road weaves through the mountains, rewarding you with the most beautiful views over the South China Sea.
The Vietnamese given name for the now-national park is Son Tra Mountain, and the mountain has incredible hiking trails that wind around it . The little road also winds and soars above the ocean with views so beautiful of the ocean and the green cliffs that you know that you will not be able to do them justice in pictures and videos.
Ancient folklore says that thousands of years ago, a dragon rose from the ocean off Non Nuoc Beach (today known more commonly as My Khe Beach) and laid an egg. After a thousand days and a thousand nights, the egg hatched to reveal a beautiful girl. The fragments of the dragon’s egg were left on the coast, and evolved to become the five Marble Mountains.
We boarded four flights to get to Da Nang, starting with leaving our home base of Brisbane, Australia. I know — four flights sounds excessive. ‘Are you insane?’, you ask? Maybe. But there was also a logical reason behind the decision — we wanted to save money.
Over the last few months, we did research on potential places to move to, the pros and cons of each of these locations, visa qualifications, must-see sights, etc. Australia will always be home, but we can have homes away from homes, too.
