07/07/19

Today I lost my phone, incredibly enough while sliding it into my pocket.

How?

How does one do that?

This is one of the great mysteries of the universe humanity will never get to the bottom of.

I was following Google Maps, which showed that the alley I was walking through made an elbow before letting out to the road that would take me to my homestay. Yet after the elbow the alley shortly terminated at a property with no continuation in site. I turned around, naturally, with my phone in hand and backtracked thinking I possibly missed something or read the map incorrectly (keep in mind it’s like 35 degrees celsius and uncomfortably humid, even by the standards of Vietnam, and I’m walking with a heavy pack on my back, a bag of art books and a separate smaller backpack in one hand, and the phone in my other). I realized I missed nothing and that Google was in this case simply wrong, and so I slid my phone into my pocket (or so I thought), and walked back out to the main road which would also take me to the small, dusty, dirt road that my homestay was located at the end of. It wasn’t until five minutes later when I wanted to make certain of where I was that I realized the phone was mysteriously not in my pocket. I backtracked, but clearly about thirty seconds too late as I think a guy who passed me leaving the alley on a motorbike and who said something to me about there not being hotels down that way picked it up.

I am now eating. There’s nothing I can do about the phone at this point, and I would still like to enjoy my time in Tam Coc and elsewhere rather than fret for hours or days over not having a phone. I got along fine in my past life without a cell phone, so I think I will manage just fine here. I still have my laptop, and the homestay has wifi. Hopefully my hosts are at the homestay so that i can rent a motorbike and scoot around, see some sites: do all that I planned to do, regardless of having a phone.

[Later]
At Gia Minh Restaurant and Bar after unsuccesfully finding Thuy Linh Restaurant. These are the things that happen when one loses his cellphone. I’m eating a sort of spring roll or garden roll that has surprised me. It’s a fresh rice paper wrapper around sliced mango, pineapple, cabbage, and carrot with a passion fruit-peanut dipping sacue. Wasn’t expecting it to be as good as it was, but all that tropical fruit made for a very lovely, bright, vibrant, energetic, healthy-feeling dish. It paired well with the fried tofu and papaya salad as well. Not so much with the beer, but I didn’t expect to order what I ordered when I ordered the beer.

I am actually quite delighted to have found this place, and will be returning for dinner another day. It’s a family-run place (as most places in Vietnam are), and I’m laughing being entertained by two young girls and their friend who are full of energy, giggles, and very good english. In fact, part of why they are so excited by my presence is to practice their english. So, here I am having a ball with these children, and having a delicious, healthy dinner all thanks to the loss of my phone.

It really turns out that your perception of a situation will define that situation. If you’re intent on enjoying yourself you will.