When it came time to leave Thailand, I had to ask myself, “Where to next?” Should I go home or try to find a way to get another Thailand Visa? Or do I just move on to the next country and plant myself there for a while?

Leaving Thailand was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. My heart still hurts with the whole idea that Bangkok is no longer home. I lived there for a year and a half, learned the language, and got extremely attached. Leaving Thailand was more difficult for me than leaving Canada. I can always return to Canada, however, with visas becoming more difficult to obtain, the chances of me going back to Thailand for a long period of time are very slim.

So within the last few months leading up to the end of my Thailand journey, I finally settled on Vietnam.

Why Vietnam?

Well, it’s a comfort thing of course. I’ve had some good friends that lived here once; Julia and Avery; and have visited them here in Da Nang a couple of times. Each time that I came to see them, I loved the city. Avery also writes a blog and has SO many Da Nang posts that I feel like I have lived here too after reading them all.

If you read my post about why I think Bangkok is the perfect expat city, you will already know that I love it because it was a great transition city from western living. It really helped my anxiety because I had very easy access to all my comforts from home.

With my mind on my mind, I wanted to make sure that I went somewhere that was outside my comfort zone, but not too far.

So let’s cut to the chase, how has my first week in Da Nang been?

Mentally, I’ve been in a weird, not so good place. Changing countries. Changing careers. Saying goodbye to Thailand. Saying goodbye to my best friend, Natalie, who was visiting me in Thailand. It’s a lot of big changes all at once and it has been a bit overwhelming. Ok, a lot overwhelming.

But it hasn’t been all bad.

• I found my apartment on the first day that I was here and moved in three days later. I love it!

• Hung out with this super rad friend that I met in KL named Lisa who also saved me at the airport. (That’s a story for another time or maybe just never.)

• Went to a Vietnamese class!

• Met up with some friends that I met here the last time I was in Da Nang, Christina and Ralph. I am constantly inspired by these two.

• Got to a point where I’m feeling less scared of my neighbourhood enough to branch out and leave it after it gets dark. (It’s not the neighbourhood, it’s 100% me.)

• Found the most perfect, chill working cafe that is just a hop away from my place.

• Chatted to Avery about the ups and downs of freelance and wow, she has played such a large part in my new journey and I don’t know what I would do without her. Seriously, she is awesome. Go read her blog!

I guess the whole point of this post is to say…

What’s up? I’m in Vietnam!

The transition has been harder than I imagined but it gets better every day and times like this really remind me how incredibly grateful I am to have such a supportive group of friends and family. Thank you for reading and I’ll see you around soon!