Vietnam Diaries (Day 7): Happiness in the Twilight Zone

- August 25, 2019

Anyone who knows me will know that I love sunrises and sunsets. In fact, I am writing this backdated post watching a spectacular sunset while sitting on the balcony of my homestay. It is hard to stay on task and resist the urge to capture the sunset on my phone. I am going to show self-control and continue writing given I have committed this time for writing my reflections. On the plus side, I get to save this sunset for only my eyes.

I think sunsets and sunrises offer a window into the soul of a place. It is the time of the day when the place's inertia changes - sunrises are when the day starts and sunsets are when it ends. In the process of change, there is a lot more action which you can see than at any other time of the day - birds heading to their nests, fishermen casting their nets, children leaving for their schools, people getting ready for their days, flowers blooming, etc, etc. In addition, the beautiful soft light allows you to capture each of these sights much more vividly than under the bright haze of the sun. Besides, the skyline looks fabulous when the clouds disperse and diffract the sun's rays.

Arriving by train to Dong Hoi: A Twinkle in the Eye while away from the Mountains

Personally, watching a sunrise is a trigger to get my day in order and watching a sunset is a time to synthesize the thoughts from the day. While I am fully focused on the sight while watching these solar transitions, I do follow them up with creating my action plan or capturing my big thoughts from the day.

Over the past few months, I haven't seen many sunrises or sunsets. Staying in a house with no access to an open skyline doesn't help. Pallavi and I are determined to change that when we shift next. At the same time, I haven't even made my way to my building terrace from which sunsets are easily visible. I prefer sleeping longer post a workout so I skip the sunrises and am usually commuting from/to work or am in the gym in the evening so I skip the sunsets.

While I have occasionally seen the sunset in passing during the daily commute, I haven't actually paused to appreciate everything I value about them. I don't know if it is because I felt I was going through the motions in my role given my transition and thus, felt no need to synthesize every day at work. I don't know if being off Instagram over the past 1.5 years has reduced my drive to capture them - maybe I was just watching them to click and share with the world.

What I know is seeing them today across the fields near Dong Hoi and over the river in Phong Nha has just reminded me of how much more beautiful our world looks when you pause and admire it in these twilight hours. Without psychoanalyzing myself more, I do think I should just watch the sunrises and sunsets a little more frequently to pull myself away from the negativity that is in the media and focus on the small things that make life worth living.

For the rest of this trip, I am committing to watching at least a sunrise or a sunset in every place I visit. I can get used to more positivity and happiness.