Hoi An Lows
We arrived in Hoi An after a jam packed week touring Ho Chi Minh City. The start to this leg of our journey was a bit rocky. It was “freezing” (55F), rainy and the city was overly crowded with tourists.
It was hard to find a place to eat and luckily (or not so luckily as I would later find out) we found a Greek restaurant for dinner (*Zach note - This place was super cool looking and had a bunch of 5 star reviews on google). I remember offering Zach a bite of my lamb gyro which he thankfully declined. Apparently it is a sin to eat Greek food in Vietnam because I spent the whole night paying for (both of our) sins with terrible food poisoning. As awful as it was to get food poisoning while traveling, it gave me a whole day alone in bed to reflect on my health, relationships and financial freedom. Get ready to reflect with me!
"The last moments outside our hotel before food poisoning took me down"
Food poisoning reflection #1: Passionate scientist or trapped in a toxic system?
The last time that I got food poisoning was when I was a young naive post-doc just trying to “make it” in my academic career in good old Beaverton, Oregon. After spending a night with my head in the toilet, I somehow managed to drag myself into the lab like a zombie so that I could wrap up a week-long experiment. I spent 3 hours in necropsy (with the help of a few awesome research assistants) and as soon as I put my samples in the freezer, I drove home and went back to bed.
As I laid in bed in Hoi An barely able to move I was in awe of my past self and how I managed to go into work feeling that awful. I thought, “wow I used to be a super dedicated scientist!” But as I reflected on it more, I realized that I was driven more by fear than by scientific curiosity. I didn’t do all of those experiments out of the genuine love for science, I did it because my career and financial future depended on it. If experiments were delayed, there would be no data to publish and publications were critical for grant submissions which were the key to securing a faculty position that provided a livable wage. I was trapped in the toxic world of academic research. So going into work feeling like death after food poisoning was just part of “making it” in academic sciences. Unfortunately, my story in academia is not unique and if anything I am more privileged and had more options to escape academia than other researchers. If you are interested in reading another perspective on the pressure to put in extremely long hours in academia, I came across a really well written article by Natalia Ingebretsen Kucirkova in Nature, Academia’s culture of overwork almost broke me, so I’m working to undo it.
So yay! I escaped academia and landed a corporate job that enabled me to start earning a respectable wage instead of a measly postdoc salary. Corporate jobs have their own issues but after living on a PhD student stipend and postdoc salary for almost a decade, I was finally able to build wealth. This meant that with this round of food poisoning I had the luxury of staying in bed all day to recover without feeling pressure to go to work sick. Heck, I haven’t felt the pressure (financially) to go to work in over 4 months!
Food poisoning reflection #2: How hard is it to bring crackers to someone when they are sick?
Again, I had a WHOLE day to myself to stay in bed and reflect on life and during this time I thought about how escaping my academic postdoc also helped me to jump ship on the awful dating scene in Portland. When I got food poisoning during my postdoc and collapsed in my bed after getting home from my long experiment I asked the guy I was dating at the time if he could bring me some crackers and Gatorade. His response, “I don’t want to catch what you have”. The dude wouldn’t even drop something off on my doorstep. What a jerk! The saddest part is that this guy was probably one of the more promising relationships I had in Oregon.
So, that relationship ended for obvious reasons and luckily I got the heck out of Portland and moved to Seattle where I met Zach. He is actually pretty lucky that bar was set extremely low for him ?. This round of food poisoning in Vietnam solidified that I was definitely in a much better relationship and Zach jumped over that low bar with flying colors. Even after keeping him up all night with my disgusting ruckus he got me snacks and multiple different types of water to help rehydrate me.
Anyway, this was a long ramble but my point is that although it was pretty unfortunate to get food poisoning while traveling, I feel incredibly lucky to be healthy again and privileged to have the financial flexibility to take this trip with my fantastic partner who always has my back no matter how gross I am at times.
Hoi An Redemption
Little Riverside Hoi An Hotel
As terrible as my first night in Hoi An was, Hoi An was not a total bust. We stayed at the nicest boutique hotel, the Little Riverside Hoi An. The staff were super friendly and even offered to make me ginger tea to help settle my stomach when they found out I was sick. We also got amazing massages at the hotel Spa. The hotel has an amazing breakfast that we enjoyed on their terrace that overlooks the river. We also relaxed and read our books on their rooftop pool.
"The view from our hotel rooftop pool overlooking the river and bridge to Memories Land"
Laundry
Okay, this section is totally unnecessary but as Zach mentioned in a previous post I have an obsession with washing machines and being able to do laundry. We didn’t have a washing machine at our hotel but we found the best laundry service which was a 5 min walk away. I just wanted to give a quick shout out to Happy Laundry which is a small local laundry business run by a couple out of their house. Our laundry came back smelling wonderful and folded beautifully which seriously made me so happy especially after my bout of food poisoning.
Pizza!
Zach makes fun of me for eating so much pizza but he gave me a free pass on this one because I wanted to eat something safe post-food poisoning. We were lucky that a 7 Bridges Brewing Taproom recently opened in Hoi An (we had stopped at their brewery while we were in Saigon). They have fantastic beer plus their founder, Uncle Stanely seems like a pretty cool dude. He believes in “Impact Brewing” which describes their mission to leverage the power of craft beer to do good for the community and local environment. They have an upcycling program where they reuse leftover ingredients in other products or donate to local farms. Their team sponsors different events such as beach cleanups and fundraisers to help keep the local community connected and thriving. You can check out what they have been up to here. Pizza, good beer and a great mission was a great recipe for my road to recovery.
"The recovery meal: Pizza and beer/ginger ale at 7Bridges"
Memories Land
If you ever make it out to Hoi An, Memories Land is a must see. It feels like a Disney Theme park out on the coast of Vietnam. We unfortunately did not discover this gem until our last night so we didn’t get to see the live performance which showcases Hoi An history and culture through song and dance.
"The bridge to Memories Land (above) and inside Memories Land (below)"
Off to the Beach in Danang!
Hyatt Regency Danang Resort and Spa
To get a little R&R from all of our exploration in Ho Chi Mihn and my food poisoning fiasco in Hoi An we spent three nights at the Hyatt Regency on the beach in Danang.
"Zach's morning stroll on the beach"
The resort was enormous, beautiful and because of the Tet holiday, the resort was pretty empty. I had a three lane lap swimming pool all to myself which was glorious. We also enjoyed a morning stretching class by the beach and drinks by the pool.
"Stretching (top) and swimming (bottom). Probably could have figured that out without this caption."
Our last night at the Hyatt we enjoyed happy hour with live music from a local acoustic guitar player. It was pretty much a private concert since we were one of two couples in the lounge. It was so relaxing listening to acoustic cover songs in a beautiful setting while letting our thoughts run wild. The beach stop was the perfect way to recharge before heading to city life in Danang.
"Live acoustic music!"
Thanks for reading this post which I realize was mostly personal reflections and not a ton of exciting activities. Food poisoning will do that to you ?. Our next post will be more eventful experiences in Danang, Vietnam!
