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Magic of Vietnam: Why does Vietnam keep drawing me back?
I have gone back to Vietnam several times. And every time I started thinking about another trip there, I caught myself asking the same question: why does Vietnam pull me in so much?
I don’t know if there is one right answer.
When I first came, of course I was won over by the sights, the smells, the colours, the food, the sea and a completely different rhythm of life. But after a few trips I realised it isn’t only that. Something about Vietnam stays with me even after I leave.
What is it about Vietnam that draws me so much?
Maybe it is exactly its diversity.
Vietnam isn’t a country I can sum up in one word. Old and new meet there all the time – cities and nature, busy streets and quiet places, the sea and the countryside, everyday life and sights that take me by surprise.
And maybe it’s also that Vietnam can still surprise me.
Even when I think I already know what to expect, something new turns up. A street, a house, a market, a beach, a restaurant or a perfectly ordinary scene that makes me stop and take out my camera.
Vietnam through my photos
That’s why I decided to make this series, Magic of Vietnam.
I don’t want to write a classic travel guide or list places you have to visit. I want to show Vietnam the way I experienced it on my trips and through my photos.
From Hoi An and Hanoi to Phu Quoc and Ho Chi Minh City, every place has its own atmosphere.
I remember some photos because of the place where I took them. Others because they remind me of a moment, a smell, a conversation or simply the feeling I had at the time.
Why do I keep going back to Vietnam?
This is perhaps the most interesting part.
After many trips to Vietnam, I still don’t have a final answer to why I keep going back.
All I know is that something pulls me back again.
Maybe it’s the people, the food, the cities, the sea and the landscapes. Maybe it’s the feeling that I still haven’t seen everything there. Or maybe it’s just the feeling I get when I find myself on a Vietnamese street again.
And so I ask myself: what is it about Vietnam that always makes me want to return?
Maybe that is exactly where its magic lies.
You don’t always have to know why a place matters so much to you.
It’s enough that you want to go back.
Magic of Vietnam
This is the start of my series Magic of Vietnam – about trips, places, photos and those moments that make Vietnam show up in my plans again.
Maybe through this series I’ll finally understand why it draws me so much.
Or maybe I won’t.
Vanja Keindl
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