Nestled in the northern reaches of Vietnam, Ha Long Bay and Cat Ba Island offer a tapestry of breathtaking landscapes and serene waters, interwoven with the rich texture of Vietnamese culture and history. My recent voyage to these iconic destinations was an experience that danced gracefully between relaxation and adventure, leaving me with memories etched in the beauty of their natural wonders.

I fell in love with Tokyo quickly. Like maybe immediately. I don’t know. In the first few days there, I kept thinking about how it reminded me of New York City. It’s big, bustling, and full of life. But it’s a calmer, cleaner, and cheaper version of the Big Apple. Sure, Shibuya is Times Square meets Bourbon Street, but the rest of the city operated much slower than I expected for a city of 31 million.

Here’s the thing. This happens all the time here. A delivery driver calls to say they’ve dropped off our dinner at the front desk; after providing the necessary signal that I don’t speak the language, they continue anyway. At a restaurant or grocery store, there’s an exchange in which it becomes clear that you don’t and won’t likely understand. Yet, they continue, undaunted by your lack of comprehension.

The shift in topics helped, kind of. But in every quiet moment between then and now, it returned. This deep sense of emptiness. There was a realization that my race to write every fucking thing I see and tell it to the whole fucking world was some sort of desire to fill that space. To engage in ways that I usually would be but through different means.

The most glaring one is that the local club opened their newly rebuilt stadium just in time for the beginning of the season. Beijing Guoan spent the previous three seasons at a temporary ground in the west of the city. And this new stadium, built on the grounds of the old one, was purpose-built for the beautiful game. As anyone would imagine, the buzz around the new ground led to a sellout for the opening match back in April and that sentiment has continued ever since.