Preface

I've been living as a digital nomad since 2017. I lived in more than ten countries before I arrive in Vietnam on 25.01.2020. On 28.01.2020 Vietnam decreed the closure of the border with China after the news about the appearance of a strange virus in the Wuhan market.

On 1 February all flights from China, Macao, Taiwan were suspended. Subsequently, the flights and the border with China were opened, but the situation kept changing. The restrictions on the entry in Vietnam were changing accordingly to the number of cases growing in different countries. Thus, Koreans and Europeans were also banned from entering the country at the beginning of March.

<On March 22nd, all foreigners were forbidden to enter the country. In 28.03 activities such as gyms, cinemas, tourist sites, massage parlors, karaoke, and others were closed.

On 01.04 Vietnam decreed the total lockdown implementing the social distancing measures. Since then, people can only leave home to buy food and medicine.

The restrictions imposed by the country totally changed my reality, my plans and my life as a digital nomad. I decided to write this diary to report these days and somehow continue to travel within an apartment of less than 60 square meters.

06.04 - The only thing that doesn’t stop in Da Nang

It’s around 7h30 in the morning and I listen to the sound of a rooster. No, I’m not living in a farm, it's just the sound I put on my alarm clock and someway it reminds me of my meditation retreat in Thailand. I make my bed, do my personal hygiene and prepare my black coffee with cinnamon. The smell of coffee in the morning with cinnamon is one of the best things in the world. I don’t know why but I woke up with a lot of energy today. Usually, I like to read, listen to a podcast or write a diary in the morning. But today I skip everything to start my exercises first.

I exercise home since I started traveling. I always bring with me some mat, elastics and a jump rope. I’m not a big fan of the gym, but I know that it’s easy to win the laziness for wearing sports clothes and walk to the gym then start a plank challenge at home. This morning I do yoga, abs workout, glutes workout and ten minutes of jumping rope. When I was starting to sweat, the lady that cleans the apartment knocks the door. Every Monday she cleans the apartment. I’ve been cleaning the space a lot too, but I want to use her visit as an excuse to go outside.

I pick up my bicycle. I need to go to the market, but before that, I decided to take a ride along the beach. There are not so many people there. A couple is in the sand talking, which grabs my attention. They are foreigners and according to Vietnam’s government, the beach is closed. There are also a few people running or seated on the bench watching the sea. Watching the sea is always the best meditation, so I stop for a while to see the blue waves cracking on the shore.

Having this ride, however, is pretty weird, especially on the beachfront. When I arrive here, it was a very busy part of the town, now everything you can see is close hotels and restaurants and a scenario of the abandoned movie. There are a few motorbikes around, but definitely more motorbikes than people. The only sound, besides the waves, is the constructions. They never stop in Da Nang. It’s so crazy to ride around a ghost town where the only thing you see around are constructions…

I stopped in the market. Bought some salt, toothpaste, oatmeal, and some crappy food. I promise myself that I would avoid chocolate and alcohol these days, but I bought three beers since my idea is to have some guacamole and chili for lunch. When home, I prepare myself an amazing Mexican lunch with beer, but yeap, the beer makes me feel much lazier and relaxed than normal. Today I do need to work, but again, I don’t want to. I take a quick nap, prepare a strong coffee and back to the computer. I need to finish my website and send some jobs to clients. Also have to write an eBook.

The day goes by after my window. At night I do one more meditation. I talked with my family in Brazil and got scary how the president can be such an asshole. I’m a bit worried about Brazil and I think about my brother which is a doctor and is working in front of all of this. I feel like, despite I miss my family now, I don’t want to stop my travel and come back. It took me a lot to reach Asia and I still have the dream to go to Japan.

I talk with R. too. He’s a dutch guy that I meet in Thailand through one of these dates apps. I could never imagine that it would be more than one nightstand. But we had a great time in Thailand and when I arrive in Vietnam he had plans to come and visit me. Before that, I had a big argument with him telling me that I wasn’t interested in distance relationships… I lived quite some and now I think I deserve something real. But he insisted on visiting me here. He bought the tickets and his flight was canceled right before Vietnam closed the border. But now we talk every day and I guess I’m having a distance relationship… We had a beer online today and I always enjoy talking with him. I’m happy that he’s on the other side of the screen, I feel some kind of hope because of that. It’s weird that we are living the same thing, being in such different countries and cultures. He is the Netherlands, me in Vietnam. We finish the beer and the talk. I brush my teeth and go to bed. I guess I finally have a normal life under the lack of normality of the world.