I’m wide awake. It’s almost three am. Exhilarated, jet-lagged, drenched in relief to have made it to Vīnh Long without a hitch. The long trip was anticipated but the jitters are keeping me up at this hour. It’s probably the lack of sleep, but who knows, I might have drank too many espressos at Taoyuan airport. Maybe I’m subconsciously celebrating Tet as it creeps up on this day. Even in this state of mind, I somehow feel at ease amidst the concert of frogs and insects outside my steel-framed window. It’s still pitch black outside, as black as I remembered. The nights here bring out the mysterious side of this land, and apparently I’ve forgotten these early mornings embodied the same. In which case, I will stay inside my mosquito net and wait for the sun to rise…