Dear friend,
After 2 weeks abroad in Australia (Melbourne and Sydney) I am now happily back in Hanoi.
I wanted to use this time to share some more personal reflections with you.
Blogging direction
I’ve been thinking a lot about blogging lately. I’ve actually been blogging since I was 16 years old (so I guess I’ve blogged over 10 years).
Many times I’ve felt “blogger’s block” — when I ran out of ideas, and wasn’t quite sure what to blog about.
What has helped me recently is knowing that I can technically blog about anything I want.
Of course this is primarily a photography blog— but life is a feast. Why should I just limit myself to photography? Why not talk about life, general musings, and anything and everything?
We’re often told in life that we need to focus. I am one of those people who encourage people to “focus”.
However sometimes the problem of overly-focusing is that we miss out on other options. By keeping an open mind, we are often more flexible, creative, and innovative.
Therefore I’ve been spending a lot of time writing articles that aren’t just street or photography articles. I’ve been synthesizing a lot of life lessons I’ve personally learned— in an easy-to-read “tips” format.
Furthermore, I try my best to keep a “beginner’s mindset” — by remembering how it felt when I started in photography. I am trying to work on general photography articles — articles I wish I could have read when I was starting off.
Here are some new articles I’ve written, which are a bit different — which I hope you enjoy:
- 5 Lessons Jiro Ono (From Jiro Dreams of Sushi) Can Teach You
- Why Do You Take Travel Photos?
- 35 Money Tips To Become Wealthy
- 25 Travel Photography Tips For Beginners
- 55 Tips to Be Happier in Life
- 8 Lessons Ansel Adams Can Teach You About Photography
- 10 Lessons Pablo Picasso Can Teach You
How it was spending time away from Cindy
2 weeks is about the limit I can spend away from Cindy. When I am away from Cindy for longer than 2 weeks — I feel my other half missing.
It was tough for both of us to be away from one another— but honestly tougher for Cindy. I was blessed enough that when I was in Melbourne and Sydney, I was always hanging out with my mates. I was constantly surrounded by friends, students, and others who I constantly exchanged conversations about photography, life, and philosophy.
Yet when I was away constantly engaged— it was a lot more difficult for Cindy. She spent more time alone, doing research, and spending time meditating on life. She enjoyed the time she had alone— but it was also really tough for her to deal with stuff regarding our apartment, and also adjusting to life in Hanoi (without someone as a sounding board).
I’ve also thought a lot about traveling. I think in the past I started to find traveling as something that was hurting me. Yet in reality, I think it is traveling away from Cindy that is harmful. When I am traveling with Cindy — I always feel at home.
So moving forward, I want to continue to sync my traveling schedule more in-line with Cindy. If I plan on doing more foreign country workshops, I want Cindy to be there with me. This might restrict my traveling a bit more — but I think of it as a fun “creative constraint” I can give myself.
Moving into a serviced apartment
So the first 3 weeks in Hanoi, Cindy and I stayed at pretty cheap hotels ($10-15 a night). Now we moved into a serviced apartment— which is roughly the same price a month. Except that we have the privilege of having someone do our laundry, clean our apartment, and even do our dishes 6 times a week.
This is privilege I’ve never had back in the states. And now I understand how expats can become addicted to this cozy and cush lifestyle when living overseas (with cheap labor).
Our new apartment is in the “Yen Hoa” area— a simple 10-15 minute walk to Cindy’s archives where does research. The area is best known for being an area beset with Korean and Japanese businessmen. You can find tons of Korean and Japanese restaurants, and see tons of these epic skyscrapers. It doesn’t even look like Vietnam to me — it looks more like a mini-Singapore or Seoul.
Living near the downtown/old-quarter/Hoan Kiem area is certainly more “interesting”. Living in Yen Hoa is more like the suburbs of Hanoi.
Yet I’ve learned to love the area. The side-streets are nice and quiet, and there is some humble hustle-and-bustle in those areas. We’ve found a nice organic market pretty close to our apartment— where we’ve picked up veggies, pork belly, and other food staples.
We’ve also found another small little cafe, which does amazing coffee and avocado smoothies — which we’ve been able to get a lot of work and writing done at.
One of the best things about having an apartment is being able to cook. Eating out all the time is great, but there is something wonderful and simple about just cooking at home. It feels more relaxed and more comfortable.
I’m also glad to say that the wifi here is pretty amazing (60 megabit internet connection). Also the neighborhood is quite quiet— with the exception of the downstairs neighbors who are pretty loud. But I’ve learned you can eventually get used to anything — putting on some Yiruma (classic piano music) in the evenings helps drown out some of the evening noise.
But ultimately — we’re living an (extremely) privileged life here as foreigners. Every time I step into an Uber, use the (very fast) free wifi at cafe’s, have delicious (strong) coffee here, meet up our friends (both expats and locals), not have to stress about money, having our room/kitchen/clothes cleaned nearly daily, I throw my hands up in the air and say, “God—thank you for all these blessings in life.” I haven’t gotten used to my privilege (yet) — and every day I try to count my blessings, how fortunate I am, and how grateful I am for everything.
I hope I don’t become an expat degenerate and take all of this for granted.
Daily routine
Pretty much our new daily routine is this:
- Wake up (around 9am)
- Eat small breakfast at house, and either Cindy goes to the archives, or joins me at a local cafe
- Do work/writing at cafe
- Have lunch
- Cindy goes back into archives for around 3 hours, and I go to another cafe to do more writing and work
- Sometimes meet a friend for dinner, or just eat something simple at home
I’ve really found “happiness” to be these things to me:
- Getting enough sleep (at least 8 hours)
- Coffee (lots of it)
- Getting meaningful work done (whether that be blogging, teaching, photos, helping a loved one)
- Spending meaningful time with loved ones (Cindy, friends, family)
- Counting my blessings
The more time I spend in Hanoi, the simpler I realize life is. By being away from America, things I’ve found out not to be very important:
- Always having the newest smartphone/camera/device
- Having a big house/fancy apartment
- Having a fancy car (I would prefer to Uber everywhere)
- Spending time “networking”
- Making a lot of money
- Living in a “hip” neighborhood
All I also “need” in life (in terms of externals) include the following:
- Water
- Food
- Coffee
- Place to sleep at night
- Wifi
- Laptop/camera
Why does life have to be so complicated? I suspect it is consumerism, capitalism, and the striving for “more” (via buying products and stuff). After all, that is how the engine of capitalism works. If advertising, marketing, and branding didn’t stir “desire” — the whole system would fall apart.
Happiness is simple. I’m content everyday. I don’t need any more “stuff” — but I do have (even bigger) ambitions to blog more, help more people, and to constantly improve myself.
And drink more coffee.
Work and relationships
I think the two things that constitute a happy life include the following:
- Meaningful work
- Meaningful relationships
I feel that nobody can live a truly blessed life without the two.
I feel in American society — many of us are fulfilled by our work. Yet lacking in relationships. Here in Vietnam, most people work pretty tough jobs (that isn’t meaningful) — yet they have deep and meaningful relationships.
Many people in Vietnam aren’t wealthy monetarily — but wealthy in relationships. Many people in America are wealthy (monetarily) but poor in relationships.
I always feel fulfilled at the end of the day if I’ve done some meaningful work, blogging, teaching, or something — and also by having some deep meaningful conversation with loved ones (either Cindy, or our friends in the evening for dinner).
I think one of the big lessons I’ll take back with me when I go back to Berkeley is this — to work really hard on finding a balance between work/relationships. I feel this is what constitutes a happy, productive, and personally-meaningful life.
Upcoming travels and workshops
I got around 2-3 weeks here in Hanoi, before I do a series of workshops in Singapore, Tokyo, and Kyoto.
I am super excited for all three.
Singapore isn’t aesthetically my favorite city — but I love all my friends there. I’ve found Singaporean people some of the most kind, fun, and personable people. They’re quite positive, open, and take personal relationships very seriously. Very excited to meet the crew back in Singapore — see you guys soon!
I’m also very excited for Tokyo — it is probably one of the most interesting cities in all of Asia (funny how I’ve heard that Japanese people actually don’t consider themselves ‘Asian’). I love how the city looks visually — and have taken a lot of photos there that I’m quite happy with. And of course, I have good friends there as well, and super excited to eat some of the great food there (thick pork ramen broth, sushi, and kobe beef).
For Kyoto, I am excited to do my workshop with Sean Lotman and Junku Nishimura— who I consider two of the best street photographers in all of Japan. They’re also good friends — and I look forward in having a mini-reunion with them.
Also as a random note, Sean Lotman has a new book out called: “Sunlanders” — probably the most interesting color street photography book I’ve seen the last 5 years. He shoots film, cross-processes it, and prints all his color prints in his own darkroom. I’m still waiting for my copy to come to me in the mail — and I’ll interview him more about the book later.
Also for my upcoming epic week-long travel street photography workshop (Hanoi to Sapa, Feb 8-13, 2017), we only have 6 spots left! If you (and your partner) have never been to Vietnam, want incredible food, coffee, and a photography experience — don’t miss out. I’m also excited to share I’m teaching alongside my buddy (and manager) Neil Ta— who is an expert in the area, and an amazing co-teacher.
There are discounts for returning students, as well as couple-discounts (we have two pairs of couples attending). So perhaps see if you can convince your partner to come along for the journey ;) Email neil.ta@erickimphotography.com for more info.
2017 Workshop/Travel Plans
I am also still in the middle of coming up with some workshop/travel plans for 2017. Essentially, Cindy has travel restrictions until around July — so I will try to plan my traveling to be in-tandem with her.
Pretty much my philosophy for choosing workshop locations is this: it has to be convenient for me to travel to, and has to be a place that I absolutely love. Tokyo is a city I love, and (of course) Saigon is another place that I love.
2018 Workshop/Travel Plans
Also looking (very ahead) Cindy and I will be in France from December 2017-August 2018 (around 8-9 months, split between Paris and Marseille). I freaking love Marseille, and love the romantic streets (and canals) of Amsterdam.
I think what will also make these week-long workshop experiences unique is that not only will you improve your photography, but also have great food, coffee, and build an incredible sense of community with the group — and have an experience that will pay dividends into the future.
Plans in Hanoi
Before I do a lot more traveling, a lot more time will be spent in Hanoi, thinking, philosophizing, writing, and hopefully creating more information and content that can be helpful to you.
At the end of the day, I feel the purpose of my life is to create information, share it, and keep it open.
Thank you for always being a part of my life’s journey — Cindy and I send you our love from Hanoi.
Always,
Eric
Australia Diaries
Previous Hanoi Diaries
