Today marks six weeks since we sold everything in the States, packed our bags, and moved to Vietnam.

That may seem sudden to most people, but this has actually been a conversation between my wife and me for years. She always wanted to move abroad.

I’ll try my best not to compare everything to America. It’s hard not to compare the pricing, though, because the difference is astronomical. The food doesn’t compare. It’s better in every way.

But I really want to talk about the experiences.

I’m all here for new experiences. What can I do every day when I get up that I haven’t done before? And that’s what I’m doing.

Who can I meet today? What can I learn today? Where can I walk today?

I’ve been here long enough to know that I want to stay.

Every morning, my wife wakes up to about three to five addresses of places I want to visit. 😂

When I think about the food here, I think about family-owned businesses grilling fresh chicken, ribs, pork chops, and fish every morning. You have local family-owned businesses making bánh mì sandwiches with fresh bread every day. These are the kinds of places where we’re eating alongside the locals, experiencing the food and everyday culture.

And then there’s pho.

We literally eat pho every day. And I’m not kidding. Every day.

Then there’s bò kho, a Vietnamese beef stew served with fresh bread. It tastes like my grandma cooked it.

And I’m not even going to get into the fried chicken. My new question is, who’s cooking in the back? 😂

Honestly, it’s been hard for me to cook here because I can spend $10 and get three full cooked meals. And I’m not talking about anything skimpy. I mean full meals.

The coffee culture? Café sữa đá has me in a chokehold. 😂

That’s Vietnamese iced coffee with milk, and it’s just one of the many options. There’s bạc xỉu, which has more milk than coffee, salted coffee, coconut coffee, and I had an actual coconut strawberry drink today. Oh my goodness!

And sometime this weekend, avocado coffee is on the list. Now that’s stretching the limits of my coffee experience. 😂

The teas? I can’t even begin to tell you how good they taste. I just had one with black tea the other day. My wife loves the jasmine and oolong teas.

And here’s something else. Depending on where you go, a large coffee might cost you 39K, which is basically $1.20.

But by the time you’ve experienced one coffee in America, I could have had five coffees at five different cafés here in Vietnam for about the same price.

The variety is part of the fun. There’s always somewhere new to try.

I’m trying to get to the wet market so bad. I want the experience of buying fresh fruit in a tropical place. You know, the kind of fruit that came straight off a tree or out of somebody’s garden that morning. Somewhere nearby, there’s fresh fish that just came out of the sea, shrimp, crab, and just about anything else you might want.

That’s why it’s called a wet market. Everything is fresh, and much of it is displayed on ice.

I mean, so fresh that by 10:30 a.m., the whole market is packing up. That means if you’re not there by 9 a.m., almost everything is sold out.

There are about 50 coffee spots and just as many tea spots within 30 minutes, and all of these are in and around the neighborhood. That’s crazy. And I’m not even talking about going to other districts. That’s just one neighborhood!

I said when I turned 50 that I was going to start taking care of my body differently as I got older. I want to stay mobile and flexible. They don’t necessarily have the kind of place I’m looking for where I stay, but there’s a yoga studio that focuses on those types of exercises, so I’m going to give it a shot.

I’m also going to start the manufacturing process soon, and I’ll record the experience with my Meta glasses. I’m excited about that.

The funny thing is, manufacturing wasn’t really on my radar when I came here. It wasn’t part of the decision to move, which is kind of funny when you think about it. I’m an entrepreneur, and some of the biggest brands in the world, like Nike and Adidas, have products made in Vietnam. A lot of people wearing those brands don’t even realize it.

There’s so much more I could say, but I’ll save it for another blog.

Besides, it’s about 3 a.m. here in Vietnam, and you may be reading this in the morning or the afternoon, depending on where you are.