Updated July 17 2025
It feels like I am currently in the eye of a hurricane, and in this temporary calm, I feel the need for a new “now” update.
Last update was just after settling down in Taiwan. After staying there for the better part of 3 months, what life was like in April feels like a distant past. I feel grateful for being able to sustain this lifestyle. Taiwan is a place of ease and calm, somewhere that feels resourceful, easy to tap and blend in. Life felt busy, being in the bigger city of Taipei felt motivating. Weeks were punctuated with activities, hangouts and visits, they stacked on top of one another quickly, commuting was a lot to adapt to, it reminded me a bit of life in Amsterdam, with a lot less chaos. I still have a lot of feelings towards Taiwan and I feel like it might just have a been a “see you later”, once again.
This year’s “back to the West” trip started in June, and after a month spent in France, I am now in the US until the end of July. Once again, this summer has been a lot of reconnecting with friends, family, sorting some things and getting ready to move again. Time in France was shorter than last year (the 2+ months felt too long last time around), also, that trip was way more exciting. This feels great, not only to make home more enjoyable, but also to make these back-to-home sessions less mechanical.
Traveling back home, seeing the same people, same places, moving between the same cities is an odd feeling I’m trying to reconcile with. While I’ll always love the people and seeing what the last year has brought in, being in there only for that meant I was putting myself aside. I don’t want to just come back to reconnect, I also want to enjoy home, discovering it differently. Home is not a parenthesis anymore, it is part of the travels and shouldn’t be just a pre-programmed tour. This manifested through going to cities I haven’t been to before, and feeling this excitement of seeing the diversity of what France can be.
The US is a new addition to seeing the West also, my partner is from there, and it’s important to visit each other’s home and community to better connect. I hadn’t been to the US since 2018, and really hadn’t experienced a real life here since 2013, when I was studying in Long Beach. Getting back here is a learning experience, especially because the Mid-West is something very new. It’s only been a few days, but it already feels drastically different to what California was 12 years ago, I still want to digest my experience before writing anything out though.
The next step for me will be to continue travel onwards back to Asia, heading to Vietnam again in August to take a break, stay put for some time and get the end of the year set. I’m excited to take the time to think and adjust, while also getting back to a place I love. It is going to be a good time to get back to some practice (I’m searching for drum studios in Hanoi already) and enjoy being outside the West again.
Work has been flowing well, I still can’t believe I’m able to manage and grow the business steadily while moving so much. On paper, I haven’t taken a work break in the past couple of years, yet it doesn’t feel like I need a holiday. This feels a bit surreal to write down, and the stability of it is still somewhat anxiety-inducing, but I feel so lucky that this is possible. Managing clients autonomously and working from everywhere is an absolute privilege. I was writing earlier this year that I think I might need some evolution, but some of it came quite organically. I now work a bit more, and I write way more also. These days, I feel the need to invest resources into building out what I can do, I feel grateful that clients have trusted me so far, and I want to diversify what it can look like.
Overall, I am unsure of what the second half of this year will bring, which is why it is still exciting.
One thing is sure, I want to keep the experiment of writing for this site going, there’s too much to say.
I leave you with a few shots of Tainan, Lyon, and Chicago.
