Goodbye Long!

One of the hardest parts of living abroad is that friends come and go. Out of all my close friends from last year only a couple are left in this city. Sadly, that number is about to drop again. My good friend Long is leaving Hanoi today.

Long leaving is personally sad for me. However, Long's departure is actually a huge loss for all of Hanoi. More than anyone else I have met here in the last couple of years, Long is the nucleus of the Hanoi expat world. In Hanoi we don't play six degrees of separation to Kevin Bacon. We play six degrees of separation to Long. It seems that every single person in this city either knows Long or has a friend who does.

As I've written on my blog once or twice before, the best thing I can say about someone is that they're a good guy. Long is great guy. Since I met Long, I've never heard him say a bad thing about anyone. How many people can you say that about? I guess Long can find the good in everyone...which is probably why he has so many friends in Hanoi.

Good luck back in Australia, Long!