A Bat Died At My Feet In Hoh Chi Minh And This Is What Happened Next

There I was, standing and waiting for a $0.50 Grab motor scooter in Ho Chi Minh at around 10 pm on a Wednesday evening. I had already made up my mind that I disliked this country and I was regretting that I booked an entire month here. I had come to the conclusion that 3 nights would have been perfect, and kicking myself for not doing more research such as googling the words “Why I will never return to Vietnam” which leads to an article written by a blogger who does not hold back his feelings towards the country.

So you don’t think I’m a Karen and will call your manager, after about 5 years living overseas in total there hasn’t been a city that I have ever said I disliked as a whole. Sure there are always “things”, but never the extreme feelings of dislike I was experiencing.

I was struggling with the air pollution, the loudness of the city, dirtiness and bad smells, feeling rudeness from the locals and was just in a bit of general culture shock from being stared at with no English spoken at all. To say the least, I was very uncomfortable from the inside of my apartment out into the streets of Saigon.

This Wednesday evening, I was just getting done with dinner with a British couple that had invited me to dinner. I had met Liz after finding relief that I saw another Western woman sitting beside me at one of the coworking centers in Saigon. I had decided to go into a coworking center after a couple of days of terrible 200–500 kbps WiFi or none at all in my beyond noisy accommodations.

And by noisy accommodations, allow me to please to elaborate to put in a bit more perspective. Below was a karaoke bar that had just opened with speakers blaring across the entire neighborhood. Down the street was another family who wanted to compete with their own speaker and private party. Motor scooters keep their hand on the horn and tap it in a repeated fashion as the Vietnamese form of a yield sign, yellow light and to ultimately say “yep I’m coming through and I’m not stopping. Move the F over”. Finally, the noise would begin to die down a bit in the late hours of the night unless it was trash night (I knew because I couldn’t sleep) just to be woken up by the megaphones from the street vendors at 7 am.

If the buildings were built well in Vietnam with proper window and door seals, it may not have been a huge issue. But my balcony door was open to the outside with no way to seal it off, and everything could be heard as if I was on the street.

The noise wasn’t just coming from the outside, though. I had it from the inside as well. There was a masseuse down the hall who loved to keep her door open jamming to loud music while waiting for clients and burning an insane amount of incense to keep your eyes watering nonstop. To the right of my room in this boutique hotel apartment was a family with small children frequently running down the halls and parents playing and yelling as if it were their own personal townhome. When these weren’t going, the receptionist was cleaning the other rooms and blaring music with the door open.

**A bit unrelated to the noise, but just something quirky and hilarious I just have to share. It was about 7:30 am and I heard a knock on my door. Still in bed, as I mentioned what my nights were like, I opened the door to see the receptionist. Hoping he is there to fix the WiFi that is not working again, I let him in and realize he’s carrying sheets. He smiles, I smile back and say Hi. He points to the bed, and then sets down the sheets and starts moving towards it. I realized the guy wanted me to watch him change the sheets on my bed that I was still sleeping in at 7:30 am. What in the…super sweet guy, but he just had to go.

Back to Liz — After about a couple of hours of on-off chatter from our laptops, she invited me out to dinner with her husband. Absolutely excited to have some sort of social interaction, I nearly shouted like a girl who just got engaged “YES”.

We had a great evening starting with happy hour drinks and heading into dinner. We had a couple of hours of great conversation, drinks and good food. After meeting Liz and her husband, I was feeling a bit better about Saigon. I decided I needed to dig deeper and give Vietnam the benefit of doubt. I was going to work on being more open-minded, figure out solutions on how I could make the best of the remainder of my trip and what felt like an eternity.

After finishing this dinner, I called my Grab and stood out underneath an awning on a sidewalk next to a busy street. I noticed these bats swarming above me by these crazy shadows that were at my feet.

Not yet at the open mind I was beginning to work on, I muttered to myself, “Of course there are bats. This is the city of death, I swear.” However, I was a bit fascinated by them and actually thought they were pretty cool and keeping to themselves so we were good, me and the bats.

Knowing the bats weren’t a threat to my life like the silent but deadly mosquitos out here, I shifted my attention away and occupied myself with following the path of my grab driver, playing on my phone, and people watching around the street. Just chillin’ and minding my own business in other words.

I saw the Grab driver was close, and just as I was stepping out onto the street to make myself seen, SPLAT. This black thing landed in front of my feet, and I realized it was one of the bats that I had been somewhat admiring.

My Grab driver pulled up and nearly ran over the thing. In fact, I don’t know if he ran over it or not — it seemed very possible he did.

I wasn’t sure how to take this bat dying in front of me like that. I felt bad for this bat, but I couldn’t shake that it felt like some type of sign, like death is looming and a plague is taking the city by storm — you need to run. Some shit like that. Your mind can go to crazy places when you allow the negativity to take over like I was, even if you’re not into the psychic and out there theories

This is what I read when I searched Bat Totem Meaning

While I’ve never been to a psychic or have really believed in that stuff, when that bat died at my feet it just made me feel uneasy and I was curious, and with the trend of that night, keeping an open mind. I got home and on my phone to research what it could possibly mean. I got into articles about a bat being a spirit animal — and a cool one at that.

It’s said to be watching out for you as a guardian, and a symbol of shedding the bad with the new.

I actually liked this a lot, especially because bats are fascinating and I felt more comforted by this than my original thoughts of plague. I liked that it was a symbol of shedding the old with the new, as that is my hope for my new journey of traveling.

I read that a bat in your life is a symbol of transformation, and to prepare for major changes in your life. The google article came from trustedphysicmediums.com and reassured me that the bat is not a symbol of death. Whew.

These are the 4 things that they described the bat showing up in your life means:

1. You need to get ready for a big change in your life.
2. It signifies the end of something.
3. Use your support system.
4. It actually represents good luck.

The psychics advised to do your best to grow better and with beauty, and the bat is a spirit animal that represents that something in your life is coming to an end. It also can represent a symbol of good luck and prosperity.

I was down to accept this is maybe what the bad meant, as I still felt I was harboring feelings from my last breakup and hoping that maybe it would be easier to let go.

This is How I Chose To React From The Symbol Of The Bat

If a bat spent it’s last moments to represent that some things in my life were coming to an end and I needed to prepare for change, then I was going to start preparing for a positive change.

I decided I was going to use my time in Ho Chi Minh to pour myself into work and into writing, a skill I have always wanted to get better at.

I know that want to begin writing a book soon about the good, bad and ugly I have experienced in my life to inspire others with a lot of entertaining stories. I think this would help me to confront feelings, be more vulnerable and not bury them as I have been and to “shed” this old that I’ve been carrying around for too long.

And who knows, maybe the bat has something way different in store for me. But this bat’s death is now the reason you see me publishing stories on Medium.

Summary

I had asked my Facebook friends what they thought the bat’s death meant, and the majority all practically screamed at me, “DEATH, GET OUT OF THAT CITY” in the comment thread.

I find it interesting and a bit funny about how different the Psychic felt about the bat and how my Facebook friends felt, which I had originally felt the same. Two very different perspectives — one very negative and the other excited and positive.

I had begun my outlook on the bat from a very negative place, but reading someone else’s positive outlook helped me to replace my dark thinking into a shining light in my life.

It makes you realize that with anything, you have the ability to choose how something affects you, what you believe, and how you create your perspective.

It is your responsibility to yourself to seek out the positivity and shut the dark out so you can always choose to live with brightness.