Travel Alphabet History (R) River
In 2000 I went to Vietnam for the second time with my father to visit my family, only this time my brother came too. It was really neat to have someone there I could talk to. My brother and I joked around like usual and we played games with the neighborhood kids. We taught them to play duck duck goose and baseball. Baseball was a bit different, we set up rocks as the bases and used a plastic bottle for the ball and a stick for the bat. But they totally loved it and wanted to play every single day. It was pretty fun.
It was even funny that my sister kept feeding us constantly. She had so many meals for us my brother and I had to tell her to stop. We wanted to be polite, but it was just too much food. My dad came to talk to us and asked us to tell him if there was anything we needed to tell her. My brother suggested we ask them to feed us less. I didn’t want to mention it for fear of being rude but my dad asked what we wanted. My brother said, “They feed us like seven meals a day.” Everyone started laughing when we told them to stop feeding us. They just wanted to make sure we weren’t hungry.
All the kids swam in the river. The poorer kids even bathed in the river. My family was rather well off. They all had cement houses while poorer families had straw houses. And my family had a little bath house shed where they used rain water for bathing with a little electronic thing that looked like a curling iron that they would put in the water to heat it. It was a pretty nice luxury to have warm water to bathe in. My brother wanted to jump into the river and swim with the other kids. I wasn’t really interested in getting in the water at all. I didn’t feel great for one, but it’s honestly pretty dirty water. Separate areas of it are used as a bathroom plus it’s pretty muddy. I think the brown color of it was a turn off for me. My brother kept trying to tell my sister he wanted to jump in. She didn’t understand English and had no idea what he was trying to say. He went over to the bridge to prepare to jump in and she ran over to stop him. She later told my dad she was worried it would make him sick. So no, my brother never did jump in or swim in the river.
We were there during rain season so it was incredibly hot and humid during the day. Then it would rain for a few minutes and then stop as if nothing ever happened. I loved when the rain came. It cooled everything down and made everything seem so peaceful. I used to lay in the hammock on the porch and watch the rain fall. Or sit on the porch ledge barefoot letting the warm drops fall on my hand.
It wasn’t long of course until I became very sick. I’m assuming it was probably once again food poisoning but I became very ill. Much worse than I had ever been the first time I went all those years ago. It all started when I was in the bath house trying to take a bath. I felt so dizzy and sick to my stomach standing up that I had to go lay down. I don’t remember much else but I was basically bed-ridden for over a week. I couldn’t get up or move that well at all. I threw up constantly. Any time I tried to eat anything I would vomit. I became so weak and sick my father decided to take me to the hospital.
It was a strange experience. Scary too, but I wasn’t nearly as scared as I thought I would be. In the middle of the night I was lifted out of bed by family members and carried onto wooden motor boat in the river. The boat was tiny and canoe-like, as all the boats I’d been on in Vietnam were. I don’t remember who was there. I was laying on my back looking up into the night sky. One of my aunts put a hat over my face and fanned away the mosquitoes as the boat sped up river.
I’m not sure how long it took. The hospital was right there on the river. It was a hut type of building but it had electricity and florescent looking lights. The lights were bright and I could see all the bugs floating all around the bulb. Dad spoke to the doctor in Vietnamese. I had no idea what they were saying. Dad turned to me and told me a list of things I couldn’t eat for the remainder of the trip. He also said that the doctor wanted to give me an IV. I was scared at first, unsure of how sanitary everything was. Yes, I was a germaphobe even at sixteen. I asked if they threw the needles away after use. Dad asked the doctor and then told me “yes.” So, I agreed.
I don’t know how long I had the IV. And I don’t really remember being boated back down the river to my sister’s house. I did feel better though. I was supposed to be on a strict fish and rice diet after that. No more coconuts or red meat of any kind. My sister had some medicine that she tried to give me between meals, but I threw it up immediately after taking it.
As I was starting to feel better and was able to sit up in bed, one of my aunts came over with some kind of bean soup. It had candy-like noodles in it. I wasn’t sure what it was but to be polite I ate some. My weak stomach immediately let me know it as a bad idea and I was sick again.
I did have to go back to the doctor and get another IV again. I don’t remember the second trip as much as the first. Just that I had to go again. My dad later revealed how terrified he actually was of losing me after we got home. I did stick to my strict fish and rice diet after that and got better. When I got home I had lost a lot of weight. I have no idea how much because we didn’t have a scale, but I fit in clothes that I wore when I was twelve. Despite being sick, I am still glad I went. I have no idea if I’ll ever return to Vietnam or see my relatives again but it’s very doubtful.
It was even funny that my sister kept feeding us constantly. She had so many meals for us my brother and I had to tell her to stop. We wanted to be polite, but it was just too much food. My dad came to talk to us and asked us to tell him if there was anything we needed to tell her. My brother suggested we ask them to feed us less. I didn’t want to mention it for fear of being rude but my dad asked what we wanted. My brother said, “They feed us like seven meals a day.” Everyone started laughing when we told them to stop feeding us. They just wanted to make sure we weren’t hungry.
All the kids swam in the river. The poorer kids even bathed in the river. My family was rather well off. They all had cement houses while poorer families had straw houses. And my family had a little bath house shed where they used rain water for bathing with a little electronic thing that looked like a curling iron that they would put in the water to heat it. It was a pretty nice luxury to have warm water to bathe in. My brother wanted to jump into the river and swim with the other kids. I wasn’t really interested in getting in the water at all. I didn’t feel great for one, but it’s honestly pretty dirty water. Separate areas of it are used as a bathroom plus it’s pretty muddy. I think the brown color of it was a turn off for me. My brother kept trying to tell my sister he wanted to jump in. She didn’t understand English and had no idea what he was trying to say. He went over to the bridge to prepare to jump in and she ran over to stop him. She later told my dad she was worried it would make him sick. So no, my brother never did jump in or swim in the river.
We were there during rain season so it was incredibly hot and humid during the day. Then it would rain for a few minutes and then stop as if nothing ever happened. I loved when the rain came. It cooled everything down and made everything seem so peaceful. I used to lay in the hammock on the porch and watch the rain fall. Or sit on the porch ledge barefoot letting the warm drops fall on my hand.
It wasn’t long of course until I became very sick. I’m assuming it was probably once again food poisoning but I became very ill. Much worse than I had ever been the first time I went all those years ago. It all started when I was in the bath house trying to take a bath. I felt so dizzy and sick to my stomach standing up that I had to go lay down. I don’t remember much else but I was basically bed-ridden for over a week. I couldn’t get up or move that well at all. I threw up constantly. Any time I tried to eat anything I would vomit. I became so weak and sick my father decided to take me to the hospital.
It was a strange experience. Scary too, but I wasn’t nearly as scared as I thought I would be. In the middle of the night I was lifted out of bed by family members and carried onto wooden motor boat in the river. The boat was tiny and canoe-like, as all the boats I’d been on in Vietnam were. I don’t remember who was there. I was laying on my back looking up into the night sky. One of my aunts put a hat over my face and fanned away the mosquitoes as the boat sped up river.
I’m not sure how long it took. The hospital was right there on the river. It was a hut type of building but it had electricity and florescent looking lights. The lights were bright and I could see all the bugs floating all around the bulb. Dad spoke to the doctor in Vietnamese. I had no idea what they were saying. Dad turned to me and told me a list of things I couldn’t eat for the remainder of the trip. He also said that the doctor wanted to give me an IV. I was scared at first, unsure of how sanitary everything was. Yes, I was a germaphobe even at sixteen. I asked if they threw the needles away after use. Dad asked the doctor and then told me “yes.” So, I agreed.
I don’t know how long I had the IV. And I don’t really remember being boated back down the river to my sister’s house. I did feel better though. I was supposed to be on a strict fish and rice diet after that. No more coconuts or red meat of any kind. My sister had some medicine that she tried to give me between meals, but I threw it up immediately after taking it.
As I was starting to feel better and was able to sit up in bed, one of my aunts came over with some kind of bean soup. It had candy-like noodles in it. I wasn’t sure what it was but to be polite I ate some. My weak stomach immediately let me know it as a bad idea and I was sick again.
I did have to go back to the doctor and get another IV again. I don’t remember the second trip as much as the first. Just that I had to go again. My dad later revealed how terrified he actually was of losing me after we got home. I did stick to my strict fish and rice diet after that and got better. When I got home I had lost a lot of weight. I have no idea how much because we didn’t have a scale, but I fit in clothes that I wore when I was twelve. Despite being sick, I am still glad I went. I have no idea if I’ll ever return to Vietnam or see my relatives again but it’s very doubtful.