bandersnatch and the jubjub bird
there's a love that transcends all that we've known ourselves & i'll wait for it to come
it's got to be strong to touch my heart if it's not too late for coffee, i'll be at your place in 10, we'll hit that all night diner and then we'll see ...
being in Vietnam is like getting on an airship, and then it carries you through a certain wormhole, and catapults you back through time. i got off the plane with a certain expectations not unlike the ones i had between before, and my first trip to Bangkok, Thailand.
somehow, they seem to me. at the very least, i thought the people would be as friendly, and warm.
warm. i didn't get that from the people, but i sure got a hell lot of that from the sun.
it's dusty.
soot envelopes the air around you, trapping you in a somewhat brownish bubble of smog, distant light doesn't capture much of your attention, it actually doesn't capture much because, through all the dense air, somewhere in between, the beauty of the country ricochets off each other, and ends up lost in the midst of - yes, i emphasize, dirt.
& that's the least of your problem.
the traffic in Vietnam is made up both cars and motorcycles, and if i were to assign percentages to both, it'd be 10% and 90% respectively. it almost seems like getting a bike (motorized, more often than not) is a rite of passage. not unlike the boys in Singapore enlisting into the army. only in Vietnam, both the boys and the girls get a bike when they come of age.
Daddy! I'm 21 tomorrow!
Okay let's go to the motor show room!
Cool!
And it seems like there was an agreement made years and years ago, that when they want to ride, they would ride together, all together, all 21938120983120893 of them.
HOWEVER, however
after taking some time to settle my heart, and find peace with the unnaturally high level of constant car and motorcycle honkings, the layer of dust and dirt on my face after a whole day of walking about, and the grease covered slippers and shoes at the end of every day - i found joy in the little things.
the simple times.
my initial idea of Vietnam-Thailand co-relation wasn't that far-fetched after all. sure, the Vietnamese were a lot colder and harsher than the friendly faces in Bangkok, but life - on a whole - actually seems the same. less the amount of tourist-shoppers and mega malls, the streets would look similar. and the people live their life a day at a time.
the food on the streets contributes to the back-to-the-past element. make shift stalls, road side hawkers, all of them stirs up a wonderfully complimented meal when you try to look into the life of the country on a whole.
the rudeness of the people, the sandy air, the constant honks, the countless motorcycles riding lawlessly across crossroads (often ignoring the traffic lights), the relentless sun - the flavor of Vietnam. the flavor of the people, the dusty atmosphere, the vibrant sounds makes the city (or town) alive.
the food, the pho, the bottled-down MSG.
it was neither a good, nor bad trip.
it was an experience.
and that is always nice to recount in later years.
some more pictures can be found on facebook. if you should feel compelled.
if not, go visit Vietnam yourself.