Vietnam

This recollection of my travels to Vietnam may feel a bit tardy but still completely worth the time.

Arriving in Saigon, it was an intense shock at the lifestyle that the Vietnamese live in, this being in the bigger cities of Vietnam let alone the rural life that I would later encounter, the skinny dark streets were strewn with restaurants that were, quite literally, in garages of people's homes. Although I can admit, there was a certain charm about it that was undeniable despite the evident makeshift everything that I saw.

Most were either sitting down in chairs not made for the elongated bodies of normal adults but chairs made for children, low to the ground as a pile of dirt would rise, while others would be squatting in such a manner that their butts were barely hovering over the concrete ground. This made me speculate...was this squatting low to the ground a result of convenience, or social/economic problems? I couldn't help but think that they squatted because throughout history, the Vietnamese have had to work so close to the ground, eat to the ground, exist down at the ground. A grand speculation, but one I admittedly had right before falling asleep in the cab.

My uncle's place was about an hour away from Saigon. I remember feeling a ghostly presence there. The presence felt benign, like the past of this historical place was welcoming me to it's story, luring me in. He lives in this old house with a church which he and a fellow priest run but the grounds has an old basketball court, a soccer field, a back tennis court, an ancient schoolhouse, old-school public showers and the entire place was so surreal and covered with old statues, green surroundings, and these ivory white butterflies that looked like fairies lightly floating through the plants, there one second, and then with the glare of the sun another second, completely vanished. The fairies had continued to enchant me my entire stay there, completely neutral to my breach into their haunted kingdom. I would close my eyes and could hear the children laughing.

Vung Tau was this still coastal town with this intense ocean breeze that would crush you with the urge to sleep, almost like Poseidon was casting some oceanic spell on the inhabitants. Vung Tau by night was stunning with cafes and restaurants lined up and all these tacky Christmas lights for decorations that didn't come off tacky at all but instead extremely inviting. The seafood was fresh from the seabeds at this restaurant by the waters and the lulling breeze was a drowsy breathe on my face that persuaded me to slumber with all of its romantic whispers, while glancing at all the Romeos and Juliets swaying by the shore.

The following day, we went to this colossal statue of Jesus rising up above this mountain with this epic pathway up to his feet. From there you can choose to climb up inside of the statue to the top. And from Jesus' shoulders, I saw everything...

We went back to Saigon again as we did a few times throughout the trip which was so exciting for me every time, as if I had known Saigon a long time ago and waited in anxiety until I could see it again. Saigon was beautiful and overpopulated in the most charming way , even though it was so dirty, crowded and loud. With that being said, there were many entrapping angles about it. I long to return to make this acquainted city a treasured comrade.

It was around this time that I got frustrated because I realized that although I know Vietnamese, I couldn't always express myself. This resulted in the plundering of my brain for sufficient Vietnamese words to help me engage myself, and more times than not, the mental looting would be disappointing... so instead, I would just resume the butterfly catching with my mom and dad with horribly constructed tools, to pass the time, without the need of many words involved.