Recommendation

I have actually done a couple things since I got home, but before getting to that I just wanted to put the word out, to anybody reading this who is going or may go or will go but doesn't know it yet, to Hoi An in central Vietnam, go talk to my friend the tailor. Tell her I sent you, maybe she'll pianyi yi dian for you. You can find out more about her by clicking on this link.

Cuối Tuần Đi Núi

One of the first things I did upon getting home was go away ... for a weekend at a cabin in the "mountains" with my sister, nephews and neice, and brother and his fiancee. The mayhem graciously provided by three small children, and the natural solitude and peace of the location, roughly balanced each other out, making a very nice weekend. The cabin was an actual hunting cabin, as evidenced by the dead animal parts hanging on the walls.

The prize for being cute, even in a bad picture, goes to this one.

And the two most energetic people in the cabin bounced around hunting tigers and falling out of bed and roasting marshmallows ... and running after anyone who would run away from them. Mostly smiles all around - even for someone desperately trying not to smile!

A weekend full of family and natural solitude, two things that I never got much of in Hanoi. Well, none of, actually!

What I do all day

Actually, usually it is closer to all night, that I am working. I spend the day recovering!

This is what I drive to work.

Thanks, by the way, to the unfailing generosity of a friend who actually owns this sweet little scooter.

This is the kind of road I drive to work on; skinny, bumpy and deserted, in the interest of not ending up like a smeared bug on the grill of an SUV.

After I get to work, I drive this, and SUVs don't bother me anymore!


Mostly on giant roads that neatly and effectively hold themselves apart from the actual life and pulse of the places they go through.

Notice the DUNKIN' DONUTS coffee. Coffee is indespensible to a true American trucking experience. In large quantities and of dubious quality, just having something boiling hot splashing on your hand when you hit a bump does tend to keep you awake...

If I were choosing my own truck it would not be a Mack, but the Bulldog is kind of cool, I used to have one of those on my VW bug...

The World Between Worlds

Airports are funny places. For anybody who has read C.S. Lewis, I always think of airports as that wooded place full of ponds which were really doorways into new, or old, worlds – the world between worlds. That place was, I think, although it’s been a very long time since I’ve read CS Lewis, a kind of quiet place, but you couldn’t really do anything there. This place – Bangkok Airport – is mostly quiet at the moment (12:16 am) but there are plenty of lively places, one of which is where I am. I just spent $8 for a slushy and a small crispy sandwich. Let’s see, that’s almost 150,000 vnd, which is one night at the guesthouse on China Beach…

Leaving Vietnam feels strange. I am slightly dazzled by Burger King, Pizza Hut and Dairy Queen all lit up and next to each other. There are plenty of those kinds of places in Vietnam, but I usually avoid them like the plague. My last day in Hanoi was nice - downpour in the morning, drenching humidity and heat remaining after that, while I rode my motorbike around town trying to change money and looking at lakes and places again, knowing I won’t see them for awhile.

After the downpour, riding out to the airport in late afternoon the sky was brilliant blue with puffy clouds and the glowing green rice fields. My taxi had a minor accident on the way to the airport. Just a scrape, but the ensuing seemingly culturally obligatory shouting match did make me laugh. Being ahead of schedule, for once in my life, I was unconcerned by the delay.

…

I had safe flights, if sometimes bumpy. 4th of July fireworks that you can see from 36,000 ft up. A country with big cars and everyone is going fast and nobody blows their horn. It is good to be home, but also odd to be back. I’m sure I can come up with something more profound than that at some point, right now I am going to bed.