Sai Gon. May 6, 2001
Phan Thiet was great; I met lots of people who are friends of Chu Ngoc, and we ate well, slept well, and had a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean (have you ever seen the sun RISE on the Pacific?) from our third story (fourth by American standards) balcony. While at the beach, Linh (Chu Ngoc’s daughter) and I went for a walk on the beach where I explained how the world is turned around about 75 degrees. I showed her the big dipper, one of 2 constellations I can find with confidence. In Vietnam, it’s called “Bac Dau” which means in ancient Hoa language, “Northern Chair.” Why? Because it doesn’t look like a dipper from here, it looks like a chair! Tonight, Linh, her mom, and her brother came over to eat Banh Cang which is a specialty of Phan Thiet. Then we watched “The Saint,” candy for my American ears, and good for all in the room for learning English (watched it with American subtitles). Chu Ngoc called us from Phan Thiet (as manager of the Muine resort out there, he is out of town most of the week) to greet us while having dinner. I adore this family.

The other day I went to the post office to mail Mike a letter and met a most interesting and sweet italian family. The woman I met, Alexa, is Italian and just moved back to Rome to be with her parents. The gentleman I met with her lived on Sycamore in Arlington! Imagine, we’re all the way in Vietnam and he lives two miles away from mom and dad. Maybe he once went through dad’s grocery line even. Alexa seemed like someone I would have met before, and she reminded me of Lori (Nafshun). It’s too bad they were leaving Vietnam that day.

Last night Thanh and I went into town on the Honda and he drove me all through Sai Gon. There was a special concert commemorating Trinh Con Son (who passed away a few weeks ago, whose sister is married to my father’s uncle). The street in front of it was packed with Hondas, all there to freeload from the concert inside the chain link fence. Further ahead, Thanh drove me to another park where there was a play going on, again with a street full of Hondas viewing the comedy for free. We drove around and around for about an two hours before going home to get a good night’s sleep (so I could wake up in order to go get a facial with my aunts).

Summer is always here, but the flowers in front of Di 10’s house are now in full bloom, and even though I’m still always hot, I think I’m adjusting to the weather (in time to enjoy New York’s summer in July). It’s too bad I couldn’t find some nice guy to come explore Vietnam with me. I’m dying to go for a proper bike ride, and drafting behind some speedster would be fun for a change. Any takers? My palm reading aunt says I’ll make the man in my life rich. Cheers.
H.