Indochina Update

This last Friday, I finished helping at TEFL in Ho Chi Minh City evaluating new teacher candidates. The end of the course dinner was held at Binh Quoi 1 in Binh Thanh District of HCMC. The attached photo is a small tributary of the Saigon River that flows through this area where the dinner was held. I captured the moment as the sun was trying to make the effort of setting, but everything moves a bit slower with the change of weather here.

The weather is turning a bit colder. The temperature dips to 75 degrees at night. Add "wind chill" factor, it's downright chilly. The rains continue in the afternoon and turn to thunderstorms when there is enough energy.

Everything is moving slower nowadays with the change in weather.

I went for my iced coffee this morning and nearby sat three men silently sipping their warm green tea in small clear glasses. They sipped and watched the banana vendor slowly pulling his heavy three-wheeled bicycle cart down the alley under the grey overcast sky, his green pith helmet stained from years of sweat. With reservation, one of the men mutters, "It's time to go to to work," but they take their time.

Even the clouds this morning can barely make the effort to release their own burden brought in from the Eastern Sea. Small droplets of water barely survive when the cool air stirs for a brief moment. Everything here has come to a slower pace. Leaning against the fading green plastered wall of Ong Tuan's store sipping my iced coffee takes energy. I suppose sitting minus effort equals contentment.

Tomorrow, I travel to an area north of Tay Ninh near the Cambodian border for research on my book and will spend the day discovering areas of Viet Nam safely tucked away from tourists. Late August will see me in Laos for a week of more research. They say Laos still retains the charm and atmosphere that was Indochina so many years ago before the wars. They say you come to Indochina and you learn a lot in a few minutes, but the rest has got to be lived.

Peace to all of you. --Thomas