When Mike told me he was doing a blog, I must admit I was not that interested....my anti-technology nature was kicking in. Let's just go on our trip.....who would want to read this? Well, many days later, as I have read his blog and read emails responding to him, I have embraced this new form of communication and now have begun to "suggest" what photos to put in and what to say. Mike has accused me of now trying to control his blog...not really, but I felt compelled to weigh in today, because my experience watching him in Vietnam has been compelling.
The last two days have been incredible. The first day we took a boat trip along the Mekong Delta to two busy floating markets. There were no other tourists, so we felt as if we were immersed in the real culture of the river life. The men and women work tirelessly, selling and buying fruits and vegetables, rowing boats, maneuvering around each other and quietly and calmly conducting their daily activities. They were gentle and pleasant and did not mind that we were there. We took many photos and smiled and waved and they returned the same. It was a comfortable and incredible experience. We witnessed life as it has existed for hundreds of years, and not much has changed, as the boats and vessels on the water were ancient looking and classic. We spent hours on the river and meandered down smaller canals and saw life along the river. Poor yet prosperous in food and family, the people we saw were constantly engaged in an activity that supported their daily existence. We have, of course, hundreds of photos of this day, and will not bore you with them. But I think Mike has added a few (that technical step is not one that I have accomplished yet!)
The following day, we decided to do a bike tour of the local villages, rice paddies and farms. We had a guide and set off on a day of riding (mind you, I do not ride a bike often, if at all) and we rode 35 kilometers (I still do not know how to change that into miles, but I think it is about 20 miles). I must admit, I am proud of myself for even considering this, but when this far away from home and from my regular life, it is not unusual to do unusual things! Also, it is all flat, no hills! So we ventured forth through villages, passing simple homes, children, dogs, pigs, through rice paddies flooded because of the season, watching thousands of ducks in the fields eating insects on the paddies which helps the farmers, crossing many wooden bridges, watching the daily routines begin (we started at 5:30 am). And for the next 5 hours we continued on, stopping occasionally for photos and rest. We stopped at a Buddhist pagoda and met the monk who has lived there for 72 years and lit incense while he rang the bell. We stopped at a home where the family makes rice flour and watched the women and children working together in the task of creating this product that supports them. The father invited us in for tea....our guide interpreted for us and we chatted with him for a while. The most amazing part of this journey were the people along the way. As we passed the homes and families out and about, we started to notice the smiles and "hellos" that came our way. In fact, over the course of this trip, literally hundreds of people stopped, looked at us and smiled, waved and yelled "hello" in English. Our guide told us that they don't ever see Americans and were happy to see us and welcome us to their villages. We spent most of our bike ride feeling like celebrities, with grandmothers, children, mothers, fathers all stopping what they were doing, calling to their friends, and coming to the pathway in front of their homes to welcome us and say "hello".....apparently the only English word they know. And it became clear to me, watching Mike waving and smiling and talking to the local people, that although he was not able to go back to the location of his stint in Vietnam, he was spending a day immersed in the culture of the families and being welcomed and appreciated and accepted in a very, very special way.....it was a joy to experience this with him. He truly loved it. He stopped often, talked to children, smiled with the mothers and simply cherished this day. After a long ride, we decided to take a boat back to our hotel, and that led to another incredible few hours. We rode down canals that never ever see a tourist and became, again, a focus of attention of the people along the way. Local people came to the river's edge to watch us go by, all along yelling "hello" to us. Mike was standing on the boat, waving....I know this sounds so strange but we had to wave back and smile and let them know we were happy to be there. The sharing of emotions, without words, was priceless. Again, a great moment for Mike in his return to Vietnam. So, even though the itinerary of his planned journey back to Vietnam was completely changed, we both realized that this was, by far, an incredible "silver lining" of the Ketsana typhoon.
Tonight we have just arrived in Hanoi and I'm sure Mike will continue this blog soon.
On the late train from Hong kong to Kowloon...a very crowded one...we were lucky to get these seats. And as we tiredly sit down I take my camera out...signal non-verbally to a man standing nearby...hand him the camera...he nods in acknowledgement...and voila.
