Vietnam Stories

Well dear readers, I have just had the opportunity to visit Hanoi, Vietnam for a long weekend break, from the 16th to 19th January 2009, as I have a friend currently working there as a Senior Project Manager on a couple of building Projects. This would be my first trip to Vietnam so I was interested in making the trip, even though I knew it would be a few degrees colder than Thailand, albeit Thailand has not been particularly warm recently!

Simon takes a break.

A couple of years ago (my how time flies), Uncle Frank Visakay, with the words “One heck of a book”, kindly sent me one of the few remaining copies of “Sorrow of War”, by Vietnamese author Bao Nin

Wabi Sabi is a Japanese Concept emanating through Zen Bhuddism Roughly translated, it contains the following precepts as a means to personal happiness:

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.” Albert Einstein

“An enigma couched in a puzzle wrapped in a mystery”

Methinks the old John Donne would thoroughly approve of present day Vietnam, for they honor their dead as no other.

"There are a number of mechanical devices which increase sexual arousal, particularly in women. Chief among these is the Mercedes-Benz 500SL." -- Lynn Lavner

In my native England the people are angry. Money, money, money. Get out of my way, must make some money, money. Just one hour of driving is likely to bring forth the acrid smell of “road rage”

Your correspondent is given to understand that Asian Explorer Marco Polo was greeted at the court of Kublai Khan by courtiers laden with silk.

“Heaven on Earth is a decision you make, not a place you find.” Has long been one of the maxims that I’ve tried to live by. It’s a surprise, therefore, to find myself in an idyllic situation in terms of place. For near to Thailand a nation is rising like a Phoenix at a great rate of knots.

Phuong was my first Vietnamese lover. I staid in Sa Dec, the sleepy riverside provincial capital in Southern Vietnam. One late afternoon I had settled in an open-air coffeeshop next to the road. A few lady teachers in their lovely silken white Ao Dais passed. One attractive young lady was walking her simple 24" bicycle and stood there in my view for quite a while, looking back all the time. That was Phuong. And when I looked up from my book a little later Phuong suddenly sat one table further upriver from me and smiled. She asked "Why do you travel alone?" - "Please join my table", I said and ordered iced coffee with sweet milk for her. Such a good English in Sa Dec!

Viet girl friend and I roar out of Sa Dec town, on a well-maintained but mirrorless Honda, towards the outer districts. It will be another fine backcountry day, oh how I love these trips into southern Vietnam's relatively prosperous and absolutely friendly Mekong delta. Adventure! Phuong, sitting in the back, holds on to me and cuddles close as we zoom along on a very reasonable provincial road.