on the street - Saigon

---o(O)o---

You know how some people leave a SUBJECTIVE  impression on you ?  

                        ---o(O)o---

By the wall, on the footpath, sits a Vietnamese woman, about 25 years old. 

Her hair is all over the place, she has no shoes, her clothes are rags. An old empty bag lies next to her on the ground. The skin colour of her feet and ankles tells me she hasn't had a shower for a long time. 

It's VERY unusual to see this in Saigon. 

I slow down in case she asks for help, but she is in a world of her own. 

"Hm... give her something ? 

Stop being such a bloddy  doooooo gooder Haiko  !!

Just keep going, you can't be helping strays and waifs all over the place." 

Looking back I see a Vietnamese man stop and give her some money.

I walk back the way I have just come and order a baguette from the stand on the road. A baguette with pate and meat and all vegies they put inside. 

Walking past her for the third time I hold out the baguette to her. 

She stares at it for a few seconds. 

I'm feeling silly, she doesn't want it. Oh well. It's my issue. 

Then she looks up at me, and her hand comes out. she takes the bread and very carefully puts it on the ground for later. 

Fine. 

I leave. 

End of story ?

Well sort of.

                   ---o(O)o---

You know how some poeple leave a SUBJECTIVE  impression on you ?

They have a personality, 

A flavour, a colour a  taste all their own. 

You  walk away and their character lingers inside you. 

Well  that's what happened with this lady. 

She reached out for the baguette, and her attitude, her energy, her personality was all in that simple action. 

It was not a bad impression, quite light, nice, gentle and fierce, smart and intelligent. 

Come to think of it, she reminds me of one of the characters in one of the stories I'm writing. Just a little. 

How come a meeting of 1O seconds  leaves a bigger impression of her personality than people I've met for hours or weeks ? 

Strange....

interesting.... 

Saigon bus

Looking over the big roundabout near Ben Thank Market Feb2011

When your ride a motorbike there is the danger that your right hand pulls too hard on the throttle. 

Your hand  is still on the handlebar throttle as the bike jumps forward.

That makes the throttle go on harder,

the bike jumps more, 

the throttle opens up more etc... and we get the jumping bike effect. 

Like a bucking horse. 

On a 50cc bike that is not such a problem. On bigger bikes it can be.

Because of the jumping bike effect  I have a personal rule to always always keep my right foot ready for braking on the foot brake. To never ever drive without the foot ready to brake.

Today I broke my rule.

There are petrol stations on the HUGE roundabout in Saigon, south of the Ben Thanh market. 

I filled up with petrol and pulled out with my little bike. 

I eased out of the petrol station, with just one hand on the throttle and feet hanging loose. 

The bike did the bucking horse thing. 

Right close to an oncoming bus. 

The bus slowed down, I veered away and all was fine.

I scared myself a bit.
I felt like an idiot, I felt small and stupid.
I expected a tirade of abuse.

Now in Australia I'd definitely get honking and abuse and shouting and head shaking and dark looks from the bus drivers.

In Vietnam I got a laughing bus driver, open smile, no anger. 

Wow.
Anything, anytime, are the rules of the road here. 

How the hell do you thank someone high up in bus, with traffic noise and in a foreign language ? 

I folded my hands in a prayer gesture and bowed to the driver. 

It is what people in Thailand would do. 

And everyone can get the meaning of it, no matter what language. 

We look at each other again laugh and drive off.

A Vietnamese friend wrote:
Because you are a foreigner. If it was me, he would have yelled the hell at me - Ph

Why do we worry about things that are totally unlikely and yet we all brave the much more dangerous daily traffic in the cities ? 

tears

TET 2011, Ly Thu Trong

It's late, 10pm, an old woman sits on the footpath, next to a tree.
She is holding a sleeping eight year old boy across her lap.
Something is wrong.
I take another look, tears are rolling down her face.
She is dressed in simple clothes, old and nothing fancy.
She is crying openly, does not care who sees.
There are no people passing only cars and motorbikes with bright glaring lights.
I stop, embarrassed.
What to do ?
I give her some money.
She hardly notices, but then  takes it.
It makes no difference to her, but I don't know what else to do.

Ten minutes later I walk past her again, on the way to La Fenetre Soleil. She is still there, crying. 
I stop, put my hand on her shoulder, say a few words.  Move on.
Later I wonder, what else I could have done ?
"You could have sat beside her, held put a hand on her shoulder and just been there. Who cares about language at a time like that ?"
But I was too inhibited for that... money is all I could think of.... until after she was gone ....
Was the boy alright, he looked like he was sleeping, but maybe he was sick ?
I wasn't fast enough on my feet.
hm........next time my friend, remember, let your heart speak....

 9Feb11 Ly Tu Trong street, Saigon, D1,

 

the humanness of Vietnam: Thumbs up + smile :-)

Saigon 2011 January, typical traffic

Riding in traffic, swimming in a sea of motorbikes, surrounded by motorbikes, 

I'm one of them, one of hundreds, inching forward, grabbing that bit of space, 

chugging along, impassive face, aware all around. .
A tall young woman, sitting high up at the back of a bike, passes me and turns around, bright smile on her face. She gives me a big thumbs up sign, me the foreigner on his on his 50cc Honda Cub bike. 

I feel accepted. 

I feel part of the place. 

For a moment I see life from the vantage of the majority of Vietnamese in Saigon. 

 10Feb11 Saigon, Le Loi Street D1.

I'm wanted at the traffic-jam
They're saving me a seat
I'm what I am, and what I am
Is back on Boogie Street...

- Leonard Cohen  

Shoes n Spirit House - was someone listening ?

Hotel lobby with spirit house on the right - shoes were on the right not far from it - Feb2011

At the hotel where I stay the lady who runs it has a small spirit house, altar, by the reception desk at floor level.
 not far away from  it they put all the shoes for the guests in row by the wall on the floor.
It's been like this for years.
Ever since I arrived I thought it was not a good thing to have the shoes near the altar of the spirit house, (its an Asian thing, but shoes and feet and spiritual stuff don't mix well in Asia)

I always kind of appologized to the spirit house, kept my shoes far away and was  respectful.

Today I returned from my morning errands and the shoes were gone, all of them.
the manager lady has moved them all by the door, on the opposite wall, closer to the door and far away from spirit house.

She speaks no English, I speak no Vietnamese.
I never said anything about the shoes and spirit house.
After she moved them I did the thumbs up and we communicated in sign language. It was clear she had moved them to show respect to the spirit house.

I sometimes get these kinds of things where i think of something, wonder about it should be done better, or differently and then suddenly it happens.
I guess I'm picking up on the things about to change, tuning into it or whatever. 

'dance me to the children who are asking to be born....'  - Leonard Cohen 

Sometimes the threads on the loom suggest the picture to come.

Then we know that our children-to-be Hope for us in the Bardo.

For them we weave until our arms grow tired.
                -- The years of Rice and Salt - by Kim Stanley Robinson

Surgery under local anaesthetic  in Burma by the mobile Surgeon Dr Naga

the value of first aid - VS feeling useless

Saigon going from  D7 to D1:

25Feb11 driving home today man on bridge, lying in heat, blood down his face, big bump on back of head. 
I stop to feel his pulse. 
normal, strong, about 60/min. 
no one knows what to do, they all wait for the ambulance. 
they mark the road with the outline of the bike, 
they leave him in the heat. 

do I move him, ? 
do I put his feet higher than his head ? no he has head injury, 
I have no idea,  I do nothing. 

I feel useless I leave. 

later I remember: unconscious people can feel and hear soothing kind presence, even if I can DO nothing I could be there and just hold his  arm. Provide shade. Check his breathing...
hm.... 
I hope there is no next time... but if so.... then next time

Unique temple in Saigon

Unique temple in saigon

Half the face is just iron mesh, the other half has concrete and looks like a Buddha.
It's the face that towers over the low restaurants at the intersection.
Every morning I've seen it.
Every morning I mean to go and check it out.

Today I did (15Feb11).

It's hot, the atmosphere is surreal, the temple looks like a home made structure, by someone with talent and ideas.

it all sits on a convoluted concrete structure

a face sits in the garden.....

a cave houses a monk....

if you look closely at the main temple, you can find all sorts of surprises high up....

I circled around all the way to the street view....

and found an assembly of deities inside.....

Tea and conversation with the priest....

and a tour of the temple inside

an ancient energy has sought refuge here.... outside high rise buildings go up, building is furious and unrelenting... where did this place come from ?

The garden holds more surprises

playfulness done very well, this is a temple unique and special that expresses it's creator's character.

A crowd watches you - as you watch them.

and it's all hidden, in plain view,

along an ordinary looking road and near a small turn off...

if you feel hungry, these guys make a great Phoe soup

The temple reminds me of Thailand, the Isaarn area, of the North East, same imagination, same free form, same ancient feel to it.

Lovely surprise, just a short walk from my corporate air-conditioned networked office.
Where is it ? On a very busy road going district 7