-^-for posterity-^-

tonight i had the pleasure of eating out with some travelers. they were here touring around with luke martin. they had been in vietnam for a couple of weeks and this was their first night in saigon.

luke asked me to eat supper with them and i more than obliged. the restaurant was wonderfully fancy.

i walked in and everyone was already seated. there were about 20 white, retired people looking at me. my face broke into a smile. my, i hadn’t seen this many middle aged white people in a while. i said my hellos and some lady grabbed my arm. she stood up and handed me a bag. she had a thick german accent and the bag was a gift from a friend of mine in indiana.

i couldn’t stop smiling. my face flushed red and everyone stared at me. i felt very awkward standing there but didn’t care at all. i was in ecstasy. the bag was full of candy. i guess people wonder what you would miss over here and send you candy. it’s not such a bad thing even though i really wouldn’t eat it back home. i have a bag of skittles, some m&ms, some harder old-lady looking candy and i just ate a “rice krispies treats double chocolatey chunk”. it was somehow greasy and had an odd, unnatural way of melting instantly in my mouth. the ingredients included: malt flavoring, partially hydrogenated palm kernel (only partially!), glycerin, maltodextrin, acetylated monoglycerides, diacetyl tartacic acid esters of mono and diglycederides, and vitamin a palmitate just to name a few! it should probably be renamed: “guaranteed to give you colon cancer or diabetes”. oh, it reminded me of how little i really missed processed food. why won’t anyone bring me any hummus and fresh pita bread!

oh, it was a wonderful night. i met many people and don’t remember anyone’s name. the food was incredible. it was all decorated to look like different animals or people; really artistic. it was a night full of explanation. i was just constantly telling people what i was doing here and asking them what they did. we didn’t get past the surface stuff but that was, in a way, refreshing. i kept telling everyone how excited i was to be here and they kept saying, “oh, to be young again.”

so i rode a motorcycle taxi home (xe om). the night was perfectly warm and the wind on my face was a breath of fresh air.

i’ve been in vietnam two months to the day.