-^-for posterity-^-

down in long xuyen with the family.

yesterday we went to the market. the market is a cornucopia of food and odd smells. my brother remarked a number of times that he was about to puke in his mouth if he smelled any more fish.

the stretches along the river bank. it is thin and winds like a pregnant snake: thin on both ends and wider in the middle. the top of the market is covered with large, black umbrellas. the bottom of the market is covered with slime and refuse. we began to walk through.

we started in the fresh beef section. the rows are lined with high tables covered with odd pieces of beef. old ladies lined the top of each table cautiously staring at us. the beef hung limply off the side of the tables in the open air. hygiene wasn’t a priority. jason and i walked in the front and mom and dad trailed behind us. they never seemed to be looking ahead and always were distracted by odd thins. ie: my mother spent a few minutes staring and talking about a huge mound of cabbage. mind you, it was large and the cabbage did look fresh, but i didn’t think it deserved five minutes of adulation.

the next section was the odds and ends section. there you can buy all sorts of vegetables and fruits. the ladies sit in the midst of large piles of onions, lettuce, flowers, lotus stems and mushrooms. they also stare at us cautiously. this section of the market is never interesting. vegetables don’t smell like beef sitting out in the sun and they don’t provide the same optic pleasure as half dead fish flopping around in tin pans.

the next section was the fish section. there are large buckets full of semi-conscience fish and no water. they writhe and silently moan. there are snakes in cages. dad joked that he wanted to buy one. there are crabs and shrimp and snails and oysters. that section is a feast for the eyes.

we ended out market tour by talking to a stray beef table that somehow was located far away from the main beef section. the lady at the stand remembered me and we chatted for a bit. i bought a steer leg from her, boiled it and gave it to my dog. she asked me if it was good. i didn’t tell her i gave it to my dog. i said it was the best beef i’d ever had. we all smiled. she asked me if i was married yet. i told her i wasn’t. she said i should come back tomorrow afternoon and she would have a wife for me. i’m debating whether to go or not.

mom wanted to buy a basket on our walk home. she wanted to buy some art here and put it in the basket and take it home. the basket is made out of plastic and is shaped like a thin, oblong grocery sack. she finally bought one after an absurdly long decision making process. by that point we were all sweating too much. we walked home.

i think they liked the market but i can never really tell. i don’t know if they’re too shocked to actually speak or if they’re too tired to make audible sounds or if they’re just not that interested and are humoring me and my hand motions and odd gestures.