-^-for posterity-^-

today we were invited to go and partake in a engagement party. we were promised rural areas and adventure.

we boarded a small ferry which took us to a remote island where the groom lived. we drove our motorbikes over muddy, dirt roads. we arrived at a small clearing. after chatting for a bit and exchanging odd formalities, we left our bikes and began trekking through the woods. we reached a small monkey bridge. for those of you that don’t know, a monkey bridge is made out of bamboo poles. it’s like a balance-beam with a handrail. there is an incline on one end, a straight part in the middle and a decline on the other. this monkey bridge was out of the ordinary. it must have been about seventy yards long and stretched across four different fish ponds. the bamboo parts in the middle were not made for large anglo-types. we had to maneuver them carefully. at one point we had eighteen people on one bridge. i counted.

after safely landing on the other side, taking a breath and being grateful that you didn’t fall into the muddy water, we took in our surroundings. we were completely surrounded by fish ponds. the ponds were about the size of a basketball court and seemed a bit mundane. after all, it’s only brown water. then some people threw in some fish food. the surface of the water broke and thousands of fish fought for the morsels of food. they struggle on top of one another wildly thrashing. it looked like a small island of flesh that one could easily step on and walk across.

after our brief foray into fish feeding we moved on to where the part was to be held. it was to be held on top of a small, african fish breeding pen. to get there we had to cross another bridge. this bridge wasn’t perched high above the water. this bridge was barely an inch above. there were large, blue buoys that held it up. at one moment we had four people on it and it sank. everyone’s shoes were soaked and people started to panic. a lot of the girls didn’t know how to swim and some boys turned heroic. they were going to, much like me, save the world.

we all arrived safe and a bit wet. we sat down over our graceful, african fish and ate. they bred under us. no one noticed.

we were sitting on top of the mekong. the breeding house was placed about one hundred yards from shore. boats chugged by and the wind cooled us all. the day was beautiful and the conversation flowed smoothly. it started to rain and the tin roof sang. it hummed for a bit and every once in a while decided to shout. no one noticed.

they called a boat taxi for us to go back to shore. the monkey bridge was wet and we were in danger of falling in the water. the boat chugged and puttered us to shore. we drove home past small shacks and shoeless children. we hummed along in the hot sun and gathered a film of dirt on our sweating skin. i didn’t notice any of it.