the eye in you, Divine Eye from a temple, symbol of the Cao Dai religion of south Vietnam, August 30, 2008, photo © 2008 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
I swear to God, there were times when I really did think of Mary of the Grains and thank QuoinMonkey of the Fair for the haiku she sent out to me before I left for the Mekong Delta.
Thank you, Mary. Thank you, QM.
Thank you, God.
First, thank you for getting me through the harrowing three-hour drive on mostly two lanes shared equally by throngs of cars, semi-trucks, tourist buses, tourist vans, motorcycles, bicycles, tricycles carrying baskets and grains and everything else, and even children and chickens on foot. (A three-hour tour, a three-hour tour…the weather started getting rough…) My God. All I could think was, I will never do this again, at least not on a holiday weekend.
Second, once you delivered me safely to the drop-off point at the boat, I began my own little private silent retreat, except better. A beautiful, 24-passenger capacity boat shared by me and a respectful Japanese couple who knew very little English. Three passengers and the crew who took care of us. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Third, dreading the return drive home, I discovered it was only half the distance (the boat made up the other half) and as soon as my driver started speeding off into the mayhem, I leaned forward, tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Mr. Chin, no fast, please.” And you know what? He didn’t. (Yes, I will do it again some day, leaving an hour earlier the morning of, so that we’re not nearly so rushed.)
QM, many moments over the weekend I was reminded of life and death, beauty and humanity. More than one of those moments I thought of you and Mary. I truly and really did. Again, thank you.
Oh, and a full description to come. Soon. With photos.
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