Vietnam, Completed

To wrap it up:

We departed Phu Quoc in the pouring rain on a boat filled with young Vietnamese men in green uniforms. Maybe army? I don't know. They were a funny bunch, whoever they were. The boat attendants (like flight attendants, similarly sassy uniforms) decided to grace us with three full hours of screeching Vietnamese pop singers over the loudspeakers, and I can tell you that the acoustics in that rickety old skiff did not do those pop singers any favors, and that it was an acute form of torture, but the green soldiers were all merrily screeching along. At least the stewards handed out biscuits, otherwise I would have opted nstead for a long swim in the plastic bag-dark sea.

Anyway from there we headed up to a delta city called Can Tho where we have two VIA friends stationed for the year. Can Tho is unremarkable but for the sheer volume of blinking neon lights hung from trees, streetlights, fountains, buildings, and any other protruding objects (it's lit up like a christmas tree every night, just for festivity's sake I gather) and for the flags. I don't know if it was patriotism or aesthetics but there were single city blocks containing upwards of ten vietnamese flags--multiple flags per building. And even the massive Ho Chin Minh statue was draped in a giant flag to protect him from dust while they did construction around his ankles. So it's blinky bright and flag-dotted but otherwise unremarkable. While there we visited a deserted amusement park island, which was as creepy as it sounds, spent a night lost in the city driving in circles, and that was about it.

The last stop on the trip was definitely the highlight: Hoi An, described to me as "an old world charmer" and absolutely all I hoped for. It's colorful French colonial architechture and bundles and bundles of bougainvillea and breezy sidewalk cafes and a beach just down the road and a World Heritage Site of ancient Cham ruins just outside the city, and it's the tailoring capital of the country and it is just adorable. We had clothes made, we had long leisurely lunches, we saw the ancient ruins at sunrise, we walked around taking pictures, we took naps, and we were utterly content. I didn't want to leave.

But here I am in Phnom Penh, writing to you from an old mansion turned hip cafe with the rain pittering on the roof, and I am actually completely happy to be back. I really like it here. We started work this week and moved out of our guesthouse (the Spring Guest House, which we affectionately refer to as The Springroll) into our new apartment, which is delightfuI. I also picked up Khmer class again, lest my yoweling skills get rusty, and I think Sopip missed me.

Other than that, nothing to report, so I'll leave you all to your labor fay festivities and venture out into the rain to get some Indian food for dinner, then go home and luxuriate on my new silk cushions with a cup of jasmine tea and think about how bohemian I am.