[$15.64 selection of sashimi at Bụi Sushi in Vung Tau, 5/9/22]
Weatherbeaten, shopworn, thirsty and prolifically traumatized, I hauled by beer belly to Cafe Ca Dao this morning only to find its steel gate locked, thus myself barred from happiness, now and forever. So this is it! Nuclear bombs, electromagnetic pulse bursts or cyber attacks have shut down everything. Worse, you’re being gang raped by Joe, Jill and Hunter Biden, with Nancy Pelosi waiting her turn. She wears depleted uranium armored bra and a strapped-on dildo in the shape of Obama. Her lips are gothically pierced. On her spider veined left cheek is an ultra-cool tatt of a transsexual Lucifer. Where is Jesus?
It turned out I was at Ca Dao 15 minutes too early. It was only 6:15AM. Finally, after much teeth gnashing, hair pulling and chest beating on my part, the lady let me in. All was still afloat. I hadn’t exhausted my allotment of pain free moments and repose.
So where are we?
Nearly all the brighter, better educated Vietnamese I’ve met here believe Ukraine is winning the war, Putin is a delusional lunatic and the US is shining brighter than ever as a beacon of freedom and democracy, for, after all, it’s leading the fight against Hitler reincarnated! Like other morons worldwide, smarter Vietnamese see their world according to lying Jews. Needless to say, they’re all Jewjabbed.
Die führer died in 1945. In full Nazi uniform, Putin popped out in 1952. It certainly adds up. Listen, if there’s no life on earth, where can souls be reborn? Like fireflies, we’ll flit through an endless darkness, without ever being seen, heard or touched properly, so in a way, it will be exactly like this life.
Feeling so homeless on earth, some even dream of relocating to places unspeakably inhospitable.
Poet Nguyen Quoc Chanh joined me at Cafe Ca Dao, then we had an excellent lunch at Bụi Sushi. Yes, I’ve been splurging a bit, for time is short. Three months from now, we won’t live in the same world. Moreover, having long conversations while eating and drinking is the ultimate pleasure for Vietnamese. That’s why they do it as much as possible.
[Dong Nai, 4/7/22]
I’ve spoken about how prevalent is “eat” in Vietnamese, how it’s paired with other words to describe numerous activities, from sex to stealing. As for the scarcity of food, there’s the legend of a Nghệ An scribe and his wooden fish. Wandering from village to village to offer his service, this impoverished ông đồ would only buy cooked rice at eateries. To make each meal more palatable, he would stare at a wooden fish as he ate. Even now, a slur against folks from Nghệ An, Ho Chi Minh’s home province, is that they’re wooden fish people.
My late father owned Kobe Sushi in Santa Clara, California. He gambled all his money away on NFL games. We were not close. Even as I struggled to make rent, he said I should learn how to play golf, to move up in the world. My handicap is minus infinity. There were times I visited the San Jose area without seeing my father. Whatever his failures, he never abandoned me and my little brother. My mother did.
Visiting my dying father in the hospital, I took one photo with him, then accidentally deleted it that same day. I’ve stored over 20,000 photos of strangers, plus dogs, cats, horses and fish, but not one of my father.
After Bụi Sushi, we went to VBF Bar, where we were joined by a woman about to leave for Prague, a terrible idea. Born in Vung Tau, she emigrated at age 14, so has Czech citizenship. Three years ago, she returned to Vietnam with a business plan which has amounted to nothing. Cheated by a local partner, she lost lots of money. Let’s call her Felice, after Kafka’s fiancé.
Again, we’re talking about where should one be to weather this coming catastrophe. Forty-years-old, Felice had a perm, wore round glasses and smiled constantly. Her amusement, though, often carried hints of mockery. When airing her opinions, Felice’s speech was rapid, exact and often fierce.
Familiar with my foreboding about the USA and Europe, i.e., the white world, or what’s left of it, Chanh thought I could persuade Felice to stay put. Introducing me, Chanh said I was the author of ten or eleven books in English, and that I had traveled all over, so had a broader perspective than most. Already, it felt like an interview, with me presenting myself to someone who wasn’t just skeptical, but severe. Over two hours or so, we talked, disastrously.
To Felice, Vietnam is visionless, corrupt, polluted and overpopulated, with traffic cops shaking you down and motorists cutting you off. Streets are so chaotic it’s a miracle there aren’t accidents left and right. In Vung Tau, trees are cut down to make room for ugly buildings. Vietnamese schools are mere indoctrination centers to inculcate mindless obedience. There is no free speech. Intellectuals are cowed, thus useless. Unsafe food breeds diseases.
Sweeping her arm, Felice asked me, “Where we are, is this Vietnam?”
“Of course, it’s Vietnam.”
She merely smiled back, with that hint of mockery. Of course, we weren’t in Vietnam, I had to read her mind, for all around us were tall trees shading wide, uncluttered sidewalks, and lawns surrounding handsome buildings built by the French. No winding alleys, loud restaurants or food carts were in sight. We were in the colonial part of town, Felice meant, and not the native quarters, but why settle for an imitation of Europe? Why not just return to magnificent Prague, which she was already familiar with?
Now, Prague’s historical center is as beautiful as it gets, though most of its residential areas, with their socialist tenements, are hideous. Further, Czechs are a handsome, pensive and gentle people, so there is every reason to admire them. Then you have Kundera, Holub and Kafka, though the last wrote in German. I wasn’t trying to persuade Felice to reject her adopted home, however, but merely to avoid being there, or anywhere in Europe, as we head into the second half of 2022.
To Felice, my dark take on what’s coming is absurd. First off, Ukraine will kick Russia’s ass. Europe doesn’t have a refugee problem, for these immigrants, whether from the Middle East, Africa, Ukraine or even Russia, will be integrated to help each European economy. There is no homeless problem, for those who sleep outside are alcoholics or drug addicts who prefer that lifestyle. Antifa misfits who break windows or ruin neighborhoods like Leipzig’s Connewitz are merely exercising their freedom of speech. Graffiti can be painted over or scrubbed. It’s even OK when they physically attack anti-immigration Pegida, for free people must be free to argue.
As for my tales of food production in the West being destroyed, Felice merely smirked. What was I going to rant about next, Jews injecting poison into minds and veins?! Jewjabbed twice, Felice was perfectly fine, she stated.
Send this raving idiot back to Africa, Felice probably thought as we parted. Into the dark, she sped.
Reading your experience with Felice mirrors my own with intelligent friends who I’ve known for 40 years. I guess that everyone has their own reality - but those realities of a particularly delusional variety can only exist when completely supported by outside influences like western MSM. Once outside support of the delusional reality starts to drop away, ‘real’ reality will start to bite. It’s epitomised by Hemingway’s response to someone asking how he went broke. ‘Slowly. Then suddenly’.
Just as you returned home recently, I came back to South Africa a year and a half ago to be with elderly parents as flu hysteria was making international travel virtually impossible. Driving through our closest city, 50 km away, it came home to me how much the urban areas have regressed now that Africans have free reign there. A fine colonial post office – whose gutters have weed trees now growing in them. A 30 storey office building in town, now missing several windows in the upper levels due to fires caused by squatters that now occupy it. The city centre looked dystopian.
Those who’ve lived close by have watched all this happen slowly over the past 28 years and have accepted it as the way it is. Having not seen the gradual decline, I felt almost assaulted. Nevertheless the African-isation of the town is understandable - after all, it’s in Africa.
On the other hand Europe isn’t. However as inflation continues to increase, supply chains fail, jobs become ever more scarce and hunger grows, people like Felicia and my European friends will find that the African-isation of their countries will, as Hemingway found and your photos show, happen slowly. Then suddenly.
Then delusional reality will give way to real reality - which will bite with all the savagery of a hungry pitbull.
Yeah, I know women like the one you interviewed. They are little fascists and in denial about the fact. Covid has really brought out the worst in some people. Especially--and this is a very unpopular sentiment--in the females of the species. At least in the west.
A hermit's life appeals to me more by the week.. One meets true spirits all the time, but fleetingly. They sail in, or drift into my small harbor. All sail or drift away over the horizon again in their lonely ships.
People, people everywhere, but not a mind, nor mouth, nor ears among them.
Simon and Garfunkel's Sounds of Silence plays more profoundly than ever. It's become my life's soundtrack. I don't listen to music much anymore. It plays so much better in my head.
So interesting to me that the same people who are totally on board with the scamdemic/jab project also "stand with Ukraine " like the little flags in my neighborhood say. Speaking of music, John Lennon's Imagine, a song I used to love, sounds like the theme song for the Great Reset!
I love your writings...agree 99% of the time...the vaccines are killer time bombs...Ron Unz actually believes we sent men to the moon...sorry to hear Unz banned you over the vaxxines...I have read Mike Whitney's articles exposing the vax scam on Unz so I'm confused why he picked on you...anyway keep up the great work my friend
That was really enjoyable. I first thought the last photo was fat Felice in the French concession in front of VBF bar that looks like the walls in East Germany--until I read IT WAS EAST GERMANY! 😱😄
"Nearly all the brighter, better educated Vietnamese I’ve met here believe Ukraine is winning the war, Putin is a delusional lunatic and the US is shining brighter than ever as a beacon of freedom and democracy, for, after all, it’s leading the fight against Hitler reincarnated!"
This seems like a strange attitude considering the substantial support the USSR gave to Vietnam in its war with the USA. Or don't Vietnamese people like being sovereign anymore?
I know, communism... but is it really worse than what came before, or have people simply forgotten?
What's up with all the graffiti in Germany? Yeah, I know it's Antifa and for them it's like a religion. All Antifa haunts are covered in graffiti, they love it like a pig loves mud. But it's not just "anti-nazi" stuff by Antifa. There's also football stuff, and maybe some gangs' stuff. But I don't think it's mostly migrants. Anyway, they could clean it up at least.
Enjoyed the music shared in the comments. Got introduced to some new and fascinating stuff...and new versions of classic familiar stuff. All fitting for the current zeitgeist...
Never one to openly cry much--even when broadsided with profoundly moving music and lyrics. However, since we're on the subject of decline and a few of us are sharing related music, here's a song that has haunted me since being introduced to it in 2020, when it came out:
The imagery evokes nostalgia and a tragic sense of loss. We can't go home--and THAT gets the involuntary hot, fat tears going in my case, every time...
The opening suggests a trolling, a violent revelation of themes to raise up intellectual disgust in someone easily triggered, and the ending gives a model for someone who precisely becomes triggered by disgust enough to require an entire worldview, a fantasy life in faraway home, just to cope with the ick all around her.
The squishy middle is the inside story, the inside story of humiliations, pains, frustrations, sweat and drunk piss, human togetherness in the midst of their own damned filth. The interesting twist: do we read these postcards because we too need our wooden fish? I mean, we idiots.
I know people like her in the Czech Republic and I don't see them ever integrated. Her superiority complex works against her in dealing with local Vietnamese partner.
From what I hear, Prague has become just as hollow, soulless, and empty as the US, UK, etc. - I'd have to agree with her about the ugly buildings though . .
Hi everyone,
My interview with Kevin Barrett is now at Unz:
https://www.unz.com/audio/kbarrett_linh-dinh-on-globetrotting-through-the-scamdemic/
Linh
Hi Linh
Reading your experience with Felice mirrors my own with intelligent friends who I’ve known for 40 years. I guess that everyone has their own reality - but those realities of a particularly delusional variety can only exist when completely supported by outside influences like western MSM. Once outside support of the delusional reality starts to drop away, ‘real’ reality will start to bite. It’s epitomised by Hemingway’s response to someone asking how he went broke. ‘Slowly. Then suddenly’.
Just as you returned home recently, I came back to South Africa a year and a half ago to be with elderly parents as flu hysteria was making international travel virtually impossible. Driving through our closest city, 50 km away, it came home to me how much the urban areas have regressed now that Africans have free reign there. A fine colonial post office – whose gutters have weed trees now growing in them. A 30 storey office building in town, now missing several windows in the upper levels due to fires caused by squatters that now occupy it. The city centre looked dystopian.
Those who’ve lived close by have watched all this happen slowly over the past 28 years and have accepted it as the way it is. Having not seen the gradual decline, I felt almost assaulted. Nevertheless the African-isation of the town is understandable - after all, it’s in Africa.
On the other hand Europe isn’t. However as inflation continues to increase, supply chains fail, jobs become ever more scarce and hunger grows, people like Felicia and my European friends will find that the African-isation of their countries will, as Hemingway found and your photos show, happen slowly. Then suddenly.
Then delusional reality will give way to real reality - which will bite with all the savagery of a hungry pitbull.
Yeah, I know women like the one you interviewed. They are little fascists and in denial about the fact. Covid has really brought out the worst in some people. Especially--and this is a very unpopular sentiment--in the females of the species. At least in the west.
A hermit's life appeals to me more by the week.. One meets true spirits all the time, but fleetingly. They sail in, or drift into my small harbor. All sail or drift away over the horizon again in their lonely ships.
People, people everywhere, but not a mind, nor mouth, nor ears among them.
Simon and Garfunkel's Sounds of Silence plays more profoundly than ever. It's become my life's soundtrack. I don't listen to music much anymore. It plays so much better in my head.
So interesting to me that the same people who are totally on board with the scamdemic/jab project also "stand with Ukraine " like the little flags in my neighborhood say. Speaking of music, John Lennon's Imagine, a song I used to love, sounds like the theme song for the Great Reset!
I love your writings...agree 99% of the time...the vaccines are killer time bombs...Ron Unz actually believes we sent men to the moon...sorry to hear Unz banned you over the vaxxines...I have read Mike Whitney's articles exposing the vax scam on Unz so I'm confused why he picked on you...anyway keep up the great work my friend
That was really enjoyable. I first thought the last photo was fat Felice in the French concession in front of VBF bar that looks like the walls in East Germany--until I read IT WAS EAST GERMANY! 😱😄
"Nearly all the brighter, better educated Vietnamese I’ve met here believe Ukraine is winning the war, Putin is a delusional lunatic and the US is shining brighter than ever as a beacon of freedom and democracy, for, after all, it’s leading the fight against Hitler reincarnated!"
This seems like a strange attitude considering the substantial support the USSR gave to Vietnam in its war with the USA. Or don't Vietnamese people like being sovereign anymore?
I know, communism... but is it really worse than what came before, or have people simply forgotten?
What's up with all the graffiti in Germany? Yeah, I know it's Antifa and for them it's like a religion. All Antifa haunts are covered in graffiti, they love it like a pig loves mud. But it's not just "anti-nazi" stuff by Antifa. There's also football stuff, and maybe some gangs' stuff. But I don't think it's mostly migrants. Anyway, they could clean it up at least.
“it’s leading the fight against Hitler reincarnated!"
Godwin’s law strikes again. I got the same thing from a tv watching friend just the other day. Fuck hope!
Heavy offerings for heavy times here...
Enjoyed the music shared in the comments. Got introduced to some new and fascinating stuff...and new versions of classic familiar stuff. All fitting for the current zeitgeist...
Never one to openly cry much--even when broadsided with profoundly moving music and lyrics. However, since we're on the subject of decline and a few of us are sharing related music, here's a song that has haunted me since being introduced to it in 2020, when it came out:
https://youtu.be/hAocQGubZgY
The imagery evokes nostalgia and a tragic sense of loss. We can't go home--and THAT gets the involuntary hot, fat tears going in my case, every time...
Love, Cindy
Well Linh.....the world just ended.
My beloved Phoenix Suns collapsed in epic fashion, getting crushed by Superstar Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavs in game 7 on the Suns home court.
Looks like Vietnam has dropped all Covid related entry restrictions!
https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/vietnam-stops-covid-testing-for-all-arrivals-4463219.html
The opening suggests a trolling, a violent revelation of themes to raise up intellectual disgust in someone easily triggered, and the ending gives a model for someone who precisely becomes triggered by disgust enough to require an entire worldview, a fantasy life in faraway home, just to cope with the ick all around her.
The squishy middle is the inside story, the inside story of humiliations, pains, frustrations, sweat and drunk piss, human togetherness in the midst of their own damned filth. The interesting twist: do we read these postcards because we too need our wooden fish? I mean, we idiots.
I know people like her in the Czech Republic and I don't see them ever integrated. Her superiority complex works against her in dealing with local Vietnamese partner.
From what I hear, Prague has become just as hollow, soulless, and empty as the US, UK, etc. - I'd have to agree with her about the ugly buildings though . .
https://www.flickr.com/photos/15845742@N03/52046716626/in/dateposted/
In other news, 2 years later the WHO tells us that "Sweden was right about (not having) lockdowns". https://contrarium.substack.com/p/sweden-was-right-about-lockdowns
There are plenty of fish . . .
Linh
You giving it 3 months ? Any idea what the tipping point will be ?
Maybe I'll get my tax return before then, it's stuck in bureaucratic hell. Sounds like I'll need it.
Bill