[Phnom Penh, 11/22/23] With my visa expiring, I must again leave Vung Tau. Next week, I’ll take a 4:30AM mini bus to Saigon, then walk several blocks to board a 7:30 bus to Phnom Penh. In Bavet 2 1/2 hours later, everyone will have lunch, then at 1:30PM, I’ll see, with relief and happiness, the magnificent Art Deco dome of Jean Debois’
Without cat in a basket, wrong turn, grandma's bad memory, her lying, her kicking feet that leads to cat landing on driver and, most improbable of all, the nearby presence of cold blooded killers, they would not have been murdered. It's only natural to conclude such a sequence can only occur in fiction, but when your luck runs out in real life, each detail of your suddenly horrible plot may feel as calculated or contrived, as if there's a host of decisions made against you, for others' entertainment. Until that happens, you can sit back to enjoy misfortunes not your own. It's a delicious tale.
"seeing peasants having such a great time is revolting to global deciders, so they're promising to tear down airports, ban flights, penalize driving, and corral those not massacred by Jewjab Genocide or WWIII" - there is profound truth in this hilarious sentence: the global deciders really do hate seeing happy peasants, and we are being murdered, en masse, right in front of our eyeballs - yet so few people even NOTICE - thanks again Linh, for the laughs
That liberty ship made it a long time. Those were built in a crash program near the beginning of WWII. I've read that they were built so hastily that some of them actually broke in two while operating. Early in my Navy service, I served on two destroyers in 1973. One of them was an old tin can that was commissioned in 1949, and it was definitely showing its age already--everything looked old, lots of problems always needing attention, one time we even mysteriously sprung a leak one night next to the pier. The decrepitude was doubly obvious to me because I had reported there from another destroyer that was less than 2 years old.
That woman in your photo playing badminton looks like she's a fanatic. Two skinned knees!
Such a poignant essay, Mr. Dinh. Vung Tau appears much changed in your current photographs from the picture you paint in your essay of the place during the "Vietnam War." (I believe the Vietnamese call it the "American War"?)
I guess War is Good for Business (or so it's been said) for the American Military-Industrial complex but not so good for the people suffering under the bombs and invasions.
I have been considering a long visit to Vietnam and perhaps a move there. The beaches of Da Nang are beautiful now decades after the blood has been washed clean. But I keep wondering to myself, "How can the people ever completely forgive us Americans?" Although I was a generation too young to have been a soldier. I believe -- even if only in my morbid imagination -- that eyes would be drilling into my back, "You lousy Americans, why don't you go home and leave us in peace. For once."
Am I wrong to think that?
Now that I think of it, I am reminded of what a Palestinian friend once said to me many years ago, "We do not hate the American people, they are generally good-hearted. We hate your leaders who devise these things [wars]."
Hi Linh. That first picture breaks my heart. The only consolation is that he wouldn't have a clue what it means. On the other hand, the last few pictures fill my heart with joy.
I just tried to order the first of your books, which I've had in in for a while, having finally gotten ahead of fines and other costs which keep me poor and found to my initial dismay, then joy actually, that each of the 3 which most interested me at this time, were sold out! Congratulations on that. I sincerely hope this is the breakthrough time for you brother. I'm just starting to put my own lifelong desire to be a struggling writer into action and this fact alone is encouraging. I'm still not sure people, who tend to think I talk to much as a rule, will be interested but my ambitions are small in this regard. I figured if someone like you was struggling to gain the readership you deserve, what chance for me? So I'm pleased for you on several fronts, not least of these my own hope that there are still people who read books. How long before Amazon will have yours back in stock?
Good to read your latest Linh. Have a good journey to PP and back. I was in Can Tho last week for an event with my daughter's school and I'm pleased to remote that the weather is Vung Tau is so much more pleasant. We spent the weekend at the Can Tho campus of the school watching high school students show off their English skills and hanging out together with their devices. We ate well - school cafeteria food went down well and there was an outdoor gala dinner in the school courtyard for the prizes being awarded. The 6 hour bus ride wasn't too bad - mostly expressways. Take care and don't forget to mention where you are writing from lately so I can find you!
Hi everyone,
Some more thougths about the O'Connor story:
Without cat in a basket, wrong turn, grandma's bad memory, her lying, her kicking feet that leads to cat landing on driver and, most improbable of all, the nearby presence of cold blooded killers, they would not have been murdered. It's only natural to conclude such a sequence can only occur in fiction, but when your luck runs out in real life, each detail of your suddenly horrible plot may feel as calculated or contrived, as if there's a host of decisions made against you, for others' entertainment. Until that happens, you can sit back to enjoy misfortunes not your own. It's a delicious tale.
Linh
"seeing peasants having such a great time is revolting to global deciders, so they're promising to tear down airports, ban flights, penalize driving, and corral those not massacred by Jewjab Genocide or WWIII" - there is profound truth in this hilarious sentence: the global deciders really do hate seeing happy peasants, and we are being murdered, en masse, right in front of our eyeballs - yet so few people even NOTICE - thanks again Linh, for the laughs
Thank you, Linh, for all your accounts. Always interesting. I'm always happy when I see one has been posted in my email page.
That liberty ship made it a long time. Those were built in a crash program near the beginning of WWII. I've read that they were built so hastily that some of them actually broke in two while operating. Early in my Navy service, I served on two destroyers in 1973. One of them was an old tin can that was commissioned in 1949, and it was definitely showing its age already--everything looked old, lots of problems always needing attention, one time we even mysteriously sprung a leak one night next to the pier. The decrepitude was doubly obvious to me because I had reported there from another destroyer that was less than 2 years old.
That woman in your photo playing badminton looks like she's a fanatic. Two skinned knees!
Such a poignant essay, Mr. Dinh. Vung Tau appears much changed in your current photographs from the picture you paint in your essay of the place during the "Vietnam War." (I believe the Vietnamese call it the "American War"?)
I guess War is Good for Business (or so it's been said) for the American Military-Industrial complex but not so good for the people suffering under the bombs and invasions.
I have been considering a long visit to Vietnam and perhaps a move there. The beaches of Da Nang are beautiful now decades after the blood has been washed clean. But I keep wondering to myself, "How can the people ever completely forgive us Americans?" Although I was a generation too young to have been a soldier. I believe -- even if only in my morbid imagination -- that eyes would be drilling into my back, "You lousy Americans, why don't you go home and leave us in peace. For once."
Am I wrong to think that?
Now that I think of it, I am reminded of what a Palestinian friend once said to me many years ago, "We do not hate the American people, they are generally good-hearted. We hate your leaders who devise these things [wars]."
' but its reverent and loving cargo also shows we’re not just beasts.'
Who said we were?
Is this the opposite of religion, a cult of downgrading!
g.
Hi Linh. That first picture breaks my heart. The only consolation is that he wouldn't have a clue what it means. On the other hand, the last few pictures fill my heart with joy.
I just tried to order the first of your books, which I've had in in for a while, having finally gotten ahead of fines and other costs which keep me poor and found to my initial dismay, then joy actually, that each of the 3 which most interested me at this time, were sold out! Congratulations on that. I sincerely hope this is the breakthrough time for you brother. I'm just starting to put my own lifelong desire to be a struggling writer into action and this fact alone is encouraging. I'm still not sure people, who tend to think I talk to much as a rule, will be interested but my ambitions are small in this regard. I figured if someone like you was struggling to gain the readership you deserve, what chance for me? So I'm pleased for you on several fronts, not least of these my own hope that there are still people who read books. How long before Amazon will have yours back in stock?
Good to read your latest Linh. Have a good journey to PP and back. I was in Can Tho last week for an event with my daughter's school and I'm pleased to remote that the weather is Vung Tau is so much more pleasant. We spent the weekend at the Can Tho campus of the school watching high school students show off their English skills and hanging out together with their devices. We ate well - school cafeteria food went down well and there was an outdoor gala dinner in the school courtyard for the prizes being awarded. The 6 hour bus ride wasn't too bad - mostly expressways. Take care and don't forget to mention where you are writing from lately so I can find you!