Foreign Bombs, Fashion, Tanks and Music

[Sóc Trăng, 5/15/25]

Again, I’m sitting in Café Kiều. Half a mile away is the city’s museum. In its courtyard is an American tank, an American armored vehicle and two bombs. There’s also a French era statue torn down in 1945. It depicts a French officer and a Vietnamese soldier. Taller by nearly a head and with an impressive mustache, the white man appears almost fatherlike to his colonized yellow man. Together, they lie on their backs.

Right across the street is Nem Fashion, a Vietnamese chain selling “high class” clothing. Its “CHIC HOURS” poster shows a white woman in an indigo dress. No florid pyjama with the Chanel logo all over for this dreamy doll. Despite her soft pink complexion, her neck, limbs and trunk are way too slender. She’s like a Katherine Hepburn photoshopped to appear super Oriental, but only from the neck down. Check out this caption: