What Glitters from Afar

[Ha Tien, 1/9/25]

In Kep, I dropped my glasses on the street, but didn’t realize it until blocks later. Wandering around for 20 minutes, I found them lying on dry leaves. Yesterday in Hà Tiên, I forgot my laptop at the bank. Mental mistakes have become more frequent. Soon, I’ll have to grab anyone to ask, “Where am I, sir? Is Los Angeles or Hawaii still burning? Has the USA elected an openly LGBTQ president of color? Is there anyone left in New York City? Is Germany in the Stone Age?”

“Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,” answers the annoyed stranger as he rushes away.

It’s 5:21AM. From Phố Huế Café, I can hear the news from speakers attached to a streetlamp. They starts blaring around 4:30, with different exercises included. A female voice urges citizens to bend this or touch that, then, “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8!” Now, there’s a brief duet expressing love for the homeland. I’m surprised to find such sonic nuisance in this city of 90,000. It’s common in villages. In 2020 in Tà Hừa (pop. 3,000) or a nearby village, an Argentinian said to me, “It must be awful to live right there!” Meaning near public speakers. I introduced him to thuốc lào. It’s a marvelous high, and also dirt cheap, at just 43 cents for a packet. In Chennai, I had a hotel room across the street from an obnoxious mosque. Recorded prayer calls screaming before sunrise chased me to another one-star suite.

7:07AM and I’m in my second café, SSam. When not in school, teens flood into here to flirt, gossip, talk older or play cards. There’s a new trend for girls to call each other “má” [“mom”]. “That’s enough, mom” basically means, “Shut the hell up.” Across the street is Lemon Pizza. Despite its name, the advertised toppings are sausage, beef, seafood, mushroom, bell pepper and cheese. At $1.14 a slice, it might just be edible. I also saw pizza stands in Kep. Like hamburger and fried chicken, pizza has become a universal food, especially for kids.

Yesterday in SSam, I heard Đen Vâu rap:

Lunging into life to earn rice, to find opportunities
The cities all aglitter, but desolate at night
Like all other kids, I wanted to go far away
Home was still peacefully there, waiting for wayward children
Having stepped outside, I learnt home is still best

Lao vào đời mà kiếm cơm, lao vào đời tìm cơ hội
Những thành thị thường lấp lánh, còn đêm thành thị thường trơ trọi
Như mọi đứa trẻ khác, lớn lên muốn đi xa hoài
Nhà thì vẫn ở yên đó, đợi những đứa con đang ra ngoài
Bước ra ngoài mới biết, không ở đâu bằng ở nhà

Đen Vâu has also rapped about how much he loved his mom. It’s hip hop with Vietnamese characteristics.

My driver into town was Chinese. I’m in a $10 room in a Chinese owned hotel, Hưng Chiêu Phát. At the reception desk, the listed price was $23.65, but my driver stated, “He only needs a room for one person,” so it’s reduced by half. I knocked it down further by firmly asking with a friendly face, “How much for four nights?” There are way too many hotels here, so $10 is about right. My room is a bit run down. Since its window faces a wall one yard away, with garbage in between, I keep my curtain closed. There are worse crises in life than having your exhibitionism unjustly thwarted. In hell, you can pull your pants down all day long. There’s air conditioning which I don’t really need and a TV I don’t watch. There’s a fridge but no electric kettle. The rusty shower head soon broke, but that’s fine. My water pressure has improved. There’s hot water.