Watching the moon
at midnight,
solitary, mid-sky,
I knew myself completely,
no part left out.
Izumi Shikibu Watching the Moon
I’m lucky enough to have access to a rooftop balcony. Hot and sunny during the day, it’s a cool place just to sit and think in the evening. To watch the earth-lit moon with it’s bright crescent slowly sinking over the mountain is precious.
I can’t say what made me fall in love with Vietnam – that a woman’s voice can drug you; that everything is so intense. The colours, the taste, even the rain. Nothing like the filthy rain in London.
They say whatever you’re looking for, you will find here. They say you come to Vietnam and you understand a lot in a few minutes, but the rest has got to be lived.
The smell: that’s the first thing that hits you, promising everything in exchange for your soul. And the heat. Your shirt is straightaway a rag. You can hardly remember your name, or what you came to escape from.
But at night, there’s a breeze. The river is beautiful. You could be forgiven for thinking there was no war; that the gunshots were fireworks; that only pleasure matters. A pipe of opium, or the touch of a girl who might tell you she loves you. And then, something happens, as you knew it would. And nothing can ever be the same again.Michael Caine’s opening lines in ‘The Quiet American’.
I’ve been looking through my Vietnam photos – and it struck me how much Vietnam has changed since I took this one in Chau Doc in 2007. Relentless development: more roads, more traffic, more buildings……and for me anyway, more nostalgia.
..and having writ, moves on.”
And so much has happened, yet so little has changed.
I just feel it’s time to start to post here again…strange energies, 2012 and all that.
This is a test to check if I’ve got the links with Facebook & Twitter sorted, and to check-in again.
I’m still in Vietnam, very happy in Vung Tau.
More later.
Wide awake on the edge of the world 