Letters from Vietnam 66

21 February 2006 – 10:34

Getting rid of bad luck by staying away from the road sign can sometimes show itself as a surprise! When we returned to the hotel I found a photocopy magazine beside the reception desk. There was a black-white drawing which depicts a man with beard and mustache. It looked like my little literary magazine, Yaprak, which survived only seven issues in Thailand. However, this looked a unique issue. There was no date on it, no issue number, no name other than Duy Viet. Then it might be misleading to call it a magazine. It can be called a single work of art in different languages, a booklet. At the bottom of the cover, it says “Duy Viet – Dalat – Vietnam”. I opened the cover and my eyes started to flash with my discovery. It was one poem in twenty two different languages. Of course my first reaction was to look for if there is Turkish or Thai. However I could not find either of them. There were English, Vietnamese, Hindi, Dutch, French, Polish, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Korean and many more languages I can not recognize. There were also calligraphic writings inside. The style reminded me Chinese calligraphy but this was being done with Latin alphabet. It was hard to read because either I am not used to it or the quality of the photocopy was not good enough to convey the message of the artist. Here is the English version of the only poem in the booklet:

THERE WAS UNIVERSAL LOVE LEFT IN LIFE

In the world
Impartiality opens every heart
The West’s soul is voluntarily
permeating the East’s dream unity
Heart by heart
never wearisome of being together
How wonderful and mysterious
The human life
similarly
The sun light
the flower blossom
Make every effort
for mankind’s happiness
and independence

I am not an expert in poetry and especially if it comes to a poem written in a foreign language my skills to understand the poet’s intention becomes almost zero. I am not sure what language this poem was written originally. It might have been a translation from Vietnamese, French or Chinese. It might sound better in its original language and any judgment on the translation might bring a wrong conclusion.

After looking at the all pages the booklet, I asked Mr. Duc about where and how he got it. He said the writer of the booklet is a famous poet and calligrapher living in Dalat. I asked him if it is possible to meet him. Mr. Duc said, the poet has a café near the lake and he is usually welcome to all visitors. He showed me the place of the café on the map. I decided to go to visit him before getting back to Ho Chi Minh City.

Second day our vacation was very simple. I woke up at 6 am for a morning run. It was a cold and even icy morning. I was not ready for such a cold weather and I felt the coldness at my back while running. I was surprised when I saw the little icy water paddies beside the pavement or the grasses. I did one complete turn around the lake (approximately 5 km) and returned to hotel before getting cold. After taking a hot shower and having a nice breakfast, we rented a motorbike from the hotel and traveled around the city, mountains and other places almost all morning. We went to a place called “Valley of Love”. It was a park and like everywhere it was full of Vietnamese families who came to take photos under the trees, in front of the flowers, on the mini-China Wall and beside the cages of strange animals.

We walked through the park and took photos of each other as usual. There was dragon spreading water to a large pool and a few tea gardens with so many beautiful flowers. There was also a little waterfall for people to get in front of it and take photos. Because it was a high point, the view was beautiful and reminded me my village. There were mountains and Vietnamese people seem to enjoy the nice breeze coming from the high heels. As I have observed, Vietnamese people like romantic scenes and romantic songs. Everywhere I have been, they were playing songs like My Heart Will Go On, Unbreak My Heart or Everything I Do etc…

While walking beside the little China Wall, I saw a large banner saying “Variety Creature Strange”. I looked at the sign and tried to understand what it means. I have concluded that it can be “Various Strange Creatures”.



We bought tickets to see these strange animals. It did not take long to see what they mean by ‘strange’. A dog with three legs, a chicken with four legs, a pig with five legs, a snake with two heads etc… The animals born with natural deformities are exhibited to the people to make them either scared or surprised. It was the miserable conditions of animals which is called ‘strange’ and was center of attention. I first thought we are the strange ones who think these animals are strange but then I thought again. These animals would not have survived outside and this is a way to feed them and let them live. Although they were in cages and looked unhappy, I was sure that they were satisfied with the food they get and the attention people show. When I saw the dog with three legs, I saw the sadness in his eyes. A young girl gave him some chips and the dog seemed happy with the affection shown to him. On the little China Wall, Vietnamese young people were dressing up in old fashion clothes and taking photos. We walked up to one of the tea gardens to have some cold drinks. Then we left for another place.

Driving motorbike in an unknown place is hard. People usually do not speak English and it is difficult to communicate with people by gestures, smiles and maps. We went to a small Chinese temple which we found accidentally. A little temple –I guess it has something related with Confucius- taken care by a family. When we arrived there, father of the family offered us tea and watermelon seeds –very common junk food in Vietnam- . I looked at the floor and saw all the floor was covered by the peels of watermelon seeds. Two young boys were constantly eating seeds and when they finish the ones in their hands, they were getting more from the large bowl which was full. J went inside the temple and made a wish, lit a candle. She also reminded me the envelopes given to us by the bus company for Tet. We both had the envelopes in our bags and the banknotes were still inside. We handed them to two young boys to show our appreciation for their generous welcome. They thanked us and we tried to say “Happy New Year“ in Vietnamese. Then we left the temple for another flower park. We bought seeds of orchids and another flower there. Then we have returned to hotel before it becomes too hot. I spent all afternoon in the hotel room, reading and sleeping. In the evening, we went out to benefit from the cool air. We rented a bicycle for two riders and drove it around the lake. We bought some souvenirs for the friends in Ho Chi Minh City. Before getting back to hotel we booked a “Biking and Hiking” trip to Lang Bian Mountain. I hesitated first because I was not sure if J could do it. She never exercises and probably her physical strength was not good enough to ride a bicycle for 5 km (some parts are very steep uphill) and climb a mountain of 2160 m height. But still there was nothing to lose other than a few dollars and this was the only way to learn if she could do it or not. We also met with Josh who lives at the guesthouse of the travel company. He said “It is very easy to take the trip to Lang Bian.” I trusted him and bought two tickets for the hiking and biking journey. Then we returned to the hotel room.

Monday was waiting for us as a tough day.