2 minute read
VIETNAM
On the back streets and lanes, in villages and obscure kitchens and with a little luck, you might find the soul of a nation.
I’d hired a scooter and missed the bit about how to open the seat to store the helmet. Pulled over to what I thought was a scooter repair place. The sun was directly overhead when I arrived and it was deep in shadow on the inside.
I saw two guys off to one side (lunchbreak?) and with a series of gestures indicated my need. One guy left his lunch and showed me the seat opening trick. I thanked him and he gestured I come sit with them.
They offered me a red bull. I indicated with ‘the shakes’ that it wasn’t for me. They laughed and yelled to a kitchen/office so went over and picked out an iced tea. Spent about 50 mins hanging with these guys (one spoke a little English) and eventually noticed the sun had moved and I could see inside, revealing myriad low thatch-rooved huts under a canopy of trees. Each of maybe ten open-sided huts had about 6 hammocks and table and chairs… I realised I was in some kind of worker’s food and rest stop.
Turned out my two new friends delivered water. Bottled water. Large packs by hand. Hard work. Relentless.
When I went to the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, a memory of Army Green hammocks and incredibly hardworking men and women entered my mind and a thought formed into a revelation. How did the Americans ever think they could beat these people…?
Proud, strong, forgiving, an indomitable spirit, an enduring heart, and always survivors.
Terrence C Serio
