our last day in vietnam together. i had been away from mom for 3 days in cambodia. it was refreshing but i missed being with mom. so i took an earlier flight to ho chi minh city to meet up with mom and my cousin dong's house. mom was glad to see me as she was taking her usual post-lunch afternoon nap. i woke her to go explore saigon to try to find the house that i was raised in....the one we left before the fall of saigon. mom was game. we got some lunch and jumped in a metered cab ...on a mission. mom remembered the exact street address. we wiggle through a million motos (that rule the roads) to find ourselves in front of a line of shoe stores open to the street. mom ... read more

so hanoi was a fun city to do in a day. i live in nyc...it was like visiting another city but pretty fun to be a part of the majority this time. also imagine all the nyc subway riders on motos (motor bikes). they don't have much of a public transportation system so most of them travel by moto! and no joke...it's ridiculous! one day i tried to cross the street at 5pm (rush hour) and looked in just one direction and could not find a gap for at least 5 minutes. i soon found out from my cousin nguyen to "not be afraid." just start walking at the cross walk. walk slowly. do NOT stop. they will slow down for you. they expect you to keep walking so they will slow down. the next time ... read more

now it continues to unfold. my family lineage. the tomb of my ancestors. my mother's mother's family temple. these are my roots! we arrived in hue and checked in for a solid night's sleep. the next morning we would hired a car to visit my great grandfather's uncle's tomb. i had no idea what was in store. i just knew we were to leave at 7am. yikes. the next morning 7am, bright and early, aunt huong, uncle vinh, + mom were ready to go. remember they are in their 60's! i guess they wake up early at that age right? dressed and ready to go. we drove into the country. the rice fields were spotted with tombstones made of 10 feet wide sandstone lotus flowers with a hump of grass inside each of them. that was ... read more

(part two, feb 21st) ....we then continued down the road to find the family that was maintaining the tomb. wow! another epic experience!! we pulled into (follow me here) my mother's cousin's house. her grandfather's brother's son's house. the entire family was there!! it just happened to be the anniversary of the cousin's mother's death. the older relatives were dressed in ceremonial gowns and head wraps. they were honoring her with a huge feast, lit incense and bowing and prayers and burning of money. they burn (fake) paper money, furniture, and clothing. the buddhists of this province believe that there are two worlds that coexist. this living world and the after world. when one dies, she passes into the after world but needs all the comforts that she had from the living world. so the survivors ... read more

so we're driving along the road from hoi an to hue. my uncle in the front seat, mom, aunt huong and me jammed in the back seat of a tiny car...but hey! who's complaining. i'm not on the open tour bus right? so i ask mom if she can ask the driver if we can stop in danang on the way to hue. the driver says no...it's 2 km off the road. i ask mom to re-translate and "ask politely again" that i am strongly suggesting or actually requesting or actually saying that we must stop in danang on the way to hue. my goodness....did he not understand that i'm in vietnam and i MUST go to china beach, danang where the wave in apocolypse now was apparently located + a short clip from the recent ... read more