Vietnam three

had dinner last night with a canadian couple in their sixties enroute to malaysia and an italian named salvatore who lives in the canary islands. people just sort of sit with you at restaurants which is amazing considering the fact that for the most part i wander this earth by my lonesome. we had a variatiom of vietnamese curries as we watched the hustle and bustle of the lady house across the street. very entertaining. headed out to phu quoc island tonight on an overnight bus/ferry so decided to just cruise around the city today and take it all in. the painting reproductions here are amazing, you can buy a van gogh for about fifty bucks. if hong kong is one of the cleanest cities i have ever been to, ho chi minh is surely one of the dirtiest. with all of the moto bikes and people you almost feel like you are constantly mowing a lawn of trash. the sound of horns, moto-bike engines. the smell of gasoline and stir fry. it will be nice to head to the beach for a while.

i was sitting in the park today reading when i was suddenly punched by a very small hand. i moved my book from my face to find two of the cutest faces i have ever seen sticking their tongues out at me. the little boy, tong 6 years old and the little girl, doh 4. they just kept hanging around me for about twenty minutes talking about all kinds of things. the little girl's english was amazing. their mom had died and their dad was working all day so they just cruise around selling gum to people just like me. doh explained the whole routine: "we buy one pack and sell it, then we buy two packs and sell it, then we buy four packs and so on...." i told her she was very smart and she said "i know little white boy." i headed for a bite and they followed me, so i asked them if they wanted some lunch and of course they did not turn me down. so there we sat eating our cheeseburgers, fries, and coca colas on the patio of a restaurant right in the middle of backpacker's alley in ho chi minh. everyone was staring at us and i felt a little bit weird at first but i truly cannot recall the last time i cared what anyone thought about me. after lunch doh and tong rolled around with me showing me where to buy the little things that i needed, like dental floss. they even bargained prices down for me which was hilarious. i felt like i had two little personal assistants all day. i was having a hard time parting with my two new friends. it is really hard to be in a very poor country and see these amazing little souls wandering the streets by themselves but this is the only life they know and who's to say that they aren't getting more out of their lifestyle then two little spoiled brat kids from united states are sitting inside all day playing video games. i can honestly say that these were very happy kids. in the end, i decided the best thing i could do for them was to put shoes on their little bare feet. so we went to the market, picked out some kicks and i watched the two biggest smiles in the whole world unravel in front of me. it is amazing what six bucks can do besides buying a mediocre sandwich. maybe some would disagree with what i did but i know that these kids will not be cutting their feet tonight and for the rest of their lives they will remember me just like i will remember them. maybe just a drop in a very large ocean but one that will swim forever...