I have written before on the little battle against the rats who frolic in the garden here and deposit their little rat turds on the doorstep . When I go out to the garden in the morning I gingerly step over them and later Tham or Na come out with the broom and sweep up the turds and sweep the yard. When I sit sipping coffee in the garden I can look across the laneway at the house opposite where an old cement bag sits and where the neighbours deposit their food scraps in an old cement bag; big bins are rare here and very little garbage collection is done in the small lanes where I live. A few days ago while sitting and sipping coffee with Hai I noticed a rat climb into the cement bag and pointed it out to Hai. He jumped to his feet and took off out the side gate and grabbed the bag and folded it up. Good work Hai I thought, but then he jumped on the bag a few times and came back. Good, one dead rat. But then I noticed some movement in the bag and Hai was up again and soon jumping on the bag again but this time he gave it a few kicks as well. No more movement in the bag and in a few days an unpleasant surprise to the neighbours.
For the next few days I kept an eye on the bag to see what would happen and in a day or so someone had unflattened the bag and was depositing scraps in it again. The next time I saw the bag it was being held at arms length by the neighbour woman as she rode on her scooter with a sour look on her face. She will be going to track down the municipal garbage truck which plies the main streets I thought, then a day later I see the bag back in its position, unflattened and open for more scraps.
This morning I posted a picture on Facebook of a small beast of the bovine species being barbecued at a shop on the street where we have breakfast. One of the comments I got was "Horrible" which made me think. When that person has roast lamb or a pork chop do they look at it and think "horrible"? If there is one thing you can learn in this country it is to look at the death of animals in the face. You might not like it but it's theVietnamese way of life and no amount of "horrible" or Oh my gods is going to change it. Chickens cooped up in cages on the back of scooters on their way to death at a restaurant for tonights dinner, or pork and beef being barbecued on the street, it's enough to turn you Vegan, and I fully understand peoples revulsion to the slaughter of animals but at the moment I'm a meat eater.
Na has gone to An Khe to see her sick grandfather but before she arrived there he had died. A smoker all his life he died of lung cancer at the untimely age of 97, a life cut short. He lived in a small remote village near An Khe and was born C1922 in the French colonial era and when he was 17 the Japanese invaded the country.
At the age of 32 he would have heard of the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu and no doubt their disaster at Mang Yang Pass near An Khe. Then of course he lived through the American War. I tried to find out if he fought for the Viet Minh or the Viet Cong but I was met with incomprehension. He was a farmer My Le said. What stories he could have told if anyone asked and I suppose his immediate family would have some, I will ask Na when she returns. At times I have asked My Le about her family history but beyond two generations its a blank, perhaps because families have been fractured irreparably by wars or perhaps they just want to live in the present and look to the future rather than dwell on the past as I and other westerners tend to do. For example I recently wrote a description of buildings in Vincent street Daylesford in the 1860s for a project someone is engaged in taking visitors for walks along the main street. Archived records we take for granted are apparently unknown here.
So here I am in Hoi An, the best preserved old town in Vietnam trying to live in the minute and constantly referring to the past.
Kim & Riley
2019-04-14
The hardcore, radical vegans who have been going off in Oz at the moment would be very busy in Vietnam!
woodytel
2019-04-15
that bovine on a spit reminds me of a scene in the Restaurant at the End of the Universe where the talking pig was being served up on a platter and was giving recommendations to the diners on his best portions for consumption
enos
2019-04-15
I went back to that restaurant the same night to see what was on the menu. Hai did the ordering and we had very rare beef wrapped in rice paper with green leafy vegetables. The second course was brains. Yes the brains of the bovine on the spit.
Louis
2019-04-15
If you can see the animal had legs it's "horrible" but if you can't then that's just damn tasty.
Tom
2019-04-16
Love the orchards.. Don't know about animal on spit.. Looks like a dog to me.. Lol