simultaneous correct correctness

things seem to be going backwards...
it's so slow in laos that is ...
so relaxed... time works
on completely different principles
or maybe not at all
things seem to be going backwards
then as i neer the vietnamese border
in the bus driving... slowly up the hills
and slowly down the hills
honking to warn any other slow
things on the road .. in the way
on the trail .. honking to warn
slowly .. i can feel things pick up
the wind starts to blow in the trees
but not the kind of wind that warns
of heavy 'stop-everthing' lao rain
that keeps you inside .. just staring
out of your hut ... slowly letting
another cigarette burn away between your
fingers.. and the smoke rise .. curling
into the straw roof of your open straw hut
but a busy wind... warning of movement
like a motorcycle that screams past your
back .. out of nowhere .. as you cross the
street ... we stop at the border and get
out of the bus.. this is the end...
the end of laos... "vietnam ova der"
the driver points and laughs maniacally..
as he does after everything he says..
i check out of laos ... my papers...
my pasport.. everthing moves slowly..
and officially... i lift my pack and
carry it the 5 minute walk over to
the vietnamese border... on the way
i see trucks unloading all manner
of appliance and box of commercial good
where masses of thin dirty lao men
take the up a hill ... one carrying a
bar fridge... another carrying a range hood..
but i walk down the street .. i arrive
and put the bribe in my passport...
i get my stamps and such and clear
three checkpoints.. and as i arrive
at the last the door closes.. a man
in a blue shirt walks out with a smile
on his face... he's smiling becuase
he's going to lunch... and i try to
ask him how long.. but he says he doesn't know
.. so i wait .. and wait... then i notice
all the men with the fridges .. and boxes
of cds and tshirt coming down the mountain
vietnamese side of the border..
i can see them from the office...
and i realize why it was so urgent
for the guard to go to 'lunch'...
and i wait and wait.. some of the
guards come back .. and gives me
some lychee.. i'm starving and crack
the sweet fruits and devour them...
and wait and wait... for hours...
then i leave... i don't care about
the last stamp anymore...
i get in a bus impatiently
waiting there and rocket off
into the mountains .. along the
cliffs and through the jungles..
and around motorbikes and bicycles..
and through little brick towns.. where
people stare and look.. and watch the
world cup soccer... the whole bus trip
is honking and swerving... and weaving
me into vietnam .. this new place.. i catch
glimpses of people bent over in rice paddies..
and cows and goats.. everything blurs..
and so do i staring out the window.. into
vietnam... emptily daydreaming... and
the wind that so feicely blew by my at
the boarder.. through the trees.. now
seems to be blowing at my back...
blowing warm humid air across my shoulders
and in my hair .. into my face...
... out of the hotel .. into the street
in Vinh.. i search for food on this
lunchless day.. i wander the hot honking
streets swarming with glove covered motorcycles
and stalls selling everything.. and stumble
until exhaustion into a small resteraunt...
and speak the words (with the most desperate
of expectations) "toi an chay" ... the man
smiles and understands... he brings out some
veggies and points .. and i give him the
thumbs up ... and ten minutes later brings
out vegetables.. rice .. tofu... and i eat
and eat until everything is gone...
... refreshed.. fed.. free of the bus ...
i wander with a smile on my face ...
and reply in an almost trance daydream
tone to their happy "hello!" .. "hello!"
and have large smiles for each of them..
and sincere intrest in everything...
bia hai! draft beer.. and by strange coincidence
a vietnamese lady who speaks germam...
i spend the evening discussing each others
lives in a now cooling gentle night breeze...
until the small plastic keg is empty...
and her son has finished looking at, and
politely asking questions about my
red beard and my blond arm hair .. and
my big legs... she wants me to come back
in five years when i'm older .. and she'll find
me a wife.. i laugh ... "guttenacht ... und
vielen dank fur alles" .. smile and stumble home
...in the morning off to hanoi...
sm'le
alex
p.s. don't be concerned about me...
know that everywhere i go, i have this
big 250 lb., 6'2" ft. tall guy named
alex, that follows me around.. i'm
in pretty good hands
he he... addendum.. i chuckle at
the guy who reboots the server..
will this email ever make it...
cars honk outside and the world
cup soccer blares on a small tv
indifferently... "jus one moment.."
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