The Mekong Delta

We went to Ben Tre in the Mekong Delta for a couple days to visit an unending string of relatives.

Life in the Mekong Delta progresses at the pace of a retarded, pregnant water buffalo. In fact, you have to use time lapse photography to make sure it's moving at all. It's a vietnamese farmer's life there- not a single luxury. My's relatives have all manner of food animals, fruit trees, and random thatched buildings, though. While out exploring the grounds, I felt like I was going to stumble upon a squad of G.I.s with zippos, kicking pigs out of their way- it was just like the movies.

At one point I was stuck drinking with an uncle and his buddies while My went off to gut a chicken or something. These unruly characters virtually forced me to drink from an unmarked bottle. They said it was vodka, but brother, it AIN'T vodka. No vodka looks like pond water. Then i realized that the heap of meat in a bowl on the table was actually a barbecued goat head. Who eats a goat head? Gross, guys.

Then the uncle scooped out the eyes and plopped them in my bowl. He told me - through sign language- that if I ate them, I'd get an erection (?). I guess he meant I'd be all virile. Nevertheless, my running rule is that if I know it's an eyeball, and I watch it being plucked from the socket, I don't eat it.

Later I discovered that I was sitting amidst a group of Former Viet Cong guerrilas. They were very proud and excited to tell me- one of them ran home to get his medals. "See?- I killed me a buncha you guys!"

The whole scene took on a surreal quality for me. Here I was in the middle of the Vietnamese countryside, the only American in the company of six drunk, unpredictable Viet Cong freedom fighters. It felt like that scene in The Deerhunter, except I was saved by lunch before the pistols came out.

They all were nice enough though. None of them were at all phased to learn that I was American. Not a flinch from any of them. That seems really strange to me. I wish I could crawl into their heads and see what's really going on.