Home coming

Yesterday, my cousin was kinda enough to take me around the city and drive around where I grew up for the first few years of my life. It's fascinating how much has changed, but I can distinctly locate certain places and allyways. The country and people here seem to be footed on a progressive path to modernize. After so many years the old tin roof dwellings along the streets have been replaced by more modern accomodations complete with AC and hot water; though still small by perhaps western standards, it is more than comfortable. My cousin even has DSL at home... in many ways Vietnam has advanced more than I expected as compared to my memory.

I've been treated well here by the extended family with good food and hospitality even though I showed up knocking on there door very late at night and completely unannounced. It's to be appreciated. Yesterday, my cousin drove me to see some of the old temples around the Chinese quarter - a very good intro to see how some folk religion is still practiced. We saw some "prayer women" who you can hire to properly pray for you and to perform rituals to the gods. All immensely fascinating to me.

Late at night, we drove by the old alley where I lived and the only recognizable thing was the old grapefruit tree that is still there. The original property was torn down, split into two and rebuild into two houses.

Adorn gate of one of four temples visited today in the Chinese quarters.

Posted some pictures from Angkor (see the previous post). And for good measure, I've backed up some of the photos to the computer here.