chon: coffee beans picked out of weasal excrement

hoi an, it feels like epcot. but maybe less manicured. hoi an, it feels like venice. with the river spilling onto and taking over streets. with boats parked next to doorsteps. it's venice, but shallower. people wade through the murky water, lifting their knees high, maneuvering around the boats and up onto cement steps. the small streets, the way they twist and turn it feels like any small town in eastern europe. italo calvino echoes in my head.
the more you travel, he says, the more every city looks the same.
he's right. hiking through a pine forest outside of dalat may as well be oregon. it may as well be one of our backyards. we're huffy and puffy and splotchy the same as we would be climbing any mountain, anywhere. trekking, our guide says, is easy. "but watch out for plant that might poke you in eye. trekking not so easy." we are not in middle america. the difference is the yoda-like advice we recieve along the way. the need for a guide. the bright green snake littering our path . his head is detached and crusted over with blood. if this bamboo snake was alive enough to bite one of us, our guide says, it's no problem. "two hours maybe, and then you're gone. dead." it makes me wonder how long i would have lived if the coral snake this summer bit me. and of the first time i touched a snake in the childrens zoo in indiana and thought it felt like a basketball.
the next morning, waking up on langbiang mountain, ali and i jump out of our tent and place our feet in large muddy circles made by an elephant. we follow his footsteps down to the river and watch him take a bath. i think maybe my cousin would love to be here watching this. ali has a list of people she thinks would love this too. this isn't a normal event we're watching, but normal enough maybe that we can picture our friends here sharing the experience with us.
sitting on the beach in nha trang may as well be any beach anywhere. a beggar woman who i earlier saw walking around perfectly straight, approaches me as though she's a ninety degree-er. slumped over, her teeth are black and protruding and she keeps coming closer. i'm scared to shake my head no to whatever it is she's selling because my nose is large and her teeth are protruding and black, and she's still coming closer. i'm reminded of false teeth my brother had during halloween when we were children. i'm thinking about my friends who smoke. and bryce brings me back from my barrage of associated thoughts by cracking a joke. do you think she chews any of that gum she's selling?
we admit the fact that we are tourists and join a day tour, a boat trip that will take us to four islands. we're not hopeing for anything particular but the day quickly becomes more than a stroll through disneyland. a vietnamese tourist, drunk by eleven am, he hops up on a table laden with fruit. waves crash into our boat, and unknowingly force him to sway and stomp, and his feet are squirting watermelon juice. this man in his glasses, white tank top, short shorts with his arms flailing, he thinks he's dancing. two austrailian tourists are becoming makeshift towers as their friends grab plates from under his feet and pile them on their laps. we're paralyzed. laughing so hard no sound is coming out. we've reverted into thirteen year old girls, embarrassed by everything our parents do. we're digging our elbows into each other's rib cages because we can't look away but want to make sure all of us are truly seeing this. if we were with it enough to videotape this, it could be the next big hit on youtube. this table dance on this no-nonsense primary colored boat. this is an event. we picture our friends here. we think of every boat ride we've ever been on.
it's a game. find reminders that you are traveling. that you are halfway around the world from your life. pagodas and temples, they stand out with their overtly asian influenced architecture. but pass five, pass ten and the novelty wears off. it feels as though they've been there your whole life, only every time you passed by the fence you maybe forgot to look up. in hoi an, i think i may as well be in epcot or maybe venice. i can easily picture friends and family here. the thing here that keeps grabbing my attention are the lanterns. they don't remind me of anything. it's the first time in weeks where i'm struggling to find an association. i think maybe my life has been lacking in lanterns. devoid of diffused lighting. i'm enchanted by them. the pink one next to my bed. i can't stop turning it on and off. the red ones in the coffee shop distract me from my book. i rethink my future and clutter any daydreams with lanterns. i want to buy a bunch and fill my backpack with them. and set them up everywhere i go from now on. be the johnny appleseed of lanterns. but then i pass a large, round white one and realize, maybe i've seen it before. it's similar to the one on our porch in kampot, cambodia. and i've failed.
i've failed at finding the unusual in hoi an. lanterns have been in my life before. the only real difference from city to city are the people. the people i grew up with, the people i went to college with. they make every city, every place an event. i'm not searching for anything in particular, but the people i meet along the way, they are the reasons why my memories resurface constantly. and this nondescript white lantern it makes me think of the engagement party in cambodia and why i travel. and it makes me want to share the latest letter we received from our new penpal. because even if we aren't great at responding to your comments, to your emails, everything here reminds us of everyone there. and really, our new penpal, his english and his spelling, it's too cute not to share. and really, i spelled his name wrong too. it's not chet, its socheat. so there.

hello how are you in this morning im well. becouse my puppy have another dog come to beit my puppy black one so blood came out and alot of blood on the fluor and after that i talk puppy to hospitol dog. so after view hour puppy better but for me so sad becouse i love puppy so much . now are you still in vietnam it nice country and did you have interesting some pleace. say to everyone i miss all friends like you eriksen lesliw and ali and all the best for everyone. enjoy your holiday socheat your friends see you bye