Sai Gon Oi! (Pt. 2)

Yesterday I visited my 78-year-old uncle, Cau hai (Uncle 2). He lives with his family in an old building that was converted to a storefront that sells fabric. The upstairs and back of the home all belongs to his family, and when asked to see the rest of the house, he took me on a brief tour of his home.

They sleep on tatami mats laid on top of the wooden planks of their bed frames. "I used to have a Western style mattress like you young people use, but it was too hot! So I got rid of it!" he said, which made me realize that he was elderly but certainly not frail as he climbed the metal staircase up to the roof. The power was out and the inside of the house was sweltering except for the warm breeze that swept through the darkness from the back door through the storefront. The middle of the house didn't have a roof, save for a piece of sheet metal covering the top, which would drain away rain water and give space for air to flow through the house.

I met my cousins, Phi Tien and Nam Tran, my aunt, and the family cat, which didn't have a name except for my cousin calling to it, meo, meo (cat, cat). So we're all sitting together in the kitchen of this small house tucked away in a market place, with no electricity, and motor scooters driving by the back door, which was left open for he breeze but scared the hell out of me everytime a motor scooter passed by. It amazes me that such a narrow alley can accomodate a both a noodle stand and a passing motor scooter, considering that it was hardly a few feet wide. Though I'd been advised not to touch animals in Vietnam (for fear of getting bitten by a rabid animal), I pat the cat on the head and it took off outside into the alley.

It returned a short time later and laid a dead lizard at my feet.
Chac con meo cho Loc cai qua, khe... (It looks like that cat has left me a gift).

After that we went out to eat, where I got to eat beer battered shrimp that you had to peel with our bare hands. Chi Ty taught me to the proper way to peel a whole shrimp, so as not to waste a single morsel. She can peel many shrimp in only seconds, and we laughed together as I fumbled around with the slippery, hot, beer-battered shrimp glimmering at my fingertips. Lemon, salt, and pepper were used as a dip.

Having traveled half way across the globe and not having a proper rest for three days, she sent me home with a full belly. Instead of sleeping, I went for walk outside to think about things.