TO THE COUNTRYSIDE

Also in summer 2017, my boyfriend Minh and I had a 4-day visit to his relatives in the countryside. This experience was way different from what I had expected. It was in Dong Nai province, which is a well-known area for industrial crops development in southern Vietnam and takes around one and half an hour from Ho Chi Minh City. We went on a kind of bus which is quite common in Vietnam called 'xe đò'. We did think of going there on motorbike but being told about the police on the way changed our mind.

We stayed at uncle Cat's house which is a big old house with a small yard and a shuttlecock net for the young neighbors to gather every afternoon. There were also pigs, dogs and a cat living in the same house and we could hear the pig sounds all the time. I just couldn't stop myself from laughing when feeding the pigs and seeing how excited they were!

Basically what we did during our stay there was getting on the motorbike of his cousin to discover the surrounding area. It was a religious zone of Catholics and there was a famous spot for Catholic pilgrim. That area is incredibly mesmerizing with the view to Tri An Lake - the most famous lake for hydroelectricity in Vietnam. And on the way to the lake there was a huge rubber tree forest, which left us the feeling of being lost in the middle of nowhere.

One more thing that got us insane was a drive with his another cousin to deliver the building materials. We went on a small truck here and there for nearly 4 hours. We could see all the beautiful fields, forests and roads throughout the way with the intensity of rambutans reddening everywhere.

It was pretty interesting that I could experience something that I'd never done before, felt the way that I'd never felt, saw the things that I'd never seen, smelt the breeze that I'd never smelt. All was my very first time.

I miss the animals in the house after we went back to Saigon. That nostalgic feeling strikes me every time I recall myself to those days staying at the family. They do the same things everyday but they take it as a joy, a motivation to move on in life and they're happy about that. They watch the same movies after lunch and dinner everyday and are always excited. They eat the same dishes for lunch and dinner. And every time we ate, the cat would be prowling about and meowing for food. They named it "Meow" after its sound. I just love how simple life is back there.

Meow the cat