And It Begins
I had neglected to to tell my readers, as It was to perfect of a day, that I in fact destroyed my index toe of my left foot wandering the amazing beach at Ky Co. It didn’t seem to be a big deal at the time, as I had smashed toes before, and so was expecting an annoying soreness and nothing much else. As we climbed out of the mountainous peninsula and back into the bustling city the pain was mounting.
It didn’t seem to be a major issue at first, but as time went on the aggravation was troubling. The journey back, lunch and then to the hotel to check out, ever gradually the pain kept growing. There was a pharmacy next to the hotel and I stopped in for some relief. Hoping for something familiar, anything at this point, what was offered was anything but recognizable.
Labeled as an NSAID, I searched Google for any information and what I found was spotty at best. Lulled into an illusion that NSAID’s are harmless by western propaganda, but weary from a good friends advice that they are not always as they seem. I took one in hopes of at least finding some relief. We were headed to An Lao shortly and it was a long and bumpy ride back to the forested ancestral home.
As the sun began to hang low in the western sky we headed to the depot on the edge of town. One of many arterial hearts of the rapidly expanding country, the station here at the edge of town had buses and small transports heading in every direction. All loading up with goods and people, the pulse of this burgeoning nation. And so like goods ourselves we loaded into the van and began our journey towards what I have come to consider one of my homes.
The Journey To An Lao
As night was rapidly falling my state was quickly deteriorating. Though the front seat often has been a Godsend in previous trips, I found it on this particular journey to be hells chair. With the temperature up and the medicine not agreeing well, I found myself rapidly spiraling down. I tried my best to maintain my composure, but the need for the driver to keep my window down was not helping. On the narrow mountain passes we were almost always stuck behind some sluggish logging truck or other massive mover whose exhaust was steadily filling the cabin. Emissions were not of consequence here so between the exhaust, bad reaction to the medicine and the combination of onset nausea and diarrhea, things were getting pretty bleak.
My saving grace was the crabbers in the night. As the rice fields had been plowed and freshly turned, they were ripe for invertebrates and frogs as the fields awaited their plantings in the coming weeks. The night was pitch black save for the hunters methodically combing the newly flooded beds. Villagers with miners lamps on their heads, swathed back and forth, searching for crabs and frogs for their dinner tables.
I got a bit lost in the rhythm, and it may have been the only thing that kept me from losing control of my faculties. Sometime around 7 pm we pulled into An Lao. By now the sun had been long retired and I didn’t know how much longer I could keep myself. We exited the van, collected our things and stood on the side of the road. When I thought I would pass out my father-in-law Ba pulled up to rescue me. I loaded on the back of his motorbike and he took me home.
It was all I could do to maintain myself long enough to reach the bathroom and then quickly shower. I stumbled out of the shower and fell onto the raised bamboo mat in our room and into a sweat drenched sleep. It had to be a lack of rest, a reaction to the medicine and an all out shitty situation that for the better part of 36 hours I slept. I dreamed of giant serpents and impenetrable jungle. campaigns in Cambodia and the relevance of being reasonably unreasonable.
Diem would often wake me to give me Pepto Bismol or to make sure I was hydrated between lucid trips to the restroom. For what seemed like days I slept on the unforgiving bamboo mat beset on the raised wood platform. Rains came and went, people collected and dispersed and I simply and quietly slept. At some point I had acquired enough strength to wander the village if only briefly. I so love An Lao, I feel badly that I couldn’t, that I didn’t, spend enough time there now. At least not enough time awake. For after a couple of hours around the village it was all I could do to stay upright. Sleep again gripped me like a spider in her web and off again I was to the land of slumber.
Home To Da Nang
As is customary when leaving An Lao the alarm went off at 4 am. As I had been asleep for 2 days, or something like that, it was surprisingly not shocking. I jumped up and felt remarkably refreshed. My toe felt like no more than a long forgotten sprang, and I felt well rested. Diem however took a little more time to get moving as well as Xu, who had no desire to wake. Such a robust personality, she always lets you know how she feels.
We quickly packed up our belongings and said our goodbyes. It was raining, but these things do not stop life here in the land of the blue dragon. I made sure to get a family photo with the in-laws before departing. A few of the geckos as well. For they might as well be family as their common name is common house gecko, that is no misnomer. They are in every home and in every room. I’ve discussed them in many posts, but I’ve recently come to accept that they are everywhere. There is nothing to compare them to back home as other than cats and dogs, there is nothing we expect or accept in our homes. Here they just are.
So I loaded on the back of a motorbike and Diem and I rode off to the extraction point. Ba followed behind with our luggage on the back and our little girl named Xu in front. It wasn’t long in the rainy dark morning before our transport arrived. As always it was the same crew that took us to and from An Lao. We barreled at high speed out of the wet jungle towards Da Nang. We did briefly stop for breakfast as Myself, Diem, Xu and Mary from back homes brother enjoyed a bowl of pork hock with strips of beef and noodles. Xu wasn’t exactly ready to be awake and I rather enjoyed taking pictures of her cute yet unhappy face.
We climbed back into the van and continued on. Everyone fell asleep along the way except for myself and I again, rather enjoyed taking candid photos of their slumbers. You must admit they are rather cute. And so some 6 hours after leaving the district center of An Lao we arrived home, in our beautiful city of Da Nang.
Click Here for more experiences in An Lao
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