My Vietnamese teacher, Thúy, invited me to her family’s house in Long Khánh, which is about 3 or 4 hours (NE) from Hồ Chí Minh City in Đồng Nai province. Although Thúy usually travels by motorbike, we went by bus. As it is rainy season, I think she didn’t want me to be stuck on the back of a bike in a monsoon rainstorm. Travelling on the bus presents its own challenges, but more about that later!
Thúy’s family has a house in Hồ Chí Minh City where she and some of her siblings and some nieces and a nephew live. Her parents, Mai Thi Xuân Quyền (mother) and Bùi Đắc Trưng, (father) come to the city from time to time, but usually her father prefers to live in the country. Thúy and her siblings take turns visiting their parents on the weekends. This past weekend, Thuy’s sisters Câm and Hà, as well as her niece, Điep were there. Her parents, extremely gracious hosts, are lovely people. I had met them at Thuy’s brother’s wedding last fall, but got a chance to know them a bit more this time.
Thúy has always referred to her family’s place in the country as a garden, but in English we might call it a small orchard, with the main fruit grown being rambutan, or quả chôm chôm. I had never seen chôm chôms in Canada, probably because they are a fairly fragile fruit and I would think they should be eaten quite soon after being harvested. I don’t know how many trees they have, but the three hectares are fairly solidly populated with mature trees that might be as high as 20 metres. In addition, there are some mangosteen, coffee, pepper, and a few jackfruit and durian trees. There are lots of chickens and a few ducks in the garden, as well as various herbs and flowers.
So, right now chôm chôms are in season and the entire vicinity, including Thúy’s family’s place, is a hive of activity with picking and packing going on from early to late, rain or shine. I think the family sells some of their fruit directly, but have now leased the remaining crop to a contractor, who has a crew on site to pick and pack the fruit. Đồng Nai province is a major chôm chôm-growing area and the fruit is sent to Hồ Chí Minh City as well as to Cambodia, Singapore and China. So, it was very interesting to see how all this activity unfolded.
We had some major rainfalls while in Long Khánh, so we had to cancel a trip to visit a mountain, but we did see lots of other things. We went to some areas in the countryside that were quite pretty. We saw quite a few rubber farms and a large park called Suối Tre Culture Site. Suối Tre harkened back to another era, it seemed to me. There were a lot of huge old trees and the entire park seemed quite quiet and deserted, in spite of having a pool, tennis courts, a bar and restaurant, a small amusement park and some trails for walking. A bit eery.
We drove around the city of Long Khánh and it seemed quite a hive of activity. We visited a chùa, or Buddhist pagoda and then walked around the grounds of an absolutely amazing Catholic seminary, St. Paul Seminary of Xuân Lộc. Apparently there are 300 seminarians studying there and the guard on duty told us there is stiff competition to enter the seminary. The place was largely deserted when we were there, as students are on summer break., so we had the grounds to ourselves. After, we watched the sun go down over a patriotic statue in a town square before heading home.
On Sunday, Thúy and I went to a different chùa in the countryside. The pagoda itself was rather small, but it had a large area with sort of a sculpture garden. Many, many statues of many incarnations of the Buddha and many statues of Quan Âm. The grounds were interesting with a combination of living and artificial plants. There were lots of incredibly vibrant bromeliads. We met a couple of nuns there who were so gracious and welcoming. One was a young novice, named Đê Pháp, who has lived at the pagoda for four years, since she was 15. She was such a lovely young woman. Very serene and yet also very poised.
Despite its rural area (and fresh air and blue skies) Đồng Nai province, due to its proximity to Hồ Chí Minh City is positioning itself to become more industrialized. While the capital, Biên Hòa, is the chief area of development (we just changed buses there), Long Khánh looked pretty progressive, possibly because it is on the main highway between Hà Nội and Hồ Chí Minh City. There are lots of new western-style houses and several new schools in the vicinity. We also saw a couple of developments under construction near Long Khánh, including a residential area and an industrial park. Without a doubt, Việt Nam is undergoing a tremendous change right now.
While visiting Thúy’s family, I was treated to some very traditional Vietnamese food, including wonderful salads, soups, and cháo long, which roughly translates to innards porridge. Câm did most of the cooking (Can I whinge a bit about how hard it is to be the eldest daughter?) and she produced some delicious food. On Sunday, however, before we left, Thúy’s mother made homemade bánh xèo, the rice flour pancake that is so delicious.
I have to say, I have never been fed so much ... every time I turned around I was served more chôm chôms, pomelo, mangosteen ... you name it. I have to say, I had to make myself clear about my inability to eat durian, as I feared I would be served a whole one ... Thúy kept insisting that I just needed to try it again and she was sure I would like it ... nonononono Nanette! No durian, please. The word for durian in Vietnamese is "sầu riêng (one's own sorrows). I would be very sorrowful if I had to eat it, that’s for sure! I hope to see Thúy’s family again, maybe in November at Hà’s wedding. Cảm ơn bạn rất nhiều,!
OK ... now to the ride home. Thúy, Điep and I started out for Hồ Chí Minh City at about 5 p.m.. The first bus was full but we got standing room only on the second bus. They kept letting more and more people on until it really was ridiculous. It was the most bizarre ride. First of all, there was a passenger with no legs. Nobody gave him a seat and he was squished on the floor near the exit, so was constantly being stepped on, which he loudly compllained about (rightfully so). As there was virtually no air, people started to feel ill and the young woman next to Thúy threw up .. thank goodness in a rather dainty way. She continued to look ill for the remainder of the journey, but no one offered her a seat. A little boy was laid right out with heat prostration and had to lie on the floor; his mother sat down with him so the kid wouldn’t get trampled by the hordes of people who were trying to balance after two hours of standing. The traffic was terrible so the trip seemed never-ending. I had lots of opportunity to people watch ... watch Điep give killer glances at Thúy for making her come on the bus; see some pretty open flirting between some high school students; discover a sweet little Chihuahua tucked inside a woman’s bag; see numerous people sleep standing up; but more importantly, witness how people endured a very uncomfortable ride with a stoicism that was rather impressive.
Good thing Điep had had a nice long nap earlier in the day ... we were all pretty tired after 3 hours of bus ride! Thúy, Điep and I parted company part way through our second bus ride. Thúy and Điep caught another bus, while I continued on to Chợ Lớn, after which I caught a taxi. I have to say I was extremely glad the buses to Phú Mỹ Hưng had stopped running by the time I got back to the city, so I had no option but to take a taxi ,^_^, Besides, I needed the taxi to help me carry home all the fruit Thúy’s mother sent home with me. What a great weekend in the garden! Lots more photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/raven_chick. I hope all is well with everybody reading this. I hear stories about heat waves in Ontario, worse heat waves in Europe, and hail in Calgary ... so I guess some of that is par for the course. Take care and I hope everyone gets some beautiful weather at some point!
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