Blogging
From Abroad

As I write this I am surrounded by strangers and traffic on this busy street in Saigon, Vietnam. The sun is burning through the few clouds and the humidity is as wet as rain. I love it here. The plane ride from Chicago to Hong Kong was very long, about 15 hours. We ate several times and I had a stomach to show for it last night. I drank several small Jack Daniels bottles & had a smile to show for that.

The people here are just like the people we all know. Each is a character through and through. One small example, a man with a full but kept beard played a wooden flute while his toddler daughter led him around asking for donations; seemingly a blind?pity gimmick. The open air market in this city is amazing, a true Portabello Road of Southeast Asia. Everything from exotic fruits and beautiful fabrics to bootleg DVD’s and Coach bags can be found here, and of course for a bargain. It is my “journalistic hunch” that these knock?offs are so readily available because many of the producing companies have chosen to manufacture their products here. They intentionally pay these people peanuts so they do what they have to in order to feed the family. It seems to be a residual effect of capitalism driving production to cheaper foreign labor markets. A karmic occurrence if you will.

When exiting the airport last night, after more than 24 hours tied up in the global transit system, I was exhausted and overwhelmed by the beauty of this place and its people, right out of the gate. Chinese and Vietnamese customs definitely put a small chunk of fear in my stomach, but I pushed through, and made it.

All I can say after 12 hours in this country is that people are people, and an outside point of view can be effective in gaining perspective, but not for setting expectations. Lose every expectation you have and take an adventure. Nothing is as scary or dangerous as it seems from a far, especially if you have a little “knowledge of self” in your back pocket. It seems to serve as a map and a compass, leading you to where you need to be and steering you from foul outside intentions.

This is just the view from here, as I sit this afternoon, and watch the beautiful chaos of Vietnam traffic. Thousands of motorbikes cruising with no apparent attention to lanes or others, and a great majority make it home safely to do it again the next day. It is a true soliloquy of chaos and a great metaphor for life. Billions of people all doing what they do, pulling an infinite number of directions, and yet the center still holds. Truly amazing.

Peace from the South East,

Asia that is…

~Bobby Rizzuto