Wednesday, 11 June 2025

Just over 11 years of being a WIDOWER .....and as of today: Five amazing Years of LOVE..... and life goes on ......

It's been just slightly more than 11 years now, since this BIG love of mine FUCKING DIED at the age of fucking 32.

shit....I was living with a movie star .....

and FUCK....living with a much younger man, I NEVER expected to be a WIDOWER AT 48 years of age........ 

 

..... but life goes on .....


And it's been exactly 5 frigging years ago as of TODAY .....

when I unbuttoned this unbelievably kind and beautiful man's beautiful shirt (and she still thinks I was taking a picture of her ....Yeah right  ;-)

 the day.....June 12, 2020     
then he produced a beloved son .... 

.... and life goes on ...... 

 

..... I will meet him again in 3 days ..... and we will be HAPPY together.....

 

..and life goes on ......


 

......and I'm just thinking ........WHAT THE FUCK is going on ??? ......


and life goes on ...... 

 

..... and maybe that's the whole point of life.......

...... you gotta LIVE it  ;-)


Stranger than fiction (LA today)



 

4 pictures.....can you tell which one is from a Star Wars movie, which one from a fan convention, and which ones are the present reality in the US?  I am no longer able to tell the difference ...

Wednesday, 30 April 2025

Today is the DAY.....April 30th......Reunification Day

 'What day?' you may ask.....

 

a day of National Pride ....
....and National JOY !

these parade pictures are just the REHEARSAL......they've been practicing for 1 YEAR ....

Today, to the day, 50 years ago, the last American stuck his tail between his legs and escaped on a helicopter.

tails between their legs

when the Vietnamese People's Army finally took Sai Gon (now Ho Chi Minh City).  As is normal for Americans, they left all the Vietnamese who worked for the Americans behind.  And after losing 3 millions of people in that bloody war, the North Vietnamese were not too endeared with the southern Viets who had collaborated with the US. 

A northern tank breaking through the presidential palace gates


Unfortunately, Uncle Ho (the Vietnamese cherish Ho Chi Minh... and call him Uncle)
did not live long enough to see the day when Sai Gon was liberated and the country was reunited.....he died in 1969.  

 

But his political 2nd in command, Le Duan

Ho Chi Minh & Le Duan
 

and many amazing army generals like Giap (He who shot the French to tiny pieces in Dien Bien Phu in 1954)

made sure that the job got finished...



It was KIDS who won that war  



.. and Viet Nam has been FREE since April 30th 1975.


all these kids are OLD men now .....


I flew to HCMC just for this occasion (and of course, to snuggle with Phap ;-) .....and I'm having tears of JOY in my eyes.  It's hard to describe....I FINALLY have found my HOME..... I truly truly LOVE this country.

But Reunification Day is still 2 days away ....

My first trip outside the hotel is to buy food and wine (OMG, my street changed so much in the last 6 weeks; there is a 7/11 now and the Red Bar changed into a restaurant).  

The second trip is to the wet-market....no nice flowers, but I get 4 limes and 3 hand-held Vietnamese Flags..... I waste no time using chopsticks and zap-strap them to the balcony railing.


One hour later, I see the old man across the street talking to his wife (they NEVER talk) and looking at me. I nod my head in deference....he waves and I wave back....then he points at my flags and gives me the Thumbs UP..... it's the little things that can make such a huge difference. Then, the HOT presumably gay guy in the apartment next over looks at me and gives me a heart-melting smile.  WTF???

 

Afternoon relaxing in Year of the Snake underwear ;-)
 

Phap texts....he'll be here at 20:00

Ok....earlier than expected.....but he will also leave earlier than expected ....no fireworks with him on 30.4. .....ah well..... he only stays for 1.5 hours....but it's magical... and he will be back tomorrow evening after working for 12 hours.


An early morning trip to the local wet-market...


... and the early bird gets the gladiolas ;-)

 

14:00  I have that yearning again......Jaegerschnitzel 

8:00 Phap calls from the Thu Duc Metro station.....the line-up to get into the Metro is AT LEAST one hour long

 9:15 pm he arrives ;-)


30.4.2025

I see people walking towards the parade grounds at 3:30 am, later I read that people went there last night to secure a great viewing spot.

By 6am there is a constant flow of pedestrians and full taxis heading that way.....

Pandemonium at  10 am.....   Gridlock in the streets......an overwhelming stream of people heading to the municipal bus depot across the road....but there are no buses....they are all stuck in traffic.....whenever a bus arrives people RUN towards it to secure a spot..... And this keeps going for HOURS.... only 3 hours later have the last people finally found a bus to take them home in the outlying districts 

Yes, there are soldiers marching in the middle of the madness

 
Look closely....still marching soldiers in the mayhem.          I am SO HAPPY that we did not go in person ;-)

Two hours later.....I have an epiphany....there should be a video of the parade on the Vietnamese News website.....there is......and it's a YouTube video .....3.5 hours long, including more than one hour of pristine Parade footage .....Phap and I are tied to the screen for over an hour and we both cry tears of joy (if you watch this video, start at 2h 19min)....because what these >10,000 soldiers are doing is ART....it's kind of like when you see a PERFECTLY choreographed ballet performance of Swan Lake ...it's just magical.

 May 1, 2025

May Day.....Except in North America, this day is to celebrate the workers of this world. 


Afternoon..... a streak of bad luck...the bank machine is out of cash....CircleK is out of Dim Sum...AGAIN....AND  Parkhaus is closed for the day.....but it works out well...I walk back to the hotel looking at the ground in front of my feet and I hear clapping....My Xe Om's friend is sitting with him there and they wave at me....My Xe Om looks old and tired and sick.....I take the elevator to my room but don't enter and take the elevator back down.....That Xe Om has to work to be able to eat.....so I ask him to take me to Highland Coffee and back...and as usual I overpay.... I have cheesecake


and he has food money..... All good.

 


Thursday, 17 April 2025

One day with Cai Luong AND Bai Choi....... and talking no-nonsense to The Monkey

Nhat is a darling...he told me about the village fair....but I don't know where it is......he meets me at 18:30 on the Vinh Hoa/ Ba 5 road intersection ...and he is right on time !

The village Fair ;-)


 I first walk along the stretch of vendors (sausages, vuvuzelas, and anything you can think of) but nothing tempts me....

so I return to the site where is happening what I came here for !

 Cai Luong 

And I'm sitting on a little plastic chair.......and I'm CRYING.......because I am so HAPPY ....I throw 150k at the performers..... Nothing should be for free in this world.....


An older guy comes over....shakes my hand......maybe I've met him before......with the usual mixture of 1000 Viets to 1 white guy I don't have to feel guilty about not remembering people....it is so much easier for them ;-)

We shake hands, touch shoulders......He offers me another plastic chair.....but I'm just about to leave for the next attraction

Bai Choi... 

as usual, I don't want to listen to it for free....so I buy some code-word paddles....and gift them to the nearest person, and wish them good luck


 

One hour is enough...... I ride home.... and find Nhat in front of my house.....his son got SCARED by the Cai Luong costumes, so they left early.....

Hang calls......he's driving Taxis now..... and wants to drive me....OH OH....with the mutual attraction, I do NOT want to be in a car with that gorgeous guy in a car for 1.5 hours ;-) 

Time to SLEEP

and I sleep a lot....

 

Nhung cleans....

I reach an easy and simple agreement with her to keep working for me..... the Lesbians will HATE it....but I don't give a flying fuck.....

Since I'm on a roll........ might as well..... take a shower and hop on the scooter ....

....to finally get a HAIRCUT ....but Thuong does not have change for 500k ......he might be talking about the Li Xi from Tet....but NO...I will pay him on Friday when riding to Tuy Hoa ;-)

Cooking more potato salad ...with disgusting Tuna from the hotel (tomorrow morning I will feed it to the garden; that disgusting it is !)

Phap calls at 17:30 .....Han HAPPY

His computer broke and he asks me if I have a spare one......

 I call the MONKEY 3 times (he has my second computer) but the fucker doesn't answer his phone...

 I call Toan (the older brother) and VENT ...WHAT is WRONG with your brother ????.......Toan understands... 

Monkey finally calls back.....and 'ich lese ihm die Leviten'......laptop, bicycle, computer memory....GIVE BACK NOW.....

He agrees for Sunday....we will see...... 

SLEEP again....

Monday, 7 April 2025

hamdullah (al-Ḥamdu lillāh)


 so a Western guy rides his scooter on the sand in front of my house..... I start bitching at him ...LOUDLY.....GET THE FUCK AWAY !

 He goes and then sits at the hotel with his friend.....

 I am bored.....and tipsy.....so I grab a glass of wine and walk over to them.  I apologize for being rude.

 We talk...they are French.....and it's FUN......his friend (NO, they are not gay, I asked ;-) does not quite look French....me being me, I ask...."Where are you from? don't tell me ...let me guess...."...he smiles......

 "North Africa?", I say .....he looks stunned and impressed and nods.....

"Algeria?" ...he is even more stunned (LOL, so am I).... (but what is the most famous former French colony in Northern Africa ?)

 we talk for over an hour....and it is FUN....

He asks me "How did you find this place???".....I do my usual explanation: "an endless string of utterly unlikely coincidences ".......and he GRINS and says "Hamdullah"

That is short for  al-Ḥamdu lillāh ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّٰهِ)) or  "by the grace of Allah".....  I usually just call it KARMA....but the conveyed meaning is the same !

Hamdullah

And it felt just like when I walked by that man sitting on his house door sill in Istanbul......I nodded at him....he was watching me; I was watching him.....it just felt like the right thing to do......and I will NEVER EVER forget what he did next.....NO words were exchanged......he put his right hand to his heart.....and then raised it up to the heavens.... ALHAMDULLILAH !

the 2 French came from Tuy Hoa just for a few hours and I was SO LUCKY to meet them........ I leave after a while (always try not to overstay your welcome).....and an hour later, the Algerian comes to my balcony to shake my hand to say Goodbye.......

OMFG....I guess, it wasn't only good for me ....It's a good thing he left......I have a habit of falling in love with people like him....

 

 

Wednesday, 29 January 2025

Chuc Mung Nam Moi

 

The last time this happened, I was turning 48 years old .....

2013, wearing RED at the Vancouver Chinese New Year parade

This year I will turn 60 years old ...... 

2025.....Naturally, wearing RED again

We'll see how that goes <GRIN>


Happy New Year !!!