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This morning's breakfast of AFC "vegetable flavored" crackers that are "good for your health," Vissan pork liver paté and a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese, which has been in Vietnam for maybe a century. I ate it as a child. The drink is "0 Degree natural green tea" that's also "good for your health," since it says so on the label.

A couple days ago, I got a friendly email from James Howard Kunstler, so this morning, I emailed Jim back:

Hi Jim,

My wife and I had to move back here for economic reasons. We lived on very little in the US, with no car or health insurance. Each time something went wrong with my wife, she had to run to the crowded health clinic, and I simply never visited the doctor or dentist. My teeth are simply gothic.

In Vietnam, I spend most of my time in Ea Kly, while my wife is in Saigon, but this is for the best, since she is very meticulous, and I'm not.

I help my brother in law run a plastic recycling plant. Ea Kly is rather primitive, but this is fine, since I've never gravitated towards sophisticated people. Whenever I taught at American universities, I stayed away from the other professors.

Nearly half of my village are ethnic Rade. These tribal people resisted Vietnamese encroachment until the 80's, but they lost that little war, so are assimilating into Vietnam. They have no choice.

Most of the Vietnamese here were wretchedly poor when they arrived, but all are doing much better. Most people here do farmwork, on their own lots and for hire, and many run a small shop, cafe or eatery. They raise chickens, ducks, pigs and cows, and know how to slaughter them. Here, I've eaten dog, cat, squirrel and snake.

If you go to my blog, you can see photos of my life here:

http://linhdinhphotos.blogspot.com/

And if you feel like an adventure, come here and I’ll show you around. About five miles from here, there’s an older Swiss guy. Though the only white in the area, he’s doing fine. He came here intending to bike from the Chinese border to Vietnam’s southern tip, but along the way, he became increasingly in love with Vietnam, so decided to stay.


Linh

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