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That little truck brought the wedding tent and furniture over, and the business is advertising itself right on the tent, with, inexplicably, an Italian pizza guy. Vietnamese do stuff like this all the time. Almost no one in Ea Kly or Krong Buk knows what a pizza is.



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You'd never find such an ugly shrine in Cambodia, Thailand or Malaysia. Vietnamese shrines are often hideous.



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[death shrine next to Highway 26]



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Since it's off the road a bit, I'm assuming it's just a regular shrine, not a death one.



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Death shrine on Highway 26. Someone died at this stretch.



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Yesterday, a female employee in her 50's asked me for an $86 advance on her pay. She said she needed the money to go to a wedding, "Food, I can go without, but a wedding, I can't skip!"

We give out advances all the time, but sometimes, we also pay people late, because we're short of cash.



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Dinner last night at Long and Mộng's house. All dishes were prepared from two slaughtered chickens and a duck. At the top is tiết canh, or raw blood pudding.



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Long at his house. Long and his wife, Mộng, both work for us. Though they only make around $16 a day, they have a pretty nice house, I must say. I have never been able to rent a dwelling like that, much less own one. They raise chickens and ducks, and last night they slaughtered two chickens and a duck for a little party.

They've also given us two puppies and two kittens.



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[Long and Mộng's house]



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[Long and Mộng's house]



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[at Long and Mộng's house]



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Two days ago, Mộng and Long came to our place for dinner. Last night, we were at their house, for Mộng's birthday. There was no cake. We ate duck and pork, drank rice wine. That's the clear stuff in the plastic bag!

Working for us, Mộng and Long make around $16 a day, not each, but for both. Still, their house is rather spacious, with land around it. By comparison, I've never owned a house, and my US apartments were tiny.

When they came to this area in 1992, people could just claim an uncleared lot and settle on it.



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