Saigon, January 30th
It's the middle of the day. I've had two lattes while reading a John Steinbeck novel and I'm still not certain how I'll spend the day. I give myself permission not to care.
It's festive here in Saigon this week. Red lanterns abound and beautiful yellow mums and kumquats adorn every shop and mini-hotel. Little red envelopes attached to blooming trees bear best wishes for the Year of the Horse. Some shops and restaurants are beginning to close, allowing workers to rush home to their ancestral villages to rejoin family for this special celebration. Still, the city bustles with activity and lights, so many lights. It's the lunar new year celebration, the most important festival of the year for Vietnamese, Chinese and many other Asians.
Across the alley from my third floor hotel room sits a Vietnamese man on a his balcony before an altar festooned with images and icons and offerings. He places sheets of inscribed paper and items of clothing in a burning barrel, probably cleansing his life of the present and past, preparing for a successful 2014. Maybe this is good wisdom for those of us too attached to the past and the present, too attached to what we have and must have.
May this be a Happy New Year for all beings.
I like the way you described the suroundings you were in ! It seems like you were looking at what was going on , caring the people ,trees and flowers ,while they didn't know about it and just went on in the way they should be . May you have a happy and peaceful 2014 . Enlightening story , that we should not be too attached to the life in the past or present . :)
ReplyDelete