The Minsk Affair

Since Bina left I’ve been having an affair. I had feared that being here alone would make me do some crazy things, as solitude tends to do with the restless, but I never expected this.

This is a Minsk motorcycle. My affair.



Everyone in Hanoi has a motorbike of some kind. Mostly they’re scooters or mopeds, but some people have motorcycles. The Minsk is an old Russian-built motorcycle that you’ll find all over Vietnam but mostly in the countryside. The people in the cities hate them. In fact, the Vietnamese really look down on the Minsk. Not only are they considered an old vestige of Russian influence, but they’re big, dirty, loud and smelly. However, there are a few Minsk loyalists that really can’t live without them, and this is what makes the Minsk so unique. In fact, the Minsk has it’s own fan club. It’s called the Minsk Club and it’s incredibly active.

Hanoi Minsk Club

I acquired this Minsk by calling a number posted in a café. The girl selling it said she would rent it if nobody wanted to buy it so I went to see it. My goal was to get out into the countryside and explore some of Vietnam’s more scenic wonders. I envisioned myself an Easy Rider with the winds of freedom blowing in my face, a romantic adventurer “finding myself” and being one with the road. (I still haven’t been out of the city limits.) But my starry-eyed dreams persist nonetheless.

I’ve recently decided to join Bina back in the states until she’s recovered from her back injury. I miss her too much and can’t continue this affair any longer. Despite all the Minsk can give, it’s no match for the allure of Bina. I haven’t told the Minsk yet. But it’s been a fleeting fancy for both of us and we must end it. But it has been a fun ride.

National Day!

Last weekend was National Day here in Vietnam. National Day, September 2nd, encompasses several accomplishments for the Vietnamese including the ass-kicking of the French and Americans, as well as holding out from the Chinese for so long. It also includes celebrating Ho Chi Minh’s birth, death, first gray hair and the losing of his virginity. It covers 60years of these kinds of accomplishments and the Vietnamese celebrate it with more pride than you can imagine.

I started the day out early and went to see the parade. I shot a ton of pictures, which I’ve included here for your amusement. It was a great parade. It reminded me of the Independence Day parades we have in the states but without the bands and clowns. Instead, they paraded lots of communist propaganda and giant portraits of Uncle Ho himself. Don’t get me wrong, I like a good dose of communist imagery, full of proud working people championing solidarity, but give me a bright red fire truck instead any day!

Here's a float that depicts a great sense of symmetry.

More "Ho"s than a brothel!

This little kid was so funny. He was full of mischief and kept throwing a soda can into the parade to watch the marchers trip over it.

Long Live Uncle Ho!! (Even though he's dead.)

Lots of people turned out..

The proud armies.

Our wonderful monks!!

Big crowd on the parade route.

It's a parade!!

The intellectual elite.

Here's a picture of an old Green Beret that turned up for the parade. You can see him next to the other foreigner in the background. He's probably still registered as an MIA but doesn't realize it. Anyway, he was really enjoying the parade.

We love Ho!!

Goose-steppin'

More Ho.

The Silk Army.

"Put your conical hats in the air, wave 'em like you just don't care!"

A flag for patriotism.

Power to the people.

Chrystler Tower? No, a communist float!

The Lotus Club

We met this guy named Peter at a house warming party for one of our friends. Nobody really knew whose guest he was, but he was very friendly and liked to talk. He invited us to go with him the next day to a Pagoda outside of town. Well, actually he just told us he was coming over to pick us up in the afternoon! It was a little suspicious and we couldn’t get a straight story out of him as to what, exactly, we were going to do at this Pagoda. "We're going to meet about helping disadvantaged people of Vietnam and discuss ways in which to help,” He said. “There’s going to be a party!” he quickly added in hopes of coaxing us. It felt like we were being recruited into a cult.

The next day Peter called early in the morning and we missed his call. But then he called twelve more times so we finally spoke with him and told him where we lived. We decided to take a giant leap of faith with this guy and let him take us to his cult leader and feed us the cool aid or whatever.

We met him downstairs and climbed into his van. Sitting in the back, crunched together like kidnapped children were three young girls who had also been recruited for the ride. We introduced ourselves but there was very little talking all the way to the Pagoda. Did THEY at least know what we were doing?

It seemed very strange and Bina and I had already decided that this was a big ruse to basically bring us foreigners to the Pagoda and ask us for money. We remained dubious until we got to know Monk Huan.

It turned out that this Pagoda we were brought to does some really incredible charity work with HIV / AIDS patients and was looking for more ways to help a broader range of people. They wanted our advice on how to make the program better. That was it, they wanted to pick our brains about how real NGO’s do it and what we think could be done to help. They even had a name for the “club”; it was called the Lotus Club, named after the lotus flowers that grew in the little pond next to the Pagoda.

It was a really nice place. Monk Huan was a real character too. He had this huge smile and seemed really peaceful. That is, until this cute little puppy walked into the room and was quickly escorted out by Monk Huans foot! I guess the dog wasn’t part of the club.

After the meeting was over we were given a tour of the Pagoda and fed a delicious vegetarian meal prepared by the monks. Vegetarian meals are rare in Vietnam so this was a real treat. One of the ideas the Monks have for the Lotus Club is to open a vegetarian restaurant on the grounds to help raise more money.

Bina and I have both agreed to help out the Lotus Club with different tasks. I’ll try to take some pictures of the Pagoda grounds sometime. In the meantime, here are a few pictures of the meeting and the meal.