To Hue On A Sack Of Rice
Friday, October 11th, 2002
My motorcycle taxi driver, Mr. Binh, takes me to a small cafe by the side of the road leading out of Quang Tri where we wait to wave down a local kamazake minibus that will careen along a bad stretch of Highway 1 to Hue. The bus is crammed full of people one on top of the other, of course, so I sit on the top of some rice sacks until someone gets off and I am graciously allowed to have the emptied seat. A couple of giggling girls behind me give me a small sweet tangerine to eat. I, the foreigner, am the center of attention for awhile.
At first I thought the driver was a woman but when he got out to gas up the bus I saw that he was a long haired bad-ass looking guy in his 30�s or 40�s with a very pocked and scarred face. This guy especially loved to put the pedal to the medal…this guy especially loved his brakes…this guy loved to jerk the steering wheel back and forth narrowly missing the oncoming trucks…he is having a great time and I am breathless waiting for my life to end. Suddenly he throws a dirty towel to someone in the back of the bus. It lands in my face. He looks back with a grin to see if I am alright. I return his thumbs up with a big laugh.
Across from me sits two pretty girls, about 12 years old, dressed identically with black pants and white shirts-must be a school uniform-looking absolutely bored as only adolescent girls everywhere can look.
Zoe