On Sunday I visited Lai's home, which is a few kilometers out of Bien Hoa off the main road to Hanoi. We were picked up by her sister and boyfriend, who speak no English, on motorbikes. (What else?) I wished to take a gift to her mother, so on the way we stopped at a huge covered market to buy fruit.
From there the roads became narrower until we were on dirt tracks, finally reaching the family farm. Her parents moved from their home in the North when Lai was five years old, as the living has always been easier here in the South. Their home is a single story comprising five rooms; kitchen, living room, two bedrooms and another room with cupboards but no other furniture. The furnishings are sparse by our standards, with no easy chairs or couches. While the parents' bed has a rather solid honeycomb foam mattress with bed cover, the children sleep on mats with no bedding, except for a firm pillow. I still can't make out the loo arrangements as all I saw was a large tank of water with a tap and a shallow bowl with cloths in it. Not even a hole in the ground! What is one supposed to do???
I was invited to take a nap in the hammock, where I fell fast asleep, dreaming of a flushing toilet upstairs.
They have a nice little smallhoding and farm pigs, chickens and fish in three large ponds, as well as growing corn and other crops. They are far from wealthy but I suppose they do alright by local standards. Her family spoke no English but as always were friendly and hospitable. That's her younger brother Qui, which means precious, breaking open a coconut for the juice.
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