Mikes Thoughts

Delicious Laziness

Last days have been this blur of doing morning coffee out, going for a nice walk, maybe a photo or two of something or other along the way. I end up somewhere writing about it. Yesterday I ended up reading. I could not believe it! I packed my Kindle along and cracked it open. I don’t buy books any longer. I use this site to find classics that I email to my kindle. That works very well for me and as long as the Kindle can have wifi it can get the books I send. All for free. I decided awhile back to not buy books until whenever from amazon. I missed the chance then to jailbreak the Kindle and would have enjoyed it even more if I could have. The latest OS version on the Kindle has no jailbreak unfortunately. Maybe it will come some time.

What I’ve found in this never ending and sometimes slowly starting chronicle is there is never a lack of things I want to write on or I just think about and start. I don’t really need an ideas note. Hell, I don’t need any notes. For awhile I had considered moving from 11ty to something but this writing is so easy even with the little steps I must do. I have to admit this beats the hell out of some silly little web editor or a database. Go to WordPress? I don’t think so. It’s no future to me for any kind of writing.

This morning kinda waiting for when I want to go from here. I like leaving around 8am. When I lived in Saigon I would stay up until 2am and not get going until around 11am. That seemed ideal for a retired person. I lived in this little room kinda thing that was exceedingly quiet in the mornings. The Vietnamese owner would go to work quietly and efficiently and the neighbors kept to themselves. They were all Vietnamese. Sometimes they would say hello. I can hear echoes of “Xin Chao” mornings even now. Most often though it was an English good morning and I would head to this one coffee shop or other that had pastries and that wonderful fuel ca phe sua da. Or I would get a hot latte all decorated up. I figured by 11am or so I should do some kind of meal. Banh Mi always worked for that or a bowl of pho down the street at the little stand where the lady would serve up the neighborhood.

the nirvana of nothing

There’s something to all these unbidden memories. It is like they tickle some ivories and I have the days that went by yet again, vicariously of course. The wandering Saigon where it never mattered what direction I would decide. It would be the going would suffice. Saigon is so big and my feet moved along. Some days long walks ensued to places I picked on google maps. Other times I left the map alone and made my own.

That was then though. Those other days I found of just getting my life going. I was alone then but never lonely. I had a few Vietnamese and expat friends in Saigon. Some would call and invite me for a beer at some little place they knew. We would gather then and have the times I guess that Vietnam is known for. Some little garden in Saigon with the waiter that never smiled but always seemed cheerful nonetheless.

That was a plethora of nothing those days. They all dissolved some time later when I decided to go. I liked where I lived but I wanted to make my way north. I ended up though going south because Lily called to ask what I was doing. So off to Can Tho on a bus or a van she called the VIP Luxury Service. Yeah. The real luxury was seeing Lily again and we would drink and eat at the restaurant by the river and talk.

all this flashes by

It all seems like some other life ago sometimes. That effortless feeling of just going. I’ll think on it this morning when I go for coffee here. It always blends into Hanoi though. Hanoi where I would simply sit and be astounded at sunset at the lake. The cold beer for less than $1. Meeting my friend Paul or Dom or the Vietnamese guys for a beer and some. Sometimes some stir fried pho which is good at this place somewhere I found. Other times sitting and watching. Feeling that delicious feeling overcome me.

The one that makes this post come alive. I was interviewed about retiring in Cambodia. The thing left unsaid was what I told my friend Mike here.

it was always Vietnam

Nothing has changed with that. Now it’s the laziness of memory and wishing for more. Perhaps that innocent going south instead of north but knowing I’d end up somewhere else. First the Mekong Delta with Mekong Lily and then life would transpire at a speed I wanted.

All this comes floating and I know I will pick it up again when I go walking here. Don’t get me wrong. I love Siem Reap but it has always been Vietnam. So let’s see if I pick up some kind of lazy thread with words and little dots and things out for coffee. I bet I do.

coffee times in Siem Reap

So here I am. A nice walk to Ur Cafe. Iced americano and a warm morning. These days it’s more the getting away. I don’t feel I move toward some wondrous thing. It’s not needed. Isn’t that what Howard Carter said when he peered inside the tomb? Asked what he saw.

Wondrous things

The real wonder always has been that Tutankhamen was not a major league pharaoh. The only thing that graduated him was not being found and looted completely. Every day life though. Saigon to Siem Reap. Finding my coffee moments whenever. Wondrous things. Writing this here and not changing again. Fucking outstanding! The girl makes my coffee. They’re busy here today. Popular spot in the mornings.

Your coffee

So I can sit and fabricate intricate and delicious laziness.

Can you?