Vietnamita

When I woke up my colleague Phallin in Cambodia had sent me some pictures of my leaving do from around six years ago in Phnom Penh. One of the pictures was of me performing a yoga pose in a pagoda, which I was in the habit of doing in those days. I add it here as an extra by way of self-motivation.

Cambodia had a late Covid spike after being bizarrely clear of cases for the first year. They’ve recently made impressive strides with their vaccination campaign, outpacing the vast majority of countries. I asked if everyone was safe and well. Phallin said ‘we are safe, but not well.’

It was a hot day in Maputo but I walked for a few hours in the afternoon. Continuing the ‘throwback to life in Asia’, I noticed a Vietnamese restaurant and went in for food. I liked the colourful, floral decor, snapped over my shoulder. I sampled some bún chả, a typical Hanoi dish that I used to eat regularly on visits there, from a cavern-like place near our office.

I wanted to hang around long after the food had been consumed because, fantastically, the soundtrack at the Vietnamese restaurant included at very high volume:
•Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You by Roberta Flack and Peabo Bryson
•Woman In Love by Barbra Streisand
•Alone by Heart