VIETNAM's MOUNTAINS: BRINGING OUT THE BEST ON MYSELF

by ANDREA ROMAOLI GARCIA (Brazil)

I didn't expect to find Vietnam

Vietnam 2019: It should be a travel with nothing more than typical restaurants between diplomatic meetings. I was looking forward for touching 3000 years of history about war and overcoming. As soon as I arrived at the connection in Paris Airport, I suspected on my notion about the tedious trip wasn't real. It was confirmed as soon as I took my seat on the Vietnamese flight. The flight attendants displayed a serene and welcoming aura by spraying the blooms aroma accompanied by white and warm towels for our hands. I got it the reason why everyone talks about the ability to be welcoming and generous hosts of vietnamise people. Surprisingly in Hanoi, I dropped my luggage at the hotel for walking by the streets. I was quickly touched by the hectic pace of people as well as the chaotic traffic that was steadily challenging the luck. I found the honest, tasty and plentiful food also I bought souvenirs for my son. Then, I went to religious temples to take pictures but Vietnam gave me much more than photographs. At night, I would take the night train to Si Ma Cai, my final destination. Boarding the train, falstly I got it that the boredon weren't part of my agenda. Into the cabin there was a Vietnamese couple sitting on the bed. They were so short, cowering and even afraid of me. “Oops”, I climbed on the bed and left my backpack on the top bed (it is slightly cheaper). When I got off, I almost stepped on their luggage that made a distinctive sound: Cluck, Cluck. A CHICKEN! I left the cabin and almost died laughing, because I always heard stories from my father telling me that vietnamise people were carrying all kind of things on the train. When I got back on the train, the couple was no longer there ... neither was the chicken. Already in my destination at Si Ma Cai in order to attend my diplomatic meeting among a delicious vietnamese coffee and deeply talks, it got the end. Thus, the community elder invited me for tea. Realize that the house was on top of the mountain and was a cave or something very similar to an cave. Wow !!! I was climbing a mountain in Vietnam !!! Okay .... this wasn’t exactly a climb but given my poor fitness, we can keep this. While my guide held my hand in the hazard road stretches, my eyes captured the intensely green forest, the humid and cloud climate. I was panting on getting the highest point on the mountain where the elder'sdwelling was built inside a huge and cold stone. Amazing!! Next to stove with the family around waiting patiently for asking questions about everything, I was able to empathize with them because I also wanted for asking questions about everything. This moment warmly embraced me saying nothing about the frightening walk down a trail untill the zero point. The clay ground was slippery with the rain that was beginning to fall, my pair of sneackers inappropriate and the narrow trail made it seem that my fall and death was certain. In the end, after jumping like a cat through 3 meters I reached the main avenue. After the jump I was feeling such as the athlete. In the morning, it semmed like the end of the journey when I found myself inside a comic version of William Hayes' film Midnight Express (1978) upon arriving in Hanoi due to the train stopped at a station with no stairs. I threw my luggage out of the train and I jumped. My unpredictable and not at all tedious journey was over: I was on the floor, dirty and laughing. The setting was unimaginable and was certainly part of a movie. Backing to Brazil, I was ready to retake my predictable life, but I could never say again that my work agenda was tedious. The memories about the war scene and anonymous combatants gave way to the vision by a pulsating Vietnam filled for people surviving intensely through its unique colors and then, I can see my self among those memories.