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Issue #91, Cat Ba Island, Vietnam, July 7-8, 2004




bug falls on breakfast
hanoi streetside comes to life
shopkeepers yawning




bug falls on breakfast
paige startles; chopsticks clatter




tiny plastic chairs
ubiquitous street decor
florescent lights glare




no regulations
to keep vendor from selling
his fish on sidewalk




stink of greywater
mingles with diesel exhaust
and sweaty t-shirt




roosters on baskets
two million motorbikes
roaring and clucking




wish I had ipod
seventeen long years ago
while in new zealand




traffic much the same
from here on up to china
minus the blue trucks




heifer on highway
front to future, back to past
udder to rudder




tall, narrow houses
ornate front, featureless sides
books in a shelf




it's the asian way
bikers with pointy straw hats
carry it all




trusting everyone
except for those you can't trust
travelers' mantra




turquoise room, white cross
elephant planter box
fried fish, bulging eyes




south china sea
so far away from home
all is placid




kitsch penguin trashcans
in grand stalagmite cavern
yawning yellow beak




cicadas buzzing
like restless chainsaw motor
in humid cavern




flashing us their soles
do i deserve such insult?
cultural divide




supremely placid
open sea, limestone garden
humid, sticky heat




in specimen room
looks like ghetto taxidermy
moth-eaten mammals




low belt evergreen
tropical monsoon forest
ice cream for sale




australian group
with after shave more pungent
than forest flora




tropical forest
with five new species
of water bottle




easy to rent
a motor scooter
for a day,
an old honda with three gears .
you can go to
the national park
with the rest of them, honking, weaving,
being honked at -
it is clear why everyone
has a motorbike,
starting with filling the tank
to the brim for 80 cents,
the quick easy rush
of getting there fast,
whole families fitting on one bike,
young boys holding on to the
steering wheel at the front,
adopting to the ways of their elders,
as they have for generations.




cruising in third gear past
rice paddies, shacks of mats,
contrasts to
the newly developed beach resort,
workers still transplanting
palm trees around orange
stucco hotel prospects -




after cheering them on
i help a group carry a palm tree
with root ball intact,
gaining immediate favor
for my muscular efforts.
we are unable to find
golden-headed langurs, serows,
macaques or sambars,
but instead are surprised by a giant X
in a spider web
it's creator nearby, four inches wide
with black belly and
green stripes,
another in red and yellow,
not to mention millipedes,
butterflies




bushwhacking impossible
no hope in finding
that rare species of flower
without being immediately stuck
in dense undergrowth.
we climb a tower instead
and look out over undisturbed
hillocks of limestone covered
in green.




mean ticket lady
asks us for 5000 dong
small girl shits nearby




cat ba high rises
spring up with tourist dollars
pink, blue, yellow, green




looking for a hotel
we get a ride to Cat Ba
on the backs of mopeds
and are promptly
dropped off at their friends' hotel
not liking their assumption
that we want to stay there
we walk off in a travelers' huff
and go to the spot that looked good
in lonely planet
the only room left -
something on the 6th floor
the room is like a florescent cave
glassy tile walls and ceilings
dirt and mold and a concrete balcony
we tell ourselves that
we should just deal - it's cheap
i want to go but we are
already washing clothes
i put extra soap in the basin
suprise myself when
the entire sink collapses
into one hundred pieces
on the floor the flexible water lines
now spurting and leaking
i am dumbfounded
but this is an opportunity
to get the hell out of
this ceramic white florescent cave
we just leave
and hope they deal




didn't like the room
finally got a chance to bolt
when the sink collapsed




on red cliff walkway
butterflies blue and yellow
evade camera





solo/group kukai
drawing/writing/photography
jonathan machen