Dear brothers and sisters,

I had the opportunity to walk in Saigon in the Covid pandemic days (not when Saigon was on lockdown).

I walked from District 1 to District 3, District 5, District 10, Phu Nhuan District, Tan Binh District and Binh Thanh District. Some days I walked from 7am to 7pm. The streets were deserted with few vehicles and few people. The sidewalks were wide with no motorbikes parked across them. The air was cool and free of dust and noise. The space was so quiet that I could drink coffee in a sidewalk shop on a once-busy street and still heard birds singing.

A very different Saigon – beautiful and poetic.

Share with you.

Have a nice day.

Phạm Thu Hương

Dear brothers and sisters,

One afternoon, I went to a children’s yard. I saw two children sitting next to puddles of water. These puddles were water from people’s watering plants. Each child sat next to a different puddle of water.

The older sister, about 4, was using a leaf as a boat to row on her puddle water, and the younger brother, about 2, was looking down at his puddle. I thought the boy was looking at his face in the water. Then slowly, the boy bent down, his face closer to the water. I still thought the boy bent deeper to see himself better. Then suddenly, the boy used his tongue to lap the puddle water. I was startled, “Oh my god, where are his parents?” Continue reading The boy who drank puddle water →

Dear brothers and sisters,

Every full moon, moonlight floods into my room. I like watching the moon.

Every time I look at the moon, I often remember this story – The moon cannot be stolen. The story is in 101 Zen Stories – Zen Master Nyogen Senzaki compiled, anh Hoành translated and annotated. Continue reading The moon →

Dear brothers and sisters,

In Saigon, I walk a lot. Maybe that’s why I receive many gifts from God. Paper money, coins, glasses, bracelets, ballpoint pens, martial arts sticks, plants… There are many cool things but I can’t bring them home because there won’t be room to store them. Among the gifts from heaven, I laugh the most about the gift brought by birds. Continue reading Gifts from God →

Dear brothers and sisters,

One evening 3 years ago, my friend and I walked in an area near Ba Chuông Church (Saint Dominic Church), Phú Nhuận district.

It was an intersection in a residential area. The sidewalks of the two corners of the intersection were places where a street foodstall selling snails, soft drinks and beer. The sidewalks of the remaining two corners were empty, except a group of 5 men ranging from 35 to 70 years old were drinking on one corner. The street lights were just right, not too bright and not too dark. Continue reading Playing music at an intersection →

Dear brothers and sisters,

One evening before Christmas 3 years ago, I went to the Đức Bà Church (Notre-Dame Cathedral) with my friend.

On one side of the Đức Bà Church are the Central Post Office and the Book Street. On the sidewalk of the Post Office, there was a man about 50 years old singing and playing a guitar. In front of him was a small box for people to put money in. Continue reading Playing music at Đức Bà Church →

Dear brothers and sisters,

When the Romantic Road was still the trash road, one evening, about 6pm, I walked the road.

Darkness, no street lights, no moonlight, high and big mountains of trash, growled dogs, countless potholes, scattered bottle shards, large container truck and driver, and the unknown ahead. All of things reminded me of Psalm 23. Continue reading Darkness →

Dear brothers and sisters,

When the Romantic Road was the trash road, there were many daisy flowers. Sometimes I wanted to pick them to put in a vase, but I thought it’s best to let them live here with their world.

Every time I saw small daisy flowers with white petals and a yellow centre that were swaying in the wind and in the sun, I often thought about Matthew 6:25-34. Continue reading Daisy flowers →

Dear brothers and sisters,

From the corner where two red cotton trees used to stand, turn left, at the end of a road, there is a coffee shop. The shop has appeared after someone cleaned up the Romantic Road.

An area around the coffee shop doesn’t have street lights, so at night it is quite dark, only a few houses have a light bulb in front of their door. When the coffee shop appears, the area looks brighter. Continue reading Live music coffee shop →

Dear brothers and sisters,

From the corner where two red cotton trees used to stand, turn right, there is a small bridge spanning a small canal. There is a house across the bridge – the house has a colorful paperflower tree and a fruity mango tree. And on this side of the bridge is a coffee shop, right on the bank of the canal, its front facing the road. Continue reading Yellow lights →

Dear brothers and sisters,

From the corner where two red cotton trees used to stand, turn right, there is a small bridge spanning a small canal. The canal is 3m wide and 10m long. The canal is partially blocked at both ends, so its water becomes muddy, black and smelly.

There is a house across the bridge. The house faces a small road and stands right on the bank of the canal. In front of the house there is a fence. Along the fence and along the small road, there are many aloe vera plants. And along the canal, there are a mango tree and a paperflower tree. The mango tree is in a yard of the house, and the paperflower tree is outside the fence. Continue reading Next to the black canal →

Dear brothers and sisters,

At the corner of the Romantic Road and a small road, there were two red cotton trees (Bombax ceiba – cây hoa gạo).

The first time I saw the trees, it was winter, the sky was gloomy and going to rain and I just got to the end of the Romantic Road which at that time was the trash road. I saw the trees because their red flowers stood out in the whole space. They both welcomed me to my new home in Saigon and gave me a feeling of closeness as if I were in Thai Binh, my hometown. They made me emotional. Continue reading Red cotton trees →

Dear brothers and sisters,

At the corner of the Romantic Road and a main road, there is a lady selling sugarcane juice on the sidewalk under some rain trees (Samanea Saman trees – cây me tây). The sugarcane juice cart has appeared after someone cleaned up the Romantic Road. Continue reading Rain trees →

Dear brothers and sisters,

After someone cleaned up the Romantic Road, a flock of chickens appeared. They were one rooster, one hen and eight chicks. They belonged to a house that I couldn’t see clearly from the roadside.

The house was at the end of a small path perpendicular to the Romantic Road, at a middle part of the road. The path was about 15 meter long and nearly 1 meter wide. There were many trees and weeds on both sides of the path, and at the end of the path there were many banana trees. You couldn’t see the house through that jungle. Continue reading Flock of chickens →

Dear brothers and sisters,

My neighbour’s house has a signboard on their wall. The sign has just the letter D and no light. It has broken in the middle a bit.

My neighbour’s house is next to a road. Across the road are rows of Samanea Saman trees (cây me tây). The trees are tall and give a lot of shade. Continue reading New home →