just
experience | just sights | just
blah | just write
all photos, travelogues and journals are made available for non-commercial use only. © 2000 JSL
all photos, travelogues and journals are made available for non-commercial use only. © 2000 JSL
VIETNAM, SPIRIT OF INDOCHINA
8.
Television network
- Four days into my journey, the world trembles at the sudden attack. Jeff and Nicole whom I met came running into the hallway of the communal backpacker area, shouting in abbreviated words "Hijack - Attacked - US!" I rushed out in my sarong, hair in sticky mess, scrambling to rush to a local café to watch the TV.
- In local language it was, I was shaken just like the mills of backpackers: French, Germans, Australians, New Zealanders, fellow Americans and American born Chinese and Vietnamese, Japanese and a handful of Asians packed in the tiny bar area, stared at the impossible and incomprehensible language. There was silence throughout that night.
- Several went on the Internet to read the news and there were network traffic congestion. The connection ultimately came to a halt. Crippled with language incompetence, Internet was basted, everyone's mood was at their lowest and I am of no exception. It could have been me as I thought to myself and suddenly, raging with fear, Tiffany is in the US - oh no! The sudden unease and discomfort alongside with the annoying honking of the rising traffic in the street drums up every nerve that is tied to a time bomb.
- Two hours later, the French backpackers translate the local French news at best they can, the honking of the traffic out in the streets, loud as they seemed, fades into the background in that tiny packed café. Under the warm ceiling fan, in low dim tungsten light, every pair of eyes was glued to the TV that now has English subtitles sporadically. Who would have guessed that the local TV network really made provision for the travelers in Vietnam. Among the crowd, someone shouted. "I called the Vietnam TV network and requested for English subtitles!" There was a short burst of chuckles in the air and reciprocal remarks, and then it was the hissing audio sound of the TV news again.