peas and carrots

we are the lamps
born ready
to roll

marketeering nancies
crafty collection
purple pant

high fives
switcharoos
funny magoos

come with us
on a journey
to the land of imagination

dont worry be happy yess markets are baaaaaaaaack...

winning

after a long hiatus i'm out of hibernation and refreshed with innovative ideas and new stories to tell.  for example, last week i went on that trip to vietnam.

we ate dog.  we drank moonshine with marinating cockroaches inside.  we splashed out on a private tour guide, personal driver and an automobile (if you've been to vietnam you'll understand how the latter is perhaps the most indulgent luxury) and journeyed to a mountain-top lake in a national park of the far northern highlands.

we saw uncle ho's embalmed body.  you're not allowed to photograph it.  you'll just have to take my word for it; he's aging well.

we started drinking local beer by noon each day and kicked on until at least 10 pm (midnight darwin time.  very extreme).  we visited mediocre museums and feigned inquisitive interest (but we were drunk so we probably weren't as convincing as we thought). we sat on plastic stools that could have fit inside a dollhouse and ate pho at roadside vendors.  we drank at bia hois and met wine brokers and stock brokers and listened to stories about what its like to grow up in vietnam. 

we observed capitalism in its purest form and indulged in tailor-made goodies, wooden instruments and counterfeit dvds that don't play properly.  for the first time in my life, i treated myself to a stint in a five star french colonial hotel on the banks of a river including gourmet breakfast, room service dessert, lobby cocktails and four hours being pampered by three staff at the spa.

we woke up too early and couldn't sleep on the planes.  we drank water from the tap, had ice in our drinks, forgot to take our malaria tablets and didn't suffer too many consequences.  we didn't miss our phones or our regular internet access or facebook or even this blog.

we accidentally dropped our camera and bought a used [stolen] camera that had been fixed up [barely works] to document our trip and map out our blurry memories for years and decades and eons to come.

we had the time of our lives.  we spent more than one hour together, just the two of us, for the first time in a very, very long time.

we made ourselves tired and we were very pleased to arrive home.

home.