h2>Dating : Young Buddhas in Vietnam
It was the second week I was in Vietnam.
I ended up spending a total of 6 weeks in the country in a south to north on the road travel.
I was in Mui Ne when I met Camille, from France, and a german girl whose name I forgot.
We all found each other walking around looking for a place to sleep. At the end of the day we decided to share a room in a nice hotel just few meters away from the sandy beach. The hotel was just fine, it had a swimming pool and our room was clean and spacious with a nice bathroom. I remember the big window facing east from where we could see the sea behind the palms lined up along the street. Since it was low season we got the room for a ridiculously low price and being three we shared the cost paying few Vietnamese Dong each.
Mui Ne is a nice village on the coast and it’s popular for its fishermen round boats, the Fairy stream, russian tourists and the red sand dunes.
The german girl left Mui Ne before me and Camille did.
It was in our room, in that village in Vietnam that I completely shaved my head for the first time.
I did it by myself and i asked Camille to check if it was shaved properly also in the back.
Shaving is now a thing I do automatically and quickly, I learnt to know my head shape, the way hair grows, how much pressure to apply to the razor and how to avoid cuts.
But in the beginning it was not that easy.
After shaving i remember looking at myself in the mirror and not recognising myself, have you ever completely shaved your head?
Now I would never change it even if I had the chance, It is so good and practical to have no air, and I am quite lucky to have a very regular head shape!
I shaved before going to sleep and the following day me and Camille decided to leave Mui Ne and keep travelling together since both of us were heading north.
Our next stop was Dalat, originally the playground of the French who built villas in the clear mountain air to escape the heat and humidity of the coast and of what was then called Saigon, now officially known as Ho Chi Min City.
The heat and humidity of Mui Ne was now behind us.
As we arrived in town we secured a place to sleep in a not yet open hostel, it was still partially under construction and here as well we ended up paying just few VND per night.
We spent our first day walking around the city experiencing a very different Vietnam compared to the one you can see in the more touristic destination or on the coastline.
The whole city was getting ready for some kind of local festival, food stalls were everywhere as well and walking sellers who were selling kites.
We had a long day and after dinner we went back to our hostel.
The day after it seemed like the whole population of the city was out in the streets, parks, and squares flying kites. Living in China i have seen many times people flying kites together, but that time in Vietnam is still something that has met no equals. Flying kites in Asia is taken very seriously and more than once I found myself observing these old men flying their bird shaped kite up in the sky. They have big kite reels secured to their body and sometimes kites are so high in the sky that it’s hard to see them.
The following day we decided to rent a scooter and ride around without a precise destination.
After visiting temples, going through dusty roads and green hills we decided to go to Pongour Waterfall. This waterfall is one of the most popular in Vietnam and maybe in the world, have you hear about it?
The waterfall is massive and very suggestive. It’s possible to climb it and walk around all the water basin area. The rocks are slippery and in some places the water will create very strong currents, so you better be careful.
What I remember more vividly tho is not the waterfall itself but what happen while we were there.
Until that moment it was just us and half a dozen of other travellers.
Suddenly I heard kids voices approaching and after few seconds a group of kids appeared from the vegetation surrounding the waterfall.
These kids were laughing and playing, they were locals.
All of them wearing light blue or brown gowns, barefoot and with their heads shaved.
Young novice monks who came to the waterfall to escape the heat and playing around. They didn’t pay much attention to us, probably they were used to see foreigners taking pictures and walking around the waterfall.
I was observing them and thinking about how childhood is different in different countries, societies, times and latitudes when one of the kids started pointing at me and then all the other kids started laughing and pointing at me as well. I couldn’t hear them because they were too far from me and even if I could I wouldn’t been able to understand what they were saying.
They seemed to have a lot of fun laughing about me and I was quite happy about it.
I kept watching them and I noticed one of these little monks climbing down the waterfall and coming to me. When we were close enough I noticed that I was wrong, that wasn’t a young monk. She was a young novice nun, like all her friends.
She started talking to me and pointing at my head and then pointing at her head. That was our connection point. Probably that was the reason why they were laughing just moments before.
All the girls followed her and in few moments I was surrounded by little nuns laughing and pointing at my head.
One of these little girl had a camera and asked me to take a picture together, and I also took one.
After a while we started playing with water and splashing each other.
They left soon after and we left too heading back to our hostel
That was a very pleasant afternoon and what I found out later was how young kids are so attracted by my bald head. It’s a common trait in all kids I have encountered since I shaved my head in that hotel room in Vietnam. Kids like to touch it, play with it and crack jokes about it. And not only kids, sometimes I found adults as well being curious about it.
I spent few more days in Dalat before moving north, Camille left before me and I never saw her again.
I hope you are fine Camille, wherever you are.
And thank you for helping me shave my head that first time!
Bisoux!
