December, 1996
Happy Reunion In Saigon After Seventeen Years
Saigon was extremely hot when Trung and I arrived there from Hanoi, even though the month was January. When I asked Trung's uncle, which was the coolest time of the year in Saigon, he said, "Now !" We had come to visit Trung's relatives in Saigon, following the death of his Grandma a few months earlier, but the occasion was a happy one, as they had not seen him since he left Vietnam as a young boy in 1979
There was much talk between all the members of the family, of which I could understand not a single word, but I shared their happiness at this re-union, and a gist of the conversations was always translated for me by Trung, and by Minh, whom we first met when we travelled from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay. At that time Minh was escorting a tourist from France.
Chinese Funeral Scrolls In Saigon
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Shortly after our arrival in Saigon at the home of his eldest Uncle, Trung paid his respects by kow tow and the lighting of joss sticks at his grand-mother's shrine in the living room, and then all the scrolls from his grand-mother's funeral, were explained to him. By custom, the names of all relatives are inscribed on these funeral scrolls, and his name was amongst them.
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