What I have to say about Vietnam is not new, or profound, I'm sure. But I'll say it nevertheless. I admit I haven't followed events in Vietnam closely in recent years, but obviously communism has been abandoned in favor of capitalism. You can see that within two minutes of landing here. ​
    Thanks to our relative purchasing power, Ross and I can enjoy some luxuries in Asia. For a few dollars, we can arrange for a driver to pick us up at the airport to take us to our hotel in Hanoi. It was a nice car, too, though I forget what make and model. As I settled into the backseat, I immediately recognized the song playing -- an instrumental muzak version of The Sounds of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel.  When that song was a hit, American soldiers were crawling though the jungle in Vietnam, and possibly the father of our driver belonged to the guerrilla forces they were trying to subdue. Now, in the blink of an eye, we Westerners and our tourist dollars are more than welcome. And our soundtrack is an anthem to youthful alienation, with a  pretentious little slap at capitalism thrown in: "and the people bowed and prayed, to the neon god they made."

   Said the sly and conniving Mary Crawford to Fanny Price, and so I say to you, dear readers, forgive my long silence. Mary went on to say, "for you are so good, that I depend upon being treated better than I deserve."  
   ​And so say I to you, dear readers, thank you for treating me better than I deserve. And just as Mary broke her long silence because of self-interest, candour compels me to admit that I want to tell you something!
   I have just published my debut novel, A Contrary Wind: a variation on Mansfield Park. More about that in a moment.

When you enter a store in China you'll be greeted with Huangying Guanglin!  When I first got to China, this greeting sounded like a badly pronounced "good morning" to me, and in my vanity I thought everyone was saying a mangled 'good morning' just for me, the foreigner -- I realized the staff greet everyone that way. Huangying Guanglin means "welcome to our store" or literally, "welcome, brightness draws near!" We customers bring the brightness. Even if there isn't a special greeting just for us, it's not easy to avoid getting a swelled head when you're a foreigner in China.

In a third tier city, a foreigner is a rarity and a celebrity. We are, in the words of Ron Burgundy, "kind of a big deal." ​We are treated well! The other day I was riding the bus, and a young lady gave up her seat to me and told me that she had seen me downtown before and that it was "her dream" (her words) to talk with me and she was so happy her dream came true! While many Chinese people are too shy to speak English with a foreigner, others, like this girl, are anxious for every opportunity they get!