3. Vietnam

Will held his phone up to the man at the table next to him. The night was muggy and the street was crowded with people strolling by the restaurant, leaning back on their heels. Will had a bowl of food in front of him and sat on plastic patio furniture just up on the street curb. The man next to him was in a tank top, shorts and flip flops. He was spooning soup up to his mouth as Will tried to talk to him.

‘Check this one out, this one looks cool.’ Will thumbed through the video thumbnails and found one of the celebrity chef in Burma. ‘This one looks like Vietnam, but it’s not, it’s Burma,’ He explained to his neighbor.

The man kept eating his soup as he watched the TV clip on Tom’s phone. Tom had offered the man an earbud to hear the show better, but he had shaken his head no. Tom shrugged and just turned the phone onto the speaker. They watched the celebrity chef eat noodles at night with a laughing local host whose English was excellent and knew all the best noodle places in town.

Tom laughed at a point and looked over to see if his new friend was laughing as well. He wasn’t. ‘Do you come here often?’ He asked tank top guy. The man spooned up some more soup and looked Tom in the eye. He didn’t reply.

Tom turned back to look at the road, nodding his head. ‘Yeah, yeah, I hear you. I understand, it is not easy, is it?’ Tom leaned back in the plastic chair, then leaned forward, back again, and then bent over to poke at his food with a fork. He pronged a piece of pork and dipped it into the sauce before putting into his mouth.

‘I get you man. You know, eating alone. Eating alone is excellent. It’s a rare opportunity to be out there in the world, on your own terms, open to everything and everyone. Have you done a lot of traveling?

‘You know being in new places, you don’t always notice the place, really get it, if you travel with friends. They distract you, you create a little piece of home with them wherever you are. You don’t get into the place, you know what I mean? And then, you know, you might even fight, and that is just the worse. Everything gets spoiled, its just impossible to have any fun, you know what I mean?’

The man looked at Will over his spoon. Will looked him back in the eye and stopped talking. The man held the spoon up to his mouth and stared, watching Will as he fidgeted in his seat. Will looked at the man, then looked out on the street, then down at his food, at his watch, at the dark sky above him.

The man put down his spoon and wiped his mouth with a napkin. He pointed at Will’s phone and gestured with his chin.

‘Yeah, that was funny right?’

The man pointed at the phone, impatient.

‘OK, yeah, you want to see another one? OK, this one, this one is from Bolivia, he was having pork here, too.’ Will scrolled through and found the clip. He pressed play. ‘Look, man, it’s the same seats as we’re sitting in! Other side of the world and the have the same seats as here! Amazing right?’

The man ignored Will and watched the video. When the video ended, the man looked up and nodded in agreement. He made a small frown of contemplation and then went back to his food.

Will turned back to his food and took a small bite as well. He chewed it more than necessary, counting the number of times he chewed it before he had to swallow. He tapped on his phone screen and bobbed his head along to a song coming out of a stereo at a nearby stall. He looked over at the man in the tank top. He was still there, sitting on his own phone and scrolling. Will waved to get his attention.

‘Hey! Hey! Look at this one! Did you know Barack Obama was here? Yeah, he came to Vietnam! Ate your food! Watch!’

The man kept eating as Tom held the phone in front of his bowl.

‘10,- for two plates of Bún Chả?' Will laughed and slugged the man on the shoulder. ‘No Way!’

The man stood up in his chair, startled by Will’s intimacy. He looked ready to punch Will back.

Will cowered in his chair. ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry!’ He said, holding his hands up in front him. ‘I’m really sorry, let me buy you a beer, OK?’

The man still had his hands balled into fists.

‘A beer, alright?!’

The man shouted something at the proprietor, gesturing at Will, and then stormed off. Will looked back at the man in the restaurant, who just looked at him blankly. ‘Sorry!’ Said Will.

Will finished his food and stood up to go. He threw some money down on the table and walked away into the night.

Back at the hostel he went back to his dormitory and threw his bag into his cubby beside his bunk. He laid down on the bed and took his phone out. He picked a clip of the chef somewhere sunny and warm, drinking mimosas at a brunch place with an American celebrity. Will played with his sandal with his big toe as he watched them enjoy themselves on the veranda of a hotel. He had forgotten his earbuds at the restaurant, and didn’t want to make any noise, so he was watching them without understanding them.

Will looked across the room at the three empty beds that had not been occupied that day. Their occupants had cleared out the night before. All of their stuff stashed into bags and thrown over the owners shoulders half closed, damp towels hanging out of the corner of the duffel bag mouths beneath unbuckled lids. The shouts and the fuck yous that had followed them out still seemed to hand beneath the fluorescent lights that still illuminated the dormitory.

Will grunted in frustration and sat up in his bunk. He put his feet down on the floor and got up with a determined look on his face. He went back out to the lobby of the hostel. Dance music was playing and there were bottles of beer scattered over everything. Twenty-somethings sat sweating on the benches, their knees pulled up to their chests as they lent over the broad wooden tables to hear what the girls across from them were saying. One boy nodded enthusiastically as he frowned, gesturing with his beer as he answered the girl with the loose pony tail across from him. Will went up to them.

‘Hey, how are you guys?’

The boy and the girl looked up at him. The girl smiled while the boy just arched his eyebrows.

‘You guys traveling a lot?’

‘Yeah,’ Said the girl, ‘What about you?’

‘My name is Will.’ He said and reached out his hand.

The girl took his hand briefly. ‘Yeah, Sophie. This is Thor.’

Will looked down at the boy. ‘Thor, wow!? Really? People are really named Thor? Like in the movie?’

Tor smiled at Will.

‘I’m traveling alone!’ Said Will, bobbing his head along with the music.

Sophie and Tor didn’t reply. The sat there looking at Will.

‘My friends are assholes, they just left.’

Sophie took a sip of her beer.

‘Did you guys see when Barack Obama was here with Tony? 10 bucks for Bun cha! Get out of here with that, no way!’ Will laughed as he looked around the room, still grooving with the beat.

‘I hope you have a good night!’ Said Sophie, smiling at Will.

‘Yeah, thanks,’ Said Will, eyes darting around the room. ‘You too.’

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