Chance Encounter, Hoi An

The title above is, in fact, a bit of a come on. Sam – my lovable terror of a puppy – and I often run into this local farmer and his water buffalo when we are out for our morning walk. After seeing this fellow for some time, I have come to the conclusion that he is not taking these animals to the fields to work, he has them out for a morning walk, just as I have Sam out. Usually, Sam and I keep our distance when we meet this troupe – or more precisely, I force/drag Sam to go the other way – but this time we had to pass in a fairly narrow space. The calf and Sam really wanted to stop and get to know each other, sniffing and, in Sam’s case, jumping up and down, but their respective owners managed to move things along. In opposite directions.

Country Living, Hoi An, Vietnam

I live in one of the houses in the right center of the photo. The foreground is flooded rice paddy, though the rice plants are tall enough that it is no longer possible to see the water in the fields delivered by the irrigation canals that crisscross this area. I suppose it would be more accurate to say ex-urban living – I am only two or three km from Hoi An’s small city center.