no killer virus yet. instead, over the last four days there have been: jackfruit blended ice shake; ice cream with stewed in syrup longans; extreme heat; extreme traffic; a church at sunset, flanked by two lifesize tableaux: mary’s grotto, in which mary is nestled in a manmade mounatin cave setting beneath a neon halo and a neon sign the says “ave maria”, and a crucifiction scene where at jesus's feet stand mary and mary gazing down at a second jesus, lying in state (thus proving by being in two places at the same time, that he *is* god); a very long wait amidst pushy shovy grannies for a mini bus ride to a bus station, a mini bus that is actually a tin of sardines; a five hour bus trip from saigon down to the mekong delta punctuated by many hawkers coming on board to sell things, including, spruiked by loudspeaker, a set of knives; soursop blended ice shake; extreme heat; a siesta; another soursop blended ice shake; a cantonese congregation temple; a khmer temple; another temple at which a delightful scene of miniature buddha and goddess of mercy statues are glued onto a small concrete mountain; another siesta; a crazy park with decorated staircase-based structures that one could pose on, surrounded by many concrete animals and dangerous merry-go-round rides; a slice of coconut flan; a sugar brioche filled with dollops of kaya; a dubbed-into-vietnamese tv show, which seemed to have been made in italy; a five a.m. awakening; a motor sampan along the mekong to a floating market; a bowl of spaghetti and sliced pork in a tangy pink soup, on the sampan, in the shade of a neighbouring boat; veggies tied to poles; five hours in the sun, in the slowest motor sampan in can tho, travelling through silty brown canals; a jackfruit blended ice shake; a siesta.