Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam

One morning during his bike trip, Pham packs up his panniers and rides south out of Hanoi. While riding through a village where the road narrows and gets more crowded with people, he finds himself facing an oncoming gravel truck on the wrong side of the street. At the same time, two dogs have darted into the street. Just before the truck arrives, Pham crashes off the asphalt and into some plastic chairs at a roadside café. One of the dogs gets away, but the other dies, crushed by the back wheels of the truck.

Workers from a dog-meat restaurant on the other side of the road come out to take the dog to cook it. Pham feels nauseous as he remembers the first time he ate dog meat. His uncle used to make him go buy it for him, and once while drunk the uncle forced Pham to taste it. Immediately, the uncle laughed at the boy, saying that meant he would now reincarnate as a dog in his next life. From then on, Chi came to his rescue by getting the meat herself whenever she was around.

Pham continues riding, seeing nothing but rice paddies surrounding the road. When he passes a school, he’s dismayed when the boys there yell at him, calling him a Russian, and then proceed to throw their sandals at him.