Barbara took me for a walk along the river today because she wanted to see the damage done to one of the bridges along the river. It has been reported that a barge full of sand had collapsed the bridge by running into one of its pylons. Once we got to the river, sure enough, the entire middle portion of the bridge was missing. This is a 100 year old bridge built by Eiffel who is the same fellow who built the Eiffel Tower in Paris. There have been some horrible bridge collapses around the world with dozens of people killed, but this collapse only resulted in a few motorbikes diving into the river and the passengers swimming away unharmed. When asked how long it would take the government to repair the bridge, Barbara was told, "A long time". This also means that all train service to Ho Chi Minh is shut down. The southern route now ends here, in Bien Hoa, at the station which I can see from our apartment.
It seems that every time we go to the river, we meet someone, and this time we met a primary teacher. Barbara has invited him to her bi-weekly free English lessons at Tony cafe. She is hoping to get more private students.
La Ti Da here. I don't know why I am being called this name, but I will hereby be known as Water Bottle #13.
No comments:
Post a Comment