The richness of life lies in memories…I used to think that I forgot all but in fact, they didn’t fade from my mind… These memories still deeply exist in my heart, sometimes they rush back and fulfill all my soul…

My childhood was in Nha Trang, a city of Vietnam central. At that time, we didn’t have many games like the kids have now but it was full of funny games in the beach. That was a memory of golden afternoon of catching sandcrabs, snails and fish. I remember that at the time when the moon was full, there was a small bay bar emerged above the sea and many sea creatures had lived in that place. We, all kids of village, passionately caught snails and fish until the sun hided deeply in sea. Didn’t feel tired, didn’t feel hungry, just endless pleasure fulfilled all our souls. All kids wanted to catch as many as possible, and nobody wanted to become a looser in that game. Sometimes, we indulged in pleasure and forgot to come back home, Mom and Dad had to look for both of us (I have a younger sister), and for sure that we had to got…. beaten in our ass. Whenever we saw Mom finding us, we rushed fast to our home and felt scary…but it seems that Gods born kids being easy forgotten, we would forget soon a few days later and be attracted by wonderful sea creatures, and that sound thrashings were almost disappeared in my mind and that stories repeated again and again…

In 80′s, we didn’t have modern games, computer, internet, facebook, we just had unique old, black and white television which was the most valuable asset in my house. At that time, TV programme was just presented at 7:00pm to 9:00pm, many families came to my house for watching. We were so poor but so happy when gathering to talk and comment all things in this world. Most of time, TV programs just included local and international news, a few film was showed at that time. I remember that most of films were produced by Rusia that our country had a good relationship with. Most of film related to war such as “Chuyến xe bão táp”, “17 khoảng khắc mùa xuân”, “Ván bài lật ngửa”…Though at that time I was still a child, but I loved watching them a lot. It might be we didn’t have kid’s programme…

…We kids were so happy with practicing on riding on bike. We didn’t have fit bikes, we had to practice on adult’s bikes. It was so funny that we had to sit on bone of bike because our legs were too short to reach to bike pedals if we sat on bike’s saddle. Falling down to the ground regularly happened to us… At that time, they used barbed-wire fences for protecting their houses replacing building walls around. Barbed-wire fence was a nightmare with us because we usually crashed into them when practicing bikes… Fell down, stood up, climbed on bike, practiced with happiness… It made a cycle with much fun and joy!

….I remember that our neighbors who lived behind my house had a guava tree with many fruits. Its fruits were not sweet but acrid. But when guava fruits were ripen, they were so attractive with red color and sweet smell. That neighbor man didn’t eat them and he usually gave some for me and my sister. Anyway, we were happier than the other kids because we had a right to eat that acrid fruits. My friends were craved for eating that though it was not delicious. The problem was that the guava tree was grown next to the pigs piggery and one of my friends was felt down to that poor pigs when climbing on the roof in order to thieve that fruits. I remember I had heard a loud sound and when I run out, I saw him spattered with mud and pig’s shit…Of course, he was safe and not punished by Mom and Dad because all adults had gone to class for teaching at that time, nobody knew this incident except me, my sister and him. Whenever I and my sister talked with each other about this naughty memory, we all had loudly laughed and really enjoyed by remembering his images at that time…

…Mom and Dad were teachers of Military University. When I was a child, Mom sometimes took me and my sister to go to that university. While Mom taught, I and my sister played outside. I missed soft feelings when sitting on the ground and watching wild grass waving in the morning wind…Some white and yellow wild flowers emerged in grass created a wonderful scene which engraved in my memory…

….At that time, the country was so poor and electricity was usually cut off. It was so hot in the summer afternoon without fan. I and my sister had to clean the ground under the bed for sleeping… And that place became a paradise to us. In the evening, we used oil lamp for lighting our house, I usually read “The book of thousand nights and one night” which I loved the most at that time…Under the light of oil lamp, my imagination seemed to fly over and over in the paradise where has, many beautiful princess and prince, Aladin and his magic carpet, a treasury with 49 thieves, many splendid castles…

….All as a dream has sunk in missing!