This is a painting of Kukup, a fishing village near Johor Bahru. It's on the wall of a seafood restaurant (Restoran High King) in Pontian and it caught my eye. I paused to look at it for awhile. When I was a primary school kid, I stayed in one of these houses on stilts during the school holidays. My sisters, cousins and I would point out mudskippers to each another as we walked along the long long wooden planks with our mothers close behind. We played Monopoly on the last day and I went to shit after I lost all my money. I remember bcos it was my first time shitting through a hole and I wasn't used to looking at rubbish in between my legs. We didn't take any photos of our short stay there but some 15 years later, these snippets of memories are still vivid in my mind.
Today, I'm back here on a day tour with my co-workers. I hate tours and this was no exception. It was crap. I didn't see a single fish at the stocking area and it was clearly a tourist trap in disguise, selling prawn crackers and tidbits at a higher margin than the shops back in town. I took many photos but none of them meant anything to me, except this painting. It encapsulates the idyllic and rustic charm of the place I had felt years ago, which is long gone and lost.
Tourists crowd around the jar of snake wine while Asians looked on nonchalantly.
Locals living along Mekong Delta would smile and wave at us.
See the woman in pink? The man beside her was doing the V sign and smiling at my camera. I only realised when I zoomed in the photo by chance.
Women earn a living by preparing simple meals on board - a bowl of rice or noodles topped with some ingredients. 
So cluttered I can't distinguish if she's just hanging them around or putting them up for sale.
She had her legs stretched out revealing her nicely painted toenails.
She lifted up the dripping dog for us to take a picture.
Family and friends of the newly-weds noticed my presence at the wedding.
Why are they looking at us like that?.jpg)
Something in there?
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He bought this durian pastry at Can Tho...
ate the whole bar on the boat...
not doing good the next day...
bedridden with broken arm and running a fever...
and back to normal after this plate of fruits ;).jpg)
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