Jesus is an Australian? Was don't know about Mary Magdalen. But she buys his drinks.

[Etienne Rambert]

Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) has plenty of expat weird-o's.

Some might consider me one of them.

 

Anyway, there is one expat who has caught the attention of others.*

We call him "Jesus". He lives around the corner from me, down an alley

off Bui Vien Street.

 

He walks around the backpacker district with a long wooden staff.

He wears a robe and sandals. His hair is chestnut colored

and falls to his shoulders, just the way it does in paintings many

of have seen of Jesus.

 

This Jesus of Bui Vien Street has a disciple. And he has a girlfriend.

We call her "Mary Magdalen".

 

His disciple is very young. He's a white kid. He looks like he's

in his teens. He seems very happy. What Western teen-ager wouldn't

be happy wandering around the backpacker district of Saigon?

 

Jesus's young disciple has been with him for a long time. Mary Magdalen,

AFAIK, showed up only a few months ago.

 

Anyway, a month ago, my GF opened a bar.

Tonight, Jesus and Mary Magdalen walked by.

I invited them in. His young disciple wasn't with them.

I didn't talk to them very much. But I invited them in and

bought them both a beer.

 

After hearing him speak, I knew right off the bat Jesus was an Aussie.

I'm still not sure about Mary Magdalen or the young disciple.

 

Anyway, they struck up a conversation with a Brit couple who were

on a tour. The couples seemed to hit it off quite well.

The Brit gent didn't razz Jesus at all about his get-up,

like the expats razz him off Pham Ngu Lao Street.

But from what I've heard, when he's razzed, he gives as good as he gets.

 

Here is what I learned tonight.

 

(a). The local Vietnamese don't seem to like Jesus very much.

 

(b). Jesus seems like a reasonable, sociable guy except for his wardrobe.

He drinks beer.He talks loud. He has fun. He's an Aussie.

 

Also, he's a big dude. so I don't think anybody will want to mess with him.

They may razz him. But folks would be foolish to pick a fight with him,

especially when he's got that long wooden walking-stick in his right hand.

 

Sorry. I don't have any pic's. One of these days, I'll probably get one.

 

(3). The most interesting thing about all this, is that the Vietnamese

in my neighborhood don't seem to think he's particularly weird. I'm not sure why.

 

My current hypothesis is that all perhaps all Westerners look strange to them.

Thus,a Westerner dressed up like Jesus of Nazareth may not look so different from other Westerners, within their own experiential context.

 

Yet, they don't seem to like him very much. I haven't figured out why yet.

[UstadKhanAli]

Fascinating.

 

The locals in India think that the Westerners who dress like Jesus or wear strange, Indo-Western garb, look quite odd, but are nevertheless quite welcoming of them.

[rasputin1963]

They keep saying He'll be back, don't they?

[Etienne Rambert]

Rasputin 1963

"They keep saying He'll be back, don't they?"

 

Well, if Jesus lives around the corner, how far away can the Rapture be?

 

Oh yeah. I forgot. Jesus plays guitar too. I let him play my

marcellis-brand archtop and my Guild F-65ce.

 

 

I had to walk down the street while he was playing the Guild.

I told him to guard it with his life. In fact, I told him if

anything happened to it, I'd track him down, and he wouldn't be

that hard to find.

 

He laughed.

[rasputin1963]

Jesus liked to dance at parties. Also when the booze was gone, He conjured up lots more for everybody to party down on.

 

And He always had the town's most notorious hooker by his side.