NINH BINH, Vietnam -- "Just look at this landscape!" my father exclaims to my mother. We are traveling by train from her ancestral village in Nghe An province, central Vietnam, to his ancestral village in Ninh Binh province, northern Vietnam. I gaze at my parents, now in their 80s, hair silver-white, yet with smiles as bright as children's as they admire the lush green rice fields, the misty mountains and the winding rivers sparkling in the morning sunlight.
Life
Revisiting Vietnam's past through my parents' eyes
Novelist witnesses the power of perseverance and family on a poignant homecoming trip
Author Nguyen Phan Que Mai with her parents at different ages. Traveling with them enabled her to experience the heartbreaks and joys of the world from their perspective. (Source photos courtesy of the author)
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