Under the Banyan Tree in Vietnam

They all know me, I often sit in front of the little shop beside them called the ‘Banyan Tree,’ nursing a beer. By then I’m on my second or third beer, chatting to the owner of the Banyan Tree. The first U.S. landing during the Second Indochina War (known to Westerners as the Vietnam War and to Vietnamese as the American War) was in Da Nang in March 1965. I left Banyan Tree early, as usual, looked back and waved at the little girl and her parents. To those spinach ladies and Madame Banyan Tree, that child symbolizes the future, the image of hope, happier days, and prosperity.