Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam

On his ride north, Pham thinks of his sister Chi. His brother Tien had once asked him whether he thought he could also take his own life like her if he had lost hope. Pham replied that he probably couldn’t end it like that; he always felt like there was something more he could try. He’d probably make one last grand gesture—much like he’s doing now on his cycling trip. But he finds himself coming back to the same question that haunts him: How was Chi treated by America when she ran away and was all alone in the world?

His trip northward goes slowly at first, and it takes time for his body to adjust. Going up a mountain, he rides so slowly that he falls over under the weight of his pack, and the bike’s hard seat transfers every bump in the road to his body. He detours to ride through wine country and then heads back to the coast for the rest of the way to the Oregon border. He eventually feels himself getting stronger.

In Corvallis, Oregon, he stays overnight with Ronnie, a friend of a woman he met on his trip to Mexico. Ronnie is a free spirit, a devotee of astrology and chakra, who calls herself a “‘minor goddess’ sent to earth to even out the balance between the forces of light and the forces of darkness” (36).