Are you Superstitious?

I asked myself, while our van was broken down in a cloud of billowing smoke in no mans land (the space between borders) if our trip to Vietnam was in fact cursed and doomed to fail.

I am not usually a superstitious person but I guess when you are travelling in this part of the world, it rubs off on you.  It would be difficult for the common Westerner to fathom just how much weight superstitions have in the basic decision making processes in other parts of the world.  Don’t even think about sweeping at night in India or you could risk sweeping your fortunes out the door.  Or have you even thought about spirits when you have rented, built or bought a house?  Next time you really should because they could be roaming your halls right now spreading their bad luck.  But today was different and I found myself realizing that I do in fact believe in a few harmless but perfectly rational superstitions myself.  Like when the van we were piled into started randomly smoking and we found ourselves stranded after clearing customs in Cambodia but before actually entering Vietnam.  The sun was scorching hot and stupid me says- ”at least it's not raining”, and sadly there wasn’t any wood to knock on.  Ya you got it, 10 minutes later, it was raining.  Luckily, I have good karma so it only sprinkled :)

After our sweaty stroll to the Vietnamese border crossing, we found our way to the guard and handed over our passports.  While we waited to be cleared, Dan voiced what we were both thinking,”Is Vietnam cursed for us?” I know that was the first thing we thought of while we watched our van smoulder on the side of the road.  Then I used yet another superstition to help ease our worries- “Don’t worry, bad things always happen in threes and the van was number three.”  Too be honest I felt better because bad things always happen in threes- am I right or am I right?

First we couldn't go to Vietnam as planned when departing India ("As The Wind Takes Us"). Second, we couldn't fly through the country to return to Laos ("Air Travel Should Be Easy"), and now we can't even seem to make it over the border with all required documents in place without a mechanical catastrophe.

I am a little freaked out though because our first bad thing involving Vietnam (our lack of required paperwork to enter) brought us to Malaysia which turned out to be one of the best things we have ever done.  So, does that mean that we still have one more instance of bad luck to round out the three?