Inside Scoop (Hanoi, Vietnam)

Quick story... catching a train soon to the mountainous Northwest of Vietnam to a place called Bac Ha. Its really close to the border of China, pity we won't go.

Anyway, the other day we were hanging out with this girl Phuong from Denmark, who's family is Vietnamese. She speaks the language quite well. After heading back from a pub, about 6 of us stopped into a mini-mart to purchase some snacks. The thing is only 2 of us really wanted to buy something, the rest just kinda browsed around and talked as we waited. There were two clerks, one male, one female, tending the store but at first they were across the street watching a film inside this building and ran over when they saw customers. One of us, Tizz, bought and paid the male clerk for an ice-cream cone and was already eating it inside the store.

Everyone else was kind of pondering and possibly thinking of buying something, all the while the female clerk kept smiling politley at us. A couple of minutes passed and the clerk then says to the man in vietnamese "Did that damn girl pay for her ice-cream?! If these people aren't buying anything, why don't they get out of our store so we can go watch our movie?!"

Superstition

Phoung, who's travelling with her parents are making her carry around a clove of garlic with a metal nail pierced through it. Reason being is because if you're the first customer that enters a shop and does not buy anything it is looked upon as bad luck for the shopowner's business for the rest of the day. In return for not buying anything, the shopkeeper will put a curse on the customer as they walk out the door, having the garlic and nail will prevent the curse from happening. Maybe I should go find some garlic and a nail...

Ready to RSVP. (Hoi An, Vietnam)

Hoi An is a quaint town with these small, intimate streets bussling with clothing shops, shoe shops, lantern shops, restuarants, etc. On the out skirts there's a beach, the "My Son" ruined temples, Marble Mountain, old bridges, historic houses, etc, etc.

Of course Jeremy and I didn't get a chance to see much of the cool sights around. We've been too busy at the tailors! In the last 3 days we've been occupied with browsing through designer catalogues, ordering, measurements, fittings, adjustments, more fittings, more ordering, more adjustments. The end result for myself are three 3-piece suits, four long-sleeved dress shirts, and one formal long coat. You don't even want to know Jeremy's list of items, too much to mention!

I kinda feel guilty buying all these clothes that I don't really need, but the thing is they're so cheap here. Its what Hoi An is known for, how could I resist? I'm just following along on the beaten path. (I'd love to get off it, but its quite difficult to escape it in Vietnam). We just got back from the Post Office, we had to send all our new clothes home in this small box that the clerk made us force everything into. Luckily she re-inforced it with lots and lots and lots of packing tape.

Anyway, I really, really hope that when I get back to Canada I'll have some formal functions to attend. You send out the invitations and I'll RSVP as soon as I receive it, promise. Hell, if you're reading this from another country other than Canada, I'll still RSVP. I looking forward to going to some weddings, or formal dinner parties, or a night out at the theatre, or even a damn job interview. Bring it on! I'll be dressed to the nines.

Hanging With Hawkers (Nha Trang, Vietnam)

So we got to the beach yesterday and have just had a nice break from sight seeing. Nha Trang is quite beautiful and we've got a great view of the ocean from our hotel window. I wish we could stay here longer.

Anyway today we just sat on the beach doing a bunch of nothing! Well we chatted with other these other travellers that we keep following from city to city, but they're always a couple of days ahead of us. Throughout the day we keep getting approached by hawkers to buy either cigarettes, snacks, postcards, necklaces, silk paintings, t-shirts, etc, etc, etc. We normally don't buy many things because we simply don't need them. As I've said, we can't help out every single person in need, unfortunatley.

Today I think that I was able to help out in a different sort of way though. There was this one lady who had here tray of items she was trying to sell to me and all of a sudden she ducked down and said "Police!". I quickly realized that these hawkers are all subject to some kind of rent or bribery to actually solicit on the beaches. Poor women, she seemed so frightened. I kept my back to the policeman and hid her tray with my body and she gave me a look and scurried away. I then took my backpack and put it over top her tray which still didn't really disguise it. Then I noticed the cop was coming a little closer to us so I took this padded mat that goes on top of the wooden sun bathing chairs we were sitting on and covered my whole backpack and tray. I then put my legs over top of that and lay down, trying to look as though I was reclining my feet. I looked quite silly actually, but it worked, five minutes later the lady came back and thanked me for my help. She didn't continue to try and sell me anything.

I also made five new friends today, 3 young boys and 2 young girls. All of them don't go to school, instead they walk up and down the beach all day and try to sell postcards. After sunset, they then roam the streets and continue to try and sell postcards until about 8 or 9pm. I followed in the footsteps of a Canadian girl we met today, she bought them all a bag of snacks from a different hawker and we all shared them. Later on, I bought the girls a drink and in return they taught me how to count to ten in Vietnamese. Good deal I think. After that, it wasn't much of asking each other for anything, just hanging out, played some backgammon, etc.

The Canadian girl (Tu) actually tried to give one of the boys some money because she'd already boughten some postcards previously. The boy (Voung) didn't accept it and put it back in her hand. What honor. It amazes me and continues to amaze me each day I'm in Asia, these people are so poor, yet they have so much dignity and caring for each other.

Another example, the other day we were at this food stall and this young boy was begging for food. An older Aussi couple behind us kept offering him watermelon and at first he was shy in taking it, but ended up eating a couple pieces. We then gave him a piece of our chicken and he was grateful and walked off. About 10 minutes later he came back to the watermelon and had some more and the couple told he him could have the rest. He seemed quite content eating away and he looked at me and Jeremy and then offered us his last piece of watermelon. The young boy has almost nothing and yet he still has it in him to share his only food.

The life of a hawker I think is really sad, especially for the kids because they aren't getting any form of education really. Its just a big cycle of poverty because when they grow up how will they survive? That same day that we saw the watermelon boy, we walked passed this very elderly lady sqatting on the side of the street with a little coal fire making some kind of bread or pita type thing. Later on in the evening we were just sitting on the street people watching, the same lady came up to us and was trying to sell the bread that she had just slaved over. I don't know how much they were going for, but I can't imagine that they'd be worth very much. I'd like to say that I bought some from her, but the answer was 'no thanks'. We then watched her and her hunched over body slowly walk away to the next people, in order for them to either ignore her or say 'no thanks'. And again, and again...

I wonder if I can abseil on Saturn? (Nha Trang, Vietnam)

Down in the Delta

So, we started our trip to Vietnam from a boat in Phnom Penh that went along the Mekong River to the border of Vietnam, landing in a little town called Chau Doc. I'm not a big fan of border crossings because its a really long process of waiting and queing and then more waiting and more queing. Not to mention, you're always bombarded by a bunch of kids trying to either sell you something or carry your luggage for a 'tip'. If only I could give to every person trying to make a buck.

Once we arrived in Chau Doc, we were given the option of taking a 2 day tour that the boat operators offer, which then entails staying at their guesthouse, or we could have been left at some unknown street with moto drivers attacking us. We chose the tour.

2 days hopping on and off of buses and boats, floating through the Mekong Delta and observing the 'Mekong way of life'. We saw some pretty cool things, a fish farm, incense making factory, rice factory, crocodile farm, bonsai garden, rice noodle factory, a Cham Village, a minority village and a floating market. A lot of these places were kinda boring but its a once in a lifetime kinda thing, so why not? The walk through the minority village was cool, we had to cross a dodgy bridge made of slim tree trunks, no one in our tour group fell. I guess they're not as dodgy as we thought. Simple life is a good life I'd say.


History Lesson

After our tour, Jeremy, myself and our new found friend from Sydney, Dianna made our way north to Saigon aka Ho Chi Minh City. Most people still call it Saigon, HCMC is just the political name in honor of Ho Chi Minh, the founder of the Indochine Communist Party. It was cool to hang with Dianna because she's been living in the UK for the last while and hasn't been home in 1.5yrs. We were able to find common things about Sydney to talk about, but we were also able to tell her new things that have come up since she'd left home. Weird.

Anyway, the first day there we actually skipped the sights and went swimming at a large water park, similar to the one I brought the kids to in Phnom Penh. There were these slides that were pitch black inside the whole way down and you have no idea what's going on, quite exciting.

The second day we went to the Cu Chi Tunnels, an old site where the Vietnam/American war was fought. Here we did a bit of crawling and scooching through these intricate tunnels 5-8 metres underground. Its where the South Vietnamese used to hide out and live while they were being bombed and attacked from above. You can actually see large dips in the ground where bombs actually landed. The tunnels go on for 250km and consist of kitchens, infantries, bedrooms, meeting rooms, etc. The actual width of the tunnels are so tiny, you can hardly squeeze through them, let alone see where you're going. I can't even imagine what it would have been like living down there and having to rush through them with your military gear on. After going through maybe 4 different ones, we were all beat, I was sweating like crazy cause its hot down there with no ventilation. Many of us that were there on the guided tour didn't go down due to fitness levels, etc. The tunnels are a definite eye opener to what went on here.

After the tunnels we headed out for the War Remnants Memorial, basically a museum with lots of pictures and letters from the Vietnam/American War. In Vietnam its only referred to as the 'American War' and really whose to blame them for calling it that? To be honest, I've never really known much about the war that went on here only 35 years ago, only that it was a big disaster. To walk through this heart wrenching display of beaten, tortured and traumatized men, women and children, I quickly learned much about it. As you can guess, the museum was very one-sided and depicted the Americans as being viscous. I don't want to say much, but I don't think they were very far off on their depiction. The pictures and the stories I read in there literally brought me to tears, to see young girls pleading with American soldiers to let their Daddy live, or to see American soldiers holding up decapitated heads of Vietnamese soldiers and grinning, or the jars with preserved fetuses which have been defected by all the chemicals due to all the bombings, or the posters/articles of all the protests that went on throughout the world pleading for America to pull out of Vietnam. I know close to nothing about politics and I honestly don't have much interest in it. I know it sounds ignorant of me. All I know is that war of any type, harm to any other human being, is wrong! No if's or but's about it.

"Saturn" by Stevie Wonder

~

Packing my bags-going away

To a place where the air is clean

On saturn

There's no sense to sit and watch the people die

We don't fight our wars the way you do

We put back all the things we use

On Saturn

There's no sense to keep on doing such crimes

~

There's no principles in what you say

No direction in the things you do

For your world is soon to come to a close

Through the ages all great men have taught

Truth and happiness just can't be bought-or sold

Tell me why are you people so cold

~

I'm......

Going back to Saturn where the rings all glow

Rainbow, moonbeams and orange snow

On Saturn People live to be two hundred and five

Going back to saturn where the people smile

Don't need cars cause we've learn to fly

On Saturn

Just to live to us is our natural high

~

We have come here many times before

To find your strategy to peace is war

Killing helpless men, women and children

That don't even know what they are dying for

We can't trust you when you take a stand

With a cold expression on your face

Saying give us what we want or we'll destroy

~

I'm......

Going back to Saturn where the rings all glow

Rainbow, moonbeams and orange snow

On Saturn People live to be two hundred and five

Going back to saturn where the people smile

Don't need cars cause we've learn to fly

On Saturn

Just to live to us is our natural high

Mr. Action takes us Abseiling!

Who's Mr. Action? Well he was our guide of course! Yesterday Jeremy and I had the most exciting adventure! I've done a lot of cool things since I've left home, but I think this one might take the prize. So anyway, we just spent the last few days in a hill station city called Da Lat. Its been nicknamed the 'Honeymoon City' because its so gorgeous that a lot of the newlywed Vietnamese travel there. I quite enjoyed it there because the climate is much cooler and you're surrounded by green rolling hills covered with coffee planations. I was kind of expecting to see a very simple lifestyle in Da Lat with Hill Tribe citizens, but Da Lat turned out to be a very modern and sophisticated place. You should have seen our hotel room which was only $6(US), it's comparable to $150 room in Canada. Actually all the 'mini-hotels' in Vietnam are stunning and all so cheap.

Anyway, our day started off with us being picked up by Dick and Gern (our guides, aka Mr. Action and friend) and then brought to a waterfall close by. We learned that Dick took up rock-climbing 6 years ago from a man he met from Colorado, USA and has now started to take travellers on rock-climbing and abseiling tours. Dick has taught other locals around town the sport and because of him there's 3 tour companies offering the same deals. But Dick is the original Vietnamese Mr. Action!

So after walking about 10 mins from the first waterfall we came to a small hill where we did our crash course in abseiling. Sorry, for those that don't know what it is; basically its walking/hopping down a cliff or steep surface backwards with your feet perpendicular to the surface and your waist attached to a rope. Anyway, we did about 4-5 trial runs and were then classified as 'ready'. Next thing we know we're looking down this steep, steep cliff about 30m high and Dick saying, "Okay, who wants to go first?". I should first let you know that I'm quite scared of heights and Jeremy's just the same. It took Jeremy a lot of convincing for him to come on this adventure, we originally planned on doing a trek but since another man had signed up for the abseiling already and was waiting for companions to join him, we said what the hell! Turns out, the other man became ill and never showed up! Go figure.

Anyway, since I convinced Jeremy to come along, I had to go first. They say the best way to rid of your fears is to face them. That's what I did alright. I attached myself to the rope with the hook and looked back, "HOLY SHIT!" seemed to be the only words that would come out of my mouth. One step at a time is all it took, I slowly backed up towards the edge and with Dick's coaching I slowly went over the edge. At first, it takes sooo much guts to stand perpendicular to the cliff with your ass facing the hard concrete below you, did I mention it was about 30m to the bottom? However, once you're over and you're in the correct stance, everything is absolutley fine! Next thing I knew I was walking down the cliff, just like riding a bike!

As the day went on, we ended up doing about 6 more abseils, swam and trekked through ponds/creeks, cliff dived into a large pond, went down a natural waterslide and had some yummy Vietnamese sandwhiches for lunch. The most difficult abeseil we did was going down a waterfall. We actually abseiled down a waterfall with the rock behind it covered in slippery moss and with water gushing upon our feet and splashing into our faces. Jeremy did this one first and he found it quite daunting, but with patience he endured. At one point he fell forward with his feet facing the sky and his ass sitting on the rock, but he got up and kept going, besides where else is there to go but down? (You can't fall to the ground because Dick has another rope attached to you at the top, unless you were to stupidly let go of the rope). When I went I was doing fine and being a little cocky, trying to show Jeremy how its done. Well, close to the bottom I too slipped and I fell downward with my feet facing the water below. I'm proud to say that I too got back up and finished it with a smile on my face!

I can't wait to do it again!!

And Going... And Going... (Da Lat, Vietnam)

Just want to say "Good on ya!" to my friends that I've met along the way, that have gone home and gone travelling again.

I just got an email from my friend Nicklas in Sweden who got home in July/04 and said, "instead of dreaming it, do it! I'm flying back into Bangkok on Wednesday, on a one way ticket!".

My friend Emilie is somewhere in South America have another wild adventure, she went home in March/04 and left again in September or August. Hello my champignon.

I got another email from Marlene in Austria, my first travel buddy in SE Asia, she went home last Feb/04 and just spent two months in South America and is now back home.

To those of you with that itching under your feet to step on some foreign soil... OH! THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

"Nuk Na" (Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)

Yep, its true! They really do wear those straw hats that look like lamp shades. Somethings you don't expect to actually come true, just like how I didn't see Kangaroos jumping around on every street corner in Australia.

Anyway, I've been meaning to write a blog for the last while... rewind!



Haunted House

Happy Belated Halloween folks! Jeremy, Christina (our friend from B.C.) and I went to a gould ol' fashioned Halloween Party in Cambodia. This bar was all decked out with bats, jack-o-lanterns and leaves on the ground. It also had a lot of Filippino locals hanging out there in costumes. The promotional posters claimed to have 'haunted house' music... they didn't. Boo!



A Very Happy Day

A Proposal
It started off with a hint from Ken (the orphanage Manager) saying that the kids never get to go anywhere other than home and school, school and home. Since Jeremy and I were going to be leaving soon we suggested that we could take the kids to the Water Park again, like we did in February. I was hoping that this talk to Thom (our dedicated moto driver/friend/volunteer)and Ken would remain in english so the kids wouldn't get word of what's going on. However Ken and Thom starting talking in Khmer and next thing you know all the kids starting gathering around, being very intent on listening in on the conversation. Next thing we know, Thom says something to the kids and they all shout and raise their hands. Turns out they'd rather go to the zoo! Cheaper than the water park too, that's a nice bonus. So at the end of the conversation we had a bunch of excited children who all clapped their hands in joy for the fieldtrip to come in 2 days. To hear the clapping and just the fact of me remembering what it was like as a child to be excited for an event to come brought to tears to my eyes.

Jealousy
When Jeremy and I weren't at the orphanage, these 2 Canadians turned up and Ken ended up inviting them to join us to the zoo the following day. Of course when he told me I said, "yeah of course I don't mind, no problem". Well... let's just say I'm glad that they didn't show up the next day when we left the orphanage 5 minutes earlier than scheduled and me hoping in my head "please don't come around the corner now, please don't show up...". I know its horrible of me, but this was like a going away present from Jeremy and I and I wanted them all to ourselves. If the Canadian actually did arrive, I promise I would have been nice to them.

Dnam Rai
So the day was filled with a fun mini-bus ride to the zoo (1hr), in which the kids got to see their new King's picture mounted on a monument. We were amazed that the kids hadn't seen him yet because Jeremy and I saw his face everyday, posted up in hundreds of venues for about 10 days prior. It just goes to show that the kids truly never get to go anywhere.

Once we got to the zoo it was a bunch of pulling us here and there and the kids telling us names of the animals in Khmer and us telling them in English. It was exciting to see an actual Dnam Rai (elephant), because that's my nickname for them.

I had bought a bunch of food the day prior and it was cooked into a lovely meal that we ate under a gazebo for lunch.

The day also consisted of a short climb up a 'mountain' that overlooked the beautiful country side of Cambodia. At the top there's a bunch of huge boulders to rest on and relax, a temple as well if you need to do some praying.

A Dip
On the ride home we stopped off at a 'resort' as the Khmer people like to call it, there we were able rent inner tubes and go swimming in the river. This consisted of me dragging a lot of them in their tubes around, thinking that they're going fast, but the reality is that its so freaking hard to run when you're in water. Rotona and I did a replay of last February and I kept tossing him into the water and he tried to do funky moves and stuff. Silly kid.

The Wheels on the Bus go "?*?*?*?*"
On the ride home, the bus driver kept playing Khmer music really, really loud. I was hoping more for some classic sing-a-longs with the kids. However, some of the older Khmer guys who work at the orphanage went wild with the music and forced me and Jeremy to clap along and sing the two lines of english sung in the song. A popular hit in Cambodia right now I tell ya.

Anyway, after we settled down a bit, Ken took the opportunity to thank Jeremy and I for all the help and time we've spent with the kids. He got the kids to repeat his words in English and it was all really kind. For the whole day Ken kept saying "A very happy day!", most of the kids know the word 'happy' and came up to me throughout the day and said it to me. If that's not the sweetest thing, I don't know what is.


A Very Sad Day

We left Cambodia about 5 days ago now, therefor it was 6 days ago that we had to say goodbye to the kids. We all knew it was coming, we prepared the kids ahead of time that we wouldn't be in Cambodia for good. Compared to last time, I'd say it was a little easier to say goodbye this time around, but at the same time it was sadder this time. In Feb, we all knew that I'd be returning later on in the year and so it wasn't goodbye forever, this time it's goodbye forever... or at least indefinitley.

Our last day at the orphanage, I spent a shitload of money at the market. I used up the rest of the money that was sent to me from you friends back home. Your money contributed in buying (for this one specific day, I bought lots of food and other things each day we went there) 100kg of rice, seeds to grow veggies, medicines, 200 tins of sardines, 150 packages of instant noodle soup, 40 school workbooks, some sweets for a nice treat, baby formula, 8 bars of soap, and some other stuff I can't remember right now.

The kids were quite grateful for this and we all took a group picture in front of the stuff. Ken presented us with a laminated certificate he made up with our pictures attached to them. That was really thoughtful of him, he said that he didn't know how to thank us enough for everything we did. The kids also presented us with drawing that each of them made and Ken taught them all how to write "I'll miss you forever, good luck to you, I love you, Thank you for your help." They asked that when we get home that we put their pictures up on our bedroom walls. Of course I will (well, some of them at least).

I'm obviously grateful and touched by all the thanks that they gave us, but to be honest just the love that I recieved from the kids in time that we were there was all that I needed. I can honestly say that this is the most rewarding thing I have ever done in my life. I only wish that I could do more. You know at the end of 'Schindler's List' when he starts crying and says that he could have saved more lives, etc., well that's kinda how I feel. I know the reality of it, but who's to say when enough is enough?

Anyway, the day went on as usual, Thom brought a keyboard and he played music for them most of the day and they really enjoyed it. Sith kept asking me to sing in english but I was too shy. So the day went on and when it was our normal time to go, we didn't. I think that in our minds we wanted the day to last as long as possible, Ken actually asked us to sleep there, but we declined. We ended up staying for dinner and ate fish and rice as the sun set.

Once we finished we knew we had to say our goodbyes. Long story short (are my stories every short?), Srei Niang started to cry, then almost all the kids started to cry. They wouldn't stop, it was that loud sobbing that just melts your heart. I'm actually glad we did it in the dark because I couldn't see their faces too clearly, if so I would have cried really hard myself. I almost burst out when I said "Nuk na" which means "I'll miss you" in Khmer. I tear as I say it now. I had to contain myself and be the strong one I thought. So after 20 mins of them hugging us and not letting go we finally had to say it. Goodbye.

God bless Cambodia and its beautiful, beautiful people. Watch over these children and give them a good life. Amen.