Home for the Holidays

Merry Christmas!

After receiving a few emails wishing me a nice warm Christmas in Asia I realized I needed to write a quick post letting you all know that in fact I'm enjoying a nice FEEZING holiday season back in Canada. Though I've only been travelling since early September, I left my apartment in Vancouver last March and have been essentially living out of a suitcase since then. Unsurprisingly, I've been feeling a little ungrounded and quite homesick. Therefore I headed back home for about a month. The temperature change was not welcome but seeing my loved ones certainly was!

I head back to South-East Asia the first week of January, heading to Cambodia. See you all in the New Year! Much love.

Thien Phuoc -- Pictures

Today I would like to share the environment of Thien Phuoc orphanage with you. I've already written a few posts and shared pictures and videos of the children I spend my days with... Yet, as my days at Thien Phuoc are quickly coming to an end, I realize that a big part of my experience here is tied into the place, the actual building. This has not only been my place of work, but it has become my home as well. The stairs, the walls, the hallways have become familiar. On Sundays, after being away for the weekend, I feel relaxed when I get back to the orphanage. I am always amazed at humanity's unique capacity to adapt. We are the only species to inhabit pretty much any climate, everywhere. I am currently fighting off a cold, so I won't get any more philosophical right now and get right to the pictures. Here is my make-shift home, I have to admit that I'm sad to think I'll be leaving it in just over a week.

The fourth floor is reserved for the volunteers staying at Thien Phuoc.
This is where I enjoy my meals, with a great view and a welcome breeze!

Another part of the fourth floor is a small terrasse that we share with drying laundry. To my surprise the children wear uniforms (though now that I think of it I shouldn't have been surprised, everyone seems to wear uniforms around here!)

The beds drying in the sun after being hosed down. They are actually quite comfortable, though I'm happy that I have a more traditional foam mattress as my own bed!

The hallway next to the kitchen, leading to the newer building of Thien Phuoc. The sinks are where I've developed my fast-as-lighting dish-washing skills. Oh and by the way, the staff here also wear uniforms!

The main room of the original building. This is the first thing you see when you enter Thien Phuoc. Usually the older children that aren't in the physiotherapy group are gathered here to play. This is also where all the older kids eat. On special occasions, such as the mid-autumn festival that I got to witness on my first visit to Thien Phuoc, all the children and staff gather here.

The second floor of the newer building is for the younger children. There are also a few older children here that need more attention. This is what I like to call the "watching tv formation". There's also the "eating formation" and the "shower time assembly line".

And of course I'll mention food! The younger children usually get a variation of rice pudding for every meal, sometimes accompanied by yogurt or a fruit. The older children alternate between rice pudding, rice soup and noddle soup. Appealing to my more organized side, everything at Thien Phuoc has a system, such as the bowls with names on them.

Unique strategy

Here is another heart-warming video for you all! One of my favorites, that I like to call Mr. Huy because he's such a gentleman, showing us all that if at first you don't succeed try and try again until you can do whatever you put your mind to! His determination and golden heart shine through in everything he does. The first time I saw him move about, I couldn't help but be moved. The look in his eye, completely focused on the task is unmistakable. That coupled with the simple joy shining through each of his movements is enough to melt your heart. Mr. Huy puts us all to shame when we think any task we face is insurmountable, when we think that we just can't possibly do it. We can. We just need to find our own unique strategy to get over our own personal obstacles!

Meet more of the kids!

Here are the rest of the kids I work with in the Physiotherapy room. I hope you enjoy getting to know them, they are full of surprises. Not a day goes by without at least one of them surprising me!

Meet Tien:

Tien was slow to trust me. It took at least a week for her to let me know that she knows a lot of English. She's incredibly clever, loves puzzles and signing along to popular clubbing songs -- her current favorite is 3 by Britney Spears! Her right side is incredibly weak. Though she can do whatever she pleases using her left hand, she struggles with simple tasks with her right hand. Upon closer inspection, I realized that she looks like she suffered from some kind of stroke. Her right eye is lazy, her right leg is smaller and less muscular as well. She is supposed to spend her time practicing crawling but is usually seen sitting, as in the picture, ordering the other kids around. Though she can be a bit of a bully, she knows when she's gone too far and apologizes. I've been teaching her the alphabet and numbers and she's picking it up very quickly! I'm also greatly delighted when she scoots up to me and says: "Chi Aki, Tien massage please?".

 Meet Huy:

 Huy is a bundle of joy! At first, I wasn't able to recognize his expressions on his ever changing face. With time I've come to see the difference between pain and pleasure. Huy is constantly in motion, suffering from involuntary, violent, and sometimes seemingly painful muscle twitches. To get around, Huy rolls himself over with surprising eagerness. Though non-verbal, he makes his desires clear with loud squeals. In the physio room he is working on sitting. Such a simple task is extremely difficult for him because of his twitches. He often falls out of his special seat. Such a lack of control over one's body could lead one to be angry or resentful of his limitations, but Huy always comes up with a smile when he takes a tumble! 

 Meet Nhi:

 Nhi is one of the best people I've ever met. She is always willing to lend a helping hand and is quick to laugh. She is probably the most physically adept kid in physiotherapy. She can walk, talk, and is in control of her movements at all times. She has a slight limp to her walk and I work with her to stretch and strengthen her right leg to make walking easier for her. When she's not bored and starting vacantly at the television, she's helping me and Chi Phuong (the girl I work with in the physiotherapy room) with the other kids. She walks Phong around the room; chases Tai so that he walks faster; helps get Huy back into his chair; teases Nam and Mr. Huy to make them laugh; jokes with Mai and Tien, encouraging them to crawl. She even fetches the bucket we use to help the boys pee! Recently, she's taken to help me with the massage machine. Though she tends to get in the way more than helping me with that particular task, I enjoy her company and the pure delight she shows when helping. 

Meet Nam:

Nam reminds me of an old lady! He practices standing in the corner of the room, observing the antics of all the other kids, yelling out "Troi oi!" (an expression equivalent to "Oh my god!") at opportune moments. He seems to be more than content to stay out of the fray, though participating in his own way by his frequent comments. He often will call out "Mot! Hai! Ba!" (or "one two three") when I bend to pick up a child to bring them to the massage table. He's also picked up on my murmured "yoisho" and has taken to yell it out whenever I try to pick up the flailing Huy (he's a heavy little guy!). Nam is a great observer of human behavior. He can tell when something untoward is happening and makes sure that I know about it. I've come to trust him to keep an eye on things while I concentrate on a particular task.

Vietnamese shampoo

Now I know that some of you have heard me gush about this already -- perhaps multiple times -- but please indulge me once more! Quite simply, there is nothing that I've experienced that is as soothing and relaxing and downright blissful as a Vietnamese shampoo. I've never been a fan of showers. I don't know why. (Though I do enjoy a good onsen...) I've always thought of showers as necessary to keep clean, but never understood how some of my friends and family could claim that a shower was one of life's great pleasures. Now I must re-evaluate, the Vietnamese have definitely found the best way to wash hair.

Here's the process:
You lie down comfortably on a table that's like a massage table, your head in a basin. (Now, in back home, when the hairdresser insisted on washing my hair, I never really liked it because I felt uncomfortable in their reclining hair, my neck feeling strained to fit up into the basin.) They start by shampooing your hair. Then you get a great head massage. Scratching. Massaging. Kneading. Wow. Rinse. Then they massage exfoliating cream into your face and neck. Rinse. Then another face massage with a hydrating cream. Great eye massage. Pressure point work. You feel like you might fall asleep. Rinse. Once again they shampoo your hair with more massaging. Rinse and repeat a third time! After that they do this amazing waterfall thing. Your eyes get covered with a wet cloth and they spray water over it. Somehow this makes me shiver in delight all the way to my toes. Time for an ear cleaning, tickles tickles tickles. Conditioning time. While the conditioner works, you get yet another neck massage, followed by a shoulder and arm massage. Final rinse. After that they help you to sit up (believe me, you need the support!) and give you a quick back massage to help you return to the world. Ah... bliss! The whole process takes almost an hour, and you feel like a new person afterwards.

So? Did I convince any of you to come and visit Vietnam to try this out for yourself?! :) There's a great salon a few minutes walk from the orphanage. The two women who work there are very friendly and we have a great time trying to communicate with our handful of Vietnamese and English words. Over the past month we've become friends, sharing food and, most recently, an aloe drink that they'd made from aloe plant growing in their garden. I force myself to only get a Vietnamese shampoo once a week, but it's a challenge. After all, it only costs a buck and a half a pop...

Meet some of the kids!

Most of my time at Thien Phuoc is spent with a dozen children in the physiotherapy room. They've all grown on me in different ways. At first I thought they were much more limited, but they've opened my eyes. I now see how they work with their limitations and how they emphasize their strengths and build upon them. It's a lesson in the amazing adaptability of humanity. I am continually impressed by them. Everyday they trust me a little more and open up to me. The smiles and excited cries I receive when I enter the physio room are undeniably the highlight of my day. I feel very lucky. Today I'd like to share a little of their magic with you! So without further ado...

Meet Huy:

I call them Mr. Huy since there is another smaller Huy also doing physio. Mr. Huy is non-verbal, I've never heard him speak even a word of Vietnamese but he understands a great deal of English and Vietnamese alike and can communicate with actions and facial expressions. He spends his physiotherapy hours on his verticalization machine, removed from the other kids. Still, he makes his presence known by his undeniable good humor. While I'm working with the other children, usually as I'm giving another child a turn on the massage machine, I glance over at him and stick my tongue out at him. He responds in kind and I am immediately rewarded by his look of pure delight in the interaction. He's great at giving high-fives, even though such a precise movement is obviously very challenging to him. When I work with him, we work mostly on practicing such precise movements. He can't walk but gets around great in his special half crawl. I have a great video of this that I want to share on another day! Days that I get a hug from Mr. Huy are incredible. His determination and positivity are an inspiration.

Meet Tai:

Tai was a lesson in paying attention and letting go of pre-conceived ideas for me. For the first week, I thought he was non-verbal and not particularly clever. I didn't get attached to him at first for the simple reason that he sweats a lot and hugging him wasn't pleasant for me. Embarrassing when I think back. Now he is undeniably one of my favorite kids in the world. One day I realized that he was in fact able to talk, in his own special way, and it was me who didn't hear or understand him! Like Mr. Huy, precise movement are difficult for Tai. He can control his motor skills with great concentration. He can in fact say easy words like "hello" and "Aki" and "I'm good", they just sound very different because of his difficulty in making his body do what he wants. On good days he can form 3-4 word sentences, on bad days single words are extremely challenging. I then discovered that he is incredibly clever! He can do a 64 piece puzzle with a little help: he can't control his movements enough to pick up pieces and put them in place, but he does know where they go! I learned to watch him carefully and realized that he'll point (with a arm that's shaking uncontrollably) to a piece and then to where it goes. And he's always right! In the same way he can play "memory" and beat me! I'm now intrigued by what is hidden in that brain of his, just waiting to come to light! Our favorite way to say hello is with a wink and a couple clicks of the tongue, like he's doing in the picture. Tai taught me to open my eyes in a whole other way and to embrace the possibilities.

Meet Phuong:

Oh little Phuong, or Monkey as we all call her... she's stolen my heart! If you've seen the video I posted earlier of her, you know she's just a bundle of laughter. She is also completely non-verbal but easily communicates her moods to those around her. I want to spend my whole day playing with her and making her laugh. She's tiny, like a toddler, but is seven years old. Unlike the other children in physiotherapy, she can walk, with her little hand grasped tightly around someone's finger. Except for her size, physically she seems to be "normal". I work with her to try to convince her to walk on her own, which I'm positive she can do if she just trusted herself to try! I'm also starting to challenge her intellectually, without any results so far. She doesn't seem to be interested in learning how to do puzzles or other games. I did teach her to blow kisses though! Any moment spent in her company makes me glad to be there. Monkey has taught me to slow down and just enjoy the simplicity of playing.

Meet My:

My is still a mystery to me. She loves music, LMFAO's Party Rock Anthem in particular! She'll sit there pumping one hand into the air on the beat with a big goofy grin on her face. She can speak rudimentary Vietnamese and knows a dozen words in English but is very quiet... In fact, she seems to be hidden behind her friend Tien most of the time. (I'll introduce you all to Tien in another post with more of the physio kids soon!) She spends her time in physiotherapy practicing to crawl, without getting bored or tired of it. I'm impressed with her will and stamina! Recently I uncovered a great sense of humor in her. We now pull little practical jokes on each other. I look forward to learning more about her. Thien Phuoc has a startling number of visitors on a daily basis. It's no wonder that the children take a little time to open up and trust a new face. As the weeks pass, I see My opening to me a little more, showing me a little more of herself and what she can do. I can also see that she's hurt when I don't show up when I'm supposed to. She's taught me the importance routine and stability to children.

On that note, it is strange for me to think that I'm already half-way through my stay at Thien Phuoc. The taught of leaving all these kids in little more than a month makes me cringe inside. There is such a difference between living in an orphanage full time and visiting one for a few hours every day as I did while in the Philippines. Moreover, since there isn't a group of volunteers here to hang out with and unwind with, my whole life revolves around these children. I'm with them from the moment I wake up until they go to bed at night. Even during my lunch break I'll pop in to spend some time with those who aren't sleeping. They've invaded my head and my heart. I can't imagine living here for a year as A. is planning to... I would never be able to leave them! It will be hard enough as it is, but it's unavoidable. As with everything in life, this is a temporary situation. At the same time, knowing it is so helps me focus, slow down, and appreciate it that much more.

Pause patisserie

Ah food... The true love of my life! I'm not going to lie: one of my major reasons for choosing Vietnam was my love for Vietnamese food. I was thinking of pho, vermicelli, and Vietnamese subs. Oh and their killer lemonades! It wasn't until right before leaving that I realized that because of the French influence there would also be an abundance of bakeries... yummmmmy!

My top two favorites are ABC Bakery found in the Backpacker's district. Their croissants just melt in your month. They also have a great Banh Mi (Vietnamese Sub) with loads of extra veggies, compared to the one you get on the street. Their fruit shakes are also to die for, having a great texture, like a slushie, but with real fruit!

My other favorite is a chain called Tous Les Jours. There's one right across the street from T.'s house (where I've been spending my weekends away from Thien Phuoc). They have great chocolate muffins, sesame balls with red bean paste inside, and... wait for it... curry buns!! That's right! My favorite from Japan, that I've never been able to find anywhere else before. Ok, they aren't exactly the same as Japanese beef curry buns, but they are pretty darn close and delicious! TLJ also has Portuguese-style egg-tarts and mango-danish-pastry-like-yumminess!

Here is a picture taken by A., my fellow volunteer, in Tous Les Jours before being quickly told "no pictures" by a staff. Luckily it's a great shot!

Monkey!

Some children just pull on your heart strings and don't let go... Little Phuong is one of those for me! Her nickname is Monkey, well deserved by her behavior! She is six years old, non-verbal, but she very bright and knows what she wants -- and how to get it! She is one of the children I work with in the physiotherapy room, mainly on walking. She is steady on her feet but seems scared to make the jump from walking when holding my hand to walking alone. I've been successful at getting her to do a couple of steps on her own a handful of times. My greatest success is having taught her how to blow kisses!  I hope this video gives you a glimpse of her...

Routine anyone?

You'd think that because I love to travel and enjoy the freedom that comes with it, that I would hate routines and schedules... not so! After just three weeks of traveling around the south of Vietnam, I couldn't wait to really unpack my bag, get settled, and let myself fall into a comfortable rut. Ok, so maybe referring to working in an orphanage in Vietnam as a "rut" is not quite accurate, but it's still a routine, and I love it! There's a natural tendency to relax once we get used to our surroundings, and this week I've enjoyed finding my spot in the daily life of Thien Phuoc. The staff are also becoming accustomed to seeing me around. And best of all, the kids get excited when they know I will be showing up.

Here is what my regular day looks like:

6:20 - Wake up
6:30 - Feed the young ones breakfast. Every meal is a variation of rice pudding much like what was fed to the young kids in the Philippines.
7:15 - Dishes. There's a very specific technique that A. and I were coached on for days before they trusted us with this task.
7:30 - Breakfast: the orphanage provides me with instant noodles, I supplement with fruit and yogurt!
8:00 - Physiotherapy with the older children. I usually spent most of the morning on the massage machine, five minutes per child. If there's any leftover time I start doing some exercises with them, mostly stretching. Of course, I don't have any experience with doing this... I just hope I'm helping and not harming!
10:00 - Feed the young ones lunch, change diapers
10:45 - Dishes
11:00 - Lunch: rice, some type of meat, some type of vegetable (usually cabbage or carrots), vegetable soup.
11:30 - Head over to Silver Creek resort for a swim and some relaxation time. Perhaps some Vietnamese lessons.
14:00 - Snack time! The young ones each get a half bottle of milk. Or a piece of cake. (Yum!)
14:30 - More physiotherapy with the older children. I usually spend this time doing more physical exercises and try to get some of the more dexterous ones to try out some puzzles. Sometimes I'll bring down my ukulele and encourage them to dance along to my attempts at playing.
16:00 - Feed the young ones supper
16:45 - Dishes
17:00 - Supper: same as lunch
And free time!
In the evenings I usually go for a walk in the neighborhood. There's a salon that I enjoy visiting, the ladies there are very friendly and it's a good way to try out my rudimentary Vietnamese. Sometimes I venture further to pick up some fresh fruit or to eat a small something to supplement the frugal diet of the orphanage. I take some time to practice my ukulele, read, watch tv, and chat and play cards with A, my fellow volunteer. Bed time is around 10pm -- and by then, I'm exhausted!

Welcome to District 12

And no, not the one from the Hunger Games!

Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon is so huge that it's split up into many districts. Thien Phuoc, the orphanage at which I will spend the next two months, is located in District 12, one of the suburban districts of HCMC.

Now, I'm a math nerd, so here are some numbers:
Population of HCMC: 7,396,446.
Population of the province of Quebec: 7,903,001.
As the locals would say: "same same but different". But then you look at the area:
Area of HCMC: 2,095 km²
Area of the province of Quebec: 1,542,056 km²!!
That's like 736 times bigger!! No wonder there are people everywhere in this place... haha!

Still, out here in the suburbs, it's not too crowded. The highway is far enough that at night I can hear the call of the frogs and not the honks of motorbikes. Plus, being in an Asian country means that I'm never far from food and a spa. My fellow volunteer A. and I went on an exploratory mission and found within a 15 minute walk: a dozen restaurants, a couple spas, a fruit stand, a banh xeo stand, the highway, a bunch of what looks like tire shops, and best of all: Silver Creek resort. Silver Creek is a luxury hotel that's just a few doors down from the orphanage and has an outdoor pool, equipped with a jacuzzi and sauna! I talked with the receptionist to see if there's a possibility to get some type of monthly membership in order to use the pool.

The orphanage itself is a wonderfully modern facility -- especially when compared to what I saw while in the Philippines. They have a physiotherapy room, full of equipment. Also a dentist room! There are about 60 children here, all with mental and sometimes physical disabilities. The majority seem to be non-verbal, so communication is difficult since my Vietnamese is still practically non-existent despite my best efforts. But they are full of joy nonetheless and a few have already captured a corner of my heart. More to come, I'm sure!

Easy Rider -- A story through pictures

Bag all packed up and ready to withstand the elements -- good thing too since we got out fair share of rain over the course of the trip. Mr. Sao and I spent 3 days touring the Vietnamese central highlands. Most of the time was spent in the little explored countryside, a gift that! I didn't know what to say about this experience, there was just so much! So I decided to just share what it was like with a few of hundreds I took during the trip.

View from the road:

A local going about the important business of dish washing:

One of the many fruit stands at which Mr. Sao stopped for snacks. He was great at making sure I got to taste every fruit Vietnam current has to offer (unlike back home, depending on the season, different things are for sale):

One of my favorite stops: the orchid farm!

Seeing the overpacked motorcycles made me think of the Philippines:

A monkey-bridge! They call them that since you look like a monkey when you try to walk across it!

Beautiful scenery, shifting skies... I never got tired of just enjoying the ride:

One of the many man-made reservoirs used to power Hydro-Electric dams. Locals use these new bodies of water to create a living for themselves by fishing these waters. Many people from the Mekong Delta in the south move to such new spots -- they've got the skills to live on water! One of the many fun sights was seeing the unmistakable glow of a television in one such floating house. How did they get electricity there?!

 A happy guide! It was so much fun to laugh with Mr. Sao:

 He also had a great heart: we often stopped in villages populated by the hill tribes, minorities that live in Vietnam. These minorities tend to be very poor. Mr. Sao brought along gifts for the people who live there, I was very moved by this generosity:

 "Hello!" is yelled out by waving children on their ways to and from school. Mr. Sao explained to me that kids only go to school for 4 hours a day here, so there are always children milling about on the road. He told me this was so that more kids could attend the same school. I also means that kids can help out around the house or farm when they aren't in school:

 Share the road!

More road sharing:

Mr. Sao stopped a lot along to way to show me different plantations and factories so that I could learn how things are made and where they come from. These are red curry seeds:

We also stopped every day for some "morning exercise" which turned out to be jungle trekking! Lots of fun, and it wasn't too warm out since it was still early in the day:

My favorite time of day: meal time! Mr. Sao made sure to have me taste the best of the best of Vietnamese offerings. Yumm-mmy! My favorite was this restaurant on our last night, Banh xeo and fresh spring rolls:

Another minority village. This time Mr. Sao whipped out a bag of candy. The little guy in the middle has a great sweet tooth, he was positively glowing:

Dalat

Mon coup de coeur!

I arrived in Dalat just as the sun was setting. It is a small town by Vietnamese standards (population is about 350 000!), set amid mountains, at a very high altitude, which means that it's cold there! Ok, cold is a bit of an over-exaggeration since it's about 20 degrees, but to me it was a breath of fresh air. On top of the milder temperatures, the oppressing humidity has disappeared. I spent the better part of my first evening here just walking around, enjoying my ability to be outside without sweating. Delighting in wearing a light sweater. Realizing that I miss seeing mountains everyday; oh Vancouver, you spoil me so!

Equally refreshing is the attitude of the locals in Dalat. There doesn't seem to be a "tourist price" to everything. I don't spend most of my time avoiding scams and street vendors. It is possible to just sit in a coffee shop, enjoy a fruit shake, in blessed solitude. Plus, the fruit shake is made with local, as in from the farm 5 minutes away, fruit which is another perk. The weather around Dalat is such that the whole countryside is farm land interspersed with green houses growing flowers.

 Though this might not look all that picturesque, once you realize what the inside of these greenhouses look like, you become much more understanding!

 The best way to explore the highlands around Dalat is by motorbike, with a local guide called an Easy Rider. These locals know people all over the countryside and know pretty everything you might want to know. I had the good fortune of meeting Mr. Sao, who I called Mr. Monkey-Man since he was simply hilarious. His English was impeccable and his knowledge of his country and agriculture was astounding. With him I visited a silk factory, noddle factory, coffee plantation, flower plantations, rice wine factory, a real pho restaurant, pagodas, waterfalls, vegetable farms, and the list goes on. At each of these spots he explained to me the process the farmers go through from seed to harvest, to how things are sold and distributed across Vietnam.

With his guidance I also go to try a variety of wines: rice wine (65% alcohol -- this was no sake!), snake wine (from a really disgusting looking fermenting plastic container), honey wine (very strong and weird smelling concoction), and strawberry wince (actually quite tasty, a relief that!). We also stopped at a fruit vendor where I got to sample everything she had to offer, a real treat for my sweet tooth! I had such a good time with Mr. Sao that I decided to splurge and go on a three day trip with him through the central highlands on the back of his bike. Can't wait!

Nha Trang

Short and sweet: I've moved on to another beach town: Nha Trang, and this one is full of life! Last night, on a whim I decided to go snorkeling today. What a treat! There was about 15 of us, on a big steady boat. The water was warm and a deep clear blue. The coral was shaky, but still clinging to life. The fish were abundant, varied, and very colorful. To top it all off, there was an Aussie sharing my boat who had an underwater camera! We all participated in a photoshoot, here's my under-water debut:

 

Two other tidbits: (1) seems I wasn't as thorough as I should have been... I found my camera! Now I have two. Hopefully I'll be able to return one. (2) There's Facebook on the hostel computer here! According to other travelers, most hostels have a secret way to get online... need to learn it for my netbook. Thoughts anyone?

Mui Ne

Beach time!! HCMC was busy and humid, so I decided to hop on a bus and head up the coast to Mui Ne. (As a side note: Vietnamese buses are amazing!! I will try to get a picture on my next bus trip. Comfort. Cheap. Roomy. Simply wow.)

I don't know how I feel about Mui Ne. It has the feeling of a ghost town. The beach is about 10 kms long and lovely, yet the strip of hotels and restaurants on it's side were completely empty. I was alone in my hotel for the first night, a very strange feeling. Eating alone is one of the most difficult things of traveling alone. Being the only customer makes things even harder. You feel like a lonely goldfish in it's bowl. I noticed that I wasn't the only one feeling this way. I would tend to go eat in a restaurant that had another tourist in it. Then, as the meal progressed, more and more groups would arrive. You'd feel like there was life in Mui Ne after all! However, at the end of the meal, you'd step out into an empty street and walk by empty restaurants all the way home. I know it's the low-season, but this was simply bizarre.

On a more cheerful note, I bought myself a new camera! (I forgot mine in Montreal.) A very friendly and helpful hotel employee directed me to what she called a supermarket called CoopMart. I took a local bus to get there and was surprised to see a three floor shopping center! New camera means pictures for you all -- finally! Here are some of Mui Ne beach, Fairy Stream (surrounded by red canyons and rhinestone), red sand dunes, and a couple typical Vietnamese fishing boats. The final picture is of a local fishing catch that happened right in from of my beachside bungalow!

 

 

Goodbye to Facebook!?

Being part of the "Facebook generation" I looked forward to changing my current location to Ho Chi Minh City first thing in the morning. To my utter surprise, that won't be possible. Why? Well apparently in Vietnam one cannot access Facebook! My next move was to sign into my blog and write about it, then comes my second big surprise: blogspot is also blocked! It's strange to be in a place where Internet is widely available yet restricted in this way. After pocking around for a couple days I finally figured out that I can in fact log into my blogger account, write a post and publish it, but I can't view my actual blog!? Strange world. I haven't been able to find a way to access Facebook though, so I might be forced into letting go of that particular addiction, at least for the next 3 months or so.

Meanwhile, I'm surviving the craziness of HCMC. There's a beautiful madness to the chaos really. Most streets have four marked lanes, two in each direction, one of which is for scooters and the other for cars and buses. It's organized, the traffic flow is impressive when compared to the Philippines. Yet, I've never been as scared to cross a street than here... And I remember getting my first lessons in extreme-street-crossing-techniques from my father when I was in Rome at the age of 10: "Look straight ahead, choose a speed, don't speed up, don't slow down, and never ever stop." During that same trip a car ran over my dad's toes. Scary business, but Rome's got nothing to HCMC. Still, I follow the advice and hold my breath.

Now, the account that you've all been expecting (and, admit it, waiting for): the food! In a word: amazing. I got my first taste of real Pho and Vietnamese subs, complete with my regular favorites of payaya shakes and lemonades. And croissants... real, buttery, melt in your mouth croissants... and those of you who know me, know that I am a croissant-snob, but I was blown away with the offerings here! Living up to it's reputation, Vietnamese food is above and beyond!

Off again!

It's been 14 months since I arrived at YVR, back from South-East Asia. As those who talked to me during those first few days back can attest, all I could talk about was going back. To Vietnam, and soon! Well here we are, back at YVR, one-way ticket to Ho Chi Minh City in hand, with that I'm-so-excited-and-nervous-that-I-may-throw-up feeling.

As I sit here waiting for my flight, I feel overwhelmed. I feel like I haven't stopped since I've been back. Eight months fundraising at Public Outreach, a Dathun, a semester of Mukpo Institute, three months back at Camp Ouareau. It's been quite the ride and I have to wonder if I'm ready to take on another challenge so fast. At the same time I feel as if every project I've undertaken in the last year has in some way help to prepare me for what's ahead. This trip is much bigger than the last, the projects I have will be taking much more of my time and will be much more challenging.More responsibility. It's a daunting thought. It's an exciting thought!

A bird's eye view of my plans:
2-3 weeks to get over jet lag, learn more Vietnamese (it's HARD!), and relax on a beach
2 months at an orphanage near HCMC/Saigon
5-6 weeks off to visit Cambodia and Laos
3-4 months helping to lead a Rose Vietnam project near Hue

But before any of that can happen, I have a 12 hour flight to Shanghai to survive! See you on the other side of the Pacific!