Spring Break 2019

I'm not really seeing or feeling SPRING in the air.  It is more like, "does it seem like it is hotter to you?"  And jumping in the pool after work is becoming more of a necessity.  Nonetheless, the school calendar revolves around more northern hemisphere vocabulary, and I am just back from Spring Break.

The itinerary - 

• fly to Hue - former capital of Vietnam
• take a train to Da Nang - gorgeous coastal rail trip 
• taxi to Hoi An - The entire old city is a UNESCO World Heritage site and no motorized traffic is allowed.  There is not, however, a limit on tour buses who can park outside the designated motor free zone.
• taxi back to Da Nang in order to
• fly to Da Lat - The ever wonderful high tropics destination - eternal spring like climate which provides the loveliest flora and fauna of all, or at least to this woman raised in the high desert of Wyoming
• return to Saigon, or less conveniently known as Ho Chi Minh City

Side note:  I am CERTAIN the Da Nang airport does not look ANYTHING like it did in the late 60s and early 70s.

Some photos:

The airport in Hue - still using trucks to transport exit stairs

I still love being met at the airport.  

Did you ever wonder where incense sticks come from?

A new kind of scaffolding perhaps?

It's a motorcycle, no, it's a shop.

Occasionally, one sees evidence that the damage done during the American War is still here.

Hmmm ... too bad we don't drink coffee.

I will forever marvel that something like this can really work.

I take photos like this to share with my father, who retired from AT&T 28 years ago.

More photos later in the week - I have them all picked!

Just today ....

I had a 9:15 appointment with an Integrative Nutritionist.  This post-menopausal time in life affords one a certain amount of "what-the-heck-I-want-to-try-that" so I made an appointment with this woman who is the wife of a colleague, and a stay-at-home mom.  I like to try to do everything I can to support stay-at-home moms!

I took the bus 3 stops, got off, and walked across the street.  These are some photos of what I saw on my way to the appointment.

Need a compressor?  Just go down to the corner, you can pay some money to have them help you out.

Need an ID laminated?  That's also on the corner.  Let's pretend this isn't really about getting a fake ID of any kind.

Tired?  Just whip out your hammock and take a nap.  When I think of all the trouble I have getting to sleep and staying asleep, I realize some people really do have an easier life than I do.

The coffee shop where we met.  There's a dance studio above it.  

Afterwards, I went to my favorite Nails shop, where I had a heel scrub and wrap, combined with a manicure and a pedicure ... all at the same time.

And today's nail art on my toes (I only get it on my fingers for special occasions).

And then ... there was yesterday.  I went to see the new Captain Marvel movie (which you should go see to support the concept of female super heroes, as well as strong female characters).  I decided to go all out and saw it in 4DX

What does that mean?  You have to wear 3D glasses and your seat moves.  Well, really, it more than moves.  There's a little platform for your feet, so it's like sitting in some sort of astronaut seat.  The seat rumbles, rattles, vibrates, hums, and moves.  You find yourself swerving to the right, to the left, backwards, forwards, and sometimes there's puffs of air at your feet, your ankles, or in your face.  There was even mist at one point.  It was HILARIOUS for someone who can remember when "Mary Poppins" was a big deal because they combined real people with animation.  I'm probably lucky they didn't kick me out of the theatre.  

Women's Day

International Women's Day - yes, it is celebrated here as well.  I figured it was part of their Russian/Communist roots - but maybe it is really becoming more international.

So ... you know from the last post that the mall was getting ready for Women's Day.  I found more evidence today.

I don't believe I've ever seen a Rosie the Riveter poster with roses.  My mother-in-law was a Rosie Riveter.  She quit her teaching job to inspect rivets in an aircraft factory.  When I think about her doing this, I realize how much I've never experienced a "war effort."  Once, in Newcastle, the kids and I entered a Christmas wreath making contest.  It had a patriotic theme to it for some reason.  At the time, the U.S. was engaged in a "war" in the Gulf and/or Afghanistan.  As part of helping the children understand the concept of a "war effort", we did not buy anything new for the wreath, but asked friends for red, white, and blue buttons that we hot glued to the denim wreath.  We didn't win any of the prizes.

There was a display of notable women.  In case you can't enlarge this: this woman was a doctor who volunteered in 1967 to go to South Vietnam to help wounded communist soldiers and civilians.  In June 1970, she was killed in an ambush.  A U.S. Army Intelligence officer was ordered to burn her diary.  He disobeyed orders and kept it.  In 2005, he returned it to her family, who have agreed to have it published.

This woman was the first female general of the Vietnam People's Army.  The narrative also states that she was known as the "most important Southern woman revolutionary in the war."  She was in charge of an all-female force known as the Long-Haired Army.  They "engaged in espionage and combat against ARVN and U.S. forces."

Their photos were on display with other notable women: Margaret Thatcher, Princess Diana, Wilma Rudolph, Maya Angelou, Anne Frank, Malala, Amelia Earhart, Beyonce, Meryl Streep, Emma Watson, and Angelina Jolie (among others).

I have a student who become interested in the U.S. floor puzzle we have in our room this week.  It was pretty hard to NOT put this piece in place for her.

We had our Sports Day last Monday.  Imagine - Sports Day on 4 March.  Actually, it was called "Wet 'n Wild Day".  That's right ... water was a main component of this sports day.  At one point, everyone changed into their swimsuits.  It was pretty wild ... and really wet!  Sorry - no photos.

A Quiet Week in HCMC

The bougainvillea continues to be in bloom and I continue to marvel at how beautiful it is - and wonder why it hasn't stood out as much as it has this last month.  I mean, surely it was here when we arrived in July.  

The mall continues to be a place of interest.  American potatoes were the big deal today.  Free frozen french fry samples were available on the other side of this temporarily abandoned potato costume (that's got to be a fun job).

The Tupperware store got re-located this week.  A dress shop moved into the spot usually occupied by Tupperware.  Now they are against a wall, rather than in the middle of the passageway.  I guess they don't have Tupperware parties here.

S2 asks, "is that for Easter?"  Upon closer inspection, it is a display for Women's Month - so International Women's Day must be celebrated here on 8 March, just like in Russia.

I've been indulging in Nail Art.  It is way more fun that I thought it would be.  When youngest daughter was here in December, we pampered ourselves with massages, facials, manicures, pedicures, and nail art.

Mine are the purple flowers.  Hers are the galaxy/space theme.

She went with the plaid theme on her fingers, while I stuck with the same purple flower theme.  The dress code for work says nail polish should be neutral .... no one said the flowers weren't neutral.

And for Tet, I went with the traditional yellow flowers of South Vietnam (the north is pink).  The people at the nail place were really impressed that I had come up with the idea of Tet-oriented nail art, using their bank of photos of various nail art.

My nails are currently taking a break from polish, to give themselves some time to breathe.

Some things from this week

We bought a table and two chairs for the balcony.  We can now have breakfast on the balcony (if it isn't TOO hot at 6 AM) and have a glass of wine and play our daily cribbage game as the sun goes down or the moon comes up.

I'm studying Vietnamese with an app called DuoLinguo.  I can't say that it is helping me learn how to give the taxi driver directions, or ask for a half kilo of passion fruit at the market, but it is rewarding to learn about the grammar.  When my youngest was here over Christmas, she was able to help me figure out some basic grammar after seeing just 4 translated sentences.  That Linguistics major of hers is real.  This week, I felt like perhaps a subtle lesson on communism was added to my language lesson.

Flowers are in bloom through this season normally known as winter.

And while sitting on the balcony today, I spied the feet of one of our apartment geckos - I sure wish they would eat the ants faster.

Tet vacation to Laos

As someone who first heard the word Tet followed by the word Offensive, it has been a good re-framing to work on associating the word Tet with more celebratory events.  My school closed for 12 days to celebrate the Lunar New Year, as is customary in this country.  For S2 and I, this meant an opportunity for a trip to someplace we hadn't been yet ... and couldn't go when we were in this area 30 years ago.  We chose Laos.

Day 1: This was actually the last day of work as well.  Given that there are no direct flights from HCMC to anywhere in Laos, we headed to Hanoi on a midnight flight, arriving at 2 AM .  We took advantage of the Airport Pod Hotel and stayed 10 hours in a small, very simple, air-conditioned room at the airport.  Basic, but comfortable, and very needed given that about 4 hours after arrival either food poisoning or the flu hit S2.

Day 2 and 3: The flight to Luang Prabang (northern Laos) was uneventful, but the arrival at our hotel was quite pleasant.

It was enlightening from the very beginning.

The Buddhist Temples in this UNESCO World Heritage Site were worthy of the designation.

  

Day 4: From there it was up the Mekong River for two days.

The boat stopped wherever anyone wanted to get on or off.  I think this was the stop where the local shop was being re-stocked.

That evening, the boat stopped and unloaded everything and everyone.  We had a lovely evening at a family run hotel that offered free beer with dinner.

 

Day 5: Continued up the river, in a different boat - one with flexible seating, just move the "car seats" in whatever formation suits your group.  This took us to Huay Xai.

Day 6-7-and part of 8: From Huay Xai we started our first venture into eco-tourism.  We headed into the jungle with The Gibbon Expedition for a three-day, two night trip.  We used zip lines to go between tree houses, all under the auspices of protecting the habitat of gibbons.  We did not see any gibbons, but we certainly heard them.  It was a rewarding experience to think of all the hard currencies being poured into this project that is protecting the jungle from being cleared to grow rice.

 

More of Day 8: Upon leaving the jungle, we hopped a public bus to Luang Namtha.  A "truck stop" helped us understand how remote we were.

Day 9: By this time, the flu caught up with me.  I was struggling just to get to the nice clean sheets of the next hotel.  S2 worked to get us from this remote place to Vientiane, the capital of Laos.

Day 10: I stayed holed up in the air conditioned, clean sheet hotel in Vientiane.  By the end of the day I was ready to venture out for an easy stroll.  We headed down to the Mekong River.  The Promenade was full of people enjoying the sunrise across the river, Thailand in the background.  I marveled how 30 years ago we would have been able to be on THAT side of the river, but not this side.

As exercise classes appeared along the Promenande, I pondered how this country, considered one of the bottom 20 countries in the world had aspects of it that were clearly working to be part of the developed world.

During the Silent War (also known as the Vietnam War), the U.S. dropped an estimated 260 million "bombies" between 1964 and 1973 on Laos.  It is estimated that 78,000,000 of them failed to explode.  People continue to unexpectedly find them.  There are numerous rehabilitation organizations within the country helping victims of the leftover bombies.  People make jewelry, can openers, and various other decorations from the usable remnants.  Upon seeing this trash can, I wondered if it was an attempt to re-use such remnants - it was made of rubber.

Day 11: Ahh, it felt great to feel better.  I felt well enough to join in the adventure of renting a tandem bicycle and heading out for a ride.  A ride in the country side always provides such a different look at a place. 

We stopped for lunch at a place along the Nam Ngum River.  It appeared this was a place for folks in the city to come to, rent a boat equipped with a kitchen, or if they brought their lunch, they just set out for a picnic on a boat.

Day 12: I was hurting from the bike ride the day before, but I was determined to make it to the Houey Hong Centre.  It is a place dedicated to keeping the traditional weaving techniques from dying out.  Laos has some 54 ethnic groups that struggle to keep their language and culture alive.  For a fee, they taught me how to weave.  It was soothing and rewarding.  Check out the link I made if you want to learn more about it.

Later that day, we took a plane back to Hanoi, and then home to HCMC.  We arrived back home shortly after midnight and had a day to rest up and get ready to go back to work.  It was a good thing for me.  I was able to squeeze in an appointment to the doctor and discover I had developed Achilles Tendinitis.  Basically, someone set such a vigorous pace on that tandem, that the tendons on my left foot went on strike.  I'm happy to report after some days of rest, and some anti-inflammatories, I'm doing very well.