The house that built Thanh

281E Phan Dinh Phung has weathered through so many storms and street development that I could barely recognize it. The soft dirt road that once was a familiarity to my bare feet is now a cement paved road raised a few feet passed the floor of the home. The building up of the outside has sunken the house so far down that Thanh and the kids have to use an old wooden plank to transport their motorbikes in and out. This also pose a big problem when heavy rain sets; leading all the water in and flooding it. I remember this way too well as a child even when the road outside was low. Everyone would frantically try to stop the flooding water as I carelessly sit on the bed, dry and safe. I distinctly remember fish swimming by as the water was being scooped out.

Through the years, the problem has got even worse presenting Thanh's family with horrible water damaged. The turquoise paint struggles to bind to the cement wall while battling the green and brown mold that creeps up the wall. The effect created is such a visually beautiful mosaic that it was difficult to photograph. You can't help but see the beautiful colors and textures, because the honestly of the condition would be too overwhelmingly painful to handle. Once the flooding was so bad, it damaged the family's supply of dry persimmons that Thanh delivers. The divorced mother and her 3 children did what I luckily never had to do, scoop water out of their home and try to salvage their income from being ruined. Soon it was only Thanh that did the scooping because the children has to sleep and be prepared for school. I come to realized that "low point" doesn't even come close to what she was feeling at that time.

The kitchen and the rest of the house was no better. The attic where my favorite past time was being dragged around on a cloth, now housed two thin pieces of foam use as mattresses. On the wall scribbled "I love my fammily" with two m's written by one of the kid when they first learned English. The thin mattresses was the equivalent of two comforters stacked on top of one another which hurt little Buon lower back.

Regardless of the cracks, mold, chipping paint, and whatever else is present, Thanh's house had a sense of organization and an air of humility. The family of four function very well with love and respect. Everyone has their assigned duties and they accomplished each and everyone of them. The children meticulously cook & clean and look after one another while their mother works. Everyday, they sit together to enjoy lunch and dinner over laughs and occasionally screams from the stressed-out Thanh. And everyday, their lives go on with pride; knowing that their condition doesn't define them or make them any less of a loving family that they are. It's not that Thanh doesn't have the money to fix up the house. Her priorities are just elsewhere: with her 3 children, and the hope that they'll get papers for the interview to leave for the States. Their experience test the human condition and constantly define the strength and bond of a family. In the end, Thanh and her four children are grateful and happy with their situation. You can see their many smiles and hear the abundance of laughters

Extra credit #2

While in Saigon, I quickly found the opportunity to get my ear cleaned. This is a popular spa service popular among men. I don't know the exact protocol, but they basically scrape and remove your ear wax. Take the intensity of a cotton swab and multiply it by 7. After a few minutes your ear gets irrated, but the first 2-3 mins is heaven! Medically, it's not advisable to remove earwax because they are beneficial. It's also not advisable to use cotton swabs.

Those yellow fruits are jackfruits. They're sweet and slightly sticky to the touch. Nothing like eating it fresh in viet nam. This fruit's outer appearance (spikes) could often be mistaken for a durian to the untrained eyes.

A bridge in Can Tho when we We did our boat ride down the Mekong. The whole ride was very picturesque.

Some cute kids in vung tau buying fruit snacks. He saw me taking pictures of him and smiled out of shyness. So adorable.

The last photo is of our seafood hot pot that we accidentally had a few ants w our meal. They caged and harvest the seafood right In the restaurant. The view from this place was breathe taking; a restaurant over looking the ocean with cool breeze.

Sadly posting on the iPad through email, we can only attach 5 fotos at a time per post. We've been taking really amazing pictures and at the end of the day, Jamie and I have to choose from so many captures and it's really hard to decide. Thanks for all the wonderful comments people have been leaving about our journey and our amateur photographies. By the end of our trip, we'll do an online album of some sort.

In Dalat with the next Tony Hawk

It's been a few days in Dalat now and we are settling in comfortably. Thanh (ngocs sis) has showed us the town and we've spent some quality time with her 3 children, Tram- 20, Phuong- 18, Buon- 15.

The city is nestled on top of a mountain and is comparable to San Francisco in look as well as temperature. The change of climate has been a relief, but the contrast between the day and night is pretty harsh, something like a high of 85 and a low of 65. Simply put, you sweat during the day and shiver at night. The cool breeze has reminded us of home and we feel that this week in Dalat will help pay our dues to everyone in NYC we left in the cold. Next week we move back to tropical paradise on the beach...

Dalat is a relatively small city home to less than 100,000 people. It feels safe and is very well developed. There were many times riding around the city where I could imagine I was riding down a hilly landscape in France, not in Vietnam! The people are friendly and even more friendly with our local tour guide that seems to know everyone.

You will see the video of ngoc and I on our second motor bike ride of the trip on Facebook. We started as passengers and as of today I have started driving my own! It's been a rough learning on the crazy streets here, but with some more practice I will be an expert. They say that only I should drive because no police would dare pull over a white person in fear of having to deal with the translation. I'm excited for this because now I don't have to fight for the pilots seat. Motor bike rental for on day is $7 USD, $2 less than our hotel nightly charge...

Yesterday we spent time riding all around the city and it's surrounding hills. We visited the market that Thanh sells her goods, viewed terraced farms in the hills, and saw some very pretty landscaped parks. Thanh made us lunch and dinner with the kids, which was amazing. She stressed to us over and over again while traveling in the south that Dalat has the best of everything, and I think she is right!

As the climate is similar to Northern California, you get a similar deluge of amazing fresh produce. To have the ability to see my dinner grown in the field, transported 2 miles, sold at the market, and then cooked at home by family was a truly memorable experience. Did I mention artichokes are in season here? SO GOOD!

After dinner the family went on a run to the local roller skating rink. Ok, try to follow this, 5 of us leave the house after dark. Ngoc with Thanh, me with Buon, and Phuong on her own bike. We arrive at a random larger looking structure surrounded by much of the same types of houses/shacks you see all over the city. I'm saying they just converted a larger shack in the middle of a residential area into a indoor roller skating rink. This sounds ok so far, right?

We dismounted our motor bikes and could hear the thumping of the outdated house music playing inside. Upon entry there is a small room to change into your skates. They have many sizes available in either roller skates or blades. They also have a laundry bin full of old dirty socks just in case you forgot yours.

Ngoc and I decided to take the skates due to the uncomfortable nature of any kind of communication with the owners of this filthy establishment. The first ones I tried on had the top of the skate completely separating from the base. The second attempt was not much better. I did my best to look natural and be a good sport for the boy, whom was the main reason for our visit to the place. I remembered how excited I would be as a 15 year old at the prospect of blading around and being able to show off for my family. So we pushed ahead...

Ngoc had to figure out how to get his on as they were missing some major parts of the laces, the tongue of my right skate kept sliding up and out, and Buon had to stuff dirty socks in his blades to make them fit. Get the picture?

We skated around very uncomfortably for about 30 minutes before giving up. Luckily, there were only a few other kids there also struggling with the out dated, unsafe, and broken equipment.

The whole time Buon never showed a bit of annoyance with the situation, he was happy as a kid with a big bag of candy. The experience humbled ngoc and I deeply, but we also vowed to be sure Buon was the recipient of our roller blades we never use once he moves to the states. We don't want the other kids making fun of him...

This was just the tip of the details I could write about last night. With respect for how much happiness was shared, we will spare the rest of our Western judgments, including the one about the complimentary water offered after skating from dirty reused plastic bottles filled from the tap and then poured into an old dirty plastic cup for all to share a drink from...

The photos above are Ngocs childhood house, the market in Dalat, and a few other shots from the day.

Miss everybody!! Comment!

Me love you forever long time.

Wrapping up our stay in Vung Tau, we are heading toward the middle of
VN to Dalat where I was born and lived for the first 7 years of my
life. My sister (thanh) still lives in the 1br house that I grew up in
with her 3 children, sleeping in the attic. The reasoning for that is,
her children age 15, 18, and 20 still prefer the warmth and company of
sleeping next to their mother. The room is too small to fit 4. More on
the home and my memories on next post.

Our last day in vung tau was a mellow but splendid one. Thanh and I
did some shopping while Jamie spent time at the resort to catch up on
some reading and Jamie Time. 2hrs of light shopping left me w/ 2 pairs
of pants and a shirt, all for $40! And that's boutique shopping! So
that you could see how much $40 is, a minimun-waged job for someone w
education is about $200 salary a month. Of course there are extremes,
and I do mean EXTREME, on both end of that spectrum. Without getting
into too much of the politics here, there are rich people here who
could out spend a lot of us in America, by far.

At night, we had dinner at a faux french bistro that targets
foreigners. The food was horrible, and I found a piece of metal from
a dish scrubber in my food; fried chicken, french fries, and a side of
salad. Ironically enough, we had a few ants w our meal at lunch from
another restaurant! It was an amazing meal though, with seafood for
about $25. We then moved onto some drinking and then snuck into the
closed pool of our resort to wade in the water. At this time, thanh
has had 3 heineken and was on her 4th. She started to get emmotional
and shared more stories of her life after the family has left. Being a
good hairdresser - a faux therapist, I listened. Timing couldn't have
worked out better, we got kicked out by the security as we were
finishing our beer. Thanh got sick and threw up the remainder of the
night. "This is the first time this is happening in my 44 years of
life. You must think I'm a horrible sister. Jamie is probably judging
me and our family" was repeated over and over again in between every
vomitting session.

The pictures are of our experience on the bus ride to Dalat right now.
Sorry for the blurriness of the first, but that is our "waiting area"
before we board our bus behind. We are travelling in luxury on a "bed
bus" where we had to remove our footwear, place in a plastic bag,
before entering. Sitting upright, Jamie is the only one having trouble
fitting. All the short/small jokes I experienced in America, now can
be turn around on him. The bus is quite comfortable beside the slight
feeling of clausophobia and the various stops to pick up passengers.
Signing out to escape this 7hr bus ride.

P.s. I feel like I'm forgetting English. My translations for Jamie has
gone down hill and an "Asian" accent is coming out as I speak. Though,
my Vietnamese is improving.

Caged for transport

We arrived back to Saigon around 730 after a tired bus ride from Can Tho. The fatigue of a 7 hour boat ride weighed heavily on us, but the prospect of soft sand on our feet and the sound of the sea kept us optimistic.

The last official bus from Saigon to Vung Tau left at 7 and we were posed with the question of staying the night in Saigon or making our way to a non-official van that would leave at 9. Well, why would we want to waste money on a night in Saigon when we've already spent more than enough time here?

We rushed in a cab to the location told to us by a random worker at the bus depot. The location was at a random gas station on the other side of town. In front of the gas station were about 10 people, seemly normal looking. What a relief, this will be great!

The man in "charge" explained that we would leave in about 45 minutes once all passengers had arrived. Ngoc and I took the 3 seats in the first row of the 12-14 person van. The van was old, beat up, and smelled of fish sauce. No worries though, we would make it to the beach by 11.

After about 45 minutes we felt as if we may be leaving. After filling the van up to the max (including carrying a drunk and disabled man into the seat behind us), we braced for departure. Wait... Why aren't we leaving?

10 more minutes, 20... Doors shut, doors open, can we fit more people in here?

"She gets motion sickness", they say as a young lady is seated next to ngoc sister while holding her head and a bottle of water. One more!

Finally the engine starts and the doors close. Whew! The van pulls slowly forward and then turns into the gas station and up to the pumps. Why couldn't we fill it earlier??? Oh, now we pay and then the gas station gets their cut... That makes sense...

The "man in charge" is now aggravated. He is being told to wait for one more, they are on the way! At this point we have about 20 of us in the van and have no idea how more can fit. This doesn't stop our fearless and greedy operators.

After much cursing and yelling we finally leave. On the road we feel a relief that we may actually be going somewhere. We cross over a long bridge and feel that we have weathered the storm.

Suddenly the van screeches to a halt! The driver and operator get out and open the hood. Is it broken down? Nope! This is just so the cops don't bother us while we are pulled over with no shoulder on a "highway".

A motor bike pulls up and drops off two more men. They open the back door and get squeezed in to sit on the luggage. And we're off! This repeats it self 2 more times before we are at "capacity"

I turned to look back in disbelief that we may have nearly 30 people in this van. What I saw was eyes everywhere. Packed in like sardines, everyone was silent, just waiting patiently for their stop . Some were younger seeming to be making it back home after work in the city, some where old, but all of them kept quiet and only spoke up when something was worth laughing at. The Vietnamese seem to be very good at this, they find humor in many things and share it together. Whether a laugh with friends or a group of 30 strangers (and one white guy), they take full advantage of the endorphins created with a shared laugh.

The road continued on, with bumps, giant pot holes, un-marked construction areas, motor bikes speeding, and all while our van honking constantly. This horn, it sounded ver similar to Peter griffins laugh on family guy. A rapid higher pitched, obnoxious cackle scared every vehicle we came with in 1 foot of.

An hour in now, we are settling into this for sure. We've been through it all...

Not quite all. Remember that girl that gets motion sickness? She's heaving and ready to burst! The operator quickly grabs for a plastic bag and offers it to her. Not a peep from the passengers, just windows opening and the sound of her vomiting. We pass tissue and the operator holds her hair. This repeats it's self another time or so. Just par for the course!

Now the idea that this van would be an express trip was not what I should have expected. We learned quickly that we would have numerous stops. Sometimes in the middle of nowhere with no street lights, sometimes in towns. We stopped to let someone out every 5 minutes it seemed. Imagine taking a bus from NYC to Philly and stopping 15-20 times. Who would agree to take that trip? Well, we did.

At last, we are seeing signs for Vung Tau. Where will we stay? Where is the beach? What is this "bus depot" our demonic driver will drop us off at? It's almost midnight! Leave that up to ngocs sister!

With great relief we exited the van and grabbed a taxi in seconds. He brought us to the beach front and we waived him to keep going when he slowed at the fancy resorts. We decided to get out at a row of seemly decent hotels right on the beach in front of a bustling night market. The hotel owner rushed out and showed us a room.

Terrace, large beds, ac, and for $15 a night...OK!

We made it, our journey was complete! The sad part was that with all of the exhaustion, the complete obsurity of what we just had endured, and the atmosphere of mayhem with the market left me feeling as if it was not reality. How could it be? This must be how people cope with strenuous events in their life, things become so unreal and push you to a point that you can't believe is even happening, then pushes even beyond that. All that is left after is you catching your breath, no other thoughts, just complete emptiness and the hope for the next mornings bounties. These are the sacrifices that must be made...

Vung tau seafood dinner on the beach and sunset

The other night we had an amazing dinner right on the beach. We sat down near this vendor and ngocs sis painstakingly chose which seafood they would cook for us. We drank cold beer while they cooked the food. About 20 feet away there were some men fishing for crabs at the waters edge. Once they had a fresh batch we had them steam 2 large ones for us. Can you say local? We sat laughing and joking in the fluorescent light of the vendors while eating our crabs and getting drunk. What a beautiful way to end a long hot day in the sun.

After the food we realized that we didn't bring much money for the rest of the night. No problem, we will make the money last! We bargained with 2 "huggy" bikes for a ride to a spot for dessert. We jumped on the back of their motor bikes and had the ride of a lifetime! For less that $3 we got a 15 minute motor bike ride, four servings of jaa (rice puddingish with beans or tapioca), and a ride home!

Teaser

We just checked into our new hotel resort in Vung Tau. Here is our view!