Hong Kong Shopping, Foot Spas & Bums

Today is our last day in Hong Kong and we're heading back home tomorrow on a 4:30 pm flight. Seeing that we gain an hour coming back we should be back in the early afternoon Vancouver time on Tuesday. I can't believe I'm back at work on Wednesday! Eeek! I haven't checked any email from work since we left Saigon. So I'm fearing the "you have 2000 emails"!

Well what can I tell you about Hong Kong.... it's quite spectacular. If you like shopping either for clothes, shoes, purses or electronics this is the mecca of all meccas. Actually I think you can buy just about anything you want here. This is consumerism at it's finest. This place is made of money. I have never seen so many people that are so brand conscience. When I asked the hotel concierge about where to go shopping, he asked me what brands and what "level" of items I wanted to buy. Of course when I told him that I wanted to go and bargain in the market I got a funny look from him.... like "oh, a low level shopper I see. Why the hell are you staying at the 4 star hotel in Kowloon???"

I actually had to restrain myself from buying this very cool PDA cell phone that had all the features including a touch screen display, 2 GB MP3, 3 megapixal camera, WIFI and a bunch of other bells and whistles. The O2 Atom Life.... too bad it was $850!!! But man is it cool. I really want it. But alas I have damn property taxes to pay to I'm going to do the responsible thing and pass on this awesome purchase. *sigh of sadness*.... oh the joys of being a responsible adult.


Tai Pan Spa Beauty and Foot Spa

We also stopped by the best spa I have ever been to. My brother's girlfriend, Carmen, hooked us up with a foot spa today threw her family connections. It was a very cool funky place at 83b Nathan Road in Tsim Shat Tsui. It was awesome! If any of you are ever in Hong Kong, I highly recommend. There's even a glass floor full of Koi fish below your feet when you walk in!


Bums - aka Gluteus Maximus

Well what can I say.... perhaps gluteus minimus??? Just an observation here in Hong Kong.... it's not a very bummy place. Colin first noticed this and began pointing out the myriad of flat bums in this town. You know how when someone tells you something and it sticks in your head like a bad jingle... well this happened to me. Every where I turned I kept noticing the flat glute syndrome. I know, I know it's so awful and critical of me but I just found it odd. It's like back and then legs.... the butt was completely bypassed! And well "I like big butts and I cannot lie....!" Hah. Ok enough of my butt talk.

Hong Kong

It's getting late so I thought I would just post a few pictures up and write a little bit more later about Hong Kong. So far I love it here! It's very cosmopolitan and modern. Things seem to tick like clock-work; very efficient! I would actually consider moving here to work. I'll write more later.....

The Vietnamese People

Well our tour of Vietnam came to and end on Saturday. I'm feeling a bit sad about leaving. I feel that I understand so much more about my heritage, my family and myself. My Vietnamese has definitely improved and I'm very comfortable speaking it now. I actually kind of miss it now that we are in Hong Kong and I have no idea how to speak Cantonese.

I'd have to say the people in Vietnam are generally very warm people (especially in the South). The Vietnamese people I have met here are unbelievably hard working and care greatly about their friends and family. I'm not just saying this because I'm Vietnamese. In fact, growing up I was embarrassed to tell people I was Vietnamese. There was just so much bad press out there about the war and later on in the 80's and 90's more negative press about the Vietnamese youth gangs and their ruthless killings. I was also embarrassed by the idea that we had come to Canada as political refugees. I was just easier for me as a kid to tell people I was Chinese. I guess I didn't really understand the risks my parents had taken to give us (their kids) freedom. Freedom of choice about what we wanted to do with our lives and how we want to live our lives. I'm sure I'd be working in the Saigon market today, with overly tanned, leathery skin and big buck-teeth if my parents had not made the choice to leave Vietnam during the Fall of Saigon. Who would have guessed it that their 3 kids are working professionals today (a tax lawyer, a senior director and an IT guru). It was probably the greatest gift they could give us. I just hope that I can live up to the opportunity they gave me. (No pressure really!?!?)

For the first time, after experiencing the culture here, I am very proud to say that I am Vietnamese. I know I must sound completely ridiculous but I wish that I had come to this realization sooner. But I guess it's better late than never.

Hanoi & Halong Bay

Hanoi

Visiting the North is very intriguing to me. You see, neither of my parents have been to Hanoi as I feel they both still harbour some resentment for what the North stands for.... loss of freedom and a communist regime. I guess if you were shot down 3 times by the Viet-Cong, you may likely find it hard to forgive and forget. For those of you who don't know, my father was a helicopter pilot in the South Vietnamese Army and flew as a gunship pilot behind enemy lines. So as you can probably understand, I received a very biased view of the North growing up.

However, I have had a handful of friends visit Vietnam recently before my trip here and I have heard some really great things about Hanoi. So my objective was to remain very open to Hanoi.

Hanoi is the second largest city in Vietnam with just over 4 million people; just half of the population of Saigon. The traffic in Hanoi didn't seem to be as crazy as in Saigon and there seemed to be a lot more cars in comparison to the sea of motorcycles in Saigon. Hanoi is also the capital of Vietnam. Before Hanoi was declared Vietnam's capital, Hue was the capital and the Emperors and Kings of Vietnam ruled from the Forbidden City (the Citadel).

Well, when we got there we visited a few museums and went to the Waterpuppet show. Fairly standard tourist things to do. However, there was one thing I found to be very interesting. Just about everyone we spoke to, at the museum, the shops in and around Hanoi and on the streets, they all seemed to be a little bit sad. I'm not sure if it was just me noticing this because I can understand what they are saying and talking about but it was just a feeling I got being in Hanoi. There also seemed to be a sense of "fear" if they were to disobey the government or tick off someone important in the government or military you'd get in some deep trouble. Most of the young folk we talked to told us that if you want to have some fun and get yourself a good paying job, go to Saigon. One fellow in a gift shop told us that his friend went to Saigon and he loves it there, and that one day he will save up enough money to go to Saigon too. Our tour guide also told us that business owners prefer to open shop in Saigon instead of Hanoi. He says that most of the city is shut down after 11 pm. If you are a restaurant owner or bar owner, you will surely make more money in the South.

I guess it was just interesting to see that some of the people in the North wanted to go to the South. When we first arrived in Saigon there was a very positive energy in the city and we even said that it didn't seem like we were in a communist country. Now being up North, you can really get a sense of communism. There was much more communist propaganda around and more military presence in Hanoi.

Overall, our experience in Hanoi wasn't that great. The sidewalks were hard to walk along because everyone and their dog parked their motorcycles on the sidewalks. There were also A LOT of cockroaches. There are cockroaches everywhere in Vietnam but we were fortunate that we didn't see too many. That was until we got to Hanoi. There were 3 very large roaches in our hotel room. It was disgusting! I don't like killing roaches.

And then after the gong show at the airport and no one really wanting to help us out it was a real difference that what we had experienced in Saigon. We had run into airline problems when we were flying from Saigon to Dalat. Vietnam Airlines would not issue Tricia boarding pass because the name on the ticket did not match her name exactly on her passport (Patricia instead of Tricia). Anyhow, people in the airport jumped in to help us out. Even used their own cell phones to call our tour company in Hanoi to let them know we were having problems. We tried to give the man who made phone calls on our behalf a tip and he wouldn't take it. He just wished us luck on the rest of our trip and he hoped that we enjoy Vietnam. What a contrast from the North. I hate to say it but my parents were right! There wasn't much to see in Hanoi.

Halong Bay

Halong Bay was spectacular and I would say that it was a highlight in our trip. Even though the area is far from being secluded, it was simply magical. We stay overnight on a boat, went swimming in the jade green waters of the bay and even enjoyed some kayaking into a cave and an into an enclosed area of the bay. It seemed like something out of the movies or survivor our something of the sort. I just couldn't get enough of the place and I wished I could stay in the bay for at least a few more days. It was breathtaking.

Gong Show in Hue & Hanoi!

Ok, I gone an added some pictures to my past posts now that I have been able to download some photos.

Vietnam Airlines Sucks Balls!

Ok, I'm starting off with some negative comments about Vietnam Airlines. And it is this..... they simply SUCK. They have no idea what customer service means. Bunch of communists I think!

Here's a play by play of bad domestic flights in Vietnam:

• Arrive at the airport in Hue and we are told that the flight has been cancelled and we need to come back in the morning.


• We are told that the delay flying into Hanoi is due to rain (I smell BULLSHIT here!) Flights don't get cancelled due to rain. It rains all the time in Vancouver and flights don't get cancelled.


• We later find out that the flight was cancelled because there are simply not enough passengers to fly. Great.


• Now I need to figure out where we are staying for the night in Hue. Vietnam Airlines says that they will put us up in a shitty hotel. Even better. A roach motel.


• I get on the phone with the Vietnamese tour company we booked with and after much yelling with Vietnam Airlines and the tour company we are finally allowed to go back to the hotel we had been staying in. They would split the costs. BUT wait.... our driver is now threatening to leave us behind because according to him his contract to drive us is done.


• So Colin decides to just load our bags into his van and sit in there until he drives us back. It was very tense now.


• I had to call the tour company again to make sure that the driver was coming back in the morning to take us to the airport again. Finally the tour company agrees to pay the driver for the additional driving due to the cancelled flight.


• Finally issue #1 resolved with Vietnam Airlines.

Issue #2 with Vietnam Airlines

I'll tell you more about our lovely boat trip at Halong Bay and visit in Hanoi in another post but this topic is about our gong show departure from Hanoi.

First, I'd have to say my fear about the Northern accent wasn't as bad as I thought. BUT it was still very tough. Just about everything is pronounced with "v" and "z" sounds. I have to ask people to repeat themselves all the time or tell them that I have no idea what they are saying because I'm not used to listening to the accent. By far, listening to the Vietnamese in middle Vietnam (Hue area) was much tougher!

So after our lovely trip to Halong Bay we drive back to Hanoi to fly to Saigon in order to catch our flight to Hong Kong. Our flight was set to leave at 7:00 am but of course when we arrive at the airport we run into more problems. I really shouldn't be surprised. It turns out that my ticket as well as Colin's, Kasztan's and Brian's tickets had been cancelled and the only person getting a boarding pass was Colin's mom Trish. WHAT THE F***! So I asked the ticket agent what the hell happened and she gave me some bullshit about not reconfirming our flight 72 hours in advance of departure. It's 5:40 am and Vietnam Airlines is telling us that we are S.O.L.

Talking to the airline staff was completely useless. From what they were telling me, the flight to Saigon was full and they just kept asking us to wait to see what they could do. Time was ticking and the time is now 6:20 am. I was about to lose it at this point. I stopped waiting and leaned over the counter and firmly told the ticket agent to get her manager out here NOW. I told her that we were getting on this flight in order to make our connections in Saigon and I didn't care who she needed to bump to get us on. Finally they put us on priority stand-by and we rushed to the baggage counter to check our bags. Of course as luck would have it, one of our bags is red flagged at security! Great! Turns out it was the snake & scorpion wine I had bought.

It's now 6:45 am and our flight was leaving in 15 minutes! The ticket agent was printing boarding passes for us to rush to the gate. But as Murphy's Law would have it the last and final boarding pass that she needed to print kept getting jammed in the machine. Shit, I just wanted to reach over the counter and give her feeble body a good shake.

Finally we got our boarding passes and ran to the gate. They find a few seats for us and we are finally on our way to Saigon! I'd have to say that speaking Vietnamese really helped us out.... and of course being a very squeaky wheel helps too!

Off to Hanoi

Ok, it's 6:00 pm in Hue and we leave for the airport at 7:30 pm to go to Hanoi.

So that accents here is Hue have been very, very hard to understand. It's like trying to listen to a person with a very heavy Scottish accent. Anyhow off the Hanoi for more language challenges!

Here's the story behind my fear of the Northern accent...

When I was about 11 or 12 years old, I remember my mom took me to a friends place for a dinner get together. Of course, being a little kid, little old Vietnamese ladies love kids! I was the fortunate one seated next to this 70 year old lady from North Vietnam. She talked to me all through dinner. It seemed like hours of torture to me. I hardly said a word to her because I had no idea what she was saying. I just kept nodding my head smiling and saying yes to her. I had no idea what I had agreed to. Well I guess I wasn't until she asked me a question I could not respond with a simple yes or nod. She asked me the same questions again and I responded with nothing but a nod. I could see she was frustrated. Of course, my mom comes by now and sees that this little old lady is upset with me. My mom scolded me and told me I was being so rude ignoring this lady. My mom kept asking me why I was refusing to talk to her. My mom kept pressuring me to respond to her. I couldn't talk the spectacle anymore and I finally came out with it and told everyone at the dinner table that I had no idea what she had been talking about for the past hour because of her accent! How embarrassing. Thank god most of the adults just laughed. I was mortified. I still live with this fear today that I'm going to make an ass of myself. Gulp. Off to the North I go to face my language fear. :)

Hue

We have been in Hue for the past couple of days. It's a bit cooler now at 36c. Much better than 40c!



Last night there was an amazing lightening storm. It lit up the night sky like it was Christmas! No rain, just big bolts of lightening flashing and dancing along the horizon.



This morning we headed off the the Forbidden City (the Citadel) where the former Kings and Emperors of Vietnam used to rule. Hue used to be the capital of Vietnam years ago. Much of the Forbidden City was destroyed by US bombers where the Viet-Cong were hiding out during the war. It's a shame to see so much history destroyed in one fowl swoop. We also stop in at another pagoda where the monk who had burned himself in Saigon in 1963 to protest Diem (the former Catholic President of South Vietnam) was from. The car in the back ground is still at that pagoda in Hue today. It is believed by some (conspiracy theory) that Diem was put into power by the Americans. Given that 85% of the country is Buddhist, it seems silly (maybe even stupid) to have a Catholic President.

Bloody Hot in Hoi An

We've been in Hoi An for the past couple of days and it's bloody freakin' hot here. It must be hotter than Hell (maybe I'll find out one day how hot hell really is!). I will never EVER complain about heat again after melting this afternoon. It was just over 40c today and I thought I was going to slit my own throat, delirious from the heat. I know ladies like to say they have a "glow" when they perspire but holy shit there was no glow here! I've been sweating like a mofo.... no "glow" it's more like a waterfall of nasty sweat! It's horrible. No wonder there aren't really any obese people in Vietnam... it's too hot to eat and all you drink is water all day. I think I must have gone through 5 litres of water today and I probably sweat it all out! Well the good thing about this is that I think I've lost some weight! Well maybe it's just water weight but I'll take it!

Hoi An is the garment district of Vietnam. Many of the labour here are quite skilled in tailoring, embroidery, wood crafts and stone carvings. Colin & I both had suits tailored here. It was relatively inexpensive. Colin went to town on the clothes thing. I tell you, for a guy this man loves to shop! He's coming home with 3 suits, 11 long sleeve shirts, 5 short sleeve shirts, 2 sport coats and 4 pairs of slacks. Crazy! I was much more conservative and had 3 suits made and a couple of summer dresses. The tailor we went to was very nice. Seeing that it's the garment district we've gotten the sense that there are a lot of gay men in this area. Personally I think the master tailor we were working with has a "thing" for Colin. While we were haggling over the price of Colin's gianormis order, the tailor was massaging his shoulders!!! Hah!

We also had a guided tour of the Hoi An today. Our guide, Vu, is from Hue (middle Vietnam) and holy-hannah is his accent difficult to make out! Speaking to him in Vietnamese was definitely tough. People in from Hue tend to speak Vietnamese with a very heavy sound. I know this sounds horrible but it's like a heavy, constipated pronunciation. It's really the only way I can think of decribing the difference. Just when I thought my Vietnamese is virtually fluent, we get a guide with an accent! I can't wait to try my hand at what things will be like when we get to Hanoi with yet another accent to try and figure out. Well I guess life is not without it's challenges!

Our tour included a brief history about the region and how the Japanese and Chinese have a strong influence here. We cycled all around town in these old rusty bikes and also peddled ourselves down to the beach at dusk. The beach was packed! It's funny here. You can head to the beach with nothing but yourselves and there are vendors there with mats you can rent and sit on and cold beers in hand, ready to serve you! You just can't get that at home!

So that's really all the excitement from the past 2 days - buying tailor made clothes and watching gay men hit on Colin. It's been a slice. :) Tomorrow we head out to Hue early in the morning at 7 am so I should hit the hay now.

P.S. - Mom, your warning about not drinking the snake & scorpion "rum" was too little too late. I've already had some. Sorry mamma. :)

Toothpicks, Snorkeling, Shopping and my Vietnamese

Ok so today I am feeling a bit better. My 48 hour fever broke last night and now it's like having a cold again. It was a weird fever. My body didn't ache at all; I was just burning up like the fiery pit of hell. Now I'm just congested and I sound like a Vietnamese frog-man.... err women I guess. I'm afraid I'm going to lose my voice so I've been drinking lemon juice like there's no tomorrow.

Anyhoodles, enough about my ailments. I'm here today to talk about toothpicks, snorkeling, shopping and my Vietnamese.

Toothpicks

Ok, here is an interesting observation. People in Vietnam really like their toothpicks. Anytime you order a meal here they bring toothpicks to your table. It doesn't matter whether your at eating at a street vendor or a high end restaurant, you get a small delivery of toothpicks when you finish your meal.

I find this amusing because now I understand my Dad a little bit better. After meals at home he like to use his toothpicks. Of course, first he uses it to pick any bits of food left in his teeth but then he moves to chewing on it. I have always found his "thing" for toothpicks bizzaro. He even performs little magic tricks with his toothpicks; "The Magic Jumping Toothpick". This is where a toothpick will miraculously jump into the air without any sudden movements from his hand. It just leaps out of the palm of his hand!

So for me... mystery solved! ... about my Dad and his toothpicks! It's just something Vietnamese people do! I guess he's not so strange after all!

Snorkeling

Today we took a boat trip out to one of the 29 bays in Nha Trang to go snorkeling. I was a bit worried considering I wasn't feeling so well. I was also feeling a bit apprehensive about snorkeling without fins. They tour boat only provided snorkel masks and the rest was up to us. Well, I wouldn't exactly call myself a strong swimmer. Actually, to tell you the truth, I have a great fear of drowning. Nonetheless, I jumped in the bay anyway. I figured if I was going to drown at least it was going to be somewhere beautiful! But as it turns out, I'm such a sucky swimmer after all. The coral in Nha Trang is the most beautiful coral I have ever seen. I've snorkel and dove in the Dominican, various areas in the Caribbean, Mexico and Hawaii and I'd have to say that the coral here is second to none. There was so much variety of coral and they had such vivid and lush colours of red, hot pink, electric purple, glowing lime green and deep liquid blues. It was utterly amazing! I think I was so mesmerized with the sea life that I completely forgot about my fear of drowning into the abyss.


Shopping

So today we did a little bit of shopping. I was getting sick and tired of wearing my clown clothes so we headed to the market. Colin was on a quest to find a few nice shirts that would actually fit him. And I was frankly looking for anything matching.

I eventually found a shop where some of the tops and bottoms looked stylish yet not too pricey. I tried on a few shirts but low and behold, my build is too BIG for the clothes! Craziness. I guess being a size 2/size 4 at home is too big here! So I moved on to the next shop. I eventually found clothes that fit. I even bought a couple pairs of jeans. And get this.... (this is the most exciting part for me)... I don't have to hem my pants!!!! Hooray! I tell you, I don't often buy too many pant back home because I hate having to put in the time to get them hemmed. That's why I've been so happy that capris had come back into style. Anyhow... that was my little moment of glee!

Colin on the other hand had a much tougher time shopping. First of all, when he walked into a store on his own they merchants immediately charged him the "tourist" price. So we came up with a way where I would go into a store first ask about the prices and then he would come in and look at the shirts. The prices I can get are half of what they offer Colin! Sneaky little buggers!

My Vietnamese

I'm finding that my Vietnamese is getting better and better each day that I am here. It's really strange to me that I can understand everything going on around me. Several of my cousin mentioned to me that I sound a lot like my mom when I speak in Vietnamese. Well I guess any idea that I was adopted is out the window! I know I'm going to have a tougher time when we go up North to Hanoi. Their accents are different there so I'm crossing my fingers. Well I've go to go because I'm getting kicked out of the business centre at the hotel. Toodles and I hope to have another up date soon.

Sick as a Dog

OK, so yesterday I felt like a bit of a cold coming on and well I've gone into a full blown fever/flu. It's horrible because we've finally made it to the beach resort and I'm sick. Crappy.

Last night I had a serious fever and I thought to myself... this is it I'm done for. Ok, ok, that's a bit dramatic. My fever is coming back just as I'm typing this blog. I feel a bit delirious. Yesterday we rented bikes in Dalat City and I was so sick that I dropped my bike. Scary. Oh well, maybe I'll try again when I'm feeling a bit better.

The traffic here is really tough. Traffic signs, lights and lines on the road are just mere suggestions. People will pull up right on to the side walk. I've also never heard so much honking in my life. Even when we're heading off to bed I can hear "beep, beep, honk, honk, toot, toot" ... it's never ending. At least here in Nha Trang (beach area) the traffic isn't as brutal as it is in Saigon. Crossing the road in Saigon is a real art. You have to move around predictably so you don't get run over. If you dart about here and there you'll surely get smoked by the pretty lady carrying a load of chickens and tropical fruit.

We're going to visit a group of islands around Nha Trang tomorrow and hopefully doing some snorkeling. I hope I can kick this bug by tomorrow morning otherwise I might be yakking off the side of the boat. Well at least if I do more fish will come around! I know, I know that's really gross but I'm trying to stay positive here.

Ok, I should head off to bed early and rest up. This dang fever... curses!

Saigon, Chau Doc & Toliets/Showers

Ok... this one is going to be a long one since we've been traveling for a few days and I have a lot to write about. And... this may make your reading less enjoyable if you are a visual person because I don't have any pictures to upload. Colin has the camera and I'm in Dalat City on my own today. I woke up with a cold so I feel horrible and I'm a big snot-monster. The rest of the group went for a hike up to Pinhatt Mountain. I'm a bit sad that I will be missing the mountain hike but I need to rest up and keep myself healthy for the beach in Nha Trang tomorrow. The landscape here in Dalat reminds me of home (Vancouver). The air is cool, it's mountainous and there are dense pine tree forests here. You may want to grab a cup of joe and maybe a snack if you're in for a lengthy story. I'll do my best to keep it interesting with splashes of humour here and there.

Saigon

So after the gong-show of Trish & Brian's arrival to Saigon (Colin's parents), our city tour begins. The traffic in Saigon is crazy. I've never seen anything like it. There are 8.2 million people in Saigon and over 3 million motorcycles. Originally the city had been designed for 2.0 million people so you can image the congestion. Saigon is a very popular place, especially among the young folk. There is much opportunity to find jobs and the pace is very fast and exciting. The women in Saigon are very stylish (must be where I got my style from ;) ). You see the lady's dressed in very feminine clothes with beautiful and intricate beading riding in the motorcycles around town. It's very sexy!

I guess I didn't realize that the people (well at least the women) would be so well dressed here so I feel out of place. I didn't exactly pack anything nice. Not even remotely nice. Well I figured I needed to be comfortable and when you trvel it's not a fashion show. BUT needless to say, I have packed some really god aweful outfits for myself. Really, I look like a clown in mismatched tops, pants and shorts. I must have been on crack when I packed. It must have been packing all the Metamucil that threw me off my game. For example, today I am wearing an army green tank top with red board shorts. I look like a Christmas elf! Anyone want to sit on Santa's lap?!?!? Really though, I've been dressed in clown clothes this whole trip. Oh well, this will give me a good excuse to go shopping!

On the Road to Chau Doc

On Sunday we set off for a 3 hour drive, a couple of ferry rides and a boat ride into Chau Doc in the Mekong Delta. The main industry in this region is rice farming. Yes that's right folks... we're finally visiting the rice paddy! It is mostly women and some children who work in the rice fields. The Vietnamese people know that their women here are very hard working and take on all sorts of labour including being merchants and running their day to day house hold. Someone once told me a story of a pregnant women working in the rice paddy. She was having contractions and poof... out popped her baby! She wrapped up her new little bundle of joy, strapped her baby on to her and continued to work the rest of the day! Ok, ok so the story is somewhat extreme but that's the sense that you get when you meet these women. Let me be frank (... you can be Tom if you want - ok haa haa bad joke), most of the men I've seen in and around the city and in the country side don't seem to do much other than napping in their hammocks and playing a few hands of poker. The women seem to be running the show here!

Our boat trip down the Mekong Delta was a real eye opener. Although you can see that there is some wealth here because of the rice farming, there are also many people who seem to have nothing. Well, I shouldn't say nothing. They do have a lot in the sense of family. They live in stilt homes with palm leaf roofs along the delta and in the various canals and water ways of the delta. Even though it seems that the people here have so little in the sense of material possessions, the children are the happiest kids I have ever seen. You see them laughing a lot - chasing each other down up and down, swimming and splashing each other. So it makes you wonder if having more material things in our North American lives makes us less happy. Maybe we are filling our lives with "things" in an attempt to fulfill other needs we have yet to discover. Are we unable to reach this so called plain of discovery or enlightenment because of the materialistic culture we live in? Just some food for thought - is ignorance bliss or is knowledge power?

Toilets & Showers!!!

Ok, so I've covered some thoughts I've come across along the way so far. Here's my next thought... there aren't many toilets here. Of course the there are toilets in the more tourist areas but all in all I've seen more "ground squatting bowls" than toilets. This is what I call them, "squatters" - it's a ceramic toilet like bowl in the ground with little grooves along the sides where you place your feet. They do not flush but rather they drain like a sink. Well I was very proud of myself using these squatters. I've been able to refrain from gagging and just get to my business. I really felt like I was getting the hang of this squatting thing.... day in and day out I've been squatting without problems. I was coming close to say that I have mastered the "squat"! Well that was until yesterday when I started coughing and peed on my leg. Oh well, I guess that'll teach me for being cocky thinking I was the master of the squat.



Chau Doc boarders Cambodia so when we climbed up Sam Mountain we could see the vast landscape of rice paddys and the boarder into Cambodia. Being a boarder town, there is a definate transiant feel. The hotel we stayed at was far from the Ritz Carlton. Although I shouldn't complain, the bathroom had a sink and a toilet (no squatter) but not shower. Well, not exactly a shower. The whole bathroom was a shower! Right next to the toliet was a shower head. That's right people, you can shower and sit on the toliet at the same time if you really wanted to!

The Tour Begins

Today was the first day of our 16 day tour of Vietnam. Colin's mom and step-dad arrived yesterday and of course not without excitment. We had arranged to have a driver from the tour company to pick them up at the airport but on their expected arrival time there was no one there. The driver called the hotel to see if we knew where they were... of course we had no idea. He had waited at the Saigon Airport for 2 1/2 hours and nothing. At this point, Colin thought that they probably missed their flight in Vancouver as they may have misjudged the time/day (flight was leaving at 2:55 am on a Thursday). So here we are, in Saigon expecting Colin's parents and they are no where to be found. The even harder part is that his parents are tech-phobics and likely did not have a cell phone with them and they probably could not figure out how to send/receive a text message. We thought to send them an email but knowing that they are far from being tech savvy, they probably have no idea how to check their Telus webmail. So we decided to text Billy (my brother) because he would have taken them to the airport and would know if they had missed their flight.



When we heard from Billy he said that as far as he knows he dropped them off 3 hours before their flight and assumed they we are their way. Ok so next thing... call Cathay Pacific. Of course, being in Vietnam things don't happen as quickly here. I go through the gammit of phone prompts from one selection to another and finally I get to flight inquiries and the pre-recorded message says that I need to fax the request and wait up to 24 hrs for a reply! Talk about A1 customer service... brutal.



So the next thing is to actually go down to the Cathay Pacific office. Thank goodness it's just across the street from our hotel. When we get there I asked the agent to look up Colin's parent's flight. She refused as it is a breech of passanger privacy. So I pleaded with her in Vietnamese and let her know that his parents were very, very old, they cannot speak Vietnamese and this was their first time visiting. I told her that I was worried they they would not be able to find their way to the hotel because the driver they were expecting to pick them up had already left for they day. Now how am I going to get two old, white, non-Vietnamese speaking people to the hotel without knowing when they would be arriving... if at all??? She hesistated for a little bit and I continued to beg. Finally she broke and gave me all the information I needed. As it turns out, they were in Hong Kong and their connecting flight was expected to arrive at 4:15 pm. I quickly called the tour guide to let him know what had happened. They had been bumped from their earlier flight and were delayed in Hong Kong for 7 hours.

Of course by now the tour guide did not have access to the van that would have picked them up. So I begged him (I'm doing a lot of begging as you can see) take his motorcycle and meet them at the airport. He could just put them into a cab and send them to the hotel.

So all in all, they arrived jet-lagged and tired but safe.