In Hawaii

So I still have four weeks of our trip to blog. Some of the highlights that are still to come are of other parts of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. But of course I will still be writing about what is happening here in Hawaii too. Sorry if it's confusing.

A couple of days ago, Senator Barack Obama was here visiting his Grandma who is ill. She happens to live across the street from us. Naturally we watched the 20 police bikes parade the Obama’s in and out of our area. We later found out that Obama grew up in that very condo with his Grandparents and Mother.

Like I said before, I am always fascinated by what choices one would have to make to end up in such a circumstance as growing up in Hawaii to running for President of the US. To quench my curiosity I read Obama's Wikipedia. His bio was much too long to post. You will have to read it on your own time, here is the link. One thing I will note, he is well educated. But the funniest thing was how familiar his life was to our life now. Obama's parent came to Hawaii to study at the University of Hawaii Manoa. We also came to live in Hawaii for the same reason. Obama was born in the Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children in Honolulu. Pearce was also born in the Kapi'olani Hospital. Obama grew up on the corner of Punahou Street and Beretania Street. We also have lived on that same corner for the past four years. Obama attended the Punahou School. The school is up the road from us. We hope that Pearce will attend there as well. It's a private school for K-12, rated in the top 10 in the nation. Therefore, not easy to get into and quite expensive. My son Pearce so far is living in the shadow of a Presidential nominee. Wow I wonder what Pearce will be in the future. No pressure Pearce! Seriously I am kidding about Pearce.

It's interesting how an ordinary life can become an extraordinary life over night. Bravo Obama.

P.S. Because I am Canadian, I am neither a republican or demarcate. Also being Canadian means I can't vote in the US. My only attachment to either candidate was formed by a personal experience I’ve had, such as my blog on POW in Vietnam and the blog you just read. I know this is a heated topic for most and it frustrates a few that I sit on the fence. But again, I can, cause I can’t vote. I just try to bring a positive view from both sides.
According to my poll "who has your vote for the next US Pres?" McCain is only winning by a one-point margin. So as our good friend Damon Zollinger would say “get your vote on!”

Goodbye Hanoi

When Eric's parents, Jane and David Phillips, arrived in Hanoi to join us for part of our travel portion of our southeast Asia trip, we were overjoyed and flattered. But it was bittersweet because it meant we had to say goodbye to Hanoi and all the friendships we had made over the last few months. A big thank you.......

... to Nam, Trang and little Y (pronounced 'ee') for inviting us over to their home for an amazing traditional Vietnamese dinner. Preparing enough food to feed a small nation. And wishing I could eat more because it was so delicious. And for taking us to experience my very first taste of snake. Two unforgettable meals, one unforgettable friendship.

.. to Chien and Tan, our favorite bride and groom. We loved being a part of your new life together. And well wishes.

........to the Hanoi branch members for making us feel so welcomed and to the missionaries for letting us be a small part of pioneering the good work.

... to Jim and Julie Ellis, the humanitarian missionaries for sharing their hair-raising adventures. We can only dream of having such an exciting life. Wink. Wink.

....to Quan the very best travel agent in the world with the best taste in Hanoi.

...to the Marchant family for play dates, dinners, books, and back healing miracles.

...to Trang for girls night out and for bringing gifts. You are a sweetie.


...to all the staff at the Intercontinental who went above and beyond to make us feel right at home, taking care of every whim down to the smallest of needs like stocking up on apple juice for Pearce.

...to the IC for allowing Pearce to tap into PBSkids.com at all hours, day or night, helping us cultivate his newest addiction.

...to the fishermen who provided hours of entertainment for Pearce.


...to our hair stylist Quy who kept us looking clean cut.

...to our favorite ladies selling fruit on the side of the road. Everyday we could always count on fresh fruit. Yum.


...and lastly to the lady at the Water Puppet show who sat in the row bellow bootlegging. Because of her we were able to endure the hour long traditional Vietnamese singing while puppets danced in water.

Each touched our life for good. And we will never forget the memories made with all of you in Hanoi. Till we meet again.

POW in Vietnam

Right in the heart of busy Hanoi lake side Truc Bach there is a small stone statue called the John McCain POW Memorial. A rough translation states"Here on 26 October 1967 at Truc Bach Lake in the capital city of Ha Noi John Sidney McCain was shot out of the sky in his A4 aircraft by local (militia?) citizens defending Yen Phu. There were 10 other planes shot down on the same day."

I am always fascinated by what choices one would have to make to end up in such a circumstance such as a POW in Vietnam. To quench my curiosity and maybe your's too, here is McCains Wikipedia Military career play by play.

McCain graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958. He became a naval aviator, flying ground-attack aircraft from aircraft carriers. During the Vietnam War, he nearly lost his life in the 1967 USS Forrestal fire. In October 1967, while on a bombing mission over Hanoi, he was shot down, badly injured, and captured by the North Vietnamese. He was a prisoner of war until 1973, experiencing episodes of torture and refusing an out-of-sequence early repatriation offer; his war wounds left him with lifelong physical limitations (if you've seen him on TV, you know what I'm talking about...He can't lift his arms above his shoulder).

Wow. He was in a POW for six years! I can't even imagine or even relate in any respect. And I think only those who have walked in similar shoes should be judging (directed at Micheal Moore). But I want to personally say thank you to all the brave men and women who choose such a job. Risking everything. Such a sacrifice.

Looking at the McCain Memorial was a powerful moment to feel a small sliver of the reality of what happened here in Vietnam. Funny thing is, most Vietnamese polled overwhelmingly welcome McCain as a contender for the next US President. Old wounds have been forgiven (or at least pushed down far enough that functional friendships can exist). What forgiveness. On both sides. A good lesson for us all who keep forgiveness from another. Thank you John McCain.

BFF

Late, yesterday evening aroung 10 pm while Pearce and I were laying on the floor surrounded by pillows and blankets watching the movie "Babe," Pearce turned to me, placed his small arm around me, and said with his big smile, "You my best friend forever." Stunned, I asked him, "What'd you say?" And he repeated, "You, Mom, my best friend forever!" Grinning ear to ear. At that moment I swear time stopped and I heard angels sing. I felt the most unbelievable happiness a mother could feel. All the puking, weight gain, labor pain, diapers, late nights, Barney episodes, suddenly were worth it ten times over. Thanks, Pearce, for making my day, week, month...two-and-a-half years!

As for where he learned that line...I have no idea. But it proves once again that at 2.5, they are more sponge than human.

Museum Day

Hanoi boasts many interesting museums. We tried to see them all. But most of them were not interesting enough for Pearce (2-yr-old). Except the Museum of Ethnology. I think Pearce had more fun there than we did. The museum has a large children's discovery room that combines fun and educational activities such as traditional weaving, dyeing and block printing. But those activities were not a big draw for Pearce. He found his own interactive activities that probably were not meant as such.

Above, he plays "Kung Fu" with his "guys" (aka action figures) in a miniature traditional Ede longhouse. He could have played for hours. As it was, we had to drag him out kicking and screaming.

Vietnamese may be the world's best at maximizing transportation loads on two wheels. I've seen over nine huge live pigs on one bike. Above is a famous example depicted at the museum. Apparently, the owner of this bike was a man who transported these fishing traps just like above from his home vilage to a market over 20 kilometers every day. As impressive as that may be, it's even more impressive when you see these engineering marvels going 50 mph, weaving in and out of traffic like a downhill slalom skier.

This is a full scale replica of the traditional communal house of the Bahnar. It stands 19 meters high and was built in 2003 by 42 villagers from the Kon Rbang village, Kontum town and the Central Highlands. According to the Bahnar, the communal house is the symbol of skill and strength of the villagers. Frankly I would agree. They built this monster of a hut with basic tools and their bare hands. These communal houses are still being built around Vietnam today. But those stairs are very sketchy. We need smaller Vietnamese feet.

The construction and craftmanship was remarkable inside and out.

We covered Pearce's eyes for this display. This was the funeral hut. These statues were placed around the hut to help the deceased with fertility into the next life. My first thoughts went to the extrodinary proportions on the men......you wish bud!

Over all, ethnology was a fun learning experience for the whole family...and a little pornagraphic.

Pearce's foodies

The newest food item we can now add to Pearce's "will eat" list.

Grilled oysters topped with a garlic and cheese melt. So Pearce will only eat pancakes, snake and oysters. He leaves me guessing at every meal. I can only hope the list will expand sooner than later. Thank goodness for vitamins.

Hanoi Zoo

Pearce as usual woke up with pancakes in mind and then added out of the blue, Zoo Mama. In Hawaii we have a year round pass to the Honolulu Zoo. Pearce is a zoo zealot. There is interactive activities for a two year old that blows his mind into sheer bliss. So his wish was my command. Pearce and I took a taxi. The day's forecast was rain, rain and more rain. So we were ready to get wet. The entrance of the zoo was something I would pass by without even a thought that it was a zoo. It was only 50 cents to get in. And by the conditions of the animals in the cages I think they need to charge more. Off the zoo entrance was the bird sanctuaries where about a dozen cages held the largest to smallest birds. The whole area was flooded. Regardless we walked through a couple of inches of muddy water to see:

I am not a bird expert, but I think this is a crane. Very large and scary. Pearce was hesitant to stand to close to take a picture.

Pearce and an ostrich.

No shortage of parrots at the Hanoi Zoo. At least 3o birds were distributed throughout 5 different cages.

This is where the Zoo is making the real money. Rides are 60 cents. And Pearce enjoyed at least 10 dollars worth.

From the bird sanctuary we followed the pathway to a bridge that connects to a long island. Arguably the most peaceful location in all of Hanoi.

On this island we saw countless cages of very hyper monkeys. Each cage contained 6-8 monkeys ranging from different ages wildly chattering, screaming and chasing each other. We spent most of our zoo time watching in amazement. It was very entertaining. Pearce named this monkey, 'Crazy.' A good observation for a two year old. The monkey really did act like it belonged in a straight-jacket.

At the end of the island we crossed over another bridge, and this contraption was awaiting us. I believe it wins for most obscure entertainment device at a zoo this year. It's a giant clear circular air mattress that you can climb into and roll around the lake. I would love to hear from anyone who has had first hand experience in this plastic bubble. Unfortunately Pearce wasn't up for anything that weird. I think we should get one for the next Lake Powell trip.

We saw crocodiles, bears, tigers, goats, and more monkeys. It was sad to see the state of many of these majestic animals in such small quarters. But it took me over the edge to see the elephants chained by all four feet to stand, eat, and poop in the same place all day. I was so close to jumping over the the fence and freeing them. They're so depressed that all they did the whole time we watched was sway side to side.

I think Pearce even felt sad for them too.

A few more rides on a space ship was a perfect way to cheer up Pearce. The minute he sat in the cockpit of his space vehicle Pearce was talking away and looking behind him at the imaginary crew of bad guys following him. I love to see his imagination turned on. As a mother there is nothing more satisfying.

Still Among the Living

Apologies for the huge delay. And, if you're reading this, thank you for not giving up on us. The long delay was not for a lack of trying. For the last three weeks, Eric has had us (Jane and David joined us two weeks ago) travel over 2500 miles through three countries via bus, taxi, cyclo, motorcycle, tuk-tuk, sled, sampan, longtail river boat, speedboat, plane, hot air balloon, helicopter, wheelbarrow, space shuttle, human sling shot...OK, the last few are exaggerations. But there hasn't been much time for blogging. And the few moments I have had free, we were nowhere near an Internet connection.

I'm writing this from a small island called Don Khong in the middle of the Mekong River. It's located in Southern Laos's "Four Thousand Islands" area near the Cambodian border. It's about as isolated as I've ever been. But, amazingly, it boasts a great Internet connection. Hopefully I can play blog catch up.

I left off with us traveling to our friend Chien's country wedding. "Two kilometers that way," finally came true, and we made it to his village about two hours outside of Hanoi. His village's designated profession is carpentry. His uncle manufactures wood furniture. The festivities and ceremony took place in this cleared out wood shop, with hundreds of wooden bed frames lining the sides. Bright colored fabrics decorated the space making the dim factory come alive. The cutting saw table and blade were used to hold cocktails. Chien's Uncle (one of the only english speaking wedding attendees) remarked that this was probably the only wedding we have attended that had giant saws as part of the decor. Honestly, that is what I loved about this wedding and why it stands out among the hundreds I have attended.
Eric hang'n with the elders of the family.

Feeling a little low? Get in line and feel a little high.

Pearce entertains the crowd, playing Kung Fu Panda using a giant fan for special effects.

Pearce making friends. No speaking needed to play.

Beginning the preparations for the wedding meal, washing the rice at 11pm. This rice was probably picked from the fields just that morning.

Around midnight the party started to slow down and Chien took us to the only guest house in the town. Vietnam has Orwelian polices to keep track of every move you make...especially foreigners. You must have a passport and permission from the local police to stay the night in a hotel or residence. We "absent mindedly" forgot our passports and could not stay in the village overnight. We tried to bribe the owner of the guest house, but he was too afraid of being caught, so we had to wait an hour for the only cabby in town to wake up and drive us back to Hanoi. Driving at night through Vietnam's countryside was slightly more safe than Russian Roulette. First, there were no street lights. Second, obstacles such as 500-pound water buffalo like make sudden appearances on the narrow pot-holed roads. Third, only one of our cab's lights worked (and even it was on it's way out). Fourth, our driver was trying to break a land-speed record. And Fifth, Eric and I might have broke the Word of Wisdom just by smelling his breath.

We said a lot of prayers, though, and safely arrived back at our adopted Hanoi home (Intercontinental) at around 1 am. The next morning we had to wake up at 4 a.m. to meet the bus full of wedding attendees from the Intercontinental. This time, however, we were confident we'd get to the wedding without a hitch because we were cruising with the locals on a chartered bus. No more "two kilometers that way" incidents.

We were wrong to assume. We got lost. The bus driver asked for directions several times. We finally found our way but stopped dead in our tracks at a bridge that was too small for the bus to cross over. There was no where to turn around so the bus had to drive in reverse through an entire town barely the width of the bus, brushing inches away from the shops and homes. We had only 15 minutes to find another way into the town. It took 30 minutes. We missed parts of the wedding. Oh for the love!

The bus could not fit down the narrow streets to Chien's parents house so we hitched a ride. Sitting on a motor bike side saddle with a skirt in high heels while holding Pearce was not a ride of ease.

The bride and groom. The bride is wearing a traditional Vietnamese red and gold ao dai.

A traditional Vietnamese Wedding goes like this; early in the morning the groom's wedding party travels to the bride's house to ask her ancestors for permission to marry the groom. Both bride and groom wedding parties then go to the groom's house to ask his ancestors for permission to marry the bride. I wonder if the ancestor ever says no? The ceremony begins and they are now husband and wife. And the bride and grooms wedding parties return to the brides house for a celebration that includes the whole town. Finally the bride and groom wedding parties return to the groom's house for the wedding dinner and entertainment. The bride and groom sit and serve welcome tea or rice wine to all their guests at each home, at every stop. That is a lot of pouring. We had to refuse rice wine about a million times. Finally we faked it by putting water in our cups to make the traditional cheers with everyone else. There were TVs playing either snap shots of the bride and groom in American wedding digs, or techno/disco pop seventies music videos. Very loud. A wedding singer sang to the bride and groom in Vietnamese. Very entertaining.

The dinner was amazing. Everything freshly killed the night before. Duck, chicken, pork, and fish served with rice and vegetables. The amount of work that went into the food alone, I can't imagine. Three cheers to the ladies of the house who prepared such a feast.

I hung out with the elderly ladies. With the elderly group, the women sit with the women and the men sit with the men. But the young (under 70) intermingled.

Pearce was a hit.

The drive home was not any better. The bus driver couldn't find his way home. I just could not believe that our bus driver was a professional tour guide driver? We decided to buy him a map as an early Christmas gift.

Weekend

The last four days have been a dizzy reminder that we are out of our element. But, as always, it came with an exciting adventure that touched us and gave us new perspective on how grateful we are to spend time here in Vietnam and to be a small part of the lives of our new friends.

Saturday was filled with errands. We called our laundry lady to come pick up our laundry. I love the laundry lady. We went over to the Marchant's (friends from the Hanoi branch. They will be in Hanoi working at the Embassy for the next 3 yrs) to pick up a few loner items I haven't been able to find. Butt cream for Pearce who ate something that gave him a sore bum. Apparently Vietnamese toddlers have perfect, unburdened butts. Breaking Dawn, the last book of the Twighlight series (and the reason I haven't blogged in a week). And a cure to my back problems. Yes you read the last sentence correctly. I won't have to drink wildcat wine after all. My back is now easily corrected with a door, a pully, a bag of water and a head-hanging neck holder. It was the miracle I have been praying for. Anyway a BIG thank you to Jenni Marchant who shared her back healing solution...in humility. LOL. I will be forever in her debt. While Jenni shared her most coveted secret, Pearced played happily with Emma (Marchant's 5 yr old daughter, Xander 2 yrs was already napping) Eric went out to finish some of our other errands, such as buying 60, 1 dollar DVDs (surprisingly most of them were HD quality and the others a nice bootlegged version) and inspected his dress shirts that were being made at the local tailors. We then ventured over to meander through the Ho Chi Minh Museum. I was very impressed by how dramaticly artistic everything was displayed.

Sunday came with happy news that brought the Mission President from Cambodia to the Hanoi Branch. With all the baptisms the meeting house was getting a little crowed. Late,attendees would have to sit on the sky scraping stairs and little Vietnamese girls were bunched two to a chair. A new, bigger, more centrally-located meeting house (literally a house) was announced to be ready for use in a couple of weeks. Sadly we will have moved on to the vacation portion of our time here in Southeast Asia, and will not get to see it. But the news still made our day. Progress. We love it.

After church Pearce had a long nap, while we packed an over night bag. The excitement was building. We were going to our first traditional "counryside" Vietnamese Wedding. Our friend Chien, who we met in Sapa last year, was getting hitched to his high school sweetheart after dating for 4 years, in there home village of Yen Lac (outside of Vinh Phuc, which is more than an hour outside of Hanoi, for those who care). As soon as Pearce woke we hoped into a taxi, giving the address from their traditional red invitation. We were told it would take about an hour to get there. Now there are a few things about driving in Vietnam that are different than in most other places such as no street signs....anywhere (once in a while we would find an address printed on a building). Let me say this again. Once you're out of the city, there are no street signs in the whole country. So if you have never been somewhere before, good luck finding it. And luck wasn't on our side. Our driver stopped at least 10 times to ask random people for directions. And I mean random. Like an old lady who was marching her water buffalo through a huge field. Like she is going to know? She told him he was close, only two more kilometers "that way." All the advice for directions were answered with two more kilometers "that way." After four similar inquires I realized how comical this was, and started to take pictures of all the places we stopped to ask for directions. Here are a few.

Two more kilometers "that way."

Two more kilometers "that way."

Two more kilometers "that way."

As for the wedding itself, I'll save it for the next post.

Blood on the Highway

We've all been in bad traffic. And anyone who has been to poor foreign countries has been in ludicrously bad traffic. I hereby submit, however, that traffic in Vietnam is the worst in the world. Not because it's jammed up--even Honolulu gets more gridlocked. No, Hanoi wins as the worst traffic because every time you leave the sidewalk, either by foot, motorbike, car, or bus, your mortality rate drops by 20 years.

This fact was nailed home yesterday afternoon on my white-knuckled ride home from work aboard my putt-putt 125cc Honda Wave. I, along with enough people to fill a college gymnasium, was stopped at a red light. That in itself is a major improvement. When I first came to Vietnam eight years ago there weren't any traffic lights in the entire city. Intersections were slaughter houses. Additionally, as of last year, Vietnamese law requires everyone to wear helmets, and most major roads now feature these novel inventions called medians--thus keeping giant water buffalos from charging across the street during rush hour. So things have improved. But the overall degree of improvement is about the same as a 500-lb man on his first day of a diet.

Anyway, we're all stopped and there's only 20 seconds to go before our light goes green (they have count downs on their lights like some kind of execution march). But this jackass kid next to me is honking his horn. We're like five rows back, so I don't know what kind of Red Sea-moment he was expecting. He starts cussing, then lifts his bike up onto the sidewalk, fires his engine straight forward past us fools still stuck on the street, and plunges off the sidewalk into the intersection. What a clever chap. Except that, for some reason, 20 feet into the intersection he gets crushed by the grill of an SUV going about 25. Luckily his body launched to the left instead of under the SUV like his demolished bike. After thud number three, his body came to rest with his arm folded under his back like a leather belt. He was unconcious or dead, because there was no screaming.

Now this was all quite shocking. But I was actually more shocked by everyone's reaction. More than half the people didn't even turn their head in the direction of the crash. The SUV's driver didn't rush out of his car to inspect whether he had just ended a life. He casually put his car into neutral, then sat inside the airconditioned cab and made a call (hopefully to Vietnam-911). When the light went green a few seconds later, everyone except me and a few others fired their bikes forward and, like ants around spit, sped past the SUV and unconcious teen. The whole accident drew about as much concern as a spilled glass of soda in a crowded restaurant.

I pulled up on the sidewalk and ran over to the kid. When I asked the tiny crowd that had assembled if he was OK, they were more interested in the fact that I spoke Vietnamese than the kid's life. Finally, I made it to him. I had visions of heroically putting that first aid training to use. But alas, the dude was already sitting up with his mangled arm scooped up in his other arm. His eyes were glazed, but he seemed OK. The SUV driver came over and callously reminded the kid in an expletive-laced explosion that the light was red. No interest in the kid's condition. Then he tells everyone that the cops are coming...not an ambulance, but the police. He commands the kid not to move until they get here, then they'll decide whether to call an ambulance.

I stayed a while longer, but it became clear that I was more of a distraction than help. I went back to my bike, said about twelve prayers, then sped off for home, slowing down at each light and looking both ways for similar jackasses who fail to grasp the concept that when your light is red, the intesection will probably have fast moving objects in the way.

Here's a video shot by Wendi of traffic during a weeknight in Hanoi. Multiply this by 10 for weekend nights and rush hour.



And here's a quickie of Wendi crossing the street.

A break from the heat

For the last couple of days the weather here in Hanoi has been beautiful. Beautiful in Vietnam means you don't sweat through four outfits per day! The humidity is so bad here that it feels like you're locked inside a small inclosed, wet sauna left on high. But lately there has been a breeze. Not Hawaii breezy. But enough for us to go outside mid-day, and not contemplate slitting our wrists. If I sound over dramatic, consider that most locals and school children take a break from 12-2 to get out of the heat. A Vietsiesta. So I'm not the only one. Anyway, yesterday Pearce and I went out to the pool. Of course our little water boy was in heaven.

Pearce is holding onto the last step letting his legs freely kick around. He thinks he's swimming. He is very proud of himself, shouting "look mumma, I'm doing it, take a picture."


Pearce and a friend. Pearce sure misses playing with Connor. But he is always happy to meet a new friend. His favorite demographic is 7-12 year old males. Most of the kids Pearce meets at the pool don't speak English. But some how they manage to communicate just fine.


We ate lunch. Notice the big holes in the bread. Guess who. I did manage to sneak a few bits of burger into Pearce. It's a big deal. He is finally branching out to other meats besides snake.


Pearce then decided to take a never ending shower, cleaning all his pool toys and shoes. A short flick, watch Pearce playing in the shower. Sorry I had problems uploading the film. I will try again tomorrow for all those die hard Pearce fans.


Pearce is slowly getting tired. Nap time. I have realized how sleep deprived Pearce is in Hawaii. We live in the city high above every thing on a very busy intersection right next to a hospital. We constantly hear ambulances, firetrucks, police sirens, and honking. Pearce averages about 6-8 hours per night, and maybe a one hour nap if I'm lucky.


But since we have been at the quiet Intercontiental, Pearce has been sleeping an extra two hours per day and night. I've decided moving to a quiet area is priority No. 1. More sleep for Pearce means more sleep for me and Eric. Hurray!