Good Afternoon Vietnam!!

I bet you were thinking that I was going to title my blog from Vietnam "Good Morning Vietnam" but I didn't want to be that predictable. ;) Getting to Vietnam was a bit long; what I thought would be a 6 hour boat and bus journey down the Mekong, into Vietnam at Chau Doc and onto Ho Chi Minh (formerly known as Saigon, although everyone in Vietnam still calls it Saigon!) ended up taking 14 hours. I missed the bus for tourists, so they literally squeezed me onto the local bus. My knees were basically in my chest for 6 hours in the back row of the bus, shared with four others. It was fantastic (read: a whole bunch of sarcasm) and I wish I could say that it was the last bus trip that I will ever take in my entire life, but alas, that is not likely.

Seeing Trent and Keira again and meeting their friends was so great. They have a two bedroom flat with air conditioning, hot water, a couch, a microwave and really comfortable beds. It was heavenly! I was so excited to do the dishes and was ecstatic to wash my clothes in a proper washing machine...Keira and Trent laughed at me! We slept in, went to brunch and dinner at fabulous places, did some shopping, swam in a rooftop pool overlooking the Saigon River and that was Saturday! On Sunday, we went to brunch again and then Keira and I spent the afternoon at a spa...for $12 each, we got one hour hot stone massages, facials, manicures and pedicures. I love Vietnam! We ordered pizza and sat on their couch and watched movies on Sunday night...again, heavenly!

I took a quick flight up to Hoi An from Monday to late Wednesday afternoon, after refusing to take one more bus ride in Vietnam. I left my big pack with Trent and Keira, so it was nice to travel light for a few days. I hoped on the back of a motorbike and was dropped in the old city center with no map and not a clue where to stay, what to do, etc. I met a lovely Vietnamese girl who took me on her bike to a guest house she knew of and quickly got settled in and rented a bike. I biked around the city, then went to a tailor to finally get something made...a process that everyone should go through once in their life! I spent two hours visiting fabric shops, looking at styles and getting measured. I ended up ordering a total of 5 dresses and a pair of pants...one of the dresses alone would easily go for $150+ at home, so I did not feel bad at all dropping $70 total on my purchases. However, after three fittings on Tuesday and two more on Wednesday, I realized that having clothes that fit perfectly (and are super cute if I might add!) is a lot of work! If getting a wedding dress fitted is going to require so much effort someday, I'm just going to wrap a sheet around my body and call it a day!

On Wednesday, after fitting #1, I took a cooking class with a street food vendor. The lady didn't speak much English, so her 16 year old Vietnamese friend named Cuong translated for me. The 'class' was very impromptu but the food we made was delicious, and that is the most important. After fitting #2, Cuong joined me for a bicycle ride to the beach closest to Hoi An. Her English was really good, so we talked about things that 16 year old girls like to talk about - boys. It was so adorable and opened my eyes to the many cultural differences between Vietnamese and the West. Also, I was the only person on the beach in a bathing suit after two other foreigners left. At this beach, all of the Vietnamese swam fully clothed. A group of female monks (do we call them nuns?!) all went swimming together...I got some great pictures of them splashing about in their modest brown attire. I took Cuong out for dessert and dinner, in that order...her choice! I let her pick the places and she was giddy walking into the touristy, much more expensive places than she is used to eating as the fourth child of a fisherman in the village. As we talked over dessert then dinner, I mentioned that I was going to rent a motorbike and head to My Son, a very old Hindu temple at the base of the mountains, the next morning. She said something to the effect of wow, that's cool...I've never been more than 15 km away from home. So, I invited her to come with me and I will never forget how her face lit up when she realized I was serious.

Cuong and I jumped on the motorbike and headed out to My Son, a 60+ km drive from Hoi An first thing Wednesday morning. It was so neat to hear her comments as I drove...she had never seen mountains up close before, not seen water lilies and she was smiling constantly when I repeatedly checked to make sure she was still on the back of the motorbike. She saw a lot of corn and rice drying on the side of the road and in front of people's very modest homes and said, 'wow, those people must be rich...look at all their corn and rice'. That statement instantly grounded me - hit me at my core - and again made me feel so thankful and blessed for the opportunities that I have had in my life. Very humbling. We stopped at a very local place on the ride home and Cuong told me that they never see foreigners and that I was in fact the first to eat at this particular restaurant, which explains why everyone in the neighborhood kept stopping in front to watch me eat. Meeting Cuong made my time in Hoi An, most definitely, and I look forward to staying pen pals with her via email!

Keira picked me up at the airport and I got my first taste of rush hour traffic in Saigon...it was insane. Motorbikes everywhere, a suggestion of which side of the road to drive on which is generally ignored, several roundabouts where it is an absolute miracle anyone actually gets remotely close to the direction they actually want to go...incredible! Thankfully, Keira is an excellent driver. She, Trent and I had some excellent wine at a rooftop bar overlooking the city - what a contrast Vietnam is! Trent made his way to football practice as it began to downpour. Keira and I had another glass of wine hoping the rain would pass, but it did not. We had one poncho that I insisted Keira wear because she was in work clothes but it honestly didn't matter. We were both 100% soaked to the core...I could wring buckets out of my clothes when we finally arrived at the restaurant. Keira's friend Mel joined us for dinner and we had amazing Lebanese food for my last night in Vietnam...go figure.

One more thing on Vietnam - it is now the only country in the world where I will drink the coffee, which is a miracle because I never drink coffee! I had one iced Vietnamese coffee every day and loved it (I also had trouble sleeping because of all the caffeine!) They make it with sweetened condensed milk and it tastes very similar to hot/iced chocolate..fantastic!

This will be my last post for at least the next 11 days...I am sure that all of you could use a break! On Saturday, the 18th, I start an adventure of a very different nature...a vipassana. For 10 days, I will be in silent meditation at the Phradhatu Doi Suthep temple in the woods north of Chiang Mai, Thailand. Here are some of the rules I must adhere to during my meditation retreat: no talking, no reading, no writing, no music, I must wear white clothes, no food after 12 noon, sleep only 6 hours a night, up at 4 AM, do not steal, do not kill (even mosquitoes), etc. It is going to be like boot camp for meditating. Just so we're all on the same page, I'm not into this stuff. I can count on one hand how many times I've done yoga and fewer times I have tried to meditate. I first learned of vipassanas from a guy I met in Africa and was instantly intrigued and knew I wanted it to be a part of this trip. It is not religious-based, although it will be held at a Buddhist temple. It is really a 10 day retreat to silence the noise and distractions of life, to listen to nature, to listen to yourself and be mindful of the present. I am very nervous about it but also looking forward to the journey itself and what things I might discover along the way. So, I'll be back in touch on or after the 28th...until then!