Vietnam

GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM!

Enjoyed our week of respite from Thai heat. Hanoi felt of warm June days in Michigan, and it was lovely being outdoors without “sweat dripping down my butt crack," as someone in our family often shares.

Not a great photo, but so much going on here... a full tai-chi class on lowest plaza square, up steps to badminton on left and soccer on right, and a huge aerobic party on top square under monument... all at 6ish a.m. while motorbikes galore begin scooting into Monday.  

I do weird things like this in parks back home and feel foreign... here it's common. I felt out of place on this early stroll not because of my white skin, but because I was not joining the energizing buzz.

Tai-chi, portable boomboxes, dumbells, and chin-ups from trees

Exercising social skills

Our Monday friend, Phuong. We found a really cool exchange service, Hanoi Free Tour Guides... college students eager to practice English will guide foreigners around town for day, and not accept money to do it, only small gifts. 

She brought us by local bus to a pottery village where we threw mud.

Ry was in her element

Good for us all

Washroom on left, oven on right

Walked the village while our pots baked

Lots of wires to quick grab if he goes down

Watched streetside pots of tea being brewed all over Hanoi

The charcoal-fed burner

Naked Plates, a la Vietnam

Would have loved for Hau, Rob's foster brother, to join us and share his Vietnam, but we were grateful for our day with Phuong.

Tuesday morning breadsellers enroute 5 hours of horrendously trafficked, bumpy roads to HaLong Bay... fresh, french batards were sold everywhere at the edges of the day.

Your Canon printer may have come from here

Buddhas for sale next to Virgin Marys... 10% of population is Catholic/Protestant, and 100% of homes seem to practice ancestor worship

Beauteous HaLong Bay. Though drive was arduous, it is a worthy destination.

Our ship for next 3 days, the Paloma

Captain & crew on our dinghy

Late afternoon kayak through floating fishing villages

A home

And foundation

Sunset bathing

Mellow fellow, rowing by foot

Rob had no time to enjoy his kayak while home this summer ... happy to paddle here among craggy cliffs

Girls found German-American buddies their same ages, and had a blast exploring ship's nooks and crannies.

Pirates of the HaLong Bay

Evening dip

One, two...

... pray there are no jelly fish! Saw a couple decent ones while sailing, but never when swimming.

Quick shower before a little cooking lesson

We love nem ran, fried spring rolls!

Awoke to our favorite day of the Viet week

Sailed out to a quiet bay with empty beaches where we anchored for some magic

This little cove was base camp for 14 guests and crew. We arrived when tide was in, and beach grew with the day. Explored by kayak and swim the nearby caves and slivers of isolated beach

The crew grilled shrimp & fish for lunch back at camp.

A favorite moment was climbing with Allie under a passage at the above beach, coming out to an open expanse of crashing waters with no people in sight, no boats, only waves smashing into majestic rocks all around us. She exclaimed in awe, and we soaked it all in while as we dove for shells and coral. I hope she keeps this day, always. I will.

  

Herded like cattle through some touristy caves our final morning in the bay, ugh. Still, gorgeous sights.

Girls woke with colds, bummer.

Happy, yet kind of pretending... this getaway gem had passed and the 5 hour return drive to Hanoi was present. Rice fields don't hold same interest they once did after 2 Thai years. Tried to hold our guide's patient perspective on the slow going, "we must share the road," but all we saw was traffic, sneezing & sore throating girls, and I was bribing them even before we left sight of the bay.

Back in Hanoi, found this picture in a war museum... first US pilot captured in North Vietnam, at HaLong Bay. My Marine father (13 months in DaNang) probably never believed some 40 years ago that his daughter might vacation in this place. Wonder if the girls may someday explore Afghanistan or Iraq with their families. May it be so, peace!

A bit disappointed with the amount and content offered at the big war museum, but always interesting to glimpse differing perspectives on war. Yankee me arrived thinking museum would be all about the "Vietnam War" (or American imperialism), but it recognized earlier French imperialism as well.

Awoke our last day, ready to water park with the girls. In National Lampoon's style we took a series of taxis & craziness to get there, only to find the park closed due to "moon calendar" and an entrance guard shaking his head NO. Ry started crying, Allie consoled her with fact that park looked skanky, I sprinted to flag down our cab before he took off too far, and Clark saved the day by pulling out his Blackberry to schedule a cooking class back near our hotel. The kids were pleasantly open to change of plan and Ellen was grateful.

Our chef took us on a quick market tour before starting.

Saw mostly same ingredients we see in Thailand, lots of galanga (looks like ginger, in front), lemongrass, garlic, various peppers, onions and limes.

A few new ones from Harry Potter's pantry... here, Hands of Buddha, a citrus fruit.

Haven't yet seen culinary frogs or turtles in Thailand.

We do see eels at Thai market.

And squid. Over 2 years here now and Ry is still in awe every time we go shopping. She has never been a fan of the sights, smells and noise of Asian open markets which can be overwhelming. 

I'm not accustomed to this sight.

Enjoyed making a spicy papaya salad, lemongrass chicken, and SPRING ROLLS! I think we now have those down, hurray!

Ry & I went to the theatre one night for water puppets while Rob & Al had their own date on the town.

Ry was intrigued with woman in center playing a single stringed "harp" of sorts that moaned.

Another day, Allie was handed a costume & props. Cute, huh?

This sweet woman handed Ry her own costume, and bag of bananas... $5 please, for taking a photo and the fruit. Vietnam is well on its way with capitalism 

From our rooftop terrace we watched a man pulley a dozen cement bags from friend on street

Speedy

An ancient law taxed properties based on their width... thus, buildings and homes are tall and skinny. 

Streetside pedicure

Haircuts and shaves, too. We liked the brick headrest.

Another hardworking Asian pearl

9/11 Wedding

America's 9/11 translates to 11/9 in Thailand and much of the world, who prefer day/month/year order (makes sense). Numbers, their ordering, and symmetry are respected in many parts of Asia, and 11/9/11 was a popular day here for weddings. Many Thais also have Chinese heritage and revere the Chinese calendar, where there are just a few "lucky" dates each month on which to marry... yesterday was believed to be one of them.

And so on this day we attended a wedding reception for someone at Rob's work. They were married earlier that morning during a tea ceremony with parents. I would have loved to witness, but we were  only invited to the Western-style reception.  

A sweet serenade

Chili shrimp, squid and octopus. At most formal events we have attended, family-style dining with many, many courses is the rule. Yesterday shared at least 16 dishes plus desserts for our table of 9 guests: the above and crab cakes for starters, followed by fried tofu, Peking duck, differing shrimp plates, and rices, braised vegetables, early/mid/late meal soups... it kept coming out, and Rob & I wondered, "Where's the whole fish?" A few minutes later it arrived. Every big event must have a celebratory fish that stares back at you.

The beautiful couple served cake to guests. Rob said they shared same planning woes common back home, hoping to keep guest list small, but ballooning to 300 (to which we say, "ELOPE!"). There were many tables of work colleagues and their families. We were honored guests, seated in front next to the parents and given special Chinese mooncakes in red box as well as customary green oranges. Job is highly respected in Asia, where groom's boss typically gives the speech... he is the best man considering he signs respected paycheck. I wonder if this tradition will continue as women begin to take the helm. 

Readying for the toss...

...which will forever remind me of our dear friends' wedding a few years back in Michigan. Allie excitedly caught the bouquet, I think she was 10. She then mistakenly realized she would have to marry the guy who caught the garter, and began crying, bawling, "I don't want to marry him!" Gotta love weddings, though I'm still a fan of eloping.

Gotta love and be grateful for the freedoms to marry, or not marry, who we please and how we please to do it. Peace to all!

Bonfires

 

Autumn days & nights are tempered a tad by Thai monsoons, yet still blaze past the very hottest days of muggy, Michigan summer. No bonfires here, except in poem. Ry found this one at school, "Mom, I thought of you and our woods," and she handcopied it for me and my love of autumn fires. 

Bonfires - Robert Frost

in the other gardens
and all up the vale
from the autumn fires
see the smoke trail

pleasant summer over
and all the summer flowers
the red fire blazes
the gray smoke towers

sing a song of seasons!
something bright for all
flowers in the summer
fires in the fall

Lovely Weekend

 Pineapple Season! For 10 baht (about 30 cents), we get 1/6 of a pineapple, cleaned, cored, chunked and iced on any street in Thailand (same price all year, just sweeter fruit in season). Our darling driver brought us 2 whole pineapples yesterday from his home in the north. I couldn't quite remember what to do with them, as it's been a couple years since I've had to slice one up. I figured it out and it is probably the best pineapple we've had, ever.

Tuk Tuk ride through Bangkok, Saturday

Lunch atop Baiyoke Tower, Thailand's tallest building with 84 floors, the world's 48th tallest

Interesting stats behind Rob... of  80 tallest buildings in the world, only 1 is in Europe (Moscow), vast majority are in Asia (Dubai & China), and Chicago's Willis (Sears) is now 8th tallest.

The 7 weeks patient, before cast removal

And celebrating afterwards at a bookstore, our familial favorite air conditioned hang

Friday night Ry & Maria concocted Blue Velvet cupcakes 

The cast is off, fever has broken, and some joyous family time was ours this weekend. Home with pizza & cupcakes Friday night, bumming around Bangkok and its world class hospital (Bumrungrad) for cast removal on Saturday. Al's arm was in pain Sunday, so we lazed about watching Harry Potter. We can't easily get the Michigan games this fall, so we're all having fun with Harry each weekend...3 down, 5 to go.

Rob's off to Singpore this week to hash out details on Japan. I'm still kind of in awe of our possibilities there. Heck, everywhere. 

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safte harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

Bungalow Sweet Bungalow

Morning slumber after Al's accident, while carpenter ants feast below

Back to Thai life after summering stateside. We had lots of REALLY good visits with friends and family this year, the best yet. We thank everyone who fed our hungry family. That time together was definitely our summer highlight. Well, that and some new closets built in our bedroom... thank you, Dad, you amaze me.

Other than that, just lots of things breaking on us. Carpenter ants enjoyed our sunroom's foundation this past year while we were away. Found a builder for that repair work, and then a plumber to fix several plumbing seals that had dry rotted (and then leaked upon our return) after lack of use.

The kids keep breaking... the night Rob returned to Holland from Thailand, Allie broke her arm in visibly disturbing form at a nearby playground. I had brought the girls there to play so he could jet lag away in a quiet house. All is well & she should get her purple cast removed later this week, but I'm tiring of my children needing repairs. At least we didn't need an oncologist... an old classmate's little one was diagnosed this summer with kidney cancer, and that kind of put it all in perspective (her name is Chloe and she's adorably 4, so beam up some prayers for her).

Rob's Thai contract finishes already next month. We plan to stay here until December and are brewing up something for Japan in January, though nothing is yet set... these things take time. And so we try not to think too much on the future while we watch our pool overflow (it's now monsoon season), savor all the Thai food & fresh fruit we can, plan upcoming fall breaks including a week to Vietnam, and try not to break anything else our final months here. Ry's home again today, day 4 of some fever. I kind of just want to keep her home with me, out of the jungle, for our remaining Thai days. Then I look over at the big girl with the purple arm and am reminded that life happens even close to the safe comforts of home.

"Life's short, live it up." We shall.