Life has been quite hectic the past couple of weeks: moving, getting a car/registering it, starting my internship, looking for a job, getting a job and working, and trying to find time to relax. As of right now, Kathy and I have gotten quite a bit done since we've gotten back and it is time to blog more about Vietnam.

Once we got to Vietnam, we were immediately greeted by Kathy's Grandma, cousins and uncle. This is a common occurrence in Vietnam to have the whole family or quite a large chunk of the family to come greet you once you come from America. Everyone was all smiles and it was sensory overload to hear all the Vietnamese and also see the sights of downtown Saigon. We made our way to Vung Tau where Kathy's Grandma's Temple is and we stayed for the first couple of days.
The Taxi ride to Vung Tau



This is the room that we stayed in when we were at the temple. It was a simple room with a hammock in one corner and a bed in the other. It was quite hot with just a fan but it was my first time sleeping in a mosquito net. I never really had any problems with the mosquitoes but Kathy sure got bitten 20 or so times throughout or stay in Vietnam.

A view of the houses next to the temple at about 5am in the morning.



Another view from the front of the temple. The temple was a serene setting on top of a hill, away from the chaos of the streets below. Kathy and I enjoyed being in the peacefulness, but I was raring see more of Vietnam.



Kathy and I opted to see what Vung tau was all about and we decided what better way than with a cyclo. Cyclos are all around Vietnam (usually in the touristy areas) and you either get badgered by them or they read their paper, eat or sleep while they wait for their next customer, but mainly they badger you. Also because they deal with tourists they charge 100-400% more than the going rate of about 5 dollars for three hours but we got Kathy's grandma's cyclo and payed him a little extra ~10 dollars because he was really good.


As you can see from the pictures, the streets are nearly spotless. This is a rarity in Vietnam because landfills are scarce, people just throw trash in the road and the side of the road. The trash sort of takes away from the beauty of Vietnam as a whole, but the touristy areas are kept squeeky clean. Foreign investment is booming and tourism is quickly gaining ground, so Vietnam as a whole has to clean up it's image to be welcoming to foreigners.

The front of the temple.

This is a picture of the main building of the Temple.
The monks would sit in a circle in front of the large
statue, hit a drum, and chant for a long period of time.





This is a video of the back yard of the temple.

More is to come when I get some free time.

Sorry for the delay our trip is over and I haven't even said too much about it. Too bad I didn't know that the Internet was either a little hard to come by or we were just not going to have any time to blog about it while there. I'll recount the ups and downs through photos and stories.



Kathy and I ready to pass out because we got plenty of sleep at the airport...not.
We tried to sleep on the benches but they are not comfortable at all. The airport designed the seats to have very hard metal arms that stuck out far enough so you couldn't lay down. But, in the end it was sort of good that we didn't sleep because we got adjusted to Vietnam time quick (a day or so) and we slept on the plane.
Trouble is I lost my wallet on the plane or airport. Good I didn't lose anything that I couldn't cancel. Like all our cash.


As seen in the pictures we are much happier to be in Taipei or is it we got some sleep finally. China Airlines would be happy to have us as a before and after example of how comfortable their flight is. Well it's not that comfortable, just comfortable enough to get one hour of sleep which is better then none at all.



A trip to Asia wouldn't be complete without a face mask that you wear 24/7. Now I wouldn't be to enthused with putting on one in the states as people would quickly point you out as a loony, but in Asia people wear them all the time. On the flight to Saigon a good portion of people had them on while they were driving their scooters (more on that later). Reasons I gathered they wore them were to keep out all the dust and dirt that gets thrown in their face from the millions of scooters in front of them, H1N1, and Diesel fumes (which too bad doesn't really help with diesel fumes). Kathy and I preferred to have them on because H1N1 because it was not uncommon in Vietnam and after being their for two weeks its definitely not as clean as the states and would be easier to proliferate. Kathy's cousin even fell victim to the piggy flu after we left. That wasn't to appetizing because on a few occasions we went to her house and ate food with her. We did notice she was wheezing on the last day, but she's better now.
I didn't really like wearing the masks, though. They fogged up my glasses all the time and it was hard to breathe. But those are small in comparison to getting the piggy flu and ruining your trip or time back home.

The trip over here has been a long one. I'll tell it as quick as I can as I'm in an Internet Cafe and my time is running low. The running rate is 3,000 dong per hour or 20 cents.

At the onset of the journey it was a hop and skip across to Baltimore with a layover in Philly (~3 hours). I then rented a car and drove all the way to Delaware which was another hour and a half. So I was running on fumes when I finally made it to see Kathy.
(Blur to the same time on Sunday) Kathy and I are in Boston flipping out that we couldn't get into our storage unit because it was past hours. We had to find a place to stash all of our stuff but luckily thought of a good spot.
(Blur another long day) Kathy and I are cranky and sleep deprived due to the lack of sleep you get at airports, no matter how hard you try. We had another set back in our travels. I lose my wallet at the airport and have a calling spree cancelling all of my cards. Good thing all of my money was in my front pouch. We had finally made it to California and were hanging with her parents for the few hours we could. And said our good byes and got on the plane for Vietnam.
(Blur more another 2 days with the time) We make it to Vietnam and meet her Grandma, Aunts, Uncles and cousins which was definitely a treat. The whole family is very welcoming. They love the fact that I eat all of their food and know a little bit of vietnamese. What can go wrong with that deal.
Since then we've stayed at Kathy's Grandma's temple in a little room. It's very peaceful in the temple even though it is just a few 100 feet up a hill from the chaos of Vung Tau. To describe Vietnam with the time I have so far would be unfair but I'll summarize it in a few words. Everyone drives like a maniac here on the motor bikes, the noise of honking permiates through the air and Vung Tau smells of rotten fish mixed with piss and exhaust. Not appetizing but you get use to it. I like it so far. Much more to come.

My blog has been sitting in some random parts of the intranets for the past year. Think of it far far away in the boon sticks, to the right of a trailer, under a beer and next to these guys. Wait, that's where I am now and I'm going to be leaving tomorrow on a long journey, whilst the reason I am blogging again.

Anyway I should catch you up on to what I've been doing for the summer. I opted to come home after graduation and save a few deniro for my up coming internship back in Beantown, MA. This decision had it's draw backs, mind you. The girlfriend had an internship in a undisclosed location, in a undisclosed lab and working with an undisclosed project that might be America's next lethal weapon (where, I'm sure, tax payer dollars will be put to good use). Yeah, it was hard without her around to enjoy time with and the sights of the oh so "wonderful" Upstate New York, but for our hard ship comes great rewards. A trip 2 week excursion to Vietnam!!! My summer I first thought was going to be pretty boring staying home everyday playing guitar and "trying" to be productive, but I lucked out and got two jobs: one working at my mom's work scanning 20,000 reports (20,000 reports= ~50,000 papers= 100 reams of paper= 5.8 trees ((reams = tree equation courtesy of wikianswers.com))), and working with two wonderful boys.

First, the scanning was a mindless job but I saved some trees from being cut down and created more space for my mom's work. I should of taken a picture of the destruction I created. 10 boxes of madness piled up unevenly. If you just walked down the hall with the paper, you might mistaken the office as Home Depot and be horribly unhappy to find it's a dog genetics lab.

Second, the job working with the boys was great. It was a little hard working 5.5 hours doing mindless work then testing my patience with the boys, but it was worth it. Who wouldn't like going to the lake every day after the office job swimming and throwing rocks, or spinning a boy that can spin for hours and never get sick? Well, If you can't put up with getting peed on, cleaning dirty bottoms and getting hummus thrown in your face occasionally, then yeah you would mind going to the lake every day. There were more perks, too. Perk #473 was watching as both the boys gradually began to communicate more with hand gestures and sign language which was awesome. I even witnessed the unthinkable when D sat down and took a number two. You should have seen his mom come over and tackle him with love and kisses, think Terry Tate but with love. I will miss the boys but hopefully I'll see them when I get home!

The next step of my journey begins tomorrow where I fly to Baltimore, pick up a suv, drive an hour and a half to Kathy.
Sunday we drive to Boston, Monday we fly to Cali and Tuesday at 1am we fly to Vietnam and arrive Wednesday. The next 4 days will be interesting. Check back later for Vietnam updates if we have access to internet.