A house without cats is less than a home

My decision to retire and move to Viet Nam to live (so that I could retire) necessitated finding new homes for Amy, James, Sophie, and Mouse. Amy and James were requested by my friend Kathy; Sophie was adopted by a very nice couple who took Gregory in years ago. Which left only Mouse.

Mouse was first in, and last out… 

1996 (the sculpture is 8" tall)

2015

Finally alone again the last couple weeks, she was happier than she’s been since we moved here and the others started arriving: Shadow, Amy, James, Gregory, Trudi, Kristi, Sara, Jerry, Sofie, and Mitzi. They all came to live with us, though not all at the same time. 

Suddenly she (Mouse) could again walk everywhere unmolested; she could eat when she wanted and even leave a bit of wet food in the bowl knowing it would be there when she wanted more; she slept with both eyes closed again and for as long as she felt like it—even through the twice-daily servings the of wet food she loved.

She now lives with Jo, of Feline Friends who will ensure that for whatever time she has left, she is comfortable and well-taken care of. I miss all of them a lot and I miss her more than I thought I would...

A house without a cat or four is very lonely… I'm glad I'm leaving tomorrow morning!

Thank you to everyone who gives a homeless pet a loving home and especially to Feline Friends!

On the Way to SE Asia: A People-to-People Detour to a BeautifulCaribbean Island Nation

Written through Saturday, 29 November...

Although I've been here in the Caribbean for twelve days and will soon depart, I'm just now able to both string my thoughts together AND find a decent Wi-Fi connection... this is the first of at least four thought collections in order... más o menos...

I'll start with a few somewhat random thoughts and discoveries from my first three days in this beautiful Caribbean island nation and then get into the first day of the tour...

Those thoughts pretty much in the order they occurred:

Only one cellular line is permitted per family. For foreigners, a cell card costs $3/day PLUS call charges. I went without.

You shall put NO paper in the toilet! Not even TP...

Wireless Internet is available only in the lobby of a few selected hotels.  You pay between CUC$4.50-$8/hour (approximately US$5-$9.20) for a one-hour encoded card that is usable for up to 30 days after first use. Internet in private homes is illegal. As I will find out in a few days, Wi-Fi outside the capital city is a very rare and precious find.

Paladars (restaurants in private homes) we've tried so far are over-rated. Their food is average (for Cuba), service is, at best, indifferent. Note: A few days later, the motorcycle tour guide took us to a couple very good ones, so it's hit or miss.

It's been raining steadily since my arrival (and before, so I didn't bring it). The locals are less than thrilled by the rain, even though it's warm and usually lasts only a short time.

Bici-taxi (three-wheeled bicycle with a double bench seat over the rear wheel and a roof against rain or sun) costs only CUC$2 or less from the apartment we are staying in to anywhere we want to go in Havana. Those drivers work HARD hauling my large American ass around! Fortunately, the inclines are mostly gradual. I should probably stop feeling sorry for them when I, a passenger; there are plenty of locals whose rear ends are larger than mine ;-)

The small apartment we are renting for the first three days is nice. The owner is Jorge Luis, a tall redhead we saw only twice. One bedroom, sitting room with TV and dining table, small kitchen and a private bathroom w/ shower and plenty of hot water. We found it through Yanet's Uncle Maximio who lives down the hall.

We are doing lots of walking. It's sometimes challenging in the rain because the sidewalks are uneven and mostly narrow, while streets are under repair and muddy with a LOT of standing water. Yanet doesn't like even the liquid sunshine variety, so we purchased a decent umbrella for ~US$7.

For some reason I am unable to name, I am less enamored with this beautiful island than on previous visits. This is, most likely, my last visit.

Havana's people, day-to-day, seem poorer than the people in Saigon; clothing, housing, shops, all seems worse... though one does hear more music here; there are no roaming street vendors and very few beggars. While motos (small step-through motorbikes) are almost non-existent, three are a few smaller motorcycles up to 250cc or so.

My guess is that over 95% of Cuban men have never been reprimanded for leaving the toilet seat up... because most toilets here don't have seats. In my second day here, I was surprised to see one in a restaurant WC.

While walking through the old town I was tempted by a couple pieces of artwork and managed to resist. I'm getting rid of things, not accumulating them!

The Motorcycle Tour
Day 1—Friday, 21 November

After a great lunch of paella with Yanet's friend Daniel (a very interesting street vendor, she and I said our goodbyes and I took a taxi to the first two nights' hotel—Hotel Occidental in the Miramar neighborhood. Unlike Miami's Miramar, you can actually see the ocean from this one... and from my room! This is only the second time I've had an ocean view room... I never see the point in springing for the extra $$, since I rarely spend much time in the room. Maybe if it had a balcony...

I was the last one of the group to arrive at the hotel and Manuel (our Tour Guide) greeted me at the front desk. I later found out that his name is really Emmanuel, though I completely understand why he's shortened it here! He and four of the six others were sitting just off the lobby waiting for the official check-in time of 3 p.m. at which time, he assured us that he had been assured they would magically be ready for occupancy. And they were, more or less... in two cases, towels and sheets were delivered while we were at dinner.

Manuel told us that the bikes suffered a two-week delay in-transit from Denmark and had just arrived that morning. He assured us that although they were still in their container in the ship, we will get them tomorrow afternoon as scheduled and they will be ready for our viaje grande.

We exchanged our abbreviated CVs and I am the only motorcycle tourist virgin in the group. This is Christina's (Australia) fifth Edelweiss tour and the others, Rudy (Germany) and Marcel (Holland) have toured with other groups; Marcel has toured in Asia, Europe, and Africa and lived in the latter two. I will learn this evening that the sole couple on our tour, Bea and Walter (Switzerland) have toured extensively in the US and Europe.

During our pre-dinner overall tour briefing, Manuel (Italy) told us that since travel by foreigners is very restricted here, we would have to stay with the group at all times.

WTF?! One of the reasons I took this tour was that the company web site specifically states that one of the great thing about their tours is that you have the opportunity to go out and seek adventure on your own, get lost, see new things, et cetera... AND it is again specifically called out three times in the dedicated tour brochure!!!

Both Marcel and I raised our hands and said that this was NOT what we were promised. Unfortunately, Manuel immediately went on the defensive and got a little aggressive, which would probably work with most people who do a lot of tours. I, as many of you know, very rarely fall into the "most people" category. Fortunately, Marcel was as adamant as I and we nicely and firmly stated our case:
1) The web site touts off-group rides
2) I bought a country-specific GPS chip
3) Maurice and I each have thousands of kilometers of solo rides in countries in which we do NOT speak the language; I do speak sufficient Spanish
4) And more

After a few minutes of discussion, Manuel got so angry at us that he abruptly stood and stormed off after sputtering, "Well then, I cannot be your friend!"

WTF???

I'm not looking for a friend, pandejo, I'm looking for the tour for which I paid a shitload of money (US$8000 plus airfare)!!! While you're at it, could we also please have a rational, professional guide? The first sentence was aloud, the second was, I'm pretty sure, only internal.

By the time we went to dinner, Manuel had calmed down. He told us (by way of apology?) that he is overworked and needs a vacation... as if that excuses his outburst. Putting on my "Customer Service Expert" hat for a moment, I found this extremely unprofessional. If you need a vacation, then either take one or suck it up and show your Professional Tour Guide face to the paying customers. His comment did elicit my offer to withdraw my objection and withdraw from the tour if I receive a FULL refund of my shitload of dollars. He promised us that he would call the bosses in the morning and would let us know what they said.

Dinner was at the hotel buffet. It sucked and I found myself wishing for a paladar.

The hotel has Wi-Fi, but does NOT have any of the cards for sale that one needs for access. SHEESH! Yes, I'm on holiday, but there are a few loose ends to tie up at home and a few things I forgot to buy that I can't buy in VN, so it would help if I could get on-line.

Stay with me, please... it gets to be fun, the food gets better, and I calm way the f*ck down.

Donation Update

This past weekend, while clearing out the attic space above the garage, I found a tool box containing the "remote camera sound trigger" circuit that I used to photograph Space Shuttle launches from unmanned cameras as close as 500 yards to the launch pad. I contacted the Museum of Flight about adding this to last week's donation.

This box was connected to a microphone, the roar of the rockets would close the circuit, and the cameras would fire. Since the cameras all had autowinders, they would fire until the 36 frames of film (this was analog photography) were exhausted.

After the Challenger disintegration, NASA confiscated all of the film from photographers' remote cameras in the hope that they might find a clue that was not captured on NASA's many cameras. One frame from a remote camera set up by photographer Scott "Sting Ray" Andrews on the north side of the pad—we photographers mostly preferred the "beauty shot" angles that highlighted the orbiter—caught a puff of smoke where one should NEVER be seen... emitting from one of the joints of the west-side solid rocket booster (SRB).

Scott's photograph led investigators directly to the cause of the flame that burned a hole through the wall of the external tank (ET), causing it to explode. The forces from this explosion are what tore the Challenger orbiter apart.

If you would like to read the report published by The Miami Herald on November 13, 1988 after an exhaustive investigation, click here to go to a web site where it is reprinted. If that link is broken, try here.
 
WARNING: It is very graphic and you will get angry and/or upset when you read it.

An original copy of the Tropic magazine in which the article debuted was included in last week's donation to the Museum of Flight—more as information I thought they should have, not as something I think should be exhibited.

Could This be My Legacy?

As some of you know, one of my previous careers was as a freelance commercial photographer. I'm also a huge fan and follower of the U.S. and Soviet space efforts since Al Shepard's 1962 sub-orbital flight. In November 1982, I got the chance to combine the two when, through the help the editor of a small southwestern Ohio newspaper (a friend of my mom's husband), I secure press credentials for the launch of the second space shuttle mission—STS-2.

STS-2 Launch from KSC Press Site (©1982, John D. Pearce)

That experience opened a new door to me, behind which waited adventures I could not imagine...

Over the next seven years, I got to photograph 25 more Space Shuttle launches and/or the event surrounding them. I even obtained a hard-to-get permanent NASA Press badge that allowed me access between missions.  Always a freelancer meant always paying my own expense. The upside of that was that the arrangement I worked out with Satellite Communications, the magazine that authorized me to shoot on their behalf allowed me to retain the copyright on all of my images while giving them first-time publication rights to whatever they wanted from the most recent mission.

STS-41B Launch from Remote Site 1 (©1984, John D. Pearce)

What many people fail to think about is that there is so much more to a Space Shuttle mission than the actual launch... and I got to see more than most!

Orbiter Challenger Arrives at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) (©1983, John D. Pearce)

STS-7 Rollout from the Roof of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) (©1983, John D. Pearce)

STS-3 Sunset (©1983, John D. Pearce)

Lightning the Night Before STS-8 (©1983, John D. Pearce)

The lightning photo is the best image from three hours and two rolls of carefully-timed exposures during a heavy thunderstorm. I was thankful for my fiberglass-shaft golf umbrella <smile>. A large framed print of it was hanging on the wall of the Press Dome (the hub of the KSC Press Site) when Robert Schulman, the NASA Fine Art Curator, stopped by in late 1984. When he saw it, he told NASA Director of Public Affairs Ed Harrison that he wanted that photographer to be the first ever in the NASA Fine Art Program.

WOW!

Of course, I accepted immediately and in December 1985, I became the first photographer ever to take part in the NASA Art Program.

STS-61C NASA Fine Art Program Team on top of the VAB with the Space Shuttle on Pad 39B Behind
(L-R: John Nelson, Patrice Breteau, Bob Schulman (NASA), Dennis Luzak, John Massimino, and John Pearce)

Me shooting; John Nelson sketching (photo by Robert Schulman)

One of the places I'd always wanted to see was inside the VAB... but it was off-limits to the press (for safety reasons, they said) except for special occasions. As part of the Art Team's access, we were welcomed into the VAB and spent a number of hours drawing (everyone else) and photographing (me and a couple of the others). When we were in the VAB they were "stacking" (assembling) the orbiter and booster rockets for the next Space Shuttle mission—STS-51L and the first non-astronaut civilian, teacher Christa McAuliffe (though she did go through rigorous training) to head for space. As you know, that was the final mission of the orbiter Challenger and its crew of seven.

Photo by Robert Schulman

Participation in the NASA Fine Art Program was a great honor and the highlight of my NASA experience. The three photos that NASA requested for the archives were the lightning shot above and these two:

Launch Complex 39B from Flame Trench (©1983, John D. Pearce)

STS-61C Launch with American Flag (©1983, John D. Pearce)

After eight years and over 25 missions, I had thousands of slides, negatives, and prints of the Shuttle program and related activities in notebooks and boxes sitting in a closet. Seven closets, actually, in five cities in three states—one in each of the residences I occupied during the 25 years since the last mission I shot, STS-28 (1989). I am very lucky that, somehow, all that got misplaced in that time/space were the first 20 or so mission press passes.

For my birthday two years ago, my friend Liz took me to the Museum of Flight south of Seattle for the opening weekend of the new exhibit—the Space Shuttle Trainer. I've been a member of the MoF for many years and was disappointed when they did not get one of the orbiters for their amazing collection. As Liz and I entered the building housing the Trainer, I immediately realized that the Museum of Flight had scored the greatest prize of all!

The Trainer is the actual Orbiter mock-up that the Space Shuttle astronauts used to train for their missions. During the tours, visitors to the MoF can slide in through the crew hatch to the downstairs crew quarters (just like the astronauts did) and even climb the internal ladder to the flight deck!!! Visitors to the museums housing the Space Shuttles Enterprise (the only non-space flying orbiter), Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavor, can only view them from the outside—no touching allowed and there is certainly no way in hell you're getting inside.

During the Shuttle Trainer visit, I got thinking about my photographs and, although it took almost two years, I finally made the call asking if the Museum of Flight would be interested in my collection. Collections Registrar Christine Runte told me that they were definitely interested in meeting me and seeing what I had.

This past Thursday, October 9th, I took my collection to the Museum and met with Christine, Amy Heidrick (Supervisory Achivist), Lindsay Zaborowski (Archivist), and Allison Loveland (Museum Collections Specialist). They were very welcoming and grateful for my offer to donate. Outside of the public domain NASA photos, there are very few professional-quality photos of the Shuttle program available. They told me a couple times that my collection will give them a big boost.

I spent almost 90 minutes reviewing the collection with them, both explaining some of the non-photographic items, and telling stories and anecdotes of my time covering the Space Shuttle program. Fortunately for them, I only told 5% or so of the total. Maybe I'll tell (most of) the rest in a book some day.

Bottom line, they loved my photos and will be adding them to their archives upon approval of the Board of Directors.

The title of this post is "Could This be My Legacy?" because on my drive home from the meeting it occurred to me that now I may actually have one. Those of us with a social conscience would like to leave the planet a better place for us having been here. Some do it through raising good children, some through good works, some by saving lives or creating new ways of thinking or doing, and others by creating things that will live beyond them.

In donating my photographs to the Museum of Flight, I hope that I have created something that will live for many decades beyond my time. I am very fortunate to have a bit of artistic ability and that I had the chance to use it in a rather unique circumstance—documenting a portion of man's quest to bring a little more of the unknown into the known.

Prior to last Thursday, the collection could have perished at any time through accident (e.g. fire or flood) or intention (discarded as untouched for over two decades; tossed into the trash {had I died} by someone assigned to clear the house). They are now safe and, I hope, will be used by this and future generations in their search for an understanding of what their predecessors thought and did.

As I re-read the words of the previous paragraph, they feel a bit presumptuous... and maybe they are. I am simply ecstatic to know that photographs I created will still be here, well taken care of, long after I am on to what, if anything, comes after life on the third rock from the sun.

If you've read this far, please ask yourself what you have that could benefit others after you are gone. Although your first thought may be about money, that is not what I'm asking. Were you witness to tough or amazing or historical times? Do you have family heirlooms whose history/origins are unknown to the younger generations? Do you have a skill that is unique or uncommon—other than belching the alphabet? Are you of a disappearing generation? If so, you have stories, experiences, and/or skills that others want to hear, learn, and cherish! They will vanish with your last breath unless you share them NOW with future generations. It's very easy to save them using a tape recorder (a video camera would be even better) or its digital equivalent. 

We humans are a race of story tellers who no longer tell enough stories. Please save yours.

A Successful Sale

As I prepared for the Labor Day weekend Estate Sale, I decided to put all of the proceeds toward the non-profit I plan to start when I arrive in Da Lat.

This is the flyer I handed out and had available for people to read:
 
People liked the idea and a few gave me additional donations toward the helmets. A great guy named John (no relation) even brought by his daughter's old motocross helmet and gloves to donate, so they'll be in my bag when I arrive. Then he bought the treadmill! Thanks, John.

In total, the three days' receipts (I stayed open until 2:30 on Labor Day) totaled $7530!!! WOW! That's a LOT of helmets! This total does not include promised "be backs", so there's a chance the total will reach $8000.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by and especially to my "Frequent Buyers", a couple of whom came back three more times. This is a wonderful start and will make the people of Da Lat very happy—and MUCH safer! 

Thanks also to Liz and Kathy for helping out and to Audrey for offering; I couldn't have done it without you!

The things that were not purchased will be boxed up donated to Feline Friends for their Garage Sale this coming May, so if you have second thoughts about something on which you passed, you'll find it there.

At some point, I'll put together a crowd-funding campaign and when I do, I'll post it here, too.

ESTATE SALE THIS WEEKEND!

370 Days Ago

53 weeks minus one day ago, I posted "The Beginning..." 

If only I'd known how completely clueless I was!

In that short time, my life has absolutely changed... and pretty much all for the better. It was definitely a beginning.

• I fell in love with Việt Nam and its people, food, countryside, and even its major cities.
• I realized that if I move to VN (or anywhere in the third world), I can retire today.
• 98% of my worldly possessions are either sold or for sale 
• The house goes on the market next week.
• Less than one year after my initial arrival in Ho Chi Minh City, I will board an aircraft and head to live in Việt Nam with no definite plans to return.
• Short of a few simple phrases and words, the Vietnamese language is an opaque puzzle.
•  WOW!

Many years ago I heard Tom Peters speak at a convention. The only thing I remember from that entire convention was that he said, "If what you're doing does not scare you, then you're not doing enough."

Poet James Dickey famously said, "If your life bores you, risk it."

Do these two quotes mean that I feel my next adventure will be risking my life? Absolutely not! They do indicate what I've felt for many, many years... most of us sit within our comfort zones and grow old before our time, me included.

This is me stepping out of my comfort zone and suggesting you find a way to at least lean out of yours. You just may like the view.

LBJ's Escalation in Việt Nam

As I divest myself of 98% of my worldly goods in preparation for the next chapter of my life's adventures, I keep mentally going back to the American War on Việt Nam.

What amazes me beyond words is that the overwhelming majority of the Vietnamese people, both young and old, warmly welcome today's Americans with no visible animosity. Is it the Buddhist influence? I am unsure I could be so forgiving...

Here is a link to the November 20, 2009 Bill Moyer's Journal program on why America jumped into VN with both feet. 

 Johnson's Escalation of Vietnam: A Timeline

This never-declared war resulted in the death of OVER FIVE MILLION Vietnamese (including 4,000,000 civilians) and over 58,000 Americans.

All for naught...

Bumper Sticker Shock

A number of friends and acquaintances served in the U.S. Military during the Vietnam War, many in-country. Some of them are fairly regular readers of this blog and maybe one or more of you can help me with the question I have regarding a bumper sticker I saw this morning... a bumper sticker to which I reacted so negatively that my heart hurts when I see it in my mind's eye.

I rarely agree with the decisions made in the corridors of power that send men and women into the meat grinder that is any war (or "police action" or other bullshit term they use to convince the country that the bloodshed is necessary).  
American men born in 1953 received draft lottery numbers (mine was 287), though we were fortunate in that none of us were drafted into the Eisenhower/JFK/LBJ/Tricky Dick clusterfuck.

I therefore, will never have a clue what it is like to be on the front line--or even behind the lines--in war. I have massive respect for those who do know. 

What truly confounds me is the thought process that would cause a person to put a bumper sticker on his SUV that has the 101st Airborne logo and the words:

AIRBORNE VIETNAM










What kind of person brags about killing people almost forty years later? And why? Is there nothing else he's done that equals that time in Vietnam? Does part of him wish he were still there? Is he bragging?

The men I know who served hardly, if ever, talk about it. Coincidentally, a few hours after seeing the bumper sticker I found out that one friend I've known for seven years was there. It just came out in conversation that included nothing of the above...

The above questions are NOT rhetorical. I am asking because I really do want to know the answers... or at least one answer. Please help me if you can.

This all brings to mind another thought... if more Americans had a passport--the last statistics I read were that less than 20% do--and actually used it, we'd stop seeing people who look different than we do as "THEM" and realize that 99% of the world is one hell of a lot like us.

Please encourage EVERYONE you know to:
1) Get a passport
2) USE IT!

Get out and see the world! If not the whole thing, then at least one place that initially feels uncomfortable... and then stay there until it doesn't.

Vietnamese ingenuity and creativity

I just found this collection of still photos of things carried on motorbikes throughout Việt Nam.

They show the creativity and ingenuity of the Vietnamese people in making do with what they have... and none of them surprised me.

Note: @3:44, the motorbike on the right is pushing the cart on the left via the foot connection; @5:15, the hogs are alive and in cages specially-constructed to carry them on motorbikes

Very Nice Video

Check out this video: A Day in Vietnam

It's well-done... and may show you some of why I am moving there...

Mr. Rot's Secret Tour

One of the advantages of staying at Villa Pink House in Đà Lạt is that you get the chance to go on Mr. Rot's Secret Tour.

DO IT!

There were five of us on three motorbikes the day I went; the two tour guides the lead motorbike; followed by Emma and Tom from England on a second alternating who's "driving" (more on that later); and me on on the third. Mr. Rot told us that there are usually six or eight guests and that we had chosen a slow day... better for us!

After leading us in a prayer/chant, Mr. Rot (he never gave his first name and I didn't ask) and his assistant (whose name I forgot to write down) led us on a full-day tour covering over 120 kilometers and making many stops.

The first, unplanned, stop was near the end of 10 km of MUD road.

 

This is the same road that Annika, Philine, and I rode back in December (see "Carving a mountain ... with hammers and chisels") and it was very interesting to see how far they've progressed in six months... and what can happen to a dirt road after a heavy rain the night before.

We slipped and slid for most of it and Tom and Emma finally had to split up and each ride with one of the guides because with all the mud, their automatic motorbike never went fast enough to get out of first gear. I was able to keep my semi-automatic in second gear, thereby reducing the torque to and the slippage of the rear wheel. Mr. Rot even had a trying time with the automatic and Tom ended up walking a good part of the last and muddiest part.

Once we made it through the mud, the rest of the day's ride was simple... until the ride back to the Pink House.

Soon after we rejoined the paved road we stopped at a cricket farm where they grow and harvest a very large quantity of crickets for high-protein (and tasty) food.

Mr. Rot treated us to a sample (stir-fried) and I found the taste good enough that I would eat them again--unlike the fried tarantula in Siem Rep.

Our next stop was at the Elephant Waterfall. See above-linked post for a photo.

The next stop was in the middle of a coffee plantation, where we learned about the coffee business and how it is a very large part of the local economy. We also got to experience one of Mr. Rot's many practical jokes...

One of the reasons he calls it a "Secret Tour" is that you get to learn a great number of things about Vietnamese daily life and culture that, even having spent almost three months of the past six months in-country, I did not know. During a stop at a local market he told us about the different fruits (and promised us a tasting after lunch), vegetables, and meats; why prices are lower in the afternoon (most of the food sold was picked very early that morning and is only sold on the day it was picked); and how to barter a bit on the price.

One of the very nice things about the tour is that, as Mr. Rot says, "there is no shopping." Most tours lead you to places that pay the tour guide to lead his lambs to the slaughter; this does not to the point that when I offered to pay for the stir-fried crickets, he wouldn't hear of it. I did sneak back and buy a few pieces of fruit for the three of us when our guides were shopping for the fruit tasting that was to follow lunch.

Lunch was at the Rot family coffee plantation and was an excellent vegetarian dish prepared by his sister who is a Buddhist nun. They are members of the K'ho Cil tribe and the entire family (except, I'm sure, for the one sister) works the coffee business... so we were each given a small glass of fresh coffee with lunch.

In the past 60+ years, I've only ever had one intentional sip of coffee, and when I heard the squeals of delight from Emma and Tom as they sipped the dark liquid, I had to sample it. One of the reasons I turn down every offer of coffee is that although I love the aroma, the taste and the bitterness keep it off my acceptable beverage list. 

This coffee was soft as silk; not a hint of bitterness or bite... I promise that if you ever come to visit me in Đà Lạt, I will have Mr. Rot's family coffee for you at my house. I will also strongly recommend that you take Mr. Rot's Secret Tour.

After lunch we were treated to a guided tour of the local fruits and, as I write this, I'm wishing I'd taken notes because my memory can only come up with custard apple. A couple weeks later I had a custard apple smoothie in Ho Chi Minh City and it was definitely worth repeating! The other fruits are remembered as a LOT of really good flavors and one I'll pass on the third time I see it--because the next (second) time I won't remember that I didn't like it. 

After the fruit tour Mr. Rot gave us quite a bit of inside information about Vietnamese culture. It was informative, interesting, and a must-have for any Westerner thinking about moving to Việt Nam. He covered a variety of topics from family relations and how they are different in many of the 59 tribes found in-country, to the proper hand signal to use when calling someone to you, to explaining that a gesture meaning "good luck" in the west that, in Việt Nam, carries the same meaning as an upraised stand-alone middle finger does to us.

If you ever think of living in a different culture, this type of information is very valuable--and I don't know a single ex-pat in VN who knows how to properly flip someone off.

As we prepared to ride home, we were greeted by a torrential downpour and my water-resistant protective riding gear at which everyone had looked a little sideways early in the morning was suddenly looking pretty damn good. We waited about an hour to see if it would stop before finally deciding that it wouldn't and that the later we left, the more of our two-hour ride home would be in the dark and the rain.

The ride back was not fun and seemed like it would never end, though it was a small price to pay for everything leading up to it.

Go to Đà Lạt, stay at Villa Pink House, and take Mr. Rot's Secret Tour.  Tell them John with the real motorcycle helmet sent you.

Macau Tower Bungee

I FINALLY make it to The World's Highest (233m/764ft) Bungee Jump

The sign on the window says: Caution Falling People

 

29 June 2014

I also did something called Skywalk X where you walk, run, and cavort around the edge of the tower at the same level as the bungy takeoff point.

Thanks to Tom for recommending Windows Movie Maker to rotate the "Caution Falling People" video.

More catching up...

Time to do a bit of catching up... there are so many things to do and see; so many restaurants and cafés to experience; so many people to watch and talk with (though I avoid Westerners as much as I can outside of the occasional endorsement of a restaurant they are considering as I walk by); and so many narrow alleyways to explore... 

Tiếng Việt

During my time here, I'm working on learning words and short phrases in Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt). My progress is significantly slower than I'd like, and I certainly could be spending more time on it. I'm committed to learning the language of the country in which I will live. That means it's back to the flawed audio lessons I studied prior to my first visit and, as soon as I get back, taking formal Tiếng Việt lessons.

One of the things that is holding me back is the reaction I get from most native speakers when I try to speak even a few words in their tiếng... a blank stare... though I think I've finally figured out the cause.  When a native-speaker sees my white, Western face, he/she expects that the language coming out of my mouth is English—or at least NOT Tiếng Việt. For example, the Vietnamese word for milk is "sưa", pronounced suu-a with a downward accent on the first syllable and I often order tea with milk at breakfast. The universally available tea here is a yellow-label Lipton (I know), so I used to order trà lipton sữa. Unfortunately, because the hard-g sound is difficult for the Vietnamese-speaker's palate, so their pronunciation of the English word "sugar" is amazingly close to my pronunciation of "sưa". 

Guess what I get when I order "trà lipton sữa."

Yup!  Tea with sugar. Since I don't like sugar in my tea or anything (except for the pinch that makes an avocado smoothy VERY good), I now order " trà lipton milk."

Am I over-thinking these things? :-D

RAIN

The main reason I came here now is to check out the rainy season. This was the view from the Terrace Cafe on 24 June:

WOW!

The warning warble you hear in the clip is the noise public buses make when their turn signals are on. Even better, they do actually use them. When you are on a motorbike and hear that sound, you know that the bus is changing lanes and could very well be headed your way. With everything else going on on the street, without that warble you could easily be toast (or maybe a pancake).

Although most of the time it's just humid, there are now rain- and sometimes thunder-showers every afternoon lasting from five to 20 minutes. Then it pretty much clears up... a lot like in South Florida. The storms are usually less intense, though I've seen more than one of these.

Driving/Riding in Sài Gòn 

I've written before about riding in the cities... imagine riding a motorbike or driving a car in this traffic:

Now add four wheels (cars, trucks, and buses) driving in the middle and third lanes and two wheels (motorbikes) EVERYWHERE... with turns made per these signs:

(traffic sign on a one-way street approaching the intersection of another one-way street)

Yes, that's right! Here vehicles turn left from the left lane (and sometimes the middle and right lanes) and all vehicles, both two and four wheels, turn left from the middle lane... while other vehicles are going straight through from the left lane. When turning assume there is always someone between you and the curb; because there often is.  A few nights ago, sitting almost next to the curb at a street restaurant, we saw a taxi passenger open her curbside door and take out a guy on a motorbike--just like the Three Stooges, except that it was real. The guy was a bit miffed, maybe because his head missed a light pole my centimeters; the passenger was a bit embarrassed; the taxi driver was upset; and the diners sitting within spitting distance looked up at the THUNK and then continued their meals and conversations. No one got up to see if the man was okay; no one that I saw took a photo--the one to have, of course, was already history; and no one seemed to give it much thought.  Since it wasn't the first time I've seen something similar and I was again the only Westerner I saw in the area, I'm thinking it was, to them, a non-event. Even the guy on/off the motorbike climbed back on and rode away within two minutes.

The lesson: NEVER ride a motorbike between a stopped four-wheel vehicle and the curb. And yes, it has to be said...

A day after I wrote that long description of turning I saw turn markings on the street that were significantly intriguing that I did a 360 (you do NOT want to know) and backtracked to take a photo of the sign on a pole:

Yes again! You can turn left or right from either lane... and, amazingly enough, it usually works!

"The Edge of Tomorrow"

Although I'm not much of a Tom Cruise fan, I do recommend that you see "The Edge of Tomorrow." It's surprising and rather well done. Is that two surprises?

Table Napkins

When you dine at one of the street restaurants and many of the sit-down cafés, you will find that the napkins look a LOT like toilet paper because they are. There are plastic containers designed for holding a roll with the open end of the tube (if there were one, which there isn't) facing up. They work just fine...

The container on the left is the omnipresent toothpick dispenser.

Herbal Sleep Aid

Many years ago I joined the group of humans for which pulling an all-nighter means not getting up at least once to pee. In recent years, I started waking up at 3 or 4 a.m. with little to no chance of getting back to sleep. The only thing I've found that works in keeping me down all night is Ambien CR; it has some pretty negative side effects and my doctor is pushing back pretty hard on my request for it.

A couple weeks ago I stopped at the pharmacy across the street from my hotel and asked the pharmacist what she recommends. She gave (sold) me a 60mg herbal called rotundin that costs 120,000 VND (US$6) for 100 tablets... and it works quite well if I take one or two in the middle of the night. I'm bringing 200 tablets home to get me through my remaining time in the U.S.

I mention it here because I know that a number of you reading this have the same challenge and have yet to find a solution.

Found Restaurants and Cafés

Đà Lạt Phố, 306 Nguyễn Thị Minh Kai Street—a nice, quiet café with choice of indoor or outdoor seating; outside features nice waterfalls and their wonderful sounds.

Tokyo Deli Sushi—various locations; very good sushi for two for under US$25.

View Café, 2A Troung Quoc Dung Street, Phu Nhuan District (near the airport)—I wandered about 100 meters down a side street and happened on this restaurant/café.  After leaving the motorbike with security, I walked up a flight of stairs to two tables on a terrace... and an elevator with only two buttons floors; the one I was on and "9". 

 

The ninth and top floor is another indoor/outdoor venue with a panoramic view of Sài Gòn.  

What a find! I called my friend to rave about it and found that its existence was even a surprise to someone who lives a few blocks away.

Lang Van Café, 182/1Nguyễn Trọng Tuyển Street, Phu Nhuan District—this is where I met the above-mentioned friend for coffee and it's a couple blocks from the View Café. Another café with the wonderful sounds of waterfalls and a choice of inside or outside seating. There is also an upstairs terrace that I plan to explore on my next visit.

MINH ĐỨC, 35 Tôn Thất Tùng Street, District 1—okay food, but high prices; skip this one.

Railroad Crossings

During my HCMC to Ha Noi adventure, I may'be mentioned that the railroad crossings in the countryside consist of a manually-operated gate that is literally pulled across the road by a person who either arrives before the train or is stationed there all day. I did not stay around long enough to research which it is.

I was very surprised to see that it is the same in Ho Chi Minh City, population 7-point-something million:

Oases

There are many places in HCMC to get away from the noisy city. One such oasis is on Trường Sa Street, just meters from one of the major thoroughfares:

Until next time (did you notice that I've stopped promising Mr. Rot's Secret Tour is next? I do promise that I will get to it ;)...