unbelievable Vietnam

It aught to be called that.

Ryan and I travelled there with his friend, Prema and many members of her (outrageous) family. With 16 of us we were a tour group all on our own.

We landed in the cool and lovely north (from cookin' hot Battambang, Cambodia) and met up with the family at a hotel in Hanoi. 

Next morning we bussed to the coast to board a junk (the Thanh Hung #18) in Halong Bay. There were many, many, many other junks in Halong Bay but ours was probably the most fun. Our route took us through hundreds of curious small islands that rose up cliff-like out of the sea. Most looked uninhabited but a few showed signs of life and one had stairs to the peak (a lot of stairs, too many for me) with a Pagoda at the top! I think a great view.

The weather was grayish and cool but our spirits bright. I kinda reminded me of a rain forest, lush, with that kind of heavy humidity.

Our junk housed all 16 plus another 6 or 8 from another tour. There were two decks of cabins, (the middle deck had the dining area) and the top was a sun deck, or should I call it the games deck? In the other group were three young women from Seattle, Washington who were going into a remote village to visit the place where one of the girls was born.

After arriving at our destination they anchored in the bay and ferried us over to visit a huge cave, the stalagmite/stalactite kind (you know the difference, right? ... when the "mites" go up, the "tights" come down... you won't forget now) There were stairs and walkways built for easier access and the rock areas were all spotlit with soft colours. I was lovely and there I was without my camera, arghh...

Next came the ferry to take us to another dock of kayaks and they sent us out to explore the islands close by. What a fun day! 

We finished with a great meal, many dishes of seafood and veggies and things I couldn't identify. It was to follow with a night of karaoke but the machine was broken, some of us didn't mind. I was ready for bed after all that. I'm getting old you know?

wish you were there

I'm here in China!!! It was a "sleeper" bus from Hong Kong, little rows of bunk beds, on a bus, like the train without walls or a door, rocketing down the highway, stuff flashing by in the dark. The bunk under me held a wee child, less than a year (and mom) who had no interest in sleep, wanted to explore. I glanced over at one point to see her sweet smiling face at my bunk level? Alarmed, I looked down to find her standing on sleeping mom's right hip. I lunged for her shirttails as she loomed dangerously near the stairwell on the far side of the bunk. Mom awoke just then too and hauled her back (yet again) to the safety of the walled side amid protests from said explorer. She slept soon after, in mid climb over mom. Such a fun experience, not much sleep (of course) but the experience alone... priceless. 

I had made my way to the boarder via bus then train, through the official stuff and with much to smile about, on to the bus depot. And the bus depot was an event all on it's own. Lots of activity, big voices and hand waving to enhance the expression ... toilets with footprints where to stand (we Canadians know not of this) and no doors, (I'm beginning to think doors are over rated) at least you don't have to worry about what you might catch off a door handle if there is no door, right? 

In the light of day I was alerted urgently, in chinese, that my stop was at hand. The man who spent the night in the bunk next to me noticed my anxious face and took me in tow to the downtown area where he called my host and they arranged to come to my rescue. The people are so sweet and helpful. I am feeling somewhat overwhelmed and expect to meet a house full of people tonight at 6:30pm... "no room for vacillation"...

the adventure begins

Dear friends

It is finally the China adventure, in the making for nearly two years. 

The origin was a modest presentation by our beloved Dr. David Smith in Edmonton, I think summer of 2007. It was like he was saying, "hey Vikki, China is important, what's taking you so long?" I couldn't think of anything that looked more wonderful, so with some slight delay, I bought a ticket February 2008 for Quanzhou, south east China.

Packed and ready to go.... a family commitment came to the fore that took my full time, "China" went on hold.

So here I am after a full year and then some, I am having a prelude to China... the "real" thing will kick off April 19th I think.

I'm in Cambodia with number one son, Ryan (well the only son) I met him in Malaysia a few days back and but for a swirling in my head and visual images I have never seen before, it's just like home. Uuuhhh... well nothing like home really but for the people who are receiving me with such love and patience. I left Vancouver after a few days there with Beka, it was hard to leave her behind, my best choice would be to have her here too.

So more than 13 hours from Vancouver to Hong Kong, overnight there, then on to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to connect with Ryan.

Next afternoon, flight to Phnom Penh, one night there, bus to Battambang and a few incredible days to catch my breath, adjust to new sleep patterns, food, water, air (heat)...wheeewww

So it needs to be a Cambodia story... hard to get it down to one, but on our last afternoon there came an urgent message for me to get to the "centre" (Cambodian Organization for Research, Development and Education or CORDE) I was picked up (two of us actually) by a young woman riding a small motorbike. She is the size of a minute and although we other two ( me and a young doctor woman, Queelie from Malaysia) are not huge or anything close, imagine driving through non stop traffic, mostly motor bikes, cars, trucks, bikes... all honking wildly and swerving about...( there need s to be a whole story on the traffic alone) with TWO OTHER PEOPLE ON THE BACK!!??? aaaahhhh and me praying in between screams and gasps.

The good part is we only had to travel a few blocks, (felt like more), to learn we were headed into the legendary "villages" where there resides 6000 Baha'is in the Battambang cluster alone. Can you picture it? I have been there and it's reality still escapes me.

So the kicker is... we will travel as we started, three of us, same bike, same driver, over back roads (you know the ones that often look more like dry river beds?)  through oncoming honking-swerving traffic, dust, cows, chickens. water buffalo, pigs... for 35 km??? no? really? I felt like a sissy. The little trek from the house to the centre stopped my heart for 5 minutes and I didn't yet know what I was in for.

So we drove and drove and drove and ate dust and our bums went numb and we couldn't see with the dust sometimes and our clothes all turned the same colour...

AND as we traveled,( trying hard to stay on, we two amatures) we passed through the "real world" simple, alive, tough... The houses lined the "road" and were so close that it often felt as if we were actually passing through the house itself.  

These houses look very precarious, upright poles (logs really) often tied together, no apparent doors, sometimes on stilts so that under the house there were cool spots for the family to avoid heat of the day. They hung hammocks there and slept as we passed. In front there might be little veggie and fruit stands, usually including water, and there the kids played, and the families cooked and livestock lingered and the people lived... 

The roofs, were thatch or tin and I'm thinking the rain must have flowed in too.

After nearly two hours... ya... we limped off the bike, slapped some of the dust from our clothes, left our shoes at the door and joined in.

Our destination was a junior youth gathering, maybe twenty kids (with radiant faces) all studying the materials that  kids around the world are studying. They were using the books in Khamer, with english translation so they could also improve their english in the process.

We watched with delight as they repeated the stories and asked questions and giggled together as I shot a few photos of them.

We taught (actually Queelie taught) them a song, the ol' "a smile is something if you give it away" which seemed to please them greatly... you could tell by the continuing giggles.

All too soon we again boarded the bikes, took a shortcut home and after our experience with the kids the ride didn't even matter.

Our world is quite wonderful, yes?