Time Zone

Whenever people ask me about Myanmar my response is, "It is the strangest/weirdest place I've ever been." Naturally they say, "Why?" and then I try to explain. I think one reason the country is so weird is that it is stuck in the twighlight zone. By twighlight zone I mean its time zone is a half hour different then the majority of the rest of the world. I've never been somewhere that is a half hour behind or a half hour ahead of other time zones. I'm not even sure I knew that time zones like that existed.

Myanmar: Money

(PICTURE: Which of these bills do you think is too old to be accepted in Myanmar?)

A day before leaving for Myanmar I learned that one had to arrive with American dollars in hand. ATM cards and credit cards don't work in Myanmar. You need cold hard American dollars. Huyen and I went to my bank in Hanoi and exchanged Dong for dollars. In order to get non black market dollars in Vietnam you need to:

a) Be a member of the bank you want dollars from.

b) Show an outgoing flight ticket from Vietnam.

Huyen and I got exactly $500 from ANZ in Hanoi. It turns out that you're only allowed to bring in a max of $2,000 into Myanmar. I found this sort of strange since visas are good for a month. You would think the government would set the dollar amount higher so people would spend more money.

In my last minute research I read that one should exchance money on the black market. Hotels will exchange money but to get the highest rate you need to do it with shady strangers who approach you. This made me nervous to say the least. But something else made me even more nervous -- people/hotels/etc. would only take PERFECT American dollars. All the stuff I read about money in Myanmar failed to mention this. The first time I tried to exchange dollars I handed the hotel worker a crisp, new bill. The bill though had a little smudge on the top of it. The worker handed back the bill and said, "I'm sorry, this is no good." I looked at him and said, "Really? It's brand new." He pointed at the smudge and said, "It's dirty. The bank won't take it." This made me really nervous because only about half my money didn't have wrinkles, smudges, creases, etc. This meant that half my money was basically no good in the country.

What made this extra frustrating is that Myanmar Kyat are pieces of crap. Okay, they're not actually crap but they are in pieces. Finding an unmarked, non scratched, non folded, non torn Myanmar Kyat is next to impossible. Literally I was handed kyat wripped in half and put back together sloppily with tape. I kid you not, I even once saw a person going through a pile of garbage who pulled out a Myanmar Kyat that was almost completely shredded. I have no doubt the Kyat would have been accepted somewhere.

In a slight state of panic that I would run out of money, I went to a hotel that Lonely Planet assured had a good exchange policy and gave them my "marked" Ben Franklin. The hotel worker there shook her head and asked if I had any other bills. I lied and said no. She looked disappointed and told me I would have to pay a $2 fee. I paid it. In the end it didn't matter. In nine days Huyen and I only spent $250.

Myanmar: First Impressions

I felt some nervous anxiety leading up to my trip to Myanmar. I've never felt nervous before about traveling so feeling nervous made me extra nervous. There were a few factors that I think lead to this unusual feeling:

Factor 1: Huyen went to the Myanmar embassy the week before I arrived back in Hanoi. While she was there she asked about me getting my visa. She said that the Myanmar embassy worker said, "We don't like Americans." When Huyen told me this over Skype I thought it must have been a mistranslation. Huyen insisted that is what the woman said. Yeah, not such a warm fuzzy feeling.

Factor 2: When I arrived in Hanoi I went to the Myanmar agency to get my visa. The woman behind the desk gave me a very skeptical look and asked me a few questions with a very skeptical look on her face.

Factor 3: Aung Suu Kyi's verdict was pushed back to the day before I arrived. I wasn't sure if there would be protests and/or if I would get turned back at the border for some reason.

Huyen and I flew Air Asia from Bangkok to Yangon (formerly Rangoon). Two things immediately struck me as I walked down the steps of the airplane onto the tarmac. Firstly, the International Airport was a dump. Clearly not too many planes were coming in and out of Myanmar. It looked like half the airport was actually not in use since there was an old mold covered building attached to a newer looking building. The second thing that I noticed was a smiling/waving airport worker. I smiled back at the worker and it helped ease my nervousness. Like I've said before, a smile can be really disarming. Seeing his random worker made me think that people were happy to see tourists.

Huyen and I went through immigration without a problem (although I had to fill out more forms to get into the country then I've ever filled in my life). Our hotel in Yangon had arranged a free ride for us and we were greeted by a man wearing a longyi (AKA a long man skirt).

(PICTURE: Men wearing longyis.)

The man told us to wait a few minutes for another passenger. We ended up waiting about twenty minutes for a passenger who never showed up. A few strange things happened while we waited. First, I noticed that Myanmar people had to go through metal detectors just to walk into the airport. One woman came in with an old camera and the security person took out the batteries. I've never seen security just to walk into an airport to greet people coming off of flights.

The second strange thing that happened is that there was a power failure. All of a sudden the lights and metal detector turned off. After a few moments they turned back on...and then went off again. I couldn't help thinking, "Please tell me the control tower has its own generator."

The third weird thing is that Huyen went to the bathroom and came back a minute later saying there was no toilet paper. We then both glanced up at a security guard who happened to be walking by us with one roll of toilet paper. He was headed towards the bathroom. This struck me as strange that they'd only replenish one roll at a time.

Finally after giving up on the last passenger we went out to the parking lot. Waiting for us was an old gutted out van. On the window was this sticker:
(PICTURE: Smiles aren't the only disarming thing in Myanmar.)

That was the first picture I took in Myanmar. Talk about first impressions...

Happy Birthday, Dad!!!

My dad is the best. I really can't imagine a better father. I think I've said this a dozen times on my blog but it's something worth repeating. One of the hard things about being away is that I keep missing birthdays. Today is my dad's 64th. Despite being in his mid sixties, my dad is still a kid at heart. I love you, Dad. Happy Birthday!

BIRDS!!!!

As Huyen and I walked through Bangkok she would often get really excited to see some sites. However, she wouldn't really get excited at the sites the average tourist would get excited for like The Grand Palace or Wat Phra Keao. Huyen would get excited for the little things...like BIRDS.

On the second day she literally yelped, "Look at the birds!" and ran over to a group feeding on the ground. I asked her, "Are you seriously this excited about birds?" and she said, "There's no birds in Hanoi." In defense of Hanoi, there are some birds here but they are few and far between. Huyen said that the birds in Hanoi get eaten so there aren't that many. In Bangkok (and in Myanmar) there were birds everywhere in the cities.

Here's some pictures of Huyen with her favorite tourist attractions:

Night Bike!

(PICTURE: Team Red sans our helmets...which we wore when we rode, Mom!)

My friend Mark -- who you may remember from the World Championships of Table Tennis -- is a Thailand expert. He's spent considerable time all over southeast Asia so when he gives me a piece of advice I listen. One tip he recently gave me was to do a bike ride with Grasshopper Tours in Bangkok. I checked out the company's website and the ride through Bangkok looked fantastic. There was even a night bike ride which really peaked my interested because a) I sweat less at night b) there would be less traffic c) it would be cool to see temples at night when nobody is there.

Huyen and I attempted to find the company the first night we were in Bangkok but ended up walking miles in the wrong direction (I should have listened to my only advice from a year ago when I said to not trust directions people give in Asia). While we were walking around we found another bike shop which also offered a night bike tour. In fact, they offered the same exact tour. Literally the same exact tour. I mean they 100% stole the pictures and descriptions from Grasshopper's website and posted it as their own on their shop door. The only difference between the two tours was that this rip-off one was $5 more. Clearly Huyen and I would be going with the original company...except it turns out they were fully booked for the next night. Alas we had to go with the rip-off company and pay an extra $10. Dammit!!!

The cool thing about going with a copy-cat company is that everyone goes with the original. That meant that the whole group consisted of the tour guide, Huyen, myself and some random American girl who lives in Korea. The tour was absolutely fantastic and took us through 20 kilometers of backroads and alleys in Bangkok. We definitely saw parts of the city we would never have seen if it wasn't for this tour. It was worth every penny...even the extra 1,000 we had to pay.

(PICTURE: Jump if you like riding at night!!!)

(PICTURE: Believe it or not this was my least sweaty picture all night.)

Here's some video from the ride:

Happy Birthday Queen!

(PICTURE: Happy birthday, Queen!)

The second day Huyen and I were in Thailand was the Queen's birthday. To say the city was a mob scene would be a gigantic understatement. Everyone had off work and in the park near where we were staying was free food for the poor. There were literally thousands and thousands of people waiting in line for fried rice.

Huyen and I decided to take in the sites and walked to all the major landmarks in Bangkok. Unfortunately since it was the Queen's birthday the palace was closed.
(PICTURE: This guy wouldn't let us into the palace. What a jerk!)

Also unfortunately I didn't wear long pants so I was given a pair of pull-over pants that were made of plastic. Basically it was a disposable tablecloth people use for picnics. The material wasn't exactly breathable which meant my sweatiness doubled in a matter of minutes. Can you say heat rash?!
(PICTURE: My hips look really really big in these pants!)
(PICTURE: Just a picture I like from a temple.)

After checking out the big temples and tall buildings, Huyen and I took a tuk-tuk to a park on the other side of town. We strolled through the park enjoying ourselves until Huyen let out a sort of scream -- there were giant lizards coming out of the lake in the park! Check out this video:

Bed And Breakfast

I did all the planning for our trip and decided to treat Huyen to a nice hotel in Bangkok since it was her first night sleeping outside of Vietnam. I found a bed and breakfast online that was highly recommended. Check out our room:



I should have been skeptical when the website said "shared bathrooms."

Vacation! Vacation! Vacation!

I know it's hard to get excited about my vacation since, well, I've basically been on a vacation for the last three months. And well, some would argue I've been on vacation for a year and a half. That said, if you can't get excited for me going on vacation, be excited for Huyen.

Over the last 11 days Huyen took her first trip outside of Vietnam. Her family was nervous to say the least. My family was nervous too but perhaps for the first time ever, I could say my mother wasn't the most nervous mom. Our itinerary was quite simple: two days in Bangkok and then nine days in Myanmar (please insert your Seinfeld, "It'll always be Burma to me joke." here).

There's nothing controversial about going to Thailand but I know there's lots of differing opinions about traveling to Myanmar. I can't write the blog without weighing out the pros and cons of going to a country with a horrible human rights record as well as an oppressive government. My timing was, well timely, with Aung Suu Kyi being sentenced to 18 more months of house arrest the day before I departed for Yangon. I obviously deplore the treatment of Aung Suu Kyi and understand many people's feelings that that alone is reason enough to boycott the country. However, I don't believe that ignoring a country is the way to enact change. I personally think that visiting somewhere and meeting people and having them see the freedoms you enjoy is a way to help spark change. Aung Suu Kyi herself even recently changed her stance on tourism saying that she thinks it might help draw attention to the oppressive military junta.

In all the pro-tourism literature I read, there was one thing that was unanimously said: don't use government industries/packages/tours/etc. Besides paying my visa fee, exit fee and archaeological fee (50% supposedly goes to the archaeological sites) all of the money I spent was put into the hands of private people: hotels, food, taxi drivers, etc.

But my Myanmar entries are a few days away. As a teaser though, I can tell you that traveling in Myanmar was one of the most interesting experiences I've ever had. But first some fun was to be had in Thailand....

Huyen and I flew Air Asia together to Bangkok. You know your girlfriend is REALLY ASIAN when she wears a surgical mask on a plane:

And you know your girlfriend is REALLY REALLY REALLY ASIAN when she wears a surgical mask on a bus too:


We stayed at Ko San Road -- AKA the cheap backpacker area -- which, despite the thousands of tourists, was a great place to get pad thai and amazing fruit shakes.

(PICTURE: Huyen with her first ever pad thai.)

(PICTURE: When not sleeping, I average a fruit shake ever 180 minutes.)

After eating and sucking down liquified mango, Huyen and I wandered around the city checking out temples and hordes of tourists all wearing the same tank tops with Thai beer logos on the front.

I'm luke warm on Bangkok but it was really exciting for me to see Huyen in another country. Huyen was pretty wide-eyed at all the tall buildings and the infrastructure of the city itself. To her, Bangkok was like how Vietnam would be in the near future.

Traveling was quite exhausting for Huyen so at the end of the day I treated us to foot massages. Huyen fell asleep approximately 82 seconds into her massage. Ah, money well spent. After the massages we drank two Thai beers (the tank tops brainwashed us) and listened to some live music on the street.

(PICTURE: Beer and cards = good times.)

It was a great start to the vacation...minus the fact that the singer played some pretty depressing songs that he probably thought had good meanings. For example, Phil Collins "Just Another Day In Paradise" which is about homeless people. Here's a little video of the massage and music:

Happy 1st Birthday, Lilah!!!

(It won't feel like too long before Lilah is driving a real car.)

Happy Birthday to my niece Lilah! She turned 1 today!

In just another case of how quickly time goes by, it feels like I was just writing a blog about Lilah being born.

Back soon...

Huyen and I have been on vacation and my blog was blocked. I have a list of about 30 blogs to write about some of the crazy/weird/strange things that have happened over the last ten days or so.

We fly back to Hanoi tonight and I'll get back to blogging tomorrow.

Hope everyone has been well!

Ben

Vietnamese Lesson: Tay

"Tay" in Vietnamese means foreigner (Anyone who isn't Asian). "Tay" is also the adjective for big.

Crew Cut

(PICTURE: With my friend Lori nearly five years ago when I was sporting a crew cut.)

Before I left Vietnam I had a haircut from my local street barber. The guy chopped off all my hair which isn't what I wanted him to do, but gave me a good reason to save $20 on a haircut in America. The day I returned to Hanoi, Huyen and I drove to the barber to get a trim. However, it must have been his one day off during the year because he wasn't there.

The next day we randomly pulled up to another street barber and asked him to cut my hair. I told Huyen to tell him to just cut a little. She told him that and gestured how much to cut off. He said that he understood and then chopped off all my hair. Huyen said to him, "I said just a little!" The barber said, "Yeah but he will look better without his curls." I now have the shortest haircut I've had in a good three or four years. Looks like I won't need to get another haircut until after Japan!

Fuzzy Fruit

Yesterday I mentioned how expecting parents should beware of giving birth on certain days of the lunar calendar. Well, here's a second warning: pregnant women should not eat fuzzy fruit unless they want hairy children. Actually that's not totally true -- you can eat fuzzy (or hairy as they say here) fruit as long as you remove the skin.

We're talking about the future of your children so heed the warning! If you want hairy children eat a peach every day. If you want hairless children stay away from the fuzz!!!

No Peanuts In The Pool

When I went to Cape May with my family last month, I remember that Lilah was required to wear a certain type of diaper in the pool at the complex we stayed in. Silly me thought that all diapers were water-proof and didn't realize there's extra special water proof diapers for pools. In America they're such sticklers for hygiene (read that sentence with sarcasm).

As you can imagine the rules for kids aren't as stringent in Vietnam as they are in America. The other day I went to a pool with Huyen's family. The pool was huge and packed with probably a hundred Vietnamese people. I attempted to swim laps but there was really no shot it was going to happen. I was also slightly grossed out by the bottom of the pool which clearly hadn't been cleaned since...well, maybe ever.

Huyen's nephew Viet Hoang decided to he wanted to "swim" and was carried around in the pool by Huyen. Viet Hoang kept saying, "Let me go. I can swim." Huyen, using her better judgement, didn't let go since Viet Hoang would have sunk like a rock.

After a few minutes, Viet Hoang's dad took Viet Hoang out of the pool and much to my surprise took off his bathing suit. It was an even bigger surprise when he then encourage Viet Hoang to jump back into the pool. It was then an even bigger surprise when Viet Hoang proceeded to jump towards me! It was like slow-motion as this naked three year old catapulted in the air at me. I caught him in my arms and gingerlly held him at arms length until Huyen took him from me. I was then an even a bigger surprise when the lifeguard -- the lifeguard himself being the biggest surprise of the day since I've never seen a lifeguard in Vietnam -- blew his whistle and ran over to us. I thought to myself, "It must be against the rules to swim naked in a community pool." The lifeguard said something to Huyen and Viet Hoang's dad and they both started to laugh. I asked what he said and Huyen told me that, "There's no peanuts in the pool." I then asked if Viet Hoang needed to get out and she said, "No! He was only joking."

Yup, no rules.

For the record, in defense of Vietnamese people, I asked if Viet Hoang knew not to pee in the pool. Huyen told me that he knew that and said that Vietnamese people don't pee in the pool...and well, that's more than I can say for all of us Americans!

The Lunar Calendar

Despite having lived in Vietnam for over a year, I'm still constantly hearing things that make me shake my head and say, "Really?"

The other day Huyen told me about her co-worker who just gave birth to a baby boy. The coworker was very concerned because the boy was born on the first day of the lunar month. According to Huyen, it's very bad if boys are born on the first day of the lunar month because it means they're going to be "strange" and "difficult to raise."

If you're curious, it's equally worrisome to give birth to a girl in the middle of the lunar month.

A little advice from Ahoy Hanoi for those of you who are starting to think about having a baby: I would suggest consulting a lunar calendar before conception. As crazy as some of the things I hear out here are, there's often some truth to them!

The War

People don't often bring up the war with America but sometimes stories are told. While at Huyen's uncle's house this past weekend two things were said. First, Huyen's 98-year-old great grandmother said to me, "The Americans left thirty or forty years ago. Why are you still here?"

When she asked the question everyone had a good laugh. I'm pretty sure she didn't intend to be rude and I didn't feel insulted in the least. I think she was generally curious why I was in Vietnam. In fact, Huyen's great grandmother actually really likes me and often holds my hand. She also told me this past weekend that I have a really nice smile.

The other mention of the war came from Huyen's grandmother. Her grandmother told us that during the war an American plane was shot down in her village (the village we were all gathered in). The pilot survived the crash and the villagers took him out of the cockpit. She said the injured pilot was too heavy to carry so they put him on a plow/cart, pulled by a water buffalo. She said that as they pulled him through the village all the children would run up to soldier and yank out his leg hair. The way she told it, the children weren't trying to be mean, they were just curious about this hairy person who had dropped from the sky.

I asked what happened to the soldier and she said they took him to a prison.

I think she told this story not because she wanted to talk about the war, but because she wanted to talk about hairy foreigners. I was wearing a t-shirt and my hairy forearms were on full display. Vietnamese, like most Asians, aren't exactly hairy. I'm a hairy beast out here and many times people have randomly felt my arm hair. I think Huyen's grandmother looked at my arms and it triggered the story.

Magical Moment

Enclosed in my suitcase on my return trip to Vietnam were a bunch of presents for Huyen's family. One of the presents I had was for Viet Huong, Huyen's nephew. My mother bought Viet Huong a copy of her favorite children's book, "The Runaway Bunny" by Margaret Wise Brown.

I gave the book to Viet Huong on Saturday and he looked less than interested. He can't read English and the book was less exciting to him than the licroice Nibs I gave him (which he didn't end up liking!). Well, the next day Huyen and I met up with her family again for the anniversary of her great grandmother's death. We drove out to her Uncle's house and spent the afternoon with her mother, brother, sister, brother-in-law, nephew, great grandmother, grandparents, aunts and cousins. When I first saw Viet Hoang that day he was still clutching the book. This made me feel a lot better that my mother had chosen a good gift for him. Well, it got even better.

After lunch Viet Huong came up to Huyen and sat on her lap. He handed her the book and asked her to translate it for him. We ended up having story time. Five children gathered around us and we began to read the book. I would read a page in English and Huyen would then translate in Vietnamese while I showed off the pictures. To say the children were mesmerized would be an understatement. When we finally finished reading, Viet Hoang announced, "I'm going to runaway!"

Reading the book out loud took on additional meaning for me. For those of you who haven't read the book (and you should yell at your mom for not reading it to you) it's about a bunny who runs away from home but is always followed by his mother. The lesson is that no matter where you go your mother will be with you. I wouldn't say that I've run away from home but I'm 10,000 miles away from [REDACTED]. And while my mother isn't physically following me around the globe, she's obviously always in my thoughts.

But reading the book this past Sunday took on even more meaning. While at her family's house, Huyen's sister was giving me a hard time about one day moving to America with Huyen. Huyen's sister is already mad at her other sister because she lives in Hue, about a fourteen hour bus ride away. To say she isn't happy with the notion of her sister being a 24 flight away would be putting it lightly. Huyen's family obviously wants her to stay in Vietnam and it's going to be really hard when she and I eventually live in America. Being a "run away bunny" isn't easy for anyone!

Cha Cha Cha Changes...

I was away from America for fifteen months yet there weren't any big changes in how it looked to me. There were only two significant things that I noticed:

1. In New York City, around Time Square, Broadway was closed and turned into a pedestrian area. Where there used to be a lot of traffic, people are now congregating and hanging out on lawn chairs. The traffic, well, it's been pushed to all the surrounding avenues.

2. In Livingston, under the guidance of Mayor August, the town is constructing a huge Town Hall/Police Station/Court House.

Besides these two things all seemed about the same back in the good old U S of A. Well, things aren't as stagnate here in Hanoi. I was away for only three months yet the city has changed a lot. Specifically, in an attempt to combat the horrific traffic, the city has changed the flow of traffic all over the city.
(PICTURE: These metal barricades are a common fixture on the streets of Hanoi these days.)

I've noticed about ten places already that used to be four way intersection but are now just two lane roads. I keep riding around on Huyen's motorbike, finding myself having to make U-turns or use alternative routes to get places. A couple of the changes are fantastic and you can really see tangible results in the flow of traffic. Some other places though really make no sense. In two former big intersections there is now a steady congestion of cars and bikes making U-turns into head on traffic. One thing hasn't changed though -- riding a bike keeps your heart pumping!

Have I Mentioned I'm Fat?

I wrote a blog a few weeks ago complaining that I put on a few pounds while I was home. I've guesstimated the total weight gain to be around five or six pounds. Although true, the blog was half in jest. I figured I would gain weight back home because of my mom's good cooking and the overall portion size of American meals versus Vietnamese meals. Well, the joking is over. I am officially fat and very very self conscious. When I say that everyone has called me fat since I returned I would be exercising hyperbole. EVERYONE HAS CALLED ME FAT!!!!

You might think people are just giving me a hard time so I'll just point to examples out:
1. The child I tutor (who got taller and a little heavier himself during his summer break) immediately said to me, "You got very fat in America."
2. Huyen nephew Viet Hoang upon seeing me yelled out, "Uncle Ben!" in Vietnamese. He then turned to his parents and said, "Uncle Ben is big now." I don't think he was talking about my muscles.

Kids say the darndest things!

In spirit of my tight pants, here's a photo my buddy Tom photoshopped of me a few years ago after we went to Italy. In my defense I was jokingly posing in my bathing suit that I wore as a joke. Unfortunately, this is how I actually see myself these days! Enjoy:

Nibs

Last year when I began traveling I kept finding little yellow post-it notes in my stuff. On the notes were written sweet messages from my mother. Well, she did it again. This year though she didn't hide notes in my bags. She hid packs of delicious licorice Nibs.

Nibs are tied for my favorite candy ever behind Scores bars. My mom, knowing all about my sweet tooth, placed the Nibs inside zip locks and crammed them into various places in my stuff. The first one I found was inside a pair of dress shoes. The next one was between folded clothes on top of my bag and the last one was between more clothes on the bottom of my bag.

Upon finding the first bag I immediately opened it and tried to convey my excitement to Huyen. Huyen has a bigger sweet tooth than me and I thought she was going to devour the bag before I could. I cautiously offered her a Nib and waited for her jubilant reaction...which never came. Huyen instead looked like she just ate a bug. She said, "I don't like this. It's like eating rubber." As much as I was surprised she didn't share my love of Nibs, I was equally elated. That meant I could eat the whole bag for myself!!!!

As I stuffed the Nibs into my mouth (I can't just eat one at a time) I began to think about an HBO documentary my father and I watched while I was home. The documentary was called Gangja Queen and was about Corby, an Australian girl who is imprisoned in Bali for smuggling in a huge bag of marijuana. As the HBO website explains: "...the documentary explores numerous explanations for the appearance of the drugs in Corby's bag. Did this seemingly average young woman actually commit the crime for which she is accused? Did one of her family members put the marijuana in her bag without (or with) her knowing? Was there a connection to the Australian neighbor who grew pot on his property? Or was Schapelle simply the unlucky victim of a domestic drug-running operation?"

I'm pretty sure smuggling Nibs into Vietnam isn't illegal, but man, my Mom sure would have felt really guilty had a licorice sniffing dog began barking at me while going through customs.

Typhoon Anyone?

(PICTURE: Typhoon Morakat is stronger than umbrellas.)

One thing I learned last year is that there is really no difference between a typhoon and a hurricane. They're both tropical cyclones with the only real difference being -- and please tell me if I'm wrong -- that hurricanes happen in the Atlantic and typhoons happen in the Pacific.

Besides watching hurricanes and typhoons on CNN, my only real experience with them has been when I was a little kid living on Longacre Drive (my first house). I remember a hurricane came to New Jersey and being down in the basement of that house. Besides that I've got zero experience with tropical cyclones...until yesterday.

Yesterday I flew from Newark to Taipei, Taiwan en route to Hanoi. My Eva Air flight stopped in Anchorage, Alaska to refuel and strangely everyone was asked to get off the plane. We hung out in Anchorage for an hour or so and then got back on the plane and flew another twelve hours. When we were about thirty minutes from landing in Taiwan the captain got on the intercom and said something like, "Hello this is your captain. Thank you for flying with us. We will be landing shortly and there will be some turbulence because of the typhoon..." Nobody seemed to flinch at this announcement except for me. I figured he just used the word "typhoon" instead of "rain." The guy's English wasn't stellar so this could have just been an unfortunate mistake.

When I landed in Taipei -- like a good son -- I immediately got on my email and told my mom I was safe and sound. She wrote right back and said, "We were tracking the flight and the delay and dad found out there was a typhoon going toward Taipei so they were holding your plane - we didn't know for how long but I am glad you are there and emailing! xxxx love you, mom."

As I read the email I thought to myself, "There really was a typhoon?" I then -- for the first time -- looked out the window and saw the worst storm of my life. There were literally a row of palm trees bent over from the strong winds. And the rain, well, it was ridiculous. After staring in disbelief that we landed in the storm, I got back on my email and wrote Huyen telling her to check my flight status before leaving her apartment because most likely my flight was going to be delayed. Well, it wasn't delayed. We took off into the storm.

So just to summarize: yesterday I landed and took off in a typhoon (which is basically a hurricane). Ah, yeah, nuts. So, what did you do yesterday?

Tears, Tears, Tears

I hate crying. Hate it. When someone I love cries, it makes me want to cry. If this sounds familiar it's because I talked about crying in the first blog entry I ever wrote. Well, things haven't changed. My dad has teared up a few times recently when he starts to think about me leaving. When I gave my brother a hug and a kiss goodbye the other day, my dad is the one who started to cry. I've come to accept that my dad is a big softy -- but accepting that doesn't make it any easier. My dad loves his children (and grandchild) more than anything. If I had to say one absolute fact about my father that would be it. Knowing that, I understand how hard it is to see one of his kids leave for the other side of the world...

My dad crying is inevitable. What is always harder to deal with is when my mother starts to cry. The other night I went to a concert with my parents and out of the corner of my eye I could see tears starting to run down my mother's face. Seeing my mom cry is gut wrenching. My mother is an angel and it pains me to think of her in any pain especially when it is my fault. I put my arm around her shoulder at the concert. That's all I could do. Even when I start to type about my mother crying, I begin to cry myself. I hate it. I hate crying.

And this is why life is unfair. Last night I talked to Huyen on Skype for the last time before I'll see her...and she began to cry. I have someone on the other side of the world who is brought to tears because they get to hug me hello, and people here who are brought to tears because they have to hug me goodbye. I feel lucky to have this much love in my life but at the same time feel really unlucky that all the people I love aren't in one place.

A few nights ago I was talking to Huyen and told her that I was feeling sad about leaving my family. Huyen of course began to cry, feeling bad for me and my family. When I woke up in the morning I had an email from her. She wrote: "Do you know that I love you so much! That why I can feel your feeling! I know it is hard when we have to be away from our family! But I think you will be ok and just want to remind you that you always have your second family in Vietnam and that is my family! They all love you and always welcome you! Especially you have me! I always want to make you happy! You will see your parents soon too! Just be happy because your parents are the GREATEST PARENTS! They want you happy too! All the people you love are always very close to you, they are always in our MIND, our HEART!"

Huyen's right, I do have the greatest parents and they are always in my mind and heart.

Being home makes you realize how special your loved ones are. I was greeted at the airport three months ago by my sister who took a train four hours to see me. The other day I was handed a photo album by my brother and sister-in-law with pictures of me and Lilah. It's been amazing seeing them as parents and in just three months seeing my niece grow. I've hugged and kissed my grandmothers both multiple times regardless if they've encouraged my adventures (Nanny) or told me to get the heck home (Grandma Cele). Every place I traveled I was greeted with both hugs from my friends and sheets on their couches, pull-out beds and air mattresses. I love being home for one reason -- the people.

So thanks everyone for making the last three months so amazing...

$2,528.39

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

That is 70 thank yous for all the people who contributed to the Habitat For Humanity fund. It's pretty amazing that between 70 of us we are going to change a family's life for the better, forever. This has truly been a team effort among friends, family and total strangers who read my blog. Yesterday I transferred all of the money from the bank account I opened to Habitat in Vietnam. The grand total is $2,528.39!!!!

The Sorrow Of War

This morning I finished one of the books recommended to me. The book is called "The Sorrow Of War" by Bao Ninh. I have read many books about the Vietnam war but this is the first one I've read that was written by a North Vietnamese soldier.

The book was extremely well written and proves to me once again that there are no winners in war. The other underlining theme of the novel is that wars don't end when treaties are signed. Wars stick with people forever. The author wrote: "Each of us carried in his heart a separate war which in many ways was totally different, despite our common cause. We had different memories of people we'd known and of the war itself, and we had different destinies in the postwar years. Our only postwar similarities stemmed from the fact that everyone had experienced difficult, painful, and different fates."

There are many powerful stories and images within the novel but perhaps the most powerful thing of all is when you read the last page. After the novel is finished, on a single page is the paragraph about the author. It says: "Bao Ninh served with the Glorious 27th Youth Brigade. Of the five hundred who went to war with the Brigade in 1969, he is one of ten who survived. He lives in Hanoi."

Saute Moutons (White Clouds)

(PICTURE: Evan, Mike, Brad and Me in the front row.)

This blog is long overdue. My excuse: I scanned these pictures last night after having them for nearly two months.

For those of you who don't remember, upon coming back to the USA I almost immediately got back on a plane and went to Montreal for my best friend Brad's bachelor party. Brad had told me he wanted to go jetboating in Montreal but unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate with us the day we planned on going. On Sunday morning I woke up and called the jetboat company around 8:30 and asked if they were doing a 10AM boat trip. The person who picked up said they were, but we had to get there an hour early. I woke up Brad and asked if he wanted to go. He did. I then called a couple of guys' rooms and asked if they wanted to come. I got two more suckers -- Mike and Evan -- to join us. We all ran downstairs and jumped into a cab which got us to the dock at 9AM. We were dropped at the wrong dock so I ran down the port and got to the right one. When I arrived NOBODY was there except a few staff. One of the staff was the owner who told me that he had a trip booked with a middle school. He said they would make room for us or take a second boat. This was great...sort of. There were a few things that weren't cool...or in actuality, waaaaaay to cool:
1) It was FREEZING outside.
2) We did not have warm clothes on.
3) We were given damp sweaters to put on.
4) The owner preceded to talk and talk and talk...until Brad told him he had a flight to catch at 1. The owner literally talked for an hour so we got on the boats at nearly 11AM. This put Brad into a small state of panic that he'd miss his flight just so he could be drenched in rapids.

In the end, it all worked out and we had a blast. The ride was ridiculous. Basically these jetboats go head first into Grade IV rapids. Everyone gets annihilated by freezing cold water...which feels extra chilly because of the insanely cold winds. After we docked, the four of us threw off our clothes and sprinted to the street. We got a taxi and back to the hotel in pretty good time. The rest of the 1PM flying crew was waiting for Brad in the lobby and they all quickly took off and caught their plane. Without a doubt, it was one of the most memorable parts of the weekend.

Oh, and we got these great pictures:

Fifteen Months!

The count-up continues! Huyen and I have officially been together for 15 months!!!!

More importantly though, the countdown continues. I'll be hugging Huyen at the Nobai airport in SIX DAYS!!!!

F*$K!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You do the math: What happens when you take a person who sleeps with a glass of water next to his bed because he wakes up every night thirsty AND this person happens to have a girlfriend in Vietnam that he talks to on his laptop right before going to bed?

I'll give you ten seconds to figure this one out...


Yup, last night at 2AM I woke up to take a sip of water and spilled my glass. I immediately sprung up from bed and grabbed my laptop to dry it. There was only a little bit of water on my computer and I thought the cost was clear when I opened my laptop and saw that it was working. I then immediately closed my laptop and placed it on dry land. This morning I woke up and it isn't working. (FYI: I'm writing this from my mom's desktop.) I went on to a bunch of computer forums this morning and the #1 piece of advice was to do exactly the opposite of what I did last night. Everyone says that if a liquid gets on your laptop you should immediately take out the battery and unplug the computer. By turning it on you can short the components inside. Greeeeeeaaaaat. There were a few other people who said that they just let their laptop dry out for a day or two and then it worked again. My fingers are crossed that this will work.

The best/worst part of this whole thing is this:
1. Every night I've worried about this exact situation happening. I usually get out of bed and place the laptop on higher ground after talking to Huyen.
2. With my last mac I had Applecare. I didn't end up needing Applecare since the ninjas stole my computer. With this laptop I opted to not get applecare because, well, I was worried it might get stolen again and an extended warranty means nothing when your computer is stolen.
3. This of course had to happen the last week I'm in the states. Hopefully the computer will work again when I next give it a try...or else I'll be able to fix it before I head back to Vietnam.

Maybe this is a sign I should not be a computer owner.