Heat Wave

I know there are heat waves all around the world right now and Hanoi is no different. Today it was forty five degrees Celsius or, for us Americans, 113 degrees Fahrenheit. If you think that's bad, it was 116 degrees the day before! Every time I go outside I feel like my exposed skin is on fire. Even worse, when I park my bike out in the open, I then have to sit on the hottest seat ever when it's time to go somewhere. It's so hot that I actually covered my seat with a raincoat this afternoon and found that it had absolutely no affect on stopping my seat from scorching my tush.

So yes, as you can figure out from this posting, I'm back in Hanoi. I got back a week ago and have been extremely busy with teaching, marriage preparations and hosting Huyen's brother for four days. It's been a whirlwind and I can predict with confidence right now, it's probably not gonna stop until the end of the year.

Over the next couple of weeks I'm gonna rotate between what is going on in Vietnam and some flashback posts to the World Cup/South Africa. Stay cool and drink lots of water!!!

Ben

Sabi Sabi Soccer

I think these pictures speak for themselves...but in case they don't: I STILL GOT IT!!!!!

(PICTURE: Check out that awesome defense!)



(PICTURE: No, Pele didn't teach me those dribbling skills.)


(PICTURE: Four on one? No problem!)

One of the highlights of my trip to the World Cup in 2006 was playing pick-up soccer in a suburb of Frankfurt. Devin, Chris and I completely dominated a bunch of cocky Germans. Seriously, they couldn't hold a candle to us and it had nothing to do with the fact that they were about eleven years old.

While on our safari, it became pretty obvious that the four of us were soccer fans. Besides the fact that our trip was timed with the World Cup, the conversation of soccer kept coming up. It turned out that the Sabi Sabi employees all played soccer daily. We asked if we could play with them and before we knew it we were teamed up with the Guides in a game against the Trackers. Unlike Germany, we didn't so much dominate this time. Sure, I totally dominated but there's no I in Team, right? We ended up losing the game 2-1.

WARNING: IMMATURE PICTURES

I've had a couple of immature posts in the past and this one definitely tops them all. It is nearly impossible to go on a safari and not take a few immature pictures. I've also been encouraged to post these from all the people who have seen them and have found themselves laughing. Also, generally in the past, my immature posts have garnered lots of comments from readers which is always an incentive to post more...

(PICTURE: A five legged Rhino.)


(PICTURE: Close Up.)

On a serious note, the Rhino was showing off to tell us to back the hell away.


(PICTURE: Those aren't two trunks.)


(PICTURE: So you come here often?)

Other Animals

Out in the bush, it's not all about elephants, lions, leopards, buffaloes and rhinos. There's lots of other animals out there:

(PICTURE: My brother's favorite animal.)


(PICTURE: Check out the horns on that guy.)


(PICTURE: Impalas are "the McDonalds" of the bush according to Crimson. Every predator eats them and they have a big M on their tushies.)

(PICTURE: Crimson spotted this guy as we drove home at night.)


(PICTURE: Toys 'R What?)


(PICTURE: Birds of a feather don't always flock together.)


(PICTURE: The animal I'm the most scared of.)


(PICTURE: A hungry hungry hippo.)


(PICTURE: One of the co-stars of The Lion King.)


(PICTURE: This huge bird co-starred in Horton Hears A Who.)


(PICTURE: A wildebeest strutting his stuff.)

I've got many many many more pictures of animals...which you'll eventually see in a montage on my blog. However, this was just a taste. After having been on safari, I'm not sure I can ever go to a zoo again.

The Food Chain

As sick as this probably sounds, unfortunately we never saw a kill on our safari. Most killing takes place at night, and besides following the hyena on foot, we didn't do any late night game drives (I've actually never heard of anyone doing late night game drives).

However, we did see a few fresh kills. Here's a few lions devouring a buffalo:

Yummy...


Here's a leopard....

...guarding the impala that it killed and placed up in a tree:


We actually came back to this kill later in the day to find that it had disappeared. Another bigger leopard had come and taken the impala. We found that leopard who began to growl at us...which was our signal to get the heck out of there.

Natural Remedies

(PICTURE: Lighting up elephant poo...)

During one afternoon, Crimson took the four of us on a walk around the Sabi Sabi premises. Actually we walked exactly where we had seen this leopard the night before:

(PICTURE: I could basically pet this guy he was so close.)

Anyway, we went for a walk and learned a lot about the local fauna and environment:
(PICTURE: These sharp needles can blind you if the sap inside it gets into your eyes...or if the sharp needle goes into your eyes.)

Along the way we saw a few wildebeests and impalas but nothing that wanted to eat us. In fact, the most interesting thing we saw were clumps of dried out elephant crap. Crimson explained to us that dried elephant crap was used as a local remedy for sinus trouble and stuffy noses. He told us that the locals lit the elephant dung on fire and then breathed it in. Well, when you've got four 30-year-old guys on a safari someone of course is gonna try it. I actually quickly said, "Give it a try Chris" and Chris quickly responded, "You want me to smoke it? I'll try it!" Before we knew it, Chris was inhaling fired up elephant crap.


I couldn't let him one up me, so I too breathed in the elephant crap. After seeing that neither Chris or I had died, Dave gave it a shot too. Devin, the only guy with legitimate sinus trouble, decided to pass on smoking the crap. Yeah, it was probably a wise move since the next day I actually felt like I had my first stuffy nose of the trip.

I'm pretty sure Crimson went back to the lodge that day and collected a jar of money for being the first guide to get guests to willingly smoke elephant shit.

Hyena

(PICTURE: The only shot of a hyena I got...but not my only experience.)

About two months ago I read the book, "Life of Pi." One of the main characters in the book is a hyena. There is a ridiculous amount of information about hyenas in the book which is to say, I knew more about hyenas than any other animals going into this safari.

On our first full day on safari, a hyena walked on to the road in front of us. I was in the midst of changing lenses when the hyena casually walked back into the brush and disappeared. He was only visible for about thirty seconds or so but he completely peaked my interest. There's something absolutely disturbing about hyenas. They look like giant crazy dogs with nothing but sinister thoughts going through their minds.

After seeing the guy in the picture above, I became obsessed with seeing more hyenas. On our last day, Crimson told one of the other guides we wanted to see a hyena and sure enough, later in the morning we got a radio call that there was a hyena near us. Crimson put the Land Rover into hyper drive and headed to where the hyena was spotted. We got to the spot just in time to see the hyena gallop by us at an incredible speed. Once again I got a great glimpse of a hyena but I didn't get any pictures. What I did see though totally impressed me. The hyena was running so incredibly fast and looked to be touching the ground only once ever 7 feet or so. This only served to increase my obsession.

Later that night, at around 2:30 in the morning, Dave, myself and Crimson were enjoying a beer by the Sabi Sabi Lodge's fireplace. At some point Crimson excused himself to go have a cigarette and then quickly came back into the lodge and whispered, "Do you guys want to see a hyena?" Dave and I both nodded and then followed Crimson on tiptoes out into the night. We walked through the area everyone dines at night, then through the kitchen and back towards the Sabi Sabi dumpsters. Sure enough, there in the moonlight was a big hyena. The hyena had been looking for scraps -- a very hyena thing to do -- and then walked off slowly into the night. Once again I didn't get a picture but I'll definitely always remember this moment -- when Dave, our guide and I tracked a dangerous animal on foot...with no gun.