19 April, 2008

These past couple of weeks have appeared to be a simple figment of my imagination; from being accepted to VASI at U.C. Berkeley and knowing I am going to Viet Nam this summer to making plans to make money for that far off country before I leave has all come so fast. Wow, time flies, but again, I would not want it any other way.

I don’t know how to really begin, things have been so wild after the NYC trip, and in fact, they have been so wild that this Wednesday I leave for Toronto! Some of the highlights have been helping admissions at an open house for already accepted students, which was a blast, they are having another one this coming weekend that I will unfortunately miss because I will be in the Good City aka Toronto. It is always exciting to see kids looking at HWS, a place I was at a mere 3 years prior, walking around gazing at this beautiful campus thinking it will soon be their home. Not only will it be there home, but it will be a place where they will grow and stretch themselves, hopefully, in ways they never thought possible.

After helping out at the open house I shot down to the field house to root on the tennis squad, which is always a good time. Every time I watch the guys play I get so inspired to go out and start playing more often, but I never can manage to find the time. Though I do plan on trying to play a couple times a week over the summer, even though the heat will more than likely be unbearable, it will be important to me to try to be a little more competitive on the team next year. One of the more memorable times in Ha Noi was when I had a pretty epic match with one of the teachers at a tennis club. It was clear he was the “big shot” and was very talented, needless to say, I did lose, but I am confident when I say I gave him a run for his money and he was a little worried about being dethroned on his own turf. I got his number and upon touching ground in Ha Noi I plan on getting the ball rolling with playing tennis, with him nonetheless!

Once that weekend was done, which seemed to be packed full with stuff up to the second, I also had a bunch due, so it was long hours in the library on top of everything. It started out with a presentation on the morality of the First Indochina War, which I of course found very interesting because of my affinity for anything to do with Viet Nam. Right after that, was a paper due in Art about the Shinto Shrine in Ise, which is absolutely beautiful, and hopefully one day the Japanese government will open it up, but as of now I am pretty sure it is only open to the imperial family and Shinto priests, one day! Then there was a book review to top of it all, so when the end of Friday came, it was a relief to say the least.

But all that work indubitably paid off because later that night was the Benjamin Hale Dinner, which is a wonderful function that I have gone to every single year where they recognize all scholars and hand out awards, I was lucky enough to have the honor of my mom coming up to support me and my friends. It is a time to revel in others achievements and be supportive of your fellow classmates. That wonderful dinner is followed up by fantastic award ceremony that happened this morning at St. John’s chapel, the 186th in fact, and it was wonderful. The speaker, a graduate of ’96, discussed the importance of embracing the “Hobart Way of Life” by keeping a cultivated perspective and always looking at any and all problems from a diversified perspective, which is developed at a small liberal arts institution.

After that wonderful Charter Day ceremony, I am relaxing and about to go toss the football with some of my friends and then do some research. These are the days that stick in one’s memory forever: friends, family, beautiful weather, and making connections that last lifetimes. Wow, what a wonderful life.

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5 April, 2008

Well, wow, it has been quite a while since I have last blogged, and I apologize for not keeping up, life these days seem to never slow down, but that is how I like it.

After my last blog I was desperately trying to finish up papers and prepare for an exam prior to my exodus to my home town, the thriving metropolis known as Easton, PA! As I was driving home, which is always an enjoyable time, I take the scenic route that goes a long the lakes and then through Ithaca, and on to some beautiful farming communities until I intersect route 81, which is not such a scenic tour. While driving down I was looking forward to the first time of experiencing a break without working. I usually work at a bake shop, www.suziesmixingbowl.com that makes absolutely unbelievable things—see for yourself!

Due to the past two months being rather crazy and me desperately trying to fill out all the applications so I can to return back to Viet Nam, I fell behind my work to say the least. So I was planning on visiting some friends, family, turning 21, and catching up on a lot of work, and then trying to get ahead because as soon as I returned from break I left again for my NYC trip with the Two Cities Class—such a tough life, I know (total sarcasm of course). Well needless to say, as one can imagine, plans changed practically instantaneously. As soon as I arrived in Easton I made plans to meet up with a friend I met at Lafayette College, who is from Ha Noi of course, to hang out and speak some Vietnamese. She also wanted to introduce me to some of her friends, some Vietnamese and some Viet Kieu, which was a blast. Point being is I didn’t even unpack and I was already out and about. After an hour or two of catching up, mostly in Vietnamese, and getting my quota of Vietnamese in for that day I was off to a regular hangout I have with my tight clique—we have been friends since the 3rd grade! After catching up and seeing two of my close friends it was 1am and I was beat to say the least, and thinking to myself, it probably would be nice to catch at least 7 hours of sleep for the first time in a while, I treated myself to an extended time with the sand man.

The rest of the week was full of adventure, from going to NYC on Tuesday, where I visited another good friend and having lunch with another Vietnamese friend to practice, which was harder then usual, because he is from Nha Trang, so the dialect is quite difficult for me to keep up with and my dialect is far from perfect and Northern, which makes it very hard for him. Needless to say it was good practice, and if I want to really live there, I ought to be proficient in both dialects and be able to switch when needed. I walked around with my friend Tucker in Chelsea checking out some of the new hip art galleries, all of which were mediocre, unfortunately that community is pretty hype based and a matter of having the “in” but still I do appreciate all types of art, so it was interesting never-the-less. It is always exciting to be back to my birthplace on that little island, even though I remember nothing, there still is a feeling of connection and whenever I go back I like to explore my old neighborhood.

Because I needed properly prepare for me upcoming NYC trip, and of course to celebrate my 21st properly, I went back into the city on Thursday (3/20) with my surrogate family, whom I have known since I was 5 years old! We got dealer passes at the NYC auto show, which was a lot of fun, I have been a car lover for as long as I can remember, yet there was nothing too incredible and not nearly enough hybrids or smaller cars as I expected there to be. I hope that trend will hit soon, with rising gas prices, that is what people will want—not a Ford F-9000 with a towing capacity of 23 tons, of which most consumers probably use a 1/16th of that capacity, and would be better off having a little 240 DL that runs forever and is good on gas, but time will tell, and hopefully next year when I go there will be smaller cars with better efficiency! The festivities started at around 4pm when we went to the Four Seasons for my first official drink, and with orders from my friend’s father, I had some Chivas, and wow, that was some Chivas let me tell you. It was a kick in the pants, but as I was enjoying my nice “neat” glass of scotch I asked the bartender if any Vietnamese were working, and luckily, there were! So what a drink it was! I got to sip my Chivas and meet a very nice young man from Nha Trang, while getting some bizarre looks from the peanut gallery; I fired away with my Vietnamese drawing a great big smile from my friend and his father, and an even bigger one from the Vietnamese man!

After leaving the Four Seasons we meandered around the most expensive real estate in the world, 5th Avenue, and did some window shopping, but little to my knowledge was I aware of the robustness of that one glass of Chivas, so I was shall we say, walking a little slower than the group. We eventually ended up at the Palm for dinner and had an absolutely fantastic dinner: steak, lobster, and the whole shebang. It was really a magical night, I got to spend it with people whom have been involved with me practically my entire life and eat a great dinner. The ride home was blissful, reclining in the seats, looking out at the city that never sleeps, red lights everywhere, and the wonderful sound of silence within the car, all of us reflecting on what a magical night it was.

The rest of the week flew by, I managed to find some time to see my boss, some more Vietnamese friends, and, of course, get some work done so I was not completely and utterly behind from where I started in the week. Returning to HWS was not really returning, because in less than 24 hours I would be leaving again to return back to the city that never sleeps. We were scheduled, and by we I mean the 24 students, three professors, a cousin of the professor, and a child of one of the professors, so it was a full group. We departed for our adventure around 3pm on Tuesday (3/25), which involved a lot of people sleeping, me attempting to do some work, and inputting the ENORMOUS SCHEDULE of events into my phone, so I had some idea of what I was doing.

We arrived around 10pm into the city that never sleeps and started off by driving down Broadway to our palace of a residence, which was the International Hostel, located on 103rd and Amsterdam or the upper west side, a pretty nice place. Not too much of a neighborhood, but a totally safe area, close to the subway (one block to the west on Broadway). Our adventure begun then, at 10pm, and didn’t stop until 5pm on Sunday (3/30) and I mean that.

Our first stop was at the one and only Carnegie Deli; where myself and quite a few others indulged in getting the worlds largest Pastrami sandwich, holy cow, this thing was worth every nickel (and quite a few at that), but we needed the power because from there we walked through Central park to the upper west side to catch a subway up to our hostel, but can you imagine that, a group of students walking through Central Park, at night?!?! A mere 10 years ago that would be unthinkable, goes to show you the incredible transformation NYC is gone through these past couple of years. Our night officially ended around 12:30, for an early wake up call at 6am of course. That set the standard for the rest of the week, with one wake up at 4:45am, but this really offered the students and myself an incredible perspective on NYC, we got to see how the city operates, and how it truly never sleeps—there is always things going on and put any stereotypes to rest. It would take pages on top of pages to go through all the amazing things we did, but a quick run down would be easy enough, we went to the top of the Empire State Building, walked the Brooklyn Bridge (amazing!), visited the Doe Fund, and toured: 5th Avenue, Financial District, Lower East Side, Greenwich Village, South Bronx, Harlem, Midtown, Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights, and of course, Staten Island via the ferry!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!!! This trip will stay with me my entire life, some of the unforgettable highlights were working with the men at the Dow Fund, playing with the children at St. Ann’s church and the Harlem Children’s Zone, seeing what some alums are up to and if they are surviving in the city, and last but not least, walking the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset—now that is a moment that will be embedded in my memory for as along as I will live.

This NYC trip, that will soon be followed up by a trip to Toronto the Great (4/23), was amazing and something HWS has been doing since the 80’s. Professor McGuire and Spates have literally watched parts of the Bronx get completely rebuilt and areas in Brooklyn get gentrified beyond belief, so with their insight and knowledge, combined with our enthusiasm made this trip a memorable one to say the least.

Until next time, hen gap lai.

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8 March, 2008

One can always expect an absolutely majestic snowstorm to hit good ol’ Geneva at least once or twice, and in Geneva fashion, we got one. Everything is covered in this beautiful layer of snow; the tree branches all have subtle bows, the cars are big marshmallows, the streets are quiet initially after the snow, and the lake is misting—oh so beautiful.

I will never forget when I first came up to visit HWS back in July of 2004, man I feel old saying that, and being absolutely miserable—the last thing I wanted to do was visit another college. The main reason for those feelings of angst was I had just come from Williams College where I got a preliminary interview and it was rather intense, so say the least. So, at that point my morale was not the highest, but after a couple hours of driving and moping, coming into Geneva changed those feelings quickly. To this day I vividly remember coming up to the crest of South Main Street and looking over to my left as the lake started to appear; it was one of the most amazing and inspirational sites I had ever seen. Then to the right was the campus, filled with beautiful old buildings, some from the Jacobean era while others from the quasi Post-Modernist era, point being, is it was all beautiful, but that lake will resonate with me forever.

The rest is history I suppose, I got a tour, and felt incredibly more comfortable at HWS compared to any of the other schools, and then I came back later in October where I got another tour and an interview, simply solidifying the feelings I had back in July about this institution being the right fit for me. There is a point in the college search for every high school senior where you come to a certain caliber of a college (or university) and you know the ones you are looking at all offer a fantastic level of education and it is simply a matter of environment and fit for the individual. Well, that fit has stayed the same for me, and of course, that same overwhelming feeling of happiness and inspiration still comes over me every time I come upon the lake after being away from it for awhile or on a beautiful snowy morning—it is always there, offering motivation and beauty.

Nhung, ho Hoan Kiem dep hon, xin loi Geneva!

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1 March, 2008

One of my really good friends from Sai Gon will be coming to Canada to live with his aunt for a little while, I am not exactly sure where in Canada, but I know it is somewhere up there in that enormous country, and luckily not close to Vancouver, aka driving distance. Needless to say I am incredibly excited because Dale and I will indubitably go and visit him. Khoa is simply a great guy. When we arrived in Sai Gon back in September we all were introduced to “buddies” who were going to help us get acclimated to Viet Nam and practice our language skills. Needless to say it worked out OK, but we did connect with Khoa, and that was fantastic. Khoa really reached out to us. One night he took us all around the different districts in Sai Gon, out to eat goat, which was amazing, and then a special tofu dessert to top it all off. When we left for Ha Noi it was tough, because we had become pretty good friends, but we knew we would see him again upon our return to Sai Gon for a couple days before most of the students went back to America, and we headed back to Ha Noi with the Minsk’s.

I will never forget when we returned to Sai Gon after our long trip down the coast and I called Khoa, it was great, he couldn’t believe it! He couldn’t believe that I was speaking Vietnamese like I was, he was shocked, absolutely in disbelief, and needless to say he came the next morning at 8am, in Vietnamese style, to hang out. We started screaming, jumping up and down, yelling in Vietnamese and English, and in the process woke up our fellow Americans who were rather disgruntled, to put it lightly. Khoa was as usual busy working at a hotel and going to school too. He mentioned there was a possibility of him coming to Canada in the winter time, which I was elated to hear but did not want to get too excited, for things change.

The time in Sai Gon went by incredibly fast, Khoa lent Dale and I his motorbike for a night, which was really nice of him, and let me tell you; it is a really nice bike, a Yamaha. It spoiled us before riding the Minsk’s; I should have been riding a bicycle with no wheels to feel good about the Minsk. In the whirlwind before our trip up north, which consisted of saying goodbye to everyone we knew in Sai Gon (teachers, friends, etc), getting ready for the trip, and fixing my Minsk before I even went 10km we did not get to spend much time with Khoa, which really stunk.

So to make a long story even longer—I cannot wait to make the road trip up to that beautiful country full of cheese curd, poutine, and moose to see one of my first really good friends from Viet Nam. Toi se gap ban cua toi va gia dinh cua ban!!!

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23 February, 2006

The other bi-disciplinary class I am currently taking is called Men & Masculinity with Thay Jack and Dean Capraro, it is a class that looks at “masculinity with a pro-feminist prospective”, and needless to say it is quite interesting. We so far have read one book called “Real Boys” and many articles covering all the different ills of how boys are engendered to be men—no crying, be tough, stoic, etc. Our first paper involved interviewing a male figure in our lives and then apply all of the materials we have read thus far to analyze the interview, which is great because many of the older men have not the foggiest idea of gender and how it was imposed on them, but all the activities in their lives were their decision and had nothing to do with their gender.

That is all well and good but what was really fantastic was that my brother and father came up for a visit and an interview. I had not seen my brother much since I returned from Viet Nam, so seeing him was really great. They arrived on Wednesday night and we all went to a great speaker for Black History month to talk about black masculinity. The professor was from Alleghany College and was quite interesting, what I found most intriguing was the enormous role the Black Panthers played in developing black masculinity; they brought a very powerful political message wrapped up in a super hip-cool package, then, that same image was commoditized in the late 70’s through Shaft. It was a lot of fun to be there with my brother and father and they both enjoyed the speaker very much. We then went off to the tennis courts to play a little, but they were all in use, which worked out for me because in big brother fashion he usually always beats me, so we got to play squash, which I availed in but only because I had a couple years of playing under my belt while he had none. Needless to say the next time we play I am sure he will be a serious contender. Before we knew it was late and time to retire because I didn’t know how long the interview would run so I wanted to start early.

We started with a hearty breakfast at the one and only—Waterstreet café, which is mandatory for all visitors to Geneva as far as I am concerned, Anne (the owner) was cheery as usual and she had a nice conversation with my father and brother. We then headed off to the library to conduct the interview, which went really well. It was such a special opportunity to get a large portion of my dad’s life on record. He has had a very interesting life thus far to say the least, from not graduating high school because he went to the war in 1944 to having his mentor die of emphysema and have the business left in his hands to deal with, he managed to deal with those issues and make the best of his situation, which is incredibly inspiring for me. The interview lasted for two hours and it seemed like the time flew by, it was a special two hours, and two hours I will always remember. Right after the interview I had to give my hugs goodbye because I had class. It was a short visit but a very special one.

One of my blog entries is never complete without mention of Viet Nam—it is currently 70 degrees in Ha Noi, Viet Nam.

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16 February, 2008

I always come to the close of a week thinking a might have gotten most of my work done and will be setting myself up for a less intense week ahead, but needless to say, that never happens—maybe it’s not supposed to? One has to think about what the future will bring: job, mortgage, endless streams of bills, kids, etc. point being is things don’t slow down, in fact from what it looks like, things get exponentially more intense and packed, but isn’t that the name of the game—life?

Well this past week started off with two films for my 2 Cities class, one was hysterical and showed the positive aspects of how a close knit neighborhood works while the next one showed how demoralizing and depressing the city can be to a certain group of people because of their social class—they are already disenfranchised upon conception. The first film, Blue in the Face, focused on a neighborhood in Brooklyn, was all laughs and smiles; there was no serious evils being committed, but only the daily annoyances of life, which were always mitigated by the fellow neighbors at the local smoke shop because that is where everyone went to vocalize their ups, downs, and simply a place to go and be, no reason to pontificate or give a sermon—just a place where people, of any race, creed, sex, etc., are always welcome. The second film, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, showed the complete antithesis of what Blue in the Face did. This film was based in the neighborhood Astoria, Queens, and it showed the incredible hardships a group of friends went through during their upbringing—death, destruction, and constant fear of looking over your shoulder. It goes to show how devastating growing up in these neighborhoods can be, and the depressing thing about it is 99.99% of the time all those kids never have the opportunity to get out, they are stuck there to struggle and that is what this film depicted, of course there are exceptions and that is how this film came to light.

After those two rather sobering films it made me reflect on my own upbringing and realizing how incredibly lucky and fortunate I am to be where I am at.

Geneva is finally giving me what I want—some snow and winter weather! It is has been incredibly beautiful the past couple days, full with a complete whiteout for about 30 minutes last Saturday, followed by some beautiful shining sun. Though not a day goes by where I don’t wish I was back in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City, and not just because of the weather (though I definitely prefer that weather opposed to 6 degrees Fahrenheit here), but simply the way of life there is so much, dare I say, better? I am planning on returning in late May with my mom for some traveling, probably anywhere from 2-3 weeks, and then hopefully staying there till the end of August studying the language, but I will have to wait and see about those applications! Until then…I will just have to look at my pictures, which isn’t close, but does the job for now.

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9 February, 2008

So the fiasco has already begun with me diligently filling out applications and proposals to return to Vietnam. Later this morning I will be sending two applications in for academic programs in Vietnamese. Both are intensive eight weeks programs focusing on fluency in Vietnamese—exactly what I want. The one is called SEASSI, which is located in Madison, Wisconsin, a great little town surrounded by beautiful lakes, similar to good ol’ Geneva. This is a definite possibility, especially because they offer a scholarship to go, but I really would like to go to the other one called VASI, which is based in Berkeley, CA, but the actual schooling goes on in Hanoi for four weeks and then another four weeks in Ho Chi Minh City, which would be amazing. Needless to say both would be incredible opportunities for me to improve my Vietnamese, which at this point is very important.

There are a couple other options that have popped up, which I will be working on in the coming weeks, and then I am sure there will be others. At the end of the day though I just want to end up in Vietnam this summer, working, studying, or teaching English, I just want to be there!

Geneva is cold as ever, making my long for some nice HCMC weather even more than usual, but at least there is some snow out on the ground, making one feel a little bit better about the bizarre weather patterns in the recent months.

All my classes are going well, especially Vietnamese, and as the days dwindle I am getting more excited for my trip to New York City with my Two Cities class. We leave right after spring break on March 24th and don’t return till 30th. From what I have heard from past students is the trip is simply amazing and you don’t stop. Some of the things I have heard that we range from going to a Broadway show, walk across the Brooklyn bridge to learn about the Doe fund (trying to limit homelessness, which started when a woman named Doe froze to death in a stoop, and if I recall correctly, it was started by a Hobart grad-- http://www.doe.org/about/?aboutID=2 ). There are probably a thousand other things that are waiting for my surprise too. The Toronto trip will be amazing, especially because it will be my first visit; I have been to a couple very nice Canadian cities, Kingston being the biggest of them, which is not nearly as big as Toronto.

This weekend will, as usual, be full of work with a focus on my cover letter for Vietnam, other than that it may be watching some squash, playing some tennis, and of course, Sunday morning breakfast at the one and only Waterstreet breakfast joint.

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2 February, 2008

Geneva, NY is doing well—cold as ever and one of the few places where you can experience biting winds, rain, snow, sleet, and then some sunshine, all in one day. Though that is what makes Geneva is wonderful.

Classes this week, thus far, have gone quite well, and I must say, I am excited and enjoying all of them, but obviously there are two that I am really looking forward to watch develop. The obvious one being 2 Cities where I will get to go to NYC and Toronto for 5 and 4 days, and explore the city and see all the things that even the average New Yorker is not aware of (in NYC). The other class, for obvious reasons, is Self Instructional Language Program (SILP) Vietnamese—it just feels so good to get back to studying it. Even though the first class the other day was rather overwhelming, it has been a good two months since my last Vietnamese class, and he (Le Linh our teacher—very nice kid from Ha Noi who is a freshman) was firing away at full speed Vietnamese initially and we (4 of us—all from the Vietnam term abroad) were pretty intimidated. But needless to say that is nothing to worry about, with time we will all become comfortable, hopefully, at listening to Vietnamese spoken at regular conversational speed.

Last night I ended the second week of school quite well. Professor Harris and his wife had a fantastic dinner party involving two Vietnamese and a bunch of people highly interested in Viet Nam—it was a grand time. The dinner conversation went from stories about Viet Nam, to speaking in Vietnamese, back to stories, and then some more Vietnamese; it was an utter blast. The proof is we got there at 7:15pm and didn’t leave till a little after 10pm or so, upon leaving it left me abnormally longing for Viet Nam, but that is ok because I know I will be returning soon.

Other than that fantastic dinner to top off a great week of school I cannot say that there was anything all that wild. I am working down at the archives, with the esteemed Linda Benedict, who is always a pleasure to work with. This weekend will be full of work, work and more work; I will also be focusing on getting together my applications for my plans to try to continue Vietnamese this summer—exciting.

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26 January, 2008

Wow, so am I really back on campus, where it is regularly -4 degrees Celsius, oops sorry I forgot this is America, it is actually 18 degrees Fahrenheit, needless to day—freezing. Not a day goes by where I don’t think, remember, or dream about how amazing Viet Nam was, in fact one of the main reasons I dragged my feet back up to school was because I am continuing my study of Vietnamese language because I will be returning to that amazing country very soon.

To give a complete summary since my last blog would be terribly difficult, so I will offer the major highlight—Sai Gon to Ha Noi via motorcycle (approx. 1,000 miles) in 7 days:

We all said our goodbyes to most of the students on 6/12 (how the rest of the world says the date) and then Dale, Tony, Tony’s Father, and myself set off on an adventure to say the least—4 motorcycles, one route, and one amazing city to return to: Ha Noi! In this day and age we are all incredibly spoiled with AAA and cars that rarely break down—my generation never had to worry about flooding his dad’s ’57 Chevy’s carbs and break out the ether to start after a long time of sitting. Well let me tell you—Soviet Union Era motorcycles are quite the antithesis to what I am used to, in fact, I can now build and re-build a carburetor with my eyes closed because of the amount of time my MINSK broke down on me. The bikes themselves were adventures, they worked sporadically and when they did, wow baby, you were not stopping—even if you had no clutch (which was my case for the last 100 km stretch to Ha Noi). The first day was pretty ruff, but we made it to the beautiful beach town where we were with the group—Mui Ne. The next day was Nha Trang, then Quy Nhon, which is a coastal town, that rarely sees westerners, which made it exciting. The next two stops were staples—Hoi An and Hue. Both very quaint and beautiful cities, but infiltrated with tourists, which is not my cup of tea. After Hue we made a big push to Vinh, which was another cool stop because we did not see a single westerner, with many Vietnamese interested in what we were doing and trying to understand why in the hell we were traveling all this way on those horribly SMELLY bikes (two strokes of course—oil & gas mix = MAJOR pollution), but elated to see us speaking as much Vietnamese as we could. The next day was our final day on the road—HA NOI! We got split up on the last day because my clutch gave out and I was not stopping for the life of me, so Dale stuck with me, while Tony and his father had to deal with a slight fender bender—luckily all walked away unscathed and Tony’s Vietnamese was definitely a huge helper. The last 100 km or so was the most exciting, my carburetor was constantly filling up with gas so it would bog down, I would have to try to rock the bike around so get gas flowing again, and some how I managed to keep the bike going. Dale and I rolled in to Ha Noi gleaming with smiles, covered in oil, gas, and grit, and excited beyond belief, we visited our dear friends, gave lots of hugs, and prayed for Tony and his father. They eventually made it.

When all is said and done that trip was incredible and will stay with me forever. We got to see the entire coast and had some of the most amazing interactions, i.e.—bike break downs in very small towns, getting taken care, offered tea constantly, and always (ALWAYS) feeling welcomed. Only 15-20 bike breakdowns between the four of us and four falls—not too bad right for a bunch of novice riders. Leaving was one of the more difficult things to do in my life, but it wasn’t all too bad, because I know I will be returning soon.

Ha Noi to Sai Gon to Hong Kong to Los Angeles to good ol’ JFK—24 hours and change. We said goodbye to Tony in LA, which was tough, but we know that we will all reunite, in of course, Viet Nam. Arriving in America was rather strange, but nice, I saw all my friends and family, made some money, and typed my research paper about Viet Nam.

Viet Nam was amazing, and I cannot wait to go back, though it is nice to be in Geneva, I cannot lie, I would rather be in Ha Noi right now. But currently I am taking some great classes, one being Two Cities: NYC and Toronto, where I will be traveling to both cities and actually applying what I was studying—very exciting.

Well it is time to head off to the good ol’ library and hit the books, getting back into the infamous routine of hours on end in the library, Khong sao! Khi toi quay lai Viet Nam--Toi muon o lai Viet Nam!!!

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1 December, 2007

White sand beaches, palm trees, cool ocean breeze, and a desolate resort to enjoy all to ourselves—pretty fantastic eh’? That basically was Mui Ne summed up in a sentence or so, it was a pretty fantastic way to end an incredible road trip down the coast, even with the bumps in the road i.e.—flooding in Hoi An and Hue. In the end though it all worked out for the better, we got to see three fantastic Vietnamese cities, and got to spend another day in Hanoi and Saigon, so it all worked out for the better I would say.

Presently I am in Saigon, we arrived about 4 hours ago from Mui Ne and I cannot begin to describe how excited I am to be back in this bustling metropolis on speed. Mui Ne was a very quiet town full of tourists, in fact, from what it looked like it was all tourists, especially European and Russian. I never have seen so much Russian writing at a tourist hub, which must be reminiscent of the past ties with CCCP. Mui Ne is around a 10km stretch of beach front filled to the gills with resorts and restaurants, the restaurant I went to twice with Viet, Dale, Tony, and the Bus Drivers was out of town a little bit, and of course, had the best and cheapest food. There was another town called Phan Tiet, where almost every person we talked to at the different resorts, that worked there, lived in that town. Mui Ne overall was definitely a place I could not spend my days, but perhaps a day or two to decompress, and I think that is exactly what many people do there. It is around a 4-5 hour bus ride from Saigon to Mui Ne, so a quick weekend trip is not out of the question.

Upon our arrival a bunch of the guys immediately found a pool table and we played some “bia Phap�?—aka billiards, because of the French influence many years ago. After some pool it was time to feast on one of our last group dinners, which was tasty as usual. Because of the remoteness of this resort the festivities after dinner were minimal, some went into “town�?, which was about 20 minutes away (one hell of an expensive taxi), while myself and some others relaxed in the area. Dale, Tony, and I sat out on our little deck and exchanged stories for awhile enjoying the sound of the crashing waves until we all retired to the sack.

The next day was completely dedicated to the town and the sister resort to the resort we were currently staying at. This resort had all the frills one could imagine: private beach, swimming pool, pool table, etc.—anything you could possibly want. I meandered around town for a little, had some great conversations with some of the locals, got a little work done, and then headed to the beach. The surf was pretty intense, it put the Jersey Shore to shame; there were consistent 4-6ft waves with a small period, so it was easy to just get continually crushed, which got tiring real quick. Some of the students rented surf boards and they were nice enough to lend them out for a little, and I gave it a shot, unfortunately I was not as successful as I would have liked, but it still was a great time. After a good beach experience it was time to retire to the pool area, bask in the sun, and float around—pretty nice life eh’? I would say so.

Viet, Dale, and I played some pool: where we spoke with the waitresses in Vietnamese which is always a blast. We all exchanged names and numbers in hope that one day we will see each other again; it is always very sad saying goodbye after a good two hour conversation, they are almost always so elated to hear you speak Vietnamese and you are happy that they can help you continue your Vietnamese skills, but not get stuck in conversation because they know enough English to understand you when you can’t express yourself in Vietnamese—it always works out.

Dinner was amazing. We (Dale, Tony, and I) went with our two bus drivers and Viet to feast on some great seafood: grilled prawns, sushi (Vietnamese style), squid, nice, soup, and some rice stew—simply delectable. The plan after that was for those who wanted to stay in town could, but the bus was leaving at 9pm, I decided to go with the bus in hope of getting up early for the sunrise and enjoy our last morning in Mui Ne before leaving for Saigon.

I managed just to catch the tale end of the sunrise, which was unfortunate, but I still got some pretty fantastic pictures. It was around 6:15am when I scrambled out the door. Some of the fishermen were pulling in their nets, which was a cool sight, but it didn’t look like they caught too much—a sign of over fishing. After a nice long walk on the beach by myself enjoying the waves tumbling in and cool ocean breeze I got a great last taste of Mui Ne that will linger with me until I comeback for a refresher—hopefully soon.

Posted by Oliver Meeker at 1:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)