P.S. or take or send back

4am alarm; 415 departure; 438 arrival; immigration and security cleared 455. waited in royal lounge until boarding. arrived hong kong, went right to red carpet and hung out til boarding. no shopping chanel, cartier, etc. very tempted but ...

among things to bring back: hairspray, mousse for hair, laundry shirt starch, rubber gloves, screwdriver, zip lock bags, potato masher (for guacamole), stain stick, oxyclean for sweaty clothes. far from complete list but what i could remember now. maybe a bottle of alcohol if i can pack it in my luggage.

last one for now

wonderful bbq. amazing. weather was typical. rained very hard for 15 minutes then cleared. ms. han did an awesome job of preparing from 7am til 1pm kick off. spring rolls, ginger chicken and white rice, tenderloin, lamb chops, pasta salad, deviled eggs, guacamole. amazing. about 10 bottles of white wine and a lot of cans of beer. good TA employees. last one left at 7pm! now to complete the packing process, and set the alarm for 4am with a 415 departure. rain came again as folks were leaving so that was good timing. ms han had a helper and they did great cleaning up, serving, prepping ... they did it all and for pocket change. gave up their day off to pitch in. now i get to leave. most everyone has been asking when i'll be back which is a nice feeling to be accepted here. and now i'll sign off for this segment. tomorrow SGN-HKG-CHI-GSO.

among the last ...

went out with jess and nhi last night for dinner. very country vietnamese cooking and atmosphere but quite popular with expat community now. big day on sunday. today is saturday, ms. han has organized the entire party so i'm free of worries. went to fine art museum in the city ... 3 floors. first floor was childrens art, maybe ten years old, second floor was old art and sculpture and third was a lot of the same. interesting. very glad i went. i was enjoying the childrens art and thinking finally a museum where there is not the ever present reminder of agent orange ... and then there it was among the kids paintings, war and agent orange art (notice the pink airplanes and the bombs dropping). most of it was family, environment, teacher, play but there were some disturbing works by kids. sad. was also thinking that anyone born after 1970 was just a child when the war ended, and anyone born after 1975 completely missed it. perspective: we got married in 1974 before the war ended. how hard dad avoided coming to vn at one time and now he cant be away.

around the neighborhood

I'm on a roll.....

commentary: they have an aversion to first and second gear. they only use third and fourth no matter what. guess it cuts down on shifting in city traffic.

commentary observation: a wise person commented that the "women/ladies" who attach themselves to older men are in it for the 4 c's - cash, credit card, car and condo. they see it as a quick and easy way to get out of their lifestyle

must be 6 yr old graduation day. lots of little girls in fancy party dresses out today. cute.

thursday we did a lot of shopping from 9am to at least 1pm. district 5 for glassware, and other bbq items for sunday; metro (costco) for groceries, australian butcher for meats, etc. quite a lot of running around. fortunately we had jess' driver who is a wonderful nice driver and didnt mind runnig us all over the place. dad and i stayed home at night and had a bowl of soup ... pretty calm night after a hectic day.

another one ...

observation: there are no female taxi drivers or female company drivers. wonder why

last night went out with ann carey bc dad had dinner with matthew williams and ed carey. mediterrean place locally. early night.

went up to the tallest building in vietnam yesterday ... photos on flickr too. too bad the weather moved in as i was ascending the 47 floors to the observation deck. fantastic view.

today the coconuts were again cut down to avoid any concussions to the gardener. many people involved in the task. i'll spare you all the duplication of photos from previous cutting.

dad said he's going to try fly fishing in the saigon river early one morning. that will be interesting i'm sure. that's one time that catch and release is a really good idea.

they had their country elections on sunday and according to the newspaper had nearly 100% turnout ... amazing? exaggeration maybe? and from what i've been told, the results were known before the voting even started. and theres only one party so its who will represent the party not which party.

another party boat sank which was owned by a restaurant that dad uses near the factory. 11 or more people killed at a 3rd birthday celebration on the boat. captain didnt have license to operate the boat, people dont know how to swim all factors.

otherwise i'm just trying to be a good houseguest.

Recap Update May 2011

This will probably be my one and only blog post of this trip. guess i want to spare you the same updates that i've done in the past. This time next week i will be on a flight back to NC via HongKong. Have had a very nice trip, did many of the same things I've done before, wandered to some new places, met some new people. went to a ILV coffee (intl ladies of vn) and i dont think thats a group for me. while they are lovely ladies and a source of information, I think i prefer the solitude that i've grown accustomed to when here. not much of a joiner i guess altho i wouldnt mind going on some of the excursions and sightseeing that they do but sewing group? bridge? mahjong? i dont think so. but i'll keep my option open for now.

havent done as much dining out as in the past. dad apparently has discovered that ms han is an excellent cook and prefers staying home. so our dining has been limited to the hyatt and the deck and mekong merchant. roger friesen from canada has b een in town so we've seen him a couple times. there was a black tie operation smile gala that TA had a table so that we a nice dress up night. dad didnt get anything at the art auction. he also went out of town for 2 nights to shanghai so i was on my own ... one night dinner at jess and nhi, one night went to boat house restaurant in compound and sat with sally and anthony cox. thought about going somewhere myself but not really long enough and its more fun with someone along.

have been reading a lot of books. finished the 3rd one last week so now i'll find another on the kindle. raining a little each day but never at the same time so its tricky planning ahead.

had a couple massages with dad on sundays .. got a facial this past sunday which was outstanding. i hope dad will take my suggestion and get one himself to get rid of the pollution and grim that gets into the pores. it was heavenly. and they do a lot more than just around the face. neck, chest, back. really nice. then got a 1/2 hr massage since we had a credit from the previous week.

planning a party for 20 TA people on sunday afternoon. casual bbq lunch. hopefully a tenderloin, some salads, spring roll, beer, wine. the usual bbq minus the burgers ad hot dogs.

observation: there are no convertibles in this town for the obvious reason. too hot and too polluted probably. most cars are suvs or mini van types. they certainly outnumber the sedans but motorbikes are still the preferred method of travel for the locals.

observation: i am very disturbed with the 60+ yr old men and the young "women" who attach themselves.

end of school year approaching here too so more moving vans are around the compound with people leaving. i imagine this would be a difficult place to have a teenager and the possibility of university admission down the road. they have plenty of schools ... american, australian, british that look very impressive so hope they prepare students to go off to university.

brought back with me some silk that dad had gotten year ago in thaliand i think. having it made into a dress for $30. pretty much constructed it using piece of this dress and piece of that one so we'll see how it looks on thursday.

hope the dog is behaving for emily. she is doing me such a huge favor taking care of sophie.

put pics on dads flickr rather than sign in to mine ... just in case his password isnt known. i'll post on my own too eventually. here are a couple just for the blog ... guess thats it. found many of the clothes i left here are a little baggy since last visit. and now the rain starts. but i've been wearing mostly skirts since they seem to be the coolest option. i'll have to look for sales to replenish my supply! love to all. mom