Blog 3 (VIET) and NAM!

Apologies for my lateness in bloging-ness… It was all because of the most bonding and relaxing, crazy and exciting, refreshing and informing voyages ever to have taken place in my life that I remembered very little of any responsibilities that lay over my shoulders—that being until the moment I stepped off the plane in Hong Kong. Surely, as the myriad of painful realizations set in, horror was in action deep within my soul! I was crying in my lonely room, looking at a planner with no checks of anything completed (that’s a lie, I had no planner, I wish I did).

· Yes, I was crying.
· I was lonely, so lonely for the first time in five days.
· I had a bag overflowing with stinking, dirty clothes—meaning I needed to do laundry.
· I had no minutes on my phone to contact any of my friends that I haven’t seen for five minutes—longer than any span of time during my trip in Vietnam.
· I needed a shower so so SO bad but I was butt-lazy.
· I started to remember a bunch of sad incidences in my life—God knows why—that put me in depression mode all the more.

I have to admit, was it not for good old Kris to pass by me and later deciding to order pizza, I would have been sick in my bed refusing to go on with this Hong Kong experience (over-exaggeration)… But why was I so upset and depressed and heart-broken and CRYING FOR THE FIRST TIME HERE?

Well, the answer is: because I had the most unbelievable trip in Vietnam, my home for five days, with the family I’ve known for only a month…

Our red bus—sniff, sniff…sniff. The bus rides were our life in Vietnam. I wonder if my chair still remembers me. I miss it dearly, hope it does too. That bus! I ate Pringles and chocolate and coconut on it, I danced to Ricky Martin and Techno on it, I slept and maybe even snored on it, I laughed my head off and talked my tongue away on it, I learned so much in so little of Vietnam on it, I watched the hours pass away as details of Saigon and the Mekong Delta and even a speck of Cambodia rolled by on it…I grew closer and closer to all my friends on it. It was the bus that greeted us, and the bus that saw us leave goodbye. Ok, enough about the bus, or it may seem as if I grew fond of nothing but a machine on my trip to Vietnam.

So I was shocked to see so many motorcycles in my life. My eyes widened to images of old and young, two hands strapped on motorcycle handles, in a damn crowded country, moving along so freely and comfortably as if breezing along an ocean side on a beach-buggy. When later I would walk the streets (specifically cross the streets), well, that was a whole new adventure staring at center lights of motorcycles barging my way ready to take me over. At one point, I started singing “I will survive” running across every intersection, hand in hand in a straight line of 5 people. And I thought Hong Kong was bad?!

Precious moments passed by at the speed of light. One of which was the time I had 2 million with me, in one wallet, just one wallet, my wallet, and my wallet alone… unfortunately, it was Dong! It could buy so much, yet so little. Right outside of the ATM machine door, we ran into all the little Vietnamese poor kids and they took my breath away, maintaining a smile that spread across my face. Truly they are excellent business people: daring, confident, interesting, sweet, and not to mention, multi-lingual. Their English was absolutely perfect. I feel bad now that I never even bought one flower from any of them, but I did get silk letters the first day there. Beautiful—and they say Vietnam on them too.

I got the first massage in my life in Vietnam! And it was excellent, cheap, and oh, did I mention that it was excellent? Some people, unfortunately, had more than a massage—enough said. My first (yes I did go back for another one) was $9 and the second $20. It was soothing and perfect—OH MAN! I made friends with Ha too, she gave me my first massage and boy is she serious about her massaging abilities.

Vietnamese people are so awesome. They are energetic and humble, forgiving and happy. The

War Museum I could never forget: in it of itself was nothing grand, but all it spoke seemed to be coming straight from a memorable agony filled with dry hardships and harsh losses to what we thought was a civilized world today. The pictures, the tanks, the army, the flags, the guns, the artillery, the memories—all so real, and I can’t find the feelings to describe it. Simply, a real experience was revealed in this simple place. The baby in the bottle—I still see it now.
Not to mention, the ChiChi tunnels- uhh, so hot. I was in it at one point with Evy’s butt in my face. I was sweating, I was disgusting, I was dirty, I was wet- EWW- the thought of it makes me itch, but fills me with the loneliness and darkness of war-images and what Vietnam had to do to finally succeed in this long-drawn out battle for their—what exactly, maybe not a good enough answer.

Saigon market! I’m kind of worried I got diseases from this place. The ladies were grabbing my hand as if feeling my body. Heartfelt yearns to get me to buy something, just anything, was evident of course that at several points I felt no need to bargain, because Yaum was doing all the bargaining for her products! But I loved them and I think they loved me too. As soon as I gave them a smile in an attempt to let them know that I respect what they are doing for me (or themselves) I earnestly felt that they were interested in who the hell I was too—“where are you from”, “what you do here”, “how old are you?” I mean this is a people who yes, want to give you their stuff because they want your money, but a society so cheerful, compassionate, and fervent it reminded me of my own Egyptian people. Night lights that keep you company, locals that walk hand in hand, little shops everywhere that invite you, and a culture that lives with a smile at the lips and in the heart no matter how rough things might get.

The Mekong Delta was the bomb. The highlight of my voyage, I learned most about Vietnam, the people, my people, my friends, and even myself from the excursion to the delta! It’s amazing how we travel to Europe, Hong Kong, or Dubai and think “Oh wow, different place (oooo)”, “different people (aaaaah)”, “different everything,” when really a huge part of it is all the same—a mass of buildings and a society with jeans. Now what about those who live steps away from a river, wash their clothes in the water, let chickens and snakes run around in their gardens, and not invite anyone for their weddings because the whole village is expected to come and make the food anyway! And oh, they are not just any people really, but farmers! Skipping on the stones with the river on the one hand and the little huts on the other, I was immersed in a Vietnamese local village. I loved it, I absolutely did. It was Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

The boat rides, uhhhhhh, the boat rides in the Mekong Delta... no words whatsoever… The breeze, the vast expanse of pure nature that lay ahead, the trees and vegetation, the waves to the locals who answered back, the games that we played, the songs that we sang, the dances that we made, the jokes that were said, the Chica BOOM BOOM bootty shakes... I felt more kid than I ever did when I was one. I forgot that that I was enrolled in a respected institution with undergraduates who attended some business classes in suits. I forgot that I was far away from home. I forgot worries, hunger, and responsibilities. I was somewhere else, la-la land, with everything I could ever dream of within my reach—friends, water, nature, and a whole lot of games to play, with so much more to see.

What about our nights? To keep things straightforward, they were as colorful as could be. Some people really brought out their true selves—a lot of NEVER-HAVE-I-EVER game playing and confession hearing and Chica Boom Boom on-the-bed playing. My personal favorites! Along with some other things of course… Oh, the French guy incident screaming in the face of—I won’t say who—he obviously hated loud Americans; he couldn’t go to sleep.

Quote- Brian: “Saacrebleuuu, can we just have WORLD PEACE?” My gut ached so hard from laughing at that I thought I would suffocate, I love you Brian!

Another quote- Leann: As Kris was admiring Leann’s suite (which is beautiful on her—damn) he told her “You’re getting me ready to do some work!” She replied walking away (and oh it was sooooo well said), “Yeaaa…….. but I’m not sure if you can handle it!” Oh yeah Leann, I love you!

Vietnam was awesome- people, places, food, and Viet! Viet, our tour guide, was as good as they get. I’m so glad his name is Viet because there is no way I could forget the name of the person responsible for guiding us through the best trip of (VIET) nam ever!