Vietnam....finally

Well after a long flight to Hong Kong, 12 hours in a Chinese airport, and a couple crazy motorbike rides, I made my way into Ho Chi Minh City. On my flight over to Hong Kong I was sitting next to a 4-foot tall little Chinese woman. I was up against the window, row 65 to be exact. I was thinking that I had it made--a window seat on a 14-hour flight...perfect right? I quickly realized that this little lady sitting next to me had other plans. She somehow managed to make all four feet of herself extend into my seat and foot space. The armrest was not stopping this lady. She was the sweetest lady ever though....she kept looking at pictures of her family the whole flight. I didn't dare ask her to scoot over because she just seemed too sweet to inconvenience. It sure made the flight interesting though. On an Asian-based airline company they serve some crazy food. After living in Cambodia for two years I thought I was used to the smells of Asian food......well, apparently I had forgotten how gnarly some of the smells really get. I was deep in a Dramamine-induced sleep when I was woken up by something in my nose. It wasn't anything tangible, but rather some crazy Asian food smell :)   I'm used to it again, but it took a couple Cathay Pacific meals to get me back in the groove of things.

I never realized how long 12 hours was until I was in the Hong Kong airport all by myself. I tried to sleep...didn't work. I tried to eat....not hungry. I could have counted every tick of the clock in that airport. I need to learn more languages. I hate being in a place and not being able to speak to people. There are so many amazing, sweet people out there that I wish I could meet, but can't because of language barriers. I gotta hit the books when I get back! To combat the boredom I thought I would try to find a departure gate that was going to Phnom Penh....try my luck with some Cambodians. After hovering over a few conversations that had potential to be Khmer speakers, I finally found a man that was definitely speaking Khmer. I plopped down next to him and said, "Man I am glad to see you. I just want to speak to someone because I don't speak Cantonese and my friends aren't here." The Khmer man just looked at me and stared. I think I freaked him out :)    

Well I finally boarded the flight to Ho Chi Minh and was excited to be on my way. Hong Kong was great.....but after 12 hours and no one to talk to, I was ready to try my luck in Saigon. When I boarded the plane I quickly found a young man that was reading a book titled, "Cambodian for Beginners." I knew this was my "in" to getting a ride from the airport. Mom and Dad, to be completely honest, I didn't plan this trip very well. I just trusted myself and my people skills to make it all happen. Luckily, it's working out great, but on the plane I needed to find a way to get to this hostel 20 minutes from the airport. So after 2 hours of schmoozing with this Vietnamese family, I had my ride to the guesthouse....it was free too!!!!

*This is Giang....my lifesaver from the airport. I just hopped on the back of his moto and we were off. He was shooting gaps in traffic that I wouldn't dream of....it was a crazy ride.

After breakfast this morning Steven and I went into this park to catch some fresh air and work off the rice breakfast we ate a few minutes earlier. Right before you enter the park there was a big sign of rules...conveniently written in English for all of us that don't speak Vietnamese. Well, look at the second rule on the sign.....

....so after we read this, Steven and I had to go all the way back to the hostel and drop off our "fortune-telling" supplies and all the other evils we had on us at that time back at the guest house. How were we supposed to know they didn't allow people to fortune-tell in the park?  :)

I was also really pleased to see that my Gold's Gym membership still worked, even here in Vietnam. I definitely hit the weights hard today. The guns are still looking good :)

****To Sid, Kevin, Karen and all others that were present in J25 that one night when we were making fun of Bitty's back machine thing....all these little exercise things were exactly like that. Just think of all the potential exercises that could be done on this thing in the picture. I was definitely grateful I had prior experience on the back machine because now I am just hitting the weights hard. lol

So after we hit the gym at the park, we decided we were going to go to the Cu Chi Tunnels. This is 250 kilometers of underground tunnels that were used during the Vietnam War. The tunnels were so complex and crazy. It was about 900 degrees outside, but in the tunnels it was even hotter. It is definitely going to take me some time to get used to being drenched in sweat again. It's nice to not be in white shirt and tie though. Here are a couple pictures from my tunnel adventures.....

I don't know if you can tell from the pictures, but these tunnels are only 120 centimeters high....so we were crawling through them. It was pretty scary sometimes. I just did a 200 meter section which started at ground level and then went down to 10 meters deep. Being that deep underground and for 200 meters of it gets a little scary. Luckily I'm really brave lol 

Okay, I really need to go eat dinner. I want to end this post on a somewhat sympathetic note. I have only been to two countries so far on this trip, but I have been exposed to people from all over the world. The Hong Kong Airport introduced me to languages and people that I have never really known. One thing that is so comforting to me is the sound of a baby's cry. I know it sounds kind of strange, but let me explain. In two days I have heard babies cry from all over the world. Chinese babies, Vietnamese babies, Korean babies. No matter where we are from, no matter what our native language is, no matter where we are going, we all sound the same when we cry. People really aren't that different. We all want the same thing...to love and be loved in return. I am about as far away from home as physically possible, but the world isn't that big. We are all people. We are all Heavenly Father's children. We are all just trying to be happy and make others happy. That's pretty comforting to me. 

Well I need to be on my way...I'm starving. Have a great day and I will check in again soon. 

From across the ocean blue, 

Kory