Visiting Vientiane

Visiting Vientiane ... oh, how I love to alliterate ...

This is the land of many, many Buddhas

I started my Tết break a little early this year in order to have several more days in Laos. Laos has been on my ‘short list’ ever since I came to SE Asia ... my desire to come here was not accompanied by any form of research other than asking a couple of colleagues about their visits and seeing some misty photos of monks in Luang Prabang, , and so I really had no idea of what I was getting into. So typical ...

So I will be in Vientiane for about 3 days and so far it has been lovely ... gorgeous weather and the most beautiful blue skies! Well, it was a bit of a shock to discover that Canadians pay the highest fees for Lao visas than any other country in the world. Why would that be? Oh, yes ... back to Vientiane - for starters it is so much smaller and quieter than Sài Gòn; there are only 220,000 people in the city and the prefecture of Vientiane has 1/10th the population, just 750,000, so I guess it is tame in comparison! And although the street names are still difficult to remember, it is very easy to find things in the city. And it is a bit cooler, so it is very comfortable to walk, even in mid-day. I did break down and buy a guide book yesterday and it says that the Lao people are among the most laid back in SE Asia ... I cannot attest to that, but those I have met are very polite, friendly, and quick to smile. And those working in tourism are super sweet and have pretty good English ... although the average Lao person I have met does not have much English at all.


That Dam - Black Stupa

Yesterday I walked my foofoos off. I wanted to go to Pha That Luang, one of the most important cultural and religious sites in Laos, a 3rd C temple that has been destroyed and rebuilt a number of times, most recently in the 1930s, I believe. So, I set off and saw a few interesting sites on the way, That Dam, which means Black Stupa in Lao. Apparently, it had once been covered with gold, but had been burned in a Siamese invasion almost 200 years ago. And that was close to the US Embassy ... I had forgotten it is the capitol city and so there are a lot of government and foreign government offices. So I found myself on a very grand avenue, typical of a capitol city ... Lang Xang Avenue. I walked along until I came to Patuxai, which is a large and very grand victory arch. Apparently, concrete intended for an airport runway was diverted to this project, which was mostly finished in the 1960s. It is very grand and has a lovely park with dancing fountains.


Patuxai



Patuxai

After leaving this park, I zigged when I should have zagged, but I didn’t get too lost ... got to see a couple of embassies and then continued on for another kilometer or so until I got to That Luang. I could see the golden spire from a good long way off and so I knew I was on the right road. It turns out there is not just one temple here, but a whole complex, and like many Buddhist temples, it seems like spirituality, tourism, and lots of buying and selling go on simultaneously ... a different form of syncretism than the one usually discussed in religious circles. The temples seem more Cambodian than Vietnamese to my undiscerning eye and perhaps that is because it is a different form of Buddhism which is dominant here ... Theravada.


Pha That Luang



Pha That Luang

At any rate, it was very different and I was very glad to have had an opportunity to visit. I walked back to the city ... 4 km I later learned! I accidentally found another place, a shopping market called Talat Sao, or morning market, including a new building (with a parking garage). It was quite reminiscent of the Central Market in Kuala Lumpur. I continued traipsing around and found a fair trade craft store which has the most exquisite textile, weaving, embroidery, and quilting work done by Hmong women. I was so glad to have found it! Then I HAD to go for a foot massage ... I must have walked 12 or 15 km by this time.


Adjacent to Pha That Luang

Sleeping Buddha near Pha That Luang

OK, so this was my third foot massage. The first one was in Shanghai with Kim Cechetto at the Pearl Hotel (I think). We went on Dave Cechetto’s recommendation, and the two guys who worked on us were like twins in that their movements were tightly synchronized. Kim and I would both go, “OW” at the same time and they would ask, “OW, yes? or OW, no?” The answer was unimportant; the choreography was launched under the blinking red eyes of the stuffed toy pandas that decorated our massage stations, and nothing would get in the way of that particular dance of pain. Poor Kim had bruises for a week! The second foot massage I had was in Hải Phòng and it was an excruciatingly dry rub performed by people who kept laughing at me. It couldn’t have ended soon enough! Yesterday’s massage was much better than either of my previous forays into pedicular pommelling, thank goodness. I may go back for another if I am so foolish as to walk another 12 km on any given day!

Kunming - SE Asia Riders



Kunming - SE Asia Riders

Today has also been very interesting. I started out with breakfast in the garden. Several guys who have been walking around in biking shorts for the last day began gearing up ... I noticed they all had very coordinated outfits that said Kunming – SouthEast Asia Tour and they all had a lot of sponsors logos on their clothes. Their bikes and panniers all looked the same and very snazzy. It turns out they are a group that are on a 3 month ride and they started out in Kunming. One of them is a pretty famous guy ... Jin Feibao. Best wishes to them; they are delivering letters of peace and friendship throughout SE Asia (but they may not be allowed to go to Vietnam). Read about it here.


Cluster Bomb Mobile at the COPE Center

Sttue at COPE Center that contains 500 kg of scrap metal from recycled munitions

Today I decided I would go to the COPE Center. Lonely Planet really does plug a few good causes in every book they publish and this is their major cause in Vientiane ... a centre where people who have lost limbs due to UXO (unexploded ordnances) can go for rehabilitation, wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs. I had always heard that Laos was the most heavily bombed country in the world and in its effort to wipe out the VC, along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the USA dropped two million tons (through carpet bombing – roughly one sortie every 8-9 minutes for years) and the munitions range from missiles, grenades, rockets, cluster bombs, mortars and landmines. Who in the world invents these weapons? A very unkind part of me wishes they would set their children to cleaning up the 80 million unexploded munitions; I am sure they would think twice about unleashing that sort of horror on anyone else. Of course, no child deserves to die or be maimed as a result of these weapons, and yet hundreds of Lao kids (and adults) every year are killed and crippled as a result of accidents occurring with UXOs or ‘bombies’ as they are called by some people here.

View from a tuk tuk

When I heard the centre was 3 km from my hotel, I decide to take a tuk tuk ... but I did walk back ...(^_^)... It was a moving experience to visit the center – a bit quiet because of the weekend – but I saw that they encourage people to buy legs as Christmas presents ... too late for that, but guess what, Mom? I bought you a leg for your birthday ... well, a leg for someone else on your behalf. Check out their website ... I am so surprised that Canada has still not ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It is a signatory, but has not ratified the treaty. It turns out Canada has or has had a stockpile of cluster munitions and it might prevent Canada from working with the US military in various operations ...  who knows? I guess I am not the only one who wonders why the Harper government has failed to act. here is a recent article from the Ottawa Citizen.


Walking back I saw many household shops ... these are to cook sticky rice, a staple in Laos




Cutie in a tuk tuk ... happy to say 'hello!'

 After walking back to town, I happened upon two temples that are pretty important in Vientiane ... the first is the oldest temple in Vientiane ... Wat Si Saket. It is filled with statues of Buddha (like more than 2000) and is quite an amazing place. I am not sure how terribly old it is – due to the turbulent history, many things have been rebuilt time and time again.


Wat Si Saket



Wat Si Saket



Wat Si Saket

Wat Si Saket



Haw Phra Kaew



Well, the second one is a former temple (now a museum), Haw Phra Kaew. Lots of tourists (both Lao and Farang/foreigner) but not to the point of being overcrowded. Continued my wandering ways until I came to a place where it looked like a lot of Lao people were eating and had a most enjoyable lunch ... spring rolls, and egg rice vegetables. I had no idea what to expect, but it was delicious ... cool rice with coconut and ??? that you wrap up in leaves. And some ice coffee to complete the meal. Lao coffee is a lot like Vietnamese coffee ... but seems to be brewed slightly differently. And the portions are slightly bigger, which is good for me, as I am always wanting just one more sip of cà phê sữa đá. OK ... so I blogged rather than napped ... now it is time to explore the evening in Vientiane! I will upload many more pics to flickr if you should wish to see more of Vientiane, from the lens of this sojourner.  Hope all is well wherever this missive finds you! Please write and let me know where you are and what you are doing!

I found Mr Thanh!

Just before Errol and I went back to Canada, I went to the corner to see if I could get a haircut. A few months ago, I came across a lovely man, Mr Thanh, who worked in a salon right beside  Sacombank. I don’t know how it happened, but he was free at that time and I loved the haircut I got and the salon is about a 43-second walk from my apartment and the cut was only 50,000 VND, so what is not to like? Whenever I went back, everyone knew I was Thanh’s client. I became a regular!

Sometimes he is really busy and I have to come back another day, but that day he was eating his dinner; I told him I would come back but he assured me he was OK and to just sit down. As I was getting my hair cut, I got a very funny vibe from the shop owner, but I could not ask 20 QUESTIONS OR MORE TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THINGS due to language difficulties. Sure enough, when I got back from Canada, the salon had closed. Now, in Canada, they might have an appointment book, and hairdressers can usually call clients and let them know when and where they are relocating ... but here? Not so much. I kept trying to figure out how to find Mr Thanh and I could never decide on how I could ask people where the various employees of that salon had gone.
I digress, but when I was looking for the restaurant in Wuxi that sold delicious bai che ji, I walked up and down the street asking people “Ding Ding Ji?" But I decided I just could not walk up and down Nguyễn Văn Linh Street asking pitifully, “Mr Thanh ở đâu?" I mean I was deperate for bai che ji ...(^_^)...
So, I had semi-resigned myself to looking for a new hairdresser, when by chance today I found him ... or rather, he found me. I was walking along Nguyễn Đức Cảnh to the Fujifilm store to get my Laotian visa photo taken when all of a sudden there he was!  He had seen me walking by while he was sitting at a table in front of a little beauty salon tucked right beside the Lotteria. I was so happy to see him, and he seemed very happy to see me. After getting my photo taken, I went back for a manicure and pedicure (don’t need a haircut just yet) ... so I have a new place and I am still (and again) a regular! Hẹn Gap Lại, Thanh!

Tết đến rồi



Drummers

Well, tết tết tết đến rồi, and everyone is getting very excited. At RMIT, the students are all finished their exams and the halls are pretty quiet. Staff are having a hard time concentrating ... reminds me of the last few weeks in June in Canada. People are making plans to visit their hometowns or go away for the break. A few people are staying in Sài Gòn, but not too many. A lot of my colleagues are going to India this year; others are going to Japan, Thailand, the States, Cambodia, Cyprus, Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines. Me, I am going to Laos. 

Lion Dance

As I know from last year, although this city pretty much closes down during Tết, it is in the midst of getting ready right now. All the Christmas lights and decorations are down and new ones are up (or almost up) for Tết. I see a lot of people cleaning house and stores are being scrubbed as well. Stores and store windows are being decorated. Being the south, shop windows are full of yellow apricot blossoms, called hoa mai. Flower sellers are starting to bring in large pots of flowering trees to place by the sides of the streets. The main flower streets are just starting to be worked on; they will soon be closed to traffic and transformed in 10 days. Lots of talk about red envelopes. It is very nice to see the preamble to Tết this year and know a little bit about what is going on.

My colleague Yen and her son, Xi Trun

 

My colleague Phoenix and son, Ian



RMIT had its Tết party last week. Each year the university puts on a bash. This year it was on the grounds, near the playing fields ... kind of like an evening garden party. There were lots of staff wearing traditional Vietnamese costumes, good food, lots to drink, and some good entertainment.


My colleague Fiona, the emcee par exellance

 

And of course, we all got red envelopes ... with REAL money inside. I neglected to bring my camera, so am inserting some photos from the RMIT newsletter; I think it’s OK. I didn’t stay too late, but heard that there was a lot of dancing and people had a bit of a wild night ... something about catnip in the grass ... perhaps locoweed...(^-^)...


My colleagues Bich Nhi and Trang



My colleague Vy

 

Calligraphy!

Saturday was my first chance to spend time with the kids from Mai Tam in a long while. Susana, a Norwegian volunteer (who lives in my apartment complex with her husband, Thuy, and kids, Leo and Noah) treated the kids to a playday at a kids’ indoor playground in Thiên Sơn Plaza in District 7.

She took them in two separate groups. One group went on the 8th; however, I only knew a couple of the kids last week, on the 15th, as the majority of them came from the Go Vap house. Still, they were pretty cute and just loved their time on the tramps and on the bikes and in the ball pits. And painting.  And eating!

To continue up my incredibly social week, I went to an Australia-Vietnam Gala concert at the Opera House this evening. It was in honour of Australia Day, which is on the 26th; apparently it is a travelling road show that will be in Hà Nội tomorrow. The performers were Vietnamese or Vietnamese-Australian young people, namely  Lưu Hồng Quang and Nguyễn Văn Anh, playing classical music on pianos. They were both very good and chose very challenging music; here is a video of Van Anh, who is a very pretty and quite talented 23-year-old pianist with a diverse range and here is one of Hồng Quang, a 20-year-old whose focus is really classical.  The concert also had some more contemporary singers, including Thanh Bùi and Hồ Ngọc Hà, who has quite an incredible voice. They sang a duet of Lặng Thầm Một Tình Yêu, which is here on youtube . Overall, it was a very eclectic performance that I quite enjoyed ... until the last number, which was a boy band that appeared to be lip synching.
To finish up the week, I am going to pass on Australia Day, which will be held at the RMIT playing fields on Saturday and head to Thủ Đức and see the kids at Mai Tâm. Think I’ll take some red envelopes ... my last visit before Tết. Chúc mừng năm mới!!!

Ezell

Errol, Reuel, Ezell, and Joe in Vinita, Oklahoma, 2006

Not many people in this world are lucky enough to have a mother-in-law as wonderful as Ezell Cochrane. When I first met her, almost 40 years ago, I was immediately struck by her gracious warmth and bright smile. When I last talked to her on the phone, on December 29, I again remarked on her warmth and upbeat manner. Ezell was a person who made everybody feel better; her last words to us were, “I love you bushels and bushels and bushels and bushels ...”


Ezell was born in 1918, in Glendale, Arizona. By all accounts, she had a wonderful childhood. Her family was not rich, but as the youngest of four sisters, she was treasured, and her mother, whom she adored, was able to raise all four Huff girls with a strong sense of self-confidence and self-possession. Ezell used to say she was raised to believe there wasn’t anything she couldn’t do.  She often talked about growing up in the Great Depression and said their family never felt poor ... I think her family was her treasure. The addition of her nephew, Caughey, who was raised as her younger brother just added more joy to her life ... as did the addition of each new niece or nephew. Ezellie didn’t need money to be happy. She often said how lucky they were that her father was a butcher and their family always had enough bacon for gravy when many of her classmates did not have even that much.

 Ezell was a high school senior when she married Reuel Cochrane. He had been her family’s paper boy and she always said he fell in love with her mother and then with her. She said her momma made the best pies and would let them cool on the kitchen window ledge and that she often gave a piece of pie to ‘that cute paper boy’. Pie notwithstanding, on Christmas Day in 1935 she and Reuel married; it was to be a very happy union that lasted 72 years. After graduation Ezell started a career as a journalist, following in her older sister Maxine’s footsteps. However, soon thereafter Reuel got a job in Ajo, Arizona at the Phelps Dodge New Cornelia Mine working in the blasting department. Reuel soon landed his and Ezell’s fathers jobs at the mines and the families were able to live close to each other for a number of years. Errol and his brothers. Reuel II and Joe, were born during this time, although Ezell went to Phoenix to have her babies delivered there. This is where I first heard of her love of the colour red ... she refused to go into the labour room to deliver Joe until she had bright red polish on her toenails.  Although she did not use much make-up, she did love to put on bright red lipstick and wore red whenever she could ... or felt like it!


After a few years at Phelps Dodge, Reuel went to work at ARAMCO in Saudi Arabia. Ezell and their three boys lived in California during this time while Reuel established himself, but eventually everyone moved to Saudi Arabia (Dahran and Ras Tanura), where they lived for approximately 5 years. I don’t think Ezell liked the life of an expat with its fancy airs; she disliked cocktail parties and formal dinners, but she loved Arab culture and made some lifelong friends and appreciated having a chance to visit Egypt, Rome, and London. When Cait and I were going to London a few years ago, Ezell was so excited for us ... “Oh, London is such fun!” she said.


Travel came at a price, however, as she proved to be a poor sailor in the age of transatlantic voyages. I think she would take to her bed and pray her boys didn’t destroy the ship. What she liked best about travelling was getting off the boat or plane in New York, buying a car and driving home to Arizona. She could never wait to see her mother and sisters and trips back to her beloved Arizona were the highlight of her year. She just loved the desert and the independence of picnicking, camping, bird watching, or just watching the sun go down were activities she just loved. I am not sure when Ezell, acquired her nickname of Skeet or Skeeter ... she was so light and fast-moving and never settled long in one place, sort of like a mosquito, I guess ...


The family continued to be nomadic for a number of years and Ezell made homes for her brood in such places as Michigan, Florida, Virginia, and Libya. Whether they lived in trailers, cottages, farmhouses, apartments, or homemade houses, Ezell and Reuel always created homes where people felt welcome and comfortable. They were gracious hosts.


When I first met Ezell, she and Reuel were living in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, in a house they had built after a fire had destroyed their previous farmhouse. Along with the house, many treasures from their travels in the Mid East went up in flames. But Ezell didn’t dwell on losses too much; she was a very resilient and strong person underneath her warm and gracious manner. She and Reuel bought an Airstream trailer at this point and had lots of fun travelling in their ‘aluminum cocoon’. Later on in life, Ezell sold her Limoges china and bought yet another Airstream ... I think it was one of the happiest things she ever did. She didn’t like the trappings or airs of the grand life. She would much rather have a tuna fish on whole wheat sandwich while camping in the woods. "Hot zigs, this is so much fun," she would say.

When our daughter Cait was born in 1977 (their only grandchild) Ezell and Reuel were delighted. Enchanted. Enamoured. Thrilled beyond words. We were fortunate to be able to spend lots of time with them, living with them for short periods and visiting them almost yearly ... even more often more recently.


When Cait was three or so, Reuel, Ezell, and Joe (Errol’s youngest brother) decided to move back to Arizona (Sunsites and Sunizona), which was not a small undertaking for folks in their 60’s. But they were able to do it and Ezell was extremely contented in Arizona. She loved visiting her sisters ... Maurine in Phoenix and Bootsie (and brother-in-law Cecil) in Payson. She loved having her extended family ... sisters-in-law, cousins, nieces and nephews from Oklahoma, Virginia, and California come and visit. She loved looking at the Chiricahua Mountains and watching the wind blow the tumbleweeds across the desert. She loved going to Bisbee and poking about the shops there and looking at the Phelps Dodge open pit copper mine that dominates that town. She loved visiting the Nature Conservancy at Hummingbird Canyon in the Huachuca Mountains. She loved going to Mexico to buy pottery and glassware and visiting Mr and Mrs Castellano. She loved going to Douglas to eat lunch at the historic Gadsden Hotel and she loved their favourite waitress, Brenda. She loved taking Caitie down the road to give the donkey, Happy Jack, an apple or a carrot. Many things in this world brought Ezell joy, and her joy of life was certainly contagious ...


Although very positive in her outlook, of course, Ezellie knew grief and loss. She was very saddened by the deaths of her mother and sisters, Brucie and Maurine, and other precious family members, especially her dear niece, Brenda. I think it was a comfort to all their family members that Ezell and Reuel were able to be with them and help them during their last days. I know shortly before she died Brenda (whose daughter was named Katie Ezell) made a trip to Sunizona in order to see Ezell and hike a bit in the Chiricahuas with her Aunt Skeet.


It was Ezell’s lifelong dream to visit Alaska and she and Reuel were on a camping trip there with nieces, Jerre Price (and Ted) and Laurel Dawn Smith (and Dale) when they got the word that their eldest son Reuel II had been killed in a plane crash. Although in 80 years Ezell had experienced a lot of loss, losing a child is devastating at any age. I believe this is when I saw Ezell at her strongest; she was steadfast throughout the whole ordeal. She was very proud of her son and was grateful that he had been with them as long as he had.


I think Reuel II’s death brought home realities and inevitabilities to Reuel Senior and he wanted to return to his roots, Oklahoma, to be near his family. So, in their 80’s, amazingly, the intrepid Cochranes relocated to Big Cabin, Oklahoma, where they were heartily embraced by their favourite Okies ... who all loved their Aunt Skeet and Uncle Reuel. As is inevitable, however, age brings infirmity and decline. Nephews and nieces passed away and Reuel suffered several small strokes. Ezell’s heart, which was never physically strong, suffered several heart attacks and she was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. Four or five years ago, she suffered a heart attack and when we called her in the hospital in Tulsa, she sounded great. If it had to be, she was ready to go ... she had had a wonderful life, she told us, but she wasn’t quite ready to leave us yet.


What an amazing tree ... everyone loved it.  It suffered a lot of damage in an ice storm the following winter.

Both Reuel and Ezell began to suffer memory problems and they became less and less active. They were both devastated by the death of their niece, Jerre, who was a frequent visitor and a ray of sunshine in anybody’s day. Thank goodness they had Joe, who cared for his parents with loving kindness and patience. When Reuel died in 2007, it took Ezell a long time to come to grips with it. But she loved living and she said she wasn’t ready to leave. She and Joe were best buddies and he looked after her so well; they usually went out to the Hi-Way Cafe for dinner, as Ezell told me she had given up cooking one day and just never did it again. Gabriel and all the folks at the cafe loved seeing Joe and Ezell come in for dinner and they cried to hear of her passing. Sweet folks. When we got the message that Ezell was in the hospital, we had no idea it was so serious ... she had bounced back from heart problems so many times before. But in retrospect, she was panting for breath and I am sure it was both scary and exhausting to have to fight that hard for air. However, we had a chance to talk to her twice in the hospital before she died and each time she was mentally alert and sounded just like herself.


Joe is desolate that he was not with his Mom when she died; he had just gotten home from the hospital when the nurses called to say Ezell had passed away. That was the message we also received when Errol and I arrived back from Saigon. While the loss of our beloved Ezell is very sad, I also believe that she had a wonderful life, which should be celebrated. Joe says, as she was a somewhat sickly child, nobody would have expected Ezell to live to be 92 ... far older than her sisters. We are so grateful to have had her for so long ... sweet, sassy, smart, strong, stubborn, sensible, silly, sensitive ... she was one of a kind. And we love her bushels and bushels and bushels and bushels ...

December

Beautiful Lotus

Well ... December has come and gone. It started out with such promise ... an ambitious Career Week venture, major assignments from my MBA students, and visits from Errol and Dave& Lois Thornton, culminating in a 3-day stay at a nice resort in Hoi An. But there were some very rough patches along the way.



Students at an Employer Table

First, Career Week was a great success, I would say. In the past, there have been Career Days with a panel presentation and Career Fair with between 17-20 employers participating. However, this year we have the REC ... Recreation and Events Centre ... and so a much larger venue for events such as a Career Fair. In the early stages of planning, it seemed as though it would be a good idea to expand the event to a week, with daily presentations and panels, along with workshops and seminars, with a major plenary session and a huge Career Fair with 45 -50 employers. All the people at the Career Centre worked on the project, along with our colleagues in Hanoi and with huge contributions from External Relations; however, the chief organizer was our colleague Chris Gunn. What a job; hopefully next year there will be some templates in place and the events manager might be able to help out with the logistics. Chris did a great job of keeping track of everything. We had more than 2,000 people at the Career Fair and it was an awesome and very exciting day. Several of my students got interviews as a result of contacts they made at the fair and a few have had job offers. I only know of one acceptance so far, but that was an unexpected side benefit, as it wasn’t actually a Job Fair ... some of the employers thought it was, though ...(^_^)...

A Bird's Eye View of the REC

My major role was in trying to make sure we had the English Department included in the planning and implementation of the project. So many English students see Commerce as their career destination without having any clear idea of what they are getting into. We feel that being better informed about programs and careers at the outset might make their choices more informed and hopefully their careers more satisfying. So we had very good involvement from English ... and lots of ways to improve our service to them. However, we certainly noticed the presence of English students and were very happy they participated in the ways they did.

While all this was happening, I was trying to mark presentations and final projects (3,000 word research/reflection papers) for my MBA Work and Careers course. I wanted to mark them rather soon after I received them, as it is always nice to receive feedback on your work quickly, but also because of moderating grades with Melbourne. Every marked project/assignment needs to be approved by the course coordinator in Australia. I guess this is a quality assurance issue, but it also adds time to any process. However, it is nice to know that results are checked and monitored to be consistent with Melbourne, as the degree RMIT Vietnam students get is the same as students in Australia. Luckily, I had a chance to meet Arthur, the coordinator, when I was in Kuala Lumpur, so it is not exactly like sending the grades off to a total stranger. And I know he also has a frame of reference when dealing with me and my comments. Anyway, marking papers like that is slow going, as there is much that needs to be looked at. So, I was not exactly finished when Errol arrived on Dec 14. (In fact, I finally got the word from Arthur a day ago and marks went out to students within the last few hours.)

I had been looking forward to Errol’s visit. I had always been quite surprised that he did not seem particularly interested in coming to Vietnam. We met in the era of antiwar protests; in fact if Errol hadn’t come to visit our draft-dodger friends and brought draft-dodgers up to Canada, he and I would never have connected. And Errol knows so much about Vietnam and esp. Vietnamese War history that I was surprised he wasn’t anxious to come and visit shortly after I got here. But, for whatever reason, he did not seem particularly keen. However, this time I really encouraged him to come, especially once I knew Dave and Lois were going to be here, as we all know each other and get along very well. Since I don’t get a break at Christmas, I figured Dave and Lois and Errol could hang out while I was at work and we could all be together when I was off.

Errol in Hoi An

EXCEPT ... poor Errol had been very anxious before coming to Vietnam and had gone to see our doctor who prescribed Lorazepam/Ativan and he had an adverse reaction to the medication. He got extremely disoriented on the flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong and was not at all well when he arrived in Saigon on Dec 14. He continued to be confused and disoriented for the remainder of his time in Vietnam, so much so that I decided I had better change his tickets and accompany him back to Canada to ensure he would be less anxious and more supported. It was really an awful time for Errol; what with his reaction to Ativan and complications related to diabetes and jet lag along with other possible medical problems, he was miserable. He tried to be kind one day, but he told me it was the worst experience of his life. I feel so guilty about pressuring him to come to Vietnam and just terrible about what happened to him. I took him to the clinic in Saigon where they administered lots of tests, but the best they could do was to say he should rest and drink lots of fluids to flush the Ativan out of his system.

The Thorntons and Errol in Saigon, near Ben Thanh Market

A very bright spot in all this was the time we got to spend with Dave and Lois, our friends from Doha. Actually, they are from Perth-Andover, New Brunswick, where they live in a big house that is right on the Maine/New Brunswick border. Lois is my former colleague at the University of Calgary-Qatar, where she teaches nursing. We became friends during my year in Qatar, and I have missed her tremendously since leaving. It is always nice to have a kindred spirit and I appreciated my strong bond and friendship with Lois, whom I often call Lily. Although Lois is a very tall, strong and capable farm girl, I quickly twigged onto her delicate and sensitive nature; she in turn, calls me Lorelei, in the hopes that I will channel my inner zenlike and calm self from time to time. We drove to school and went to church and sang in the Doha Singers together and Errol and Dave were walking buddies when they were both in Doha. We lived across the street from each other in the Al Zahoor Compound. Such great people!

Errol, Lois, and Dave in Hoi An

So, Dave and Lois arrived on the 16th. We could only do some things together, as Errol was not feeling very well, but the Thorntons are very resourceful and we all made the best of the situation. They saw some of the sights in Saigon and went to the Mekong for a day. I don’t think they were too enamoured with Ho Chi Minh City (funny, neither was Patricia, Sally, or Parker) but we did go to some pagodas, the backpacjer district, to Ben Thanh Market, to a banh xeo restaurant and went to the chuch in Tan Dinh and shopped at some knock-off tailor shops.

What is this flower?  It is really common in Hoi An...

After two or three days they went to Dalat, where they hooked up with some Easy Riders and had a great 2 or 3 days seeing the sights around Dalat on the back of motorbikes. I think Dalat was much more to their liking. We met up with them in Hoi An, where we had booked rooms at the Life Resort, a place that had come highly recommended by colleagues at RMIT. It was nice to have a place that was close to the ancient town and allowed us to walk here and there and then come back and relax by a pool.

Shoes of every colour and style are all available ... and only take one day to make!

Hoi An was fun. While Errol was still very tired and often disoriented, he did enjoy parts of our being there. It is a beautiful small town (I call it the Santa Fe of Vietnam ... Lois and Dave likened it to St Andrew’s).

Evening in Hoi An

It is very much catered to tourists, but if you go through the market, it is obviously a very active working market and the town consists of more than just tourism.

On the Thu Bon River

It is a famous place to come and have clothing custom-made. Lots of silk and tailors. Lois got some clothes and shoes made in Hoi An and seemed quite pleased with her purchases. I hadn’t focused so much on the shoe-makers before in my previous visits to Hoi An, but they did a nice job on a pair of shoes for Lil. We spent a good long while looking for the church and went to a service on Christmas Day.

It took a lot, but we finally found the church!

We had a ride on a boat down the Thu Bon River (and made a connection with Vuong, the guy that managed Patricia and Sally’s stay in Hoi An), but never got to the beach, unfortunately.

We had some nice meals in some nice restaurants and were able to find our way back to a neat little restaurant, called the Secret Garden, which was all booked one night when we were wandering down some small alley streets on our way back from church.

Lunch at the Secret Garden

We popped in to shops here and there and made some fast friends. Dave and Lois find it easy to connect with people and seemed to enjoy themselves. And they got the wonderful news that they are going to be grandparents; their son Paul and his wife, Jenn, are expecting a baby in the summer.

Hoi An is full of lovely silk lanterns

We left a very rainy and cool Hoi An together ... Dave and Lois dropped us off at the Danang airport and continued on to Hue by car. After a couple of days in Hue, they headed up to Hanoi and Halong Bay before going back to Qatar. I haven’t heard about the final two H’s (they made it to the big 5 ... Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An, Hue, Hanoi, and Halong Bay) but hope they enjoyed their trip to Vietnam. It was great to see them and spend some time after a year and a half of not being together.

Men playing chess or checkers

Errol and I arrived in a blessedly warm Saigon on the 26th to find out Errol’s mother, Ezell, was in the hospital. She had been suffering from congestive heart failure for several years and had had several heart attacks over the years. We had talked to them when Errol arrived, but hadn’t been able to make a connection from Hoi An. Thank goodness for Skype. We called the hospital in Vinita, Oklahoma, and got to talk to her and Errol’s brother, Joe, almost immediately. Ezellie sounded short of breath, as she usually does, but it was great to talk to her and have her be so cheerful and upbeat.

I worked two more days and finalized new flight plans to accompany Errol back to Canada (he had been originally routed on United going from Saigon-Hong Kong-Chicago-Toronto), which was a very convoluted arrangement, from my perspective. I mean there are lots of non-stop flights from Hong Kong to Toronto ... thereby avoiding US security and an unnecessary terminal change in Chicago. Errol’s London travel agent was not any help at all in changing his plans; thank goodness for the great agent at Flight Travel in Saigon who was able to book tickets and reserve them on spec and more. The next time I feel inclined to complain about Vietnamese customer service, I hope I recall this instance and remember who came through in the pinch and found us great seats on Cathay Pacific in the middle of the peak holiday season ... Finally, on the 29th we set forth to go back to Canada. We called folks before leaving ... had a lovely chat with Ezell and Joe and my mom and Cait. It was nice to talk to everyone. Our flight was delayed for 4 hours as planes arrived late due to US storms, but that was the only snag. Cait was waiting patiently for us at Pearson and we arrived home at 1:30 or so. Sadly, when we got back to London, we had a message from Joe saying Ezell had passed away a few hours before...