Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity-Jig

In a week or so some of those weeds will be shasta daisies, blooming their heads off!

Back in London after just about three years of working abroad. It was hard to leave Vietnam, because I did love it there. I loved my work and my colleagues and the amazing resilience of the Vietnamese people and the wonderful students I came into contact with. But, Canada is my home and my family, house and pets are here and I had been away a long time. I will have to come up with short-term adventures from now on!

Gentle sunrise, leaving Saigon ... may there always be peaceful sunrises there.

So since I have been back, there has been a process of readjustment, for sure. I am very aware of the greying of Canada, compared to the youthful energy of Vietnam. Prices are higher, undoubtedly, but the scale of consumption is definitely larger here. And while litter is less obvious, I do think the amount of refuse per person is much higher here, so I will try and keep my acquisitive tendencies in check ... after I finish all my gardening purchases, that is.

A pale poppy ... so interesting when you take a closer look

Impssible to catch the vibrancy of this clematis ... purpleness personified!

My gardens are out of control, so my solution to that is to buy more plants. It has been a late and cool Spring in London, so it is not too late to buy plants that would normally go in the garden in May, and ignore the fact that 80 percent of my yard is infested with binderweed, grape ivy, creeping Charlie, and buckthorn ... you name it, I’ve got plenty of it. I shouldn’t complain too much, as the peonies are in bloom as well as delphiniums. I caught the tail end of the Siberian iris, and my clematis vines have been stunning. I do love meddling in nature. I have seen lots of birds in the backyard and butterflies and dragonflies as well. We have the hummingbird and oriole feeders filled and the tomatoes and green peppers planted and the chives and mint have minds of their own ... so, it’s a happening place, that is for sure ...(^_^)...

What a beautiful peony ... I love it

Siberian iris ... lovely, lovely

As far as family and friends are concerned, everyone seems to be bopping along. Errol has a number of doctor’s appointments that are helping him to understand more about what ails him. And perhaps I can be helpful with that. Cait will be heading off to Whitehorse in a couple of weeks to catch up with an old friend and her family. My mother, Lenore, is in relatively good spirits, despite declining vision and various other health issues. And Errol and I hope to make a quick trip to Oklahoma to see what’s going on there and to bring his brother Joe back for a visit.

Stephen and Rachel at Big Buddha

On my way back from Vietnam, I stopped off in Hong Kong for the nicest visit. I had only been there once, about ten years ago with a group of people I was teaching with in China, and had really enjoyed it. I really loved loved loved it this time – largely because I had the best tour guides possible – my former students Rachel and Stephen.

Rachel and Stephen at Ocean Park

Rachel and Stephen studied English at Fanshawe College a few years ago and are such a sweet pair. They are both very artistic and were extremely active when we were doing a lot of origami crafts to raise money for various causes. Their work was the best, as they are both very precise and extremely careful. At any rate, we stayed in touch over the years and I suggested we have yum cha when I got to Hong Kong. However, they really took me under their wings and showed me all over their amazing city. As it happened, Monday was a holiday and we spent 3 days looking at many different parts of Hong Kong. We travelled everywhere by public transit and I was so happy to have my own Octopus card, which allowed me access on all manner of public transport, as well as the ability to buy things in various shops. Stephen and Rachel were absolutely wonderful about telling me how to get places and although they live at the farthest possible stop from where I had booked my hotel, they invariably came to where I was to begin our day’s adventures.

First dim sum ... YUM cha

Rachel's little nephew playing on the iPad

The first evening, we had a lovely home-made dinner at Rachel’s sister’s place and met Rachel’s cute little nephew, who is amazingly adept at using the iPad (and he is just 3 or 4.) We went to Sai Kung, a small fishing village where we saw fishers selling their catch to people on the pier. They transferred both the fish and the money via long-handled fishing nets. It seemed as though the vendors had to skedaddle at one point and most of them added passengers before making their getaway. It was a lot of fun to walk around and see the Phoenix trees in bloom and I caught my first glimpse of black kites flying over the harbour ... the first of several sightings. I tried and tried to take good pictures, but ... to no avail. Like the flying foxes of Cairns, the sand hill cranes of Arizona, and the pelicans of Cuba, they are just black, blurry blobs on the backdrop of the sky.

Sai Kung

Transaction

Black Kite

Phoenix Blossom

We also went to the Tian Tan Buddha and Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island and had a wonderful time there.  Although the cable car was being serviced, the ride up on the bus was most pleasant and the day was glorious.  Wonderful mist floated about the mountain tops and there were lots of places to stop and drink in the glorious views. A saucy little girl showed us how to make water dance in a brass bowl.  I think she got her kicks from seeing people who couldn't do it ... haha. Hong Kong is a physically beautiful setting ... really a gem of a place!

Big Buddha on Lantau Island

One of 12 Devas that surround the Buddha

Making water dance

Another day we went to Ocean Park, a large park with a maritime theme ... some rides and lots of interesting features, among which were two panda enclosures, a huge aquarium, bird and dolphin shows and an amazing jellyfish centre. I hadn’t seen pandas in ages and I don’t think I had ever seen a red panda, so it was great to see them, although I am not really a fan of zoos. Rather, I should say I am conflicted; the redeeming element at Ocean Park is that most of the focus seems on educating the public, especially about preserving and maintaining water and getting people to recognize how important our water supply is.

Red Panda at Ocean Park

Great Panda at Ocean Park

It is an amazing place and seems to have two major parts separated by a mountain. Stephen had everything organized and planned and we went up and over the mountain on the cable car and back in a funicular railway vehicle. He did a great job of timing where we went and when! We went up the rotating observation tower and had a spectacular view of the city, harbour, and the sun just beginning to set. It was wonderful ... I didn’t have to plan or think about anything. He and Rachel said they were seeing things they hadn’t seen in a few years as well, so I am hoping they weren’t just being polite.

View from Cable Car, Ocean Park

We also went to the waterfront and went on the Star Ferry and had a boat ride and visited another fishing village, Tai O, where there are a lot of stilt houses and amazing fish markets and food stalls. And we saw Women’s Street, which is an amazing street of shops and booths and kiosks full of everything! And, of course, we had to eat. I had been looking forward to eating Cantonese food for a long time and Stephen and Rachel made sure that I had lots of interesting things to try. They were just amazing hosts.

Tai O Fishing Village

Tai O

Oyster Rockefeller ... high end street food!

Fisherman's Altar ... such a dangerous job, especially in a land of typhoons

I went on my own to the art museum and had another browse around the harbour front area. I really enjoyed browsing the art museum and the man in the gallery shop directed me to a place nearby to get dim sum. I had gone with my group to a dim sum place near the waterfront ten years previous and had loved a turnip pastry that has stayed in my mind ever since. Go figure, but it was really good! It turned out the place the man recommended was the same one and they had the turnip pastry. Still delicious!

Waterfront

Tourist junk on harbour

Delicious turnip pastries!

I spent another day visiting the Chi Lin Nunnery and the Nan Lian Garden complex. What a beautiful place! All the buildings are constructed in a traditional style that involves no nails.  Everything is dry fit.  The birdlife in the garden was amazing. I really thought that perhaps the birdsong was a recording being played through speakers in the park, but there were just a large number of incredibly happy and chirpy birds there. It reminded me of a park I had been to in Tokyo, which also had a huge number of birds in an urban oasis. There were lots of ponds and fountains and water features and I really enjoyed watching some cute birds having baths.  Oh, and a beautiful restaurant with another delicious vegetarian meal.

Chi Lin Nunnery

Lan Nian Park

Vegetarian wontons

Birds enjoying water feature

On my final night in Hong Kong, Rachel and Stephen met me after their work and we went for dim sum at a place near my hotel that is famous for dim sum. We had to wait a while for a seat, but when we got in and started to eat, it was obvious why people stand in line for a spot at a crowded table. The food was exquisite. I was quite happy after that, but then we went to Victoria Peak to see the lights. We went up in the tram and had the loveliest evening looking at the lights of Hong Kong. Then we went back to Kowloon on the Star Ferry, to see the harbour at night ... so beautiful. My dear young friends insisted on accompanying me back to my stop, although I was practically a pro at getting around the MRT by then. I am sure it was 1 a.m. but the time they made it back to their own place. What a great way to top off five wonderful days in Hong Kong.

Beautiful evening, beautiful view ... beautiful Hong Kong ... I love it!

So, Hong Kong was a wonderful stopover on my way home from Vietnam and allowed me a bit of a breather between these two chapters of my life. I couldn’t have asked for two nicer hosts than Stephen and Rachel. I love them dearly and wish them all the best.

Rachel, so cute

Stephen, also so cute

I have lots and lots and too many pictures on my flickr site (http://www.flickr.com/photos/raven_chick) and perhaps you would like to see more pictures of the pandas or the Big Buddha. I hope this post finds everyone well, wherever you are, Please stay in touch and let me know how you are doing.

Tai O

Bye–Bye Việt Nam



The Geese are Still Protecting and On the Alert!

 Time does funny things when you are getting ready to leave a place, especially somewhere you have lived for a while. At least it seemed so to me as I left Sài Gòn. On the one hand, time seemed to slow down, especially as I had known for about six months that I was leaving. And then, all of a sudden it seemed to speed up, as I became aware that I was visiting certain places or eating at places or seeing people for the last time. It felt both busy and boring, as I packed up some stuff to send back to Canada or give things away or clean up my apartment prior to checking into a hotel for a few days. And so it was slow, fast, busy, boring ... and now that chapter of my life is over. Time to move on to the next one!

Thien and Sang

Thien

A couple of weeks before I left, I visited Mai Tam for the last time. I hadn’t been to visit for a while, as I had been travelling so often trying to see people and places before I left. It seemed strange I hadn’t been there for a while, especially as I had gone so religiously for months ... but it was great to see the kids, especially Thien, who seemed to feel so much better. He had an appetite and had gained some weight. And it was great to share one last lunch with Le Thu and the Mai Tam Mums, who I have grown to like and admire so much, especially a young woman named Dien, who is the mainstay of the infants’ room. She was the one who kept the wee babe, Khoi An, alive and nursed her into health and who cried and cried when she was adopted. I found this lovely photo gallery of some people who took clowns to the orphanage late last year ... http://www.vnyoga.com/photo-gallery/bring-clown-to-mai-tam-house-of-hope

Dien and me

We had a couple of presentations to give toward the end of my time at RMIT. Phoenix, Chris, Linh, and I talked about Vietnamese students to a group of Dutch business men and women. It was held at the Intercontinental Asiana and was not heavily attended, which was fine. The food was nice and the audience seemed attentive enough. I think it went well. Then just before I left, Linh, Phoenix, and I gave our CDAA presentation to anyone who wanted to see it. We had about 14 or 15 in attendance and I am not sure how well it went. We have more work to do in terms of developing some more hard data. I am sorry I won’t be around to participate in some of the upcoming research projects, but am committed to writing the paper that will sort of tie up the work we did to prepare for our presentation in Australia. So that was a bit of busy.

Phoenix at the Dutch Business Group Presentation

Hung and Tram

At the end of exams (part of the boring part was invigilating Accounting exams!) I went to the water puppet show with two young students, Hùng and Trâm. Water puppets, or múa rối nước, are unique to Việt Nam. I had met Hùng and Trâm as they prepared to apply for the P&G competition and they impressed me immensely. They are both from Đà Lạt (although Hùng’s family lives in District 7 now) and are both super involved in school activities. We decided we would go to a performance after Trâm’s last exam, and it turned out that Trâm had never seen the water puppets, so it was great! I loved it and suggested to Phoenix that we go with her son Ian, as I thought he would like the musicians and the action in the pool. It turned out that neither Phoenix nor Bích Nhi had seen the water puppets either, so it was a great cultural sharing ...

During my last weekend in Việt Nam I went to the wedding of Thúy, my Vietnamese teacher, and Thomas, her Danish husband. They met on an online website and their relationship developed over six months or so. She met him in person on May 21 and they were married on May 28. I sat at a table with Thúy’s boss and some other European friends and we all felt some concern about the nature of their meeting and wish them all the best for their future together. I think they will have another wedding in Denmark in the summer, but it is unclear where they will live. It was lovely to see her parents and other family members again. They seemed to welcome Thomas with open arms and it was especially nice to see how well Thúy’s brothers got along with Thomas. They were planning to honeymoon in Đà Lạt and Nha Trang, both traditional honeymoon destinations, so Thomas will have seen the central highland and the seaside. I wish them much happiness.

Thuy and Thomas

Thuy's Parents

Saying goodbye to people at work was weird and hard, as it was never exactly clear when the last time to see someone would be ... I will miss so many people who touched my heart. Two in particular were the young brother and sister at Bobby Brewer’s Coffee, Tung and Thy. Thy has been at RMIT all along and Tung has worked at that location for the past year or so. They and the others who work there are so great; they remember your order after just one or two times and are so friendly and sweet. Tung used to ask me about getting him a US $2 bill. I thought he was joking, because I thought the $2 bill had been discontinued, but it is very popular in Việt Nam and people think it is very lucky to have one. So I started calling him Cường 2 Dollar, after Cường Dollar, the richest boy in Việt Nam (who apparently has a huge collection of luxury automobiles). At any rate, we used to laugh a lot together, and eventually I got a $2 bill for him. Thy and Tung got their mother to make me a chocolate brownie heart for a going away treat. So sweet! I had borrowed a very large Bobby Brewer’s coffee mug and used it every day for a large latte; when I returned the mug, they urged me to keep it, but my luggage was jam packed and I had no room, so I reluctantly refused. I hope somebody else will use it in good health and become as fond of the kids that work at Bobby Brewer’s as I was.

Thy and Tung and the Chocolate Brownie Heart ... so sweet!

Had a little drama about sending some of my possessions home, as my travels included a stopover in Hong Kong and I didn’t want to have to hassle (or pay for) extra baggage. But shipping stuff home is not easy. I am hoping my stuff will arrive soon, as I don’t want to have to buy a new wardrobe! Last I heard, it still hadn’t been shipped because of the drugs ... what drugs? Oh, my vitamin pills that I brought from Canada? OK ... they can be discarded. CDs? Title in Khmer ... OK ... it can go. Please don’t throw out my portfolio! Please let my Bob Dylan T-shirts pass customs. Trời ời! Mr. Nanda at the University of Calgary-Qatar was so helpful in getting all my stuff to Canada from Doha. I might have to write him another letter of thanks!

Huu Nhi and me

Saying goodbye to my colleagues was difficult, as work is so important to me and I had been so involved in the Career Centre in my year with them. My first goodbye was with Hữu Nhi, Phoenix and Bích Nhi. We went for a Vietnamese buffet dinner, the night before Hữu Nhi went to the Netherlands to see his sister. Hữu Nhi works in our office, although he is associated with External Relations. He is a very interesting, sensitive, and intelligent person, whom I will miss a lot. 

Thanh and me

I had a lovely lunch with Thanh, with whom I had worked in English. She has been in Property Services for a while now and so I didn't see her too often, but she is a sweetie!

With Linh, Gemma, and Yen Nhi

Most of my colleagues had a lovely lunch for me at a Vietnamese restaurant overlooking the river in the Crescent, a new and very posh part of District 7. I say most because Yến was ill and Tuyết was at a college reunion in the States. For a going away present, my colleagues made me a wonderful goodbye video. Such a sweet thing to do. The lunch was very nice and a bit emotional, as I have really enjoyed working in Việt Nam and at RMIT and so it was not easy to leave. However, being sad to go means that I really loved being there, and it does not mean that I won’t love being at home as well. It is a conundrum of the sojourning soul ...



So ... wondering if I will ever go back ... who knows? I hope so. It has been amazing to see how Sài Gòn changed in the time I was there. It will be amazing to see what the next few years bring. I definitely hope to keep in touch with people and hopefully some of them will visit me in Canada!