Hanoi

7th Well I got out of the airport in Hanoi which was really easy. Customs was nothing. “Do you have anything to declare?” “No.” Pass through. I wanted to make a wise crack about making a declaration but I bit my tongue. That kind of stuff doesn’t go over very well. Getting my bag from the carrousel took longer. My bag does not move very fast. Some people had backpacks the size of a school bag. The couple I asked is staying three weeks. Next came the taxi. I hear the stories of getting ripped off and I find out they are true. The taxi driver told me the cost would be $14US and then after a long drive he pulled over at an ATM and said I needed to pay for a ticket. He wanted a lot of money for it. I told him no and he got really mad. He told me he was going to go back to the airport if I didn’t pay him. In the end I paid him $20 and had to get another taxi for four dollars. It was all screwy. Finally I did get to the hotel, and a nice one it is too. I got my room and went up to repack my bag into just one. That was not easy.
Since I was the first person to arrive at the motel I decided to go out and see the quite city. I found by accident the Museum/Temple of Literature. It was awesome. It was forever old, 1000+ years, having been a focus of education since its inception. It was a grouping of temples which you entered one by one by walking through the previous temple. A line of temples each more spectacular than the one before. Making ever more spectacular temples was a feat hard to accomplish. Such a long time has been hard on the structures so there was much restoration going on. During certain times in Vietnam’s history temples have fallen harshly into disrepair. After all this time the temples still had places of reverence for the people that come to pay homage. People from all over S.E.A. come as tourists yet the number of people in the temple was small. In a city of turbulent movement and a cacophony of sounds, it was utterly peaceful. I loved the gardens. No part of Phoenix, even our best gardens, comes even close to the greenery.
I found that turtles represent longevity and now I want one.
Facebook is not    accessible using a Vietnam IP which is where I was going to post my pictures so I guess I am going to have to learn to use Picaso or some photo dump. Even with a nice camera I can’t take pictures of any quality.
We had a wonderful dinner tonight. They give you a washcloth in a plastic, sealed bag that has been refrigerated. I was amazed at the cost of such an elaborate, fulfilling, and very tasty meal. This dinner had beef but I will go beyond the normal. That time has come. After we left the nice and neat restaurant we sat on the side of the road with our tour guide (pronounced like zoon) and sampled the local cuisine. I had snails which you had to pull out of the shell. I had fertilized bird eggs that you took the top of the egg shell off and poured into your mouth. I had dried fish with a HOT sauce. Of course to top it all off it came with many shots of rice vodka. I think I will be drinking across Vietnam.
Some of our tour mates have not arrived. This is the end of most of their holidays but all of them have been going for a while on their own. One has been going for eight months and will be another three weeks. My roommate for the trip has been up in China and has worked his way down to here. His name is Sam, a 22 year old Oxford graduate, is here. He is a good guy.
8th Today in Saigon we visited the Ho Chi Min complex an mausoleum. The lines were forever long. After we got through that line we entered another queue that was longer. We had to walk by the pickled father of Vietnam. We were actually pushed along so that we would not stop or slow the progress in the line around his body. 
Our next stop was the Hoa Lo Prison (Hanoi Hilton). We learned of the use of this prison by the French and saw some pretty awful things involved during the time the French were in Vietnam. The uses of torture, execution, and general conditions of imprisonment were shown. Then they told of the residence of U.S. soldiers. It was a story about the soldiers’ great care during a time of economic disparity. I like history and it was an interesting place to go but it made me somewhat mad.
Next we broke off from the main group and four of us went to the Vietnam History Museum. We got lost a great many times trying to find it even with a map and were glad for the aircon when we finally got there. It was an awesome museum with English subtitles on everything. Vietnam and S.E.A. area has a long and rich history. America is just a blip in history.
Afterwards we went to a Café with aircon, almost frozen washcloths, and cheese cake. It was not crumb crust but an actual cake like bottom. I was good but New York cannot be beaten.
That night before and as the sunset we took a Cyclo tour. We saw a lot of Hanoi in a slow and relaxing manner.
We went to a water puppet show. It was cool. There was a story, songs, and a musical ensemble.
We ended with dinner and a walking tour back to the hotel arriving late into the night. I was a big day and I was so tired.

Van Mieu Quoc Tu Giam

Bangkok Airport

Getting there

Well I made it through check in only 15 minutes after the counter opened. Had to stand in line for an hour and a half to be third but what else did I have to do. I looked for Altoids for a while but could not find any. Everything here is a lot more expensive than Phoenix. \


The many people in the terminal go around like ants with a purpose in a land of mystery. Everyone seems like they know what they are doing but not necessarily how to do it.

A lot of people are coming up to me to ask how to do something or where something is, I don’t know. How to get the internet, where is this gate, what time is it (there are big clocks everywhere), and all other types of questions. We have every age from stroller to walker. Volleyball teams, school/university trips, and entire extended families. It is very loud. You almost don’t notice it after a while. Then you go into the elevator or the bathroom and it is quiet, deafeningly quiet. Peaceful.

I just passed though security and it went as fast as in Phoenix. No problems at all. Quick as could be. It is real quiet at the gate. Not many people but I fight is next and it is still an hour and a half away. I guess I didn’t need such an early flight from Phoenix. If this gets me a good seat in the plane everything else is worth it. Our society is technology assimilated. If the person is awake, they are on a computer, cell phone, iPod, or some similar electronic device. Only one person is reading and the little kids can’t seem to do any one thing for too long at a time. At a quarter to ten in an airport people are tired and they show it. There are a few ladies with religious habits (on the head).

I have arrived in Bangkok. It was a good trip for the most part. I had a window seat and a nice guy, Randy Ross, sitting next to me. The problem was that he was large and snored. He runs a technology consultant company and divides this time between Los Angeles and Thailand where he also lives. Must be nice. He lives on the beach and does his work by internet. The people on Thai Airlines are extremely nice and helpful. I spent most of my time sleeping.

Going from my arrival gate to my departure gate was like walking Town and Country four times back and forth. This place is huge and you have to walk a long ways for transfers. My ticket said I only had 65 minutes from landing to departing but even after all the walking I had at least that amount of time waiting at the gate.

Thai (at least the way I say it) – Thank You : Kup Kun Kap; Hello/Good : Bye Sa Wa Dee; Where is ____ : ____ You Neye; Toilet : Hung Nam; How much : Tao Reye

This should be great but I think my bag is to big/heavy.

-Vietnam doesn't allow Facebook, usually
I got scammed. About that later.

LAX

In LAX now and I have a six hour layover. It wouldn’t be so bad if the ticket counter was open to take my bag but it is not. So I want to sit in the line, or what could be considered a proto-line, so I can get a good seat. I don’t want to sit just using up my battery while trying to make a “How to Speak Vietnamese” power point. What to do? I know I will need dinner at some point. I can have grain. I know in NYC trying to take El Air, I left and came back four hours before departure time to the line and ended up, after inspection, being one of the last three on the airplane. That sucked having everyone look at you knowing you were the reason they were still on the ground.


I lost two inches around the waste and now with the money pouch, it looks like I gained. I forgot the Altoids. No birds in LAX. Hot ladies.

The Start

Well I am at terminal 4, Southwest airlines, Gate D5 waiting for my 3:45 pm 157 flight to LAX. My trip has gone interesting so far. Super Shuttle arrived 40 minutes early and I didn’t get to do all the things I needed to do before I left. I didn’t empty my frig or throw away the trash. I didn’t put them on the “to do” list because I didn’t think I would dare forget them. Good going, right. Next I forgot to take my neck pillow and probably something else (or more). I know I have the essentials. As I was told by Anne at school, I would be leaving things everywhere I go across the countries.


I just tore apart my carry-on, taking everything out to find my camera cord to transfer pictures to the computer. It was under the bag that holds the water bottle. Boy oh boy.

There is a bird in the airport terminal. Just hopping around. No, there are five. No cares in the world; they don’t seem to be bothered by the people either. Maybe they are waiting for their boarding pass.

I talked to a nice man who was in Phoenix for his mothers 86th birthday for about half an hour on the subject of travelling, where we have gone and the such. Then I was asked what I was going to do after I am all done with my travels and I told him, “Now that I am all done with my travels I am going to go to Disneyland.” He laughed with a belly roll.

My boarding pass is A27, I guess that is good.

One day left

It is less than 24 hours until I am off and my vacation starts. I think all the things I have left to do are in the house. I don’t think the house is getting the cleaning I wanted to give it though. Oh well. Side note - In two months I lost two pounds, two inches around the waist, and 4% body fat while adding width and tone around all muscle areas. I am very happy about that.

Now this bag better behave and get packed. I can be mean. I do have a blender.

:(

It doesn't fit. I have tried and tried and it doesn't fit in my backpack. The weight is not a problem. That is saying the weight limit the airline gives me is no problem. I am under that amount. The weight recommendation that the travel people give is half that of the airlines. There is no way I would meet their number. If it was a suitcase then it would work. As stupid as it may sound, I better have to walk a lot with this bag or else I will not be happy that I could have brought a suitcase. Was a "suitcase" actually for suits at one point? I really don't know what to do except unpack yet again and try some other way. I have run out of ways and hopefully a night's sleep will give me a different perspective, hopefully. Good night.

Into the bag

Well it is packing time. I first laid it all down on the floor. I cleared the floor first. I packet it once and it didn't work at all. I took it all apart and started from the beginning. The second time worked a lot better. I got almost everything in the pack. It wasn't exactly organized but it was on the right track. Then I realized I didn't pack any shirts. None. Well now I am unpacking again. Let's see what happens this time. I do have a check list.

Packing it up

So now it is time to pack. Usually when I go on a trip, I pack the night before. South East Asia and Israel are different. One month takes a little more time to pack successfully. I have everything on my floor, spread out like the pieces to a puzzle. This puzzle must fit in my pack and airline dimensions. I think the 44 pounds will be easy but the combined inches will be hard. Actually I have no idea what all this stuff weighs. I am packing this in a weird way that is probably not very efficient but hopefully it works. Using a backpack is for specific trips and I really don’t know if this will be a trip of that type. I hope that a backpack is a need (must) and not a recommendation because it has come down to the time where I no longer have a choice. I am actually getting concerned and actually troubled about this.


Well everything is checked off on my list, big list, except for maybe printing off my family pictures and finding Arizona quarters. I only have three and would like fifteen. I am debating whether to get a $100 in quarters and see what I can find then return them to the change machine. I would like to also get something regional for a gift to take but I haven’t found anything that isn’t expensive.

I have asked some people what they would like me to bring back for them and hopefully I will remember some of them. Granma had the greatest request, “You back safely.” I think I will bring everyone back a little Buddha, especially Kimmy. About 60 hours left.

Success is

There are some things success is not.

It’s not fame.

It’s not money or power.

Success is waking up in the morning so excited about what you have to do that you literally fly out the door. It’s getting to Work with people you love.

Success is connecting with the World and making people feel. It’s finding a way to bind together people who have nothing in common but a dream.

It’s falling asleep at night knowing you did the best job you could.

Success is joy and freedom and friendship.

And success is

Love.