LSVN Day 12: Lao Cai, Bac Ha, Sapa

We woke up this morning pretty early to get off the train in Lao Cai. We had breakfast and immediately got on a van and headed to Bac Ha for their special Sunday market time. The ride was about two hours by van. The outdoor shops were pretty interesting. There were lots of handmade items. The meat market was pretty crazy. People were skinning and chopping pigs right in front of me. I was surprised that there were many European and Japanese tourist around. It was my first time seeing so many H'mong people in one place. After shopping we had lunch together. Diem and Derrick bought a little puppy for under $10USD. They bought it so that they could save it from being eaten and set it free. After lunch, we bused back to Lao Cai, but the bus broke down twice. So we were stuck in the humid sun on the side of a mountain. The Lao Cai area is high in the mountains at the border of China. There are rice terraces all over the mountain sides; that is the style of farming. After driving for hours, we arrived in Sapa and checked into the hotel.

Sapa is a beautiful place surrounded by high mountains in a sort of valley. I've never seen a mountain range so beautiful. The city was French influenced at the time of their rule, so all of the buildings were in French style. After getting our rooms, I went for a quick swim at the hotel pool because many of us had not showered in a day or two. We had dinner together and then Frere called in a meeting about going out that night. He told us to go out and experience the city for ourselves and that their wasn't a curfew for the night. He told us to try to iind some of the native H'mong people and take them out for fun and hang out with them. Frere wanted us to see how they live because Sapa is their native land, but the Vietnamese took it away.

I went out with Hai, Paul, Tim, and Louis that night and we just went around exploring the city. We went through the market areas and talked to some of the H'mong vendors. I tried on a full traditional H'mong outfit. We walked around some more looking for souvenirs like scarfs, bags, and satchels. We ran into the one H'mong girl, her name was Sa and she was 20 years old and was carrying a baby on her back. We asked her if she wanted to hangout with us and get some food to eat. She said yes and took us to a place off the streets where we had corn, eggs, and band bao.

We talked for awhile and she told us about herself and how she lives. She was married at the age of 17 and her husband is a farmer. She lives about a kilometer or two outside of Sapa and works as a vendor to tourists. Every mornign we wakes up at 10Am and walks to town by 11AM and works until about 11PM and then walks back home. As we chatted, an elder H'mong women came up to us and we had a sort of biblical moment. She was trying to sell us all sorts of items and kept bothering us to buy from her. When they saw that we were Catholic and that we go to church, the elder lady told us that she goes to church, too. She then pointed out that Sa did not go to church and questioned why we were eating with her because she wasn't Christian, and asked us why we wouldn't buy from her because she shared the same religious values as we did. We went on to tell the women that it didn't matter if Sa was Christian or not, we would still eat with her. In the end, we bought the elder women some eggs to eat and she left. After, Sa took us to a place that sold fresh fruit so we could get some to eat. We got to see a native instrument and dance that is used for courting. Sa asked us if we wanted to go smoke with her, but we declined. The H'mong people are highly addicted tobacco and marijuana. Smoking a pipe is part of their heritage and traditions in ceremony and they need it to live.

It was soon getting time for Sa to return home so we gave her a bag of fruit to take home. We took a group picture and exchanged good byes and good lucks. She gave each of us a friendship bracelet and we gave her a small pouch with some money tucked inside as gifts. We went back to the hotel lobby, sat down, and reflected a bit on our experience. After a bit, a few of us went out to a nearby bar and just chilled. We played cards and King's Cup until about midnight. When I got back to my room a storm started. Lighting lit up the skies. IT was a pretty scary scene, but a cool sight. Soon after the lightning storm, the power went out with a blackout and the whole city went pitch black. The lightning flashes lit up the whole city. I felt like I was in Luigi's mansion. I was pretty freaked out. Nghia, Anh Giang, Louis, and I went walking around the hotel with our flashlights trying to see if anyone else was still up. I ended up sleeping around 2AM.

LSVN Day 11: Hanoi

*Frere gave us a warning ahead of time that in the north, the government is a lot stricter. You can not say anything about HCM. Communism is strongest in the north where there is the most religious oppression.

Today was just a long big traveling day for us. We went to three cities in one day, with a final destination of Hanoi, the capitol of Vietnam, in the north. We woke up at 5AM in Ca Mau and flew back to Saigon. The airport security took away my DEET (insect repellant)! I pretty much knocked out the whole flight to Saigon and even on the flight to Hanoi. In Hanoi, the land is pretty much opposite from Ca Mau in every way. There is a lot of grass and fields everywhere. There are roads, cars, highways, and big city. The first thing we did when we landed was go eat lunch. After, we headed to the see the first National University of Vietnam, built in 1076. There we heard cultural music and saw monuments of famous people. Later, we passed by Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, where he is buried. After, we hurried to mass at the St. Joseph Cathedral of Hanoi. We prayed for the church because Frere told us that they were going through problems. The government was fighting to take the churches land. Up in the North, the government is a lot stricter. After mass, we went to dinner where we did riddles to keep ourselves entertained. After dinner, we headed to the train station heading north to Lao Cai. The train ride was pretty cool. Slept in a bunker with Mike, Nghia, and Hieu.

LSVN Day 10: Ca Mau

Today was a long day because we did service for most of it. We split up into groups today and separated into different projects in different places. Nette, Hai, Diem and Derrick, Kim, Mary, Long, and Tuyen were in my group. We took a truck that led to a boat along the river. Then we took the boat down the river to a local village. Our job was to take apart a home so that a better one could be built. The area that we were in was very wet & muddy. The houses have water flodding all along the ground about up to your ankles. The story of the house hold is that a women and a man were living together and one day the man comes home drunk. He slips and falls into the river and swallows a lot of the dirty river water, gets sick and then dies. The women stayed by him the whole time and didn't know what to do about the house.

Anyway, when we got to the home, it wasn't much. The house was made of wooden sticks and straw and didn't have doors. Muddy water flows in and out of the house and floods the whole area daily. When we got there, the women was supposed to have already moved all of her belongings out of the house so that we could tear the house down. But she had nothing done and no where to move. The neighbors didn't want to have all her stuff in their homes, which were small already. The house's foundation was supposed to be done as well for us to take off the roof, but then again nothing was done. With nothing to do, we decided to get started on making the foundation of the new house for her.

We moved all of her things and began to dig up mud from the floor of her current house and pour it into the new one. We dug until we were about waist deep in water and mud. It was quite an experience. I can really appreciate carpets and indoor pluming and to be able to live where I live. Ca Mau's village side is very, very dirty. People don't throw away trash in designated areas because there isn't anyone to pick it up. Trash is everywhere. Off the sides of the roads, mud, and river.

The river symbolizes how the people live. It is their food supply, means of transportation, out house, place to bathe and wash clothes. The river is their life. And the trash reflects how they live. I got a first hand experience of how the people live. We were among the first foreigners they had ever seen. Unfortunately, we couldn't finish our project because we could only use the dirt and mud from the old house and we couldn't take all of it or else they wouldn't have a place to sleep. So the with huge pile of mud left over, Hai and I had little mud wrestling fight. I was so dirty that I had to wash off in the river. I wasn't allowed back on the boat until I cleaned off in the dirty river.

When I got back to the hotel, I was completely soaked. After I took an incredibly long, hot shower, I knocked out and took a nap before going to church again. We did some more reflection and then had dinner. That night I jammed with Hai for awhile.

LSVN Day 9: Ca Mau

This morning we woke up at 3:30AM to check out and head to the airport to fly down to Ca Mau (which is the very bottom of Vietnam). Ca Mau is the wettest part of Vietnam with much rain and many rivers, streams, and rice fields. It is a very wet area with the most mosquitos in the country. When we arrived, we unloaded all our stuff at a hotel and then headed out to a small speed boat. The river is used as a means of transportation more than land is. Most people live along the river and have boats. We took a two hour ride to the very bottom tip of Vietnam, at the Pacific Ocean. There are these trees that drop seeds down into the ground and they naturally grow and absorb water from the ground. This causes the land to naturally extend further unto the ocean. Frere says that if we come back to the tip years from now, we would be able to walk across the ocean to Thailand.

It rains constantly in Ca Mau. We had lunch with a small village church. The government is still very strict in rural areas, so having an official church is illegal, so they have a secret unofficial church that is shared in a home. The people showed us much hospitality. They cooked for us a huge feast, which they normally couldn't afford. We were the first foreigners they had ever met. After lunch, we headed out to do some service. We arrived at this village to help build a house. Houses there are very poor and dirty. Mud is everywhere and trash is all along the river and around the houses. The homes were basically shacks made of rusted metal sheets or straw and wooden sticks or poles for framing. Our job was to nail together the wooden poles to make a frame. When it got dark, we hopped back onto the boat, went back to the hotel and prepared for mass. We reflected for a bit and had dinner. There are mosquitos everywhere!

LSVN Day 8: Saigon

Today was the first day of service. We started the day by attending a funeral for a Frere (brother) who passed away three days earlier. The brother was supposed to be joining us on our tour. Three days earlier, he was in Cambodia trying to save a girl who was drowning in the ocean as a wave was pulling her out. He swam to get her and bring her back to shore. The girl survived, but he passed away in the process. He was only 28 years old. Hieu told me that he was a very chill and fun guy. The funeral hit me pretty hard and I didn't even know the guy.

Afterwards, we went to visit some sick children at an institute called Trung Tam Mai Hoa. They were terminally ill with HIV/AIDS. We gave them toys and snacks and then sang folk songs with them. It was great to see the kids smiling. When we left, we took a ride towards the city, to spend time with and take out some students from a school. We were to take them out to buy clothes and supplies or whatever they needed and then take them out for dinner. Frere only gave us about $20 and we didn't go to the cheap flea markets, we went to the expensive mall instead, so the money didn't last long. We ended up going into our own pocket money, but that was all right. Most of the kids wanted to buy things for the rest of their family. We spent about four hours with them in the mall just hanging out with them. Some of us went out to eat again when we got back to the hotel.

LSVN Day 7: Saigon

Today is the official start of my Vietnam trip with Frere Phong. I started out the morning with breakfast at Oscar Hotel at 7AM. I went home to get the rest of my luggage for the trip. We met up with Frere soon later and got our rooms to check in. Nette, Mimi, and I met up with Michael, Tam, and Linh and went out to the markets for some shopping and lunch. The rest of the day, we just chilled at the hotel and waited for everyone else to show up. When we all arrived, we headed out for a buffet dinner. After dinner, some of us went out for coffee. I went to drop off Mimi at home and met up with Tri and his friends for ice cream before saying good bye to my grandpa and headed back to the hotel. I stayed up playing cards with some friends and then knocked out buzzed.

VN Day 6

This morning we woke up a bit early and headed to Kinh Luan for breakfast. We met up with our godparents and Nette. Mimi and I spent the day with them to visit some places. We started out visiting this HIV/AIDS home sponsored by a single priest with help from volunteers. The children there are all orphans and w/o family. He told us that there is at least one death a month because the hcildren are termially ill. He says that people sometimes just drops kids off at his front door and he takes care of them. He has thse boxes of ashes of the children that pass early. He tries to gather as many donations as he can to buy supplies, toys, medicine, and money to rent the property. The lease on the current building is about to expire so he is trying to find a new place the hcildren. Most of the kids don't even know that they are infected with HIV or AIDS and they die at anytime. Cha's job is to basically take care of them until they die. It was just beautiful to see their faces light up when we came to visit them with gifts. Their ages range from as young as 1 months to 12 years old.

After that, we had lunch and then visited this other house for the blind. In Vietnam, if you are blind, then you are baiscally useless to socitey, but this place makes you fel worth of living by caring for them, educating them, and training them for paralympics. I saw cases and cases of trophys and medals that they had won. When we met them, they weren't just blind in the yes, but some of them didn't have any eye sockets at all. They were very talented as well. A few of them played the keyboard so well, t was amazing. It was like listening to Paris by Night. They sang for us and we sang for them. They were being cared for by a nun and they learned much about God. It just me hard of all my blessing when they sang to us "God is so good to me".

After visiting the blind, we visited this school ran by nuns for poor and run away children. The school was completely free and no one was obligated to attend, but the children called it their home. They came on their own to learn and to eat when they finished work. The children sell lottery ticket results as work for money. They probably make about less than a dollar a day. When they get to the school, the nuns take them in but they aren't allowed to stay overnight so they kids have to leave by night fall. There are some kids that have been coming back for years. Some of th enuns had known the kids since they were young and raised them up. So we came with gifts of toys and money. They were all so thrilled, but humble and selfless at the same time. We gave them money and they told us that they would bring it back to their poor families before they used it for themselves. It was really moving for me to see them so happy. There was a little girl who witnessed someone kill her mother right in front of her. We left the children (60+) with smiles on their faces and food in their stomachs and money in their pockets. Mimi and I spent the night at Oscar Hotel.

VN Day 5

This morning Mimi and I woke up early to check out of my dad's hotel. Dad was on his way to the airport and was headed to China for business trip. We got breakfast and taxied home. When we got back home, I found Tri outside waiting for me to return. It was good to see him again. We talked and caught up for about an hour, then Mimi and I met up with Ben at his old high school to play some basketball. It was sooo humid. I was sweating like crazy. Anyway, playing in Vietnam was a bit difficult because all they would do is shoot jumpers off the boards. We played for a few hours and headed back home. Mimi and I didn't do muhc for the rest of the day but watch a movie. For dinner, I met up with Ong Hy an ate at this all mushroom house. It was an interesting experience.

VN Day 4

Today I went to my uncle's house and spent the day there. Chilled with my cousins and played lots of Thirteen. For lunch, I tried eating....snake. Couldn't get the image out of my mind so I didn't finish it. Haha. Chilled most of the day there and then made plans to play ball the next day. Had dinner there, then taxied back to the hotel. I went out and got some more food before crashing.

VN Day 3

We got up early this morning and headed to the beach with my family on my dad's side. It was pretty fun. The ride there took forever though. 4 hours! There was so much traffic and we were only going about 30mph. Anyway, when we got there we had crab. Played futbol with my cousins and chilled at the beach. We spent more time driving than we did at the beach. Had dinner along the ocean. It started to thunderstorm as we left towards home, which took 3 hours....

It was a pretty long day...

VN Day 2

I knocked out early last night. I woke up and Mimi told me that dad was in town still and was headed to China soon. We called him up and headed to his hotel where he got us a room. We got lunch and then spent the day with him.

VN Day 1

Wednesday July 8th, 2009

14 hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time.

Arrived in Vietnam at 945AM and I was happy to see family. The "I can't believe I'm here" feeling immediately went away as soon as I got into the cab when I left the airport. It all just came back to me like last summer. We went straight to the house, rested, and then went out to eat. Man, the weather is so hot and humid here. We just relaxed most of the day and Mimi got to see the school for the first time.

Off to Vietnam

Off to Vietnam today!

I had lunch with Lynn and Jomar at Red Lobster. Miggy, Matt, and Russ joined as soon after. Finished packing all the last minute items. Around 530pm I went on my "Good-bye tour" around the city. Stopped by a few places before I left. I went by BYC then went to Chipotle for dinner before the flight. Rushed back to BYC to say goodbye to Matt, Troy, Eric, Chanda, and Quan. Rushed home and ate and then was off to SFO.

Waited....waited...waited....for like 4 hours doing nothing. Flight was delayed for refueling. The plane didn't have any mini entertainment systems like they normally do so I was sooo bored throughout the 12 hour flight. And I was supposed to stay awake for the first 5 hours so that I wouldn't be jet-lagged. Greeaaat.

Landed in Taipei 12 hours later. 2 hour overlap. Arrived in Saigon at 945AM local time. I did get some cool sunrise shots again over the Pacific. I still couldn't believe I was in another country. I woke up one point on the flight and completely forgot that I was on an airplane. Will miss CA for the next 4 weeks!

Independence Day

Fourth of July:
Happy Independence Day!

I spent the morning and afternoon preparing and packing for Vietnam. I had dinner at my grandmothers house with the whole family. It was a pretty deep meal. We all gathered at the table and my grandfather gave us his "Good-bye/I'm sorry/thankfulness" talk. Got everyone sobbing. I am extremely happy that he is with us though. Everyone kind of just broke down. We were fine though. I was just in unprepared to hear what he had to say, but I accepted it.

"Be like a phoenix"


After dinner, Mimi and I headed over to Cardoza Park for the night fireworks show. It was pretty chill. Seeing everyone gather together. It was a good time.

Backyard Camping!

Long series of events. But worth remembering. Camping in my backyard. Why? Well, why not?

Thursday July 2, 2009

Morning: 9AM

My day started off pretty well when I woke up and did some packing for Vietnam. About an hour later I headed off to have breakfast at Denny's with Chanda. We visited Bellarmine summer school soon after. Said hi to everyone and chilled with a few people. I was finding out who was able to come tonight for camping. Soon after, I returned to my car and was gonna go drop of Chanda so she could get ready for Long Beach. While, driving on the freeway, we find a note on my windshield. We pull down the window to see what it is only to find out that it was a parking violation citation from SJC at Bellarmine. -______- Greeaaaat. There goes $60 bucks.

Afternoon: 1:30PM

As I arrived home, Russell came over and we headed to Costco to get food for tonight. Got some chips and soda and all the good stuff. We got home and chilled for a bit. Waiting...and waiting...and waiting. We were lazy to start setting up the backyard and plus we didn't even have a single tent for the night! We would have to figure out something. Miggy was going to bring one but he didn't look for it yet. After being incredibly hungry, we headed out for Wingstop and Blush. When we returned, Russ gave me a hair cut and we went outside to shoot hoops.

Evening: 7PM

Slowly but surely, people began to arrive. Miggy came and luckily, he had two tents, so we were in better shape. Hah. We set up the tents in the backyard and just hung out and chilled. Luckily, I found one more tent in my garage and we put that up. More people started coming and we just talked and played music and had a good time. Eventually, my mom came home with 2 huge Uncle Sam pizzas and a bag of Wingstop (waaaaaay too much food) and everyone began to chow down. More and more people showed up so it was good. We needed people to finish up the pizza.

Night: 11PM

The people who couldn't stay for the night started leaving around 11PMish. We were ready to head back to the tents and everything. All of us decided to play some games and we all agreed to Hide-and-Go-Seek in my backyard in the dark. It was actually reaaallly fun. Everyone had a good time. We all kind of just did whatever to stay up. We all walked to Lynns house and back and then back to Gill park. Picked up some Free chairs and a table for my backyard when we came back though, haha. Everyone kind of fell asleep around 4AM.

Friday July 3, 2009

Morning: 8:35AM

A few of us woke up early to my dog barking at us. A few of us woke up and decided to put on a bomb of alarms at 8:35am and throw them all in the other tent so that five or six alarms will go off at the same time. It was pretty funny. We got up and everyone was just dead tired. Ate more pizza and played some basketball outside.

Afternoon: 2PM

Clean up of everything began before everyone left. Cleaning up everything is the worst. Anyway, after we all left, Miggy, Russ, Nick and I went to Blush for a bit and then headed to Great Mall to meet up with Michelle DL and Kevin M. Just chilled for a bit and got some food.

Evening: 6PM

I came home for dinner with family and some guests. Courtney invited me to go see some fireworks at her place in the Silver Creek country club. So I left around 8pm and brought Christian along, too.

Night: 9PM

Christian, Monica, Courtney, and I sat on the golf course at her country club area and saw some Pre-4th of July fireworks. "God Bless the USA" gets me feeling patriotic every time. We walked a good mile and a half or so back to Courtney's house and chilled for a bit before Christian and I left. Drove home and crashed.

It was a pretty good two days. Definitely a success in my book.

Thank you everyone who came!

Russell, Jomar, Jonathan, Miggy, Angela, Marti, and Ariana, Justin L, Christian, Jimmy, Karl, Nick, Justin S, Eric, Lynn, and Kristi.

As the day progresses

Today started out pretty random when I woke up and got a message from Arrod asking if I wanted to go get milk tea with him and Alex Harjono. It was a bit random, but I decided why not. We chilled and got Jamba Juice instead. Somehow, I end up at Miggy's house after dropping off Arrod and Alex. Miggy, Russ, and I went to get some InNOut and again, randomly headed to Michelle Deleons place. We chilled there for a bit and then dropped off Russ at Blush. The day ended with Miggy and I chilling at Jomar's house making plans for tomorrow's camping day.