The Little Boy Who Cried Wolf

.When I was very young I used to get quite a thrill out of screaming, "Help!", and watching my sisters or parents come running only to find that I was just playing around.  I got into trouble several times about this but my grandmother skillfully eliminated this habit by telling me the fable of the little boy who cried wolf.

Why do I allude to this story from my childhood?  Well, I have often said in this blog that I am planning to return to the US but tonight I expect to start out.  If you want to hear about an almost masochistic itinerary here is what I have planned.  First I fly from Saigon to Tokyo on Japan Airlines departing at  2330on 30 April.  I arrive Tokyo at 0630 and hope to catch an AA flight to DFW at 1130, arriving DFW 16 hours later at 0900.  If I make this connection I will only have a 4 hour layover in Tokyo, otherwise I will fly AA Tokyo to JFK at 1810, an 11 hour layover.  Where ever I end up DFW or JFK I will overnight and then continue on 2 May to Buenos Aires, Argentina and from there to Cordoba, Argentina.  My friends in Argentina just called me to say they are expecting me and I am sure that I will be enjoying a lot of delicious food and wine for a week while in South America.  After that I will head back to Tampa and rent a car to travel around Florida and Georgia.

I have such a melancholy feeling to be departing Saigon today but I took extra Vietnamese money from the ATM yesterday so I will have to come back to spend it.  I can say that Ho Chi Minh City and Miami are my favorite cities I have lived.  There is no beach here but I am making do with the great swimming pools that are scattered around this city.  I have made many good friends here and I think I will be welcomed warmly when I return.  Now I am concentrating on getting the flights back to America and looking for my guardian angel to help out.  I will appreciate any positive thoughts anyone sends my way to help me make connections.  I expect to write next time from a different continent.  Hasta luego!

Pattaya

I traveled 2 hours south of Bangkok a couple of days ago to the beach city of Pattaya.  Pattaya became famous during the days of the Vietnam war when US military personnel would come there for R and R.  Not surprisingly the sex industry flourished and continues to do so today.  I only mention this to preface the following report of what I believe is the best TV commercial I have ever seen.  I will attempt to recreate best I can.
The scene is a beautifully furnished apartment in which a voluptuous brunette sits tied to a chair wearing only panties and a bra.  She manages to get to a phone and dials the local 911.  "Help me!", she implores the operator.  "I have been kidnapped."
The operator asks, "Where are you?"
"I do not know."
"Well, what can you see?"
"I have a great view of a lovely landscaped pool, numerous fine dining places,  a golf course and the Gulf of Thailand."
"Then you must be at Royal Pattaya Towers Condominium.  We will send help immediately."  To the rescue of the damsel in distress comes a handsome James Bond type who obviously expects some show of gratitude for his efforts.  Like I said, this is one of the best commercials I have seen.
Here in Pattaya, as in every beach town I have visited recently in Viet Nam, the majority of travellers are Russian.  One Russian I met explained to me  that they come from a very cold country and therefore they love to go where it is warm.  Almost all the signage here is in undeciperable Thai and almost equally puzzling Cyrillic.  Fortunately most of the menus have pictures.

Sa Bai Dee Pi Mai Lao

This is a pic from the balcony of my hotel of some of the typical Pi Mia Lao (Lao New Year) festivities. As I mentioned earlier, everyone gets soaked and it is a lot of fun (for 2 days anyway).

I was invited to a party and this is our host's father preparing to bless the guests at the party. Blessings consisted of chanted verses (which of course I could not understand) and tying of colored threads on the wrists of guests.

Party Food!

Guests at the party.

Yesterday was a most interesting day and my friend took me to the obligatory odd number of temples to pour holy water over the Buddha images. The temples were full of devotees and there were so many photo ops, but my camera chose to act badly that day.

Attraversiamo

Holiday shopping in Vientienne. My friend wanted new shoes and a backpack so we went to this "mall". My shopping was for Listerine or a local equivalent.

My neighborhood wat.

I am often influenced by books that I read and I am now reading (for the second time) "Eat, Pray, Love" by Eliazabeth Gilbert which I found in a book swap at a hotel or guesthouse somewhere along my way recently. It is definitely an Oprah type book in case anyone is interested in entertaining light reading, but I mention the book because I take today's title from the "Eat" portion of the book. In the "Eat" third of the book Elizabeth Gilbert spends several months in Italy enjoying the food and studying Italian, a language which she always wanted to learn. Her favorite word was "attraversiamo" which translates into English as "crossing over" as in crossing over the street or in a more metaphorical sense crossing from one state of affairs to another. Yesterday I crossed over the Mekong River from Thailand to Laos, hence commencing a new episode of my life. I am completely unsure of what to expect here, but hopeful of a favorable experience.

On 13 April the Lao-Thai holiday celebrating the new year begins. The year here is 2555, based upon the birth of Buddha, who preceded Jesus by 543 years, and the new year here coincides with Buddha's birthday. Like in Chang Mai, Thailand, was a few years ago, this will be a festive wet time with everyone slinging, throwing, shooting water at everyone else. To survive best I hope to keep my eyes and mouth always closed at moment of impact. Other than that I will just accept the fact that I will be soaked if I step outside. It is very hot here and the water at least feels cool.

I happily reconnected with a friend from a previous trip to Laos yesterday and he invited me to celebrate the new year together. Among other activities he said we will visit 5 or 7 or 9 temples (must be an odd number) and pour water over the Buddha statue for good luck in the coming year. Getting to participate with a local absolutely makes an experience like this far more interesting since I can ask about the significance of the activities.

For example, I wanted to know why all the water at this time, and here is the explanation I get. It seems that there was a king in ancient history who made a bet with the wisest man of his village, the wager being that the king would cut off his head if he lost the bet. Talk about going all in on a bet! Well, of course the king lost the bet, so he arranged that his head be stored in a nearby cave and that his seven daughters would wash his severed head once a year with holy water. I think you can put the rest of the story together. Water poured over the Buddha statue is holy water and throwing water at everyone on the street is a sort of blessing, if you can believe that. I am pretty sure that several of you who read this would not take being assaulted with a gallon of water as a blessing but more like a reason to cuss whoever had such audacity.

Well, I will try to have a few pictures of the celebration to share with you here. This will be my third new year in 4 months: January 1, Tet and now Pi Mai. At risk of sounding repetitive, "Happy New Year!"

Last Night in Saigon

I am now sitting in my hotel on Pham Nu Lau Street, the backpacker street of Ho Chi Minh City, nostalgically regretting that I am departing one of my favorite places but enthusiastically anticipating new adventures as I make my way to Vientienne, Laos. I wrote recently about the planned itinerary so I will not repeat all of that, but I just checked with Thai Airways and was happy to reconfirm that the flight I want to take tomorrow from Saigon to Bangkok still has plenty of seats available. I am leaving a day earlier than planned but it feels okay to be leaving this time. My previous departure from HCMC was not quite as comfortable since a week ago I was in a bit of a funk over a disagreement with a dear friend. Happily I can say I resolved the issues on this rebound and I feel like I will be returning here soon with a warm welcome awaiting me. When I next write here I ought to be in Thailand, if I am diligent and in Laos, if less dedicated. Het ga'p lai!

(Until next time, for anyone interested in a handy Vietnamese phrase)

Rubber Ball

I departed Sai Gon by sleeper bus bound for Nha Trang, a beach town about 300 miles north of Ho Chi Minh. I had planned to connect there and continue north eventually to Hue where I could get transportation onward to Vientienne, Laos. What I did not know before starting on this trip was that a storm had settled in the sea between Viet Nam and the Philipines and the weather was awful and expected to remain that way for the next 10 days.

After optimistically waiting for better conditions for 2 days I finally decided that Weather.com was correct so I had to rethink my plans. Fortunately I had a delightful room on the 6th floor of a guesthouse with a balcony overlooking the South China Sea. I enjoyed sitting on the balcony sipping a few beers watching the dramatic weather conditions over the sea as I contemplated my new travel plans. I finally decided to return to Saigon, hence the rubber ball title.

The weather was at its worst the night I departed and I had to wade through knee deep water on the `street in front of my hotel to get to my bus. Two friends with whom I had endured some of the rain helped me tote my luggage to higher ground and I was so grateful for their assitance. I had my second very pleasant overnight trip on a sleeper bus. If you can imagine reclining first class airplane seats stacked 2 high, that is what these buses are like. A fairly comfortable bed and some powerful sleeping pills made for a satisfactory night passage back to my former home of Ho Chi Minh. I miss my apartment.

What is next? I will fly to Bangkok in a few days, rendezvous with my friend Tosh who will be living there by then, drop off a few things to lighten my back pack and then continue north to Vientienne, Laos, for Songkran, their 3 day celebration of Buddha's birthday. If you were reading my blog 3 years ago, you might remember that I was in Chang Mai, Thailand, for Songkran. It is an Asian equivalent of Mardi Gras and quite a party. As always my plans are flexible, so you know all this may change. But that is what I am planning for now.