Day 44- Reflections

Well the journey has come to an end. I’ve been home for about 48 hours and I have to say it feels great to start settling back in. I haven’t pin-pointed what the best part about being back is, whether it’s the accomplishment and knowing that I did what I set out to do, or the idea that there really is no place like home and only time will tell. But for now I have been thoroughly enjoying familiar company, a room to myself, and oh yeah: eggs, bacon, and orange juice…

The last few days of my trip went by in a flash, partly because I put some 10,000 miles behind me and partly because the lack of sleep made me delirious for a large portion of it for sure. After spending the night in the Bangkok airport and checking in for an early morning flight at 3:30 AM, I sat with my fingers crossed for two and a half hours before I was given the last seat on the plane to Bangkok (second time this trip). I ceremoniously sprinted with haste and joy through the airport to what seemed like the farthest terminal in the whole place, positioned myself in seat 26B and watched the Bangkok skyline disappear out of the window. It was at this point that the end of the trip really started to set in. When you are hanging in the balance between leaving and staying it really is impossible to prepare yourself to leave completely. If you do you are setting yourself up for disappointment. So I learned that if I prepared myself to stay and by chance made a flight, I would be pleasantly surprised rather than disappointed. So as the plane took off I realized that my time on this adventure was coming to a close.

I started to think about all of the great people that I met on this trip, weather it was the passerby in transit to and from…

Like Ted from Fairbanks, Alaska- who I shared a hotel with after we were both marooned in the Tokyo-Narita Airport. Ted was about 28 and a construction worker in one of the coldest parts of what I call home, and vacations in Thailand every year to escape the 20 below temperatures.

Or John the movie extra who lives in Manhattan and owns a condo in Chiang Mai, Thailand. John had to be pushing 65 and was wise beyond his years if that’s even possible. While sitting in the Bangkok terminal, John got approached by the gate attendant and told him he might have to have me carry on a bag for him as he had too many… and at this point we struck up a conversation for the next 3 hours about everything under the sun: family, travels, even which movie actors he had worked with were legitimate talents… (Harrison Ford was number 1).

And Niew, a worker at the hostel that I stayed at in Bangkok.. She showed me the ropes when I looked helplessly lost one morning in the lobby and was completely responsible for showing me the cultural side of the city, as I somehow landed in the highly developed area of Siam Square- the mecca of malls. Hell, she even got me to try a blood clot in one of the thai soups that we had at an outdoor market. Bangkok wouldn’t have been the same without her help.

And then there are all of the amazing people that I met during my time Volunteering in Ho Chi Minh…

Matt, Kev, and Andrew. My roommates, and what I consider to be some close friends. I was unbelievably lucky to have shared a room with these lads over the past 29 days, and I hope its only the beginning of great things to come. I would put them up in a hearbeat back home, so if you’re reading this consider it my personal invitation to visit me in the states. I know they would all say likewise.

The girls of peacehouse 3. In a lot of ways, all of them were what made my time there the most memorable… Girls have a certain way of creating plans that guys don’t, everyone knows what I’m talking about.. And without all of them who knows, I may have spent 4 weekends and countless nights at Peacehouse 3 -not necessarily a bad thing- but instead I realize all that I saw because I didn’t. I had a genuine sense of guardianship for all of them whenever we would go out on the town, or take our trips, and I think it’s because for 29 days they were all kind of like sisters. I didn’t always enjoy having to share bathrooms with them but hey, you can’t have everything.

The little guys that I taught, especially the orphans from Tanh Binh. They probably taught me just as much as I taught them, and I wish I could have packed them in my suitcase.

The local volunteers. They were responsible for teaching me as much about Vietnam as anything else. Our hour long conversations about everything from goals and aspirations to Britney Spears and K Pop were enlightening… Everyone that I came into contact was such a kind, and warm person and I will never forget all that they showed and did for me.

The VPV staff. I really wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into when I started my teaching experience and I thanked my lucky stars every single day that pure happenstance landed me with this great organization. They didn’t have the most when it came to resources, quite the contrary infact, but what they did with what they had is nothing short of remarkable. One of the keys to life I’ve found.

And last but certainly not least Thao. Amazing doesn’t begin to describe the job that she did. It’s a pretty thankless job and it takes a pretty special kind of person to do it well. I respect everything about her and I know that she’ll continue to become even more worldly than she already is.

My initial motivation for going on a trip was to see somewhere new, but it was without question the people that made this trip worthwhile…

Throughout this process its often hard to measure the impact that you’ve made on these peoples lives, both educationally and otherwise. There were times where I would return to class at the start of the week and find that my little guys at the boys shelter didn’t absorb what we had done last week, and sometimes that was disappointing when I thought about how much I had wanted them to succeed. But when I told them that it was my last day and I wouldn’t be coming back and they physically tried to stop me from leaving I knew it was much more than just grammar and vocab that I was doing there. I wasn’t just a teacher to them; I was a moving playground, a source of candy and stickers, and in a way an older brother for a month. And the local volunteers which I spent every afternoon with, having conversations and learning from them just as they learned from me, were no different. The presents they made for me and the email they wrote me asking if I could continue teaching them even from my home in America, told me that I wasn’t just a foreigner looking for a way to see their country, but that I was someone they respected and wished would stay.

This is my last official post from my trip, and I leave it with a video of some of the highlights from the past 42 days abroad. It’s been the trip of a lifetime…

Oh the places we go from David Daly on Vimeo.

And with that I say: Good Night Saigon

Day 40- Traveling

I’m not quite home yet as I got stuck in Bangkok today. Delta only has 2 flights per day out of Bangkok and I flew in after the last one had already departed. This meant that the Delta counter shut down for the day before I could get information from them about the flights for tomorrow and the next few days. It’s a little bit worrisome since 2 flights per day seems like nothing, and with the weekend coming up the odds of full flights also increase and I’m looking at a perfect storm that could extend my trip for a while. Since I have some flexibility I’m trying to look at it like an opportunity to spend more time in some pretty awesome places and see it as more of an adventure than a burden but sometimes when you get in the finish strong mode its hard to not want to git er done. The other unfortunate dilemma is that the train to and from the airport starts at 6 AM and ends at 12 AM -not bad hours- but the first Delta flight is at 6 AM. So unless I want to cut my chances in half of making a flight I have to find an alternate route to the airport or leave early from wherever I’m staying. And since the airport is out of the city about 30 minutes that cuts out a cab possibility (the end of the trip penny pinching really does compound everything). So the question is as follows: do I spend money for a place to stay tonight even though I wont be staying past midnight… or do I spend another night in the Bangkok Airport? The first sleepover with the other travelers was not my favorite experience of the trip, but to be honest, a cushioned row of seats will be without a doubt more comfortable than the bed I’ve actually grown to like at the Peace House. I think I’m taking my chances at the airport tonight. Everyone cross your fingers for me about the flights tomorrow.

As I start to connect more and more flights toward home I’m slowly going to be re-introduced to western civilization. Its actually quite interesting how my travels from city to city transitions me back into the life I know. Ho Chi Minh City is definitely the most far removed from what I am accustomed to, and now that I’m in Bangkok, I notice more intricacies that have been introduced by tourism. You start to notice little things like the speed at which you are served food or the accessibility of a power source. And by the time I hit Tokyo the organization and structure will all but resemble home, and only cultural differences will remain. And I do have to add that Minneapolis, MN will be a pretty awesome sight when I get there. It’s funny how when your travels take you so far away and distance you from so much that you are familiar with, the more you start to expand your concept of home. 6 weeks ago I would have said 3965 Hawthorne Circle was my home, but now I would call all of the United States my home… possibly even throw Canada in there just for kicks. What from home am I most looking forward to? Probably some fast food with my parents on the way home from the airport. I was rather astonished at how little of a presence American fast food had in Ho Chi Minh City. The only chain with any stores was surprisingly KFC (or dirty bird as the Aussies and Kiwis referred to it). I’m glad that there wasn’t a McDonalds and a Starbucks on every street corner though, it didn’t allow me to use it as a Western crutch and it forced me to eat Vietnamese food. That doesn’t necessarily mean eat healthier as much of the food is still fried, but I think a ceremonial fast food run will still happen before I indulge on copious amounts of fresh produce. 

Day 38- Da Nang

Another weekend in the books, and time is slipping away on this Vietnam adventure. I officially end my volunteering stint in two days and leave this great country as per my visa. But to avoid focusing on the end of the journey, lets talk about the past few days. I was fortunate enough to meet four great Australian girls during this trip who were all friends with one another and decided to come out to Vietnam and volunteer together. Matt and I could always count on them doing something fun and out of the ordinary. They took many many trips during their stay here (which ended a week earlier than mine) and as their farewell excursion they visited a town in Central Vietnam called Da Nang. Da Nang, which is farther North than my last trip to Mui Ne, is similar to Mui Ne only in the way that it was new to me.

What convinced Matt and I to go to Da Nang was the great deal that we got on our hotel accommodation because of the girls. They all work for an international hotel chain back in Newcastle, Australia and get ridiculous rates on their sister hotels. So needless to say, Matt and I were able to stay pretty lavishly for dirt cheap. I didn’t really like the luxuriousness of the hotel if we are being completely honest. I came to Vietnam to live like the Vietnamese and really immerse myself in as much culture as I could, and our stay in Da Nang could not have been more different. We were isolated from a lot there in our resort and it really forced our hand to eat, travel, and live out of character. But I should accept the break and the generosity from the girls… lets just say I’m glad to be back. I really have stayed in the best and worst conditions here on this trip.

There were of course many highlights from the excursion, and one of the most noteworthy was the town of Hoi An. Just to the south of Da Nang, Hoi An is one of the most culturally rich areas I’ve visited here. We spent two entire days going to Hoi An’s “old district” where the buildings are visibly worn and the streets are quiet (quiet meaning you don’t have vendors following or tugging or yelling at you and motorbikes and cars honking for you to get out of their way) and really allow you to get into an element. There were several areas that are blocked off to all motor vehicles and the best way to describe them is just peaceful. One of the biggest attractions in Hoi An are the tailors and designers, every other store is a tailoring shop. I got a jacket made and it fits like a glove... It really was a pretty cool experience, I walked in to one of the tailors with the rest of the group and next thing I knew I was being fitted for a jacket. The store was huge and full of every fabric you could imagine, and when I settled on a dark brow corduroy 1’x1’ swath of display fabric I thought to myself there was no way that Rebecca (all of the staff adopted mainstream western names which was both funny and sad that something like that clearly made a difference in their sales) would be able to churn out a recognizable quality product. But low and behold, 24 hours later she had. To celebrate the success of the endeavor we all got dressed up that night in our new duds and went to dinner.

And of course, I couldn’t possibly leave out the beach time that we got in over the course of the weekend… Second weekend in a row that I’ve had sand between my toes and an ocean breeze through my wet hair, and I consider myself lucky to have escaped both encounters without a sunburn… 

Da Nang from David Daly on Vimeo.

Day 35- Good Morning Vietnam

I lay sleeping soundly in my plywood bed when I heard the 7:00 alarm start to ring. Time for Kevin to get up. Matt and I have another hour of rest before we roust to start our day and our teaching duties, as has been the routine for the past few weeks… We all have separate school assignments, and Kevin’s daily rustling on the bunk below me typically serves as my 1 hour warning to start my day. As I lay there somewhere between consciousness and the dream which always escapes my memory when I wake, I realized that the alarm had been ringing for some time. No matter, Kevin will get it, probably just needed a few more moments of sleep from our late evening cooking extravaganza last night. It was at this point that the whole bed started to shake. When paired with the audible creek of the steel joints which I have become so accustomed to, there was little to no chance of me sleeping through this. I peered over my outstretched legs, which clearly extend past the end of my bed to look at Matt on the top bunk next to me: still asleep. “Kev, time to get up.” No response... “Kev, time to get u-“ it was at this point that I swung my head over the side of the steel bedframe and my sleepy exterior nowhere resembled the alarm that I felt internally. “Matt, GET UP!” I frantically careened off my bed and onto the tile floor, barely keeping my balance… Matt did the same. We both looked at Kevin for no more than a second, which seemed like an eternity. Kevin lay there wide awake, looking into the abyss…convulsing. As I threw on my shorts and a t shirt and bounded down stairs, sometimes 5 or 6 at a time, the only safeguard against waking up the whole house was the soundless concrete under my feet. I knew Thao would be up, she always went to the market early to buy fruit for the morning breakfast. She would be in the kitchen. Just as I made it to the main landing, the words just flew out of my mouth subconsciously “Kevin needs a paramedic.”

Confused as to what that could mean, she looked at me with a puzzled look on her face. “Um… ambulance, doctor, help…” I said. That one was universal. We ran back up the five flights of stairs together and I hardly noticed the sweat that was now forming on my brow from both the stress and the sudden wave of activity. We found Matt sitting next to Kevin, whose seizing had now slowed to more of a twitch. Unresponsive. Thao had seen all that she needed to evaluate the situation.. “I’m calling emergency” she said as she hustled out of the room. “Get his kit out,” Matt said, and I grabbed for everything that looked remotely like a blood sugar meter and strew it out on my bed. The look on my face had to be the same as the one I had seen so many times in the past four weeks on my students faces: pure bewilderment. Why hadn’t I asked him what to do before? After a moment of struggling with one of the parts, I bent over and pricked his finger. Within a few seconds blood began to rise from the tiny poke. I put it on a strip and fed it into the machine… ‘ERR’. “I’m going to go wake the girls, one of them has to know how to do this”. When we returned Kevin looked more like he was peacefully asleep rather than in a fight against his own body. None of the girls were familiar with how to use a meter. Matt pulled out his IPad and began frantically typing, and I tried to illicit some sort of response from Kevin. “If Thao is calling an ambulance we’re going to have to get him downstairs to get him to the hospital…” said Chess. Made sense. “But what if they can treat him here?” Matt said, looking up from his IPad momentarily. “Yeah, they might just be able to come up here and give him an IV or something…” I said. Sometimes throwing more people at a situation only creates more confusion. Just then Stephanie walked in the room with a can of Pepsi. And sometimes all you need is that extra mind to come up with a solution…

We cracked open the can of Pepsi and stuck a straw in it. We were able to wake Kevin and sit him up. He looked at all of us with the most confusion and helplessness that I have ever seen, but couldn’t bring himself to say anything. “We’re going to have you drink this, ok?” said Chess, “It has sugar in it and it’s going to be good for you”. But as she motioned the can to his lips he turned away. “Wait, don’t do that..” I said, “I remember last time when I talked to Kevin after he told me that he is aware of what’s going on around him but he just can’t do or say anything… Maybe he doesn’t need that…” Just as we were again about to meet at a crossroads of indecision and confusion, I could hear Thao’s voice from below. “David! They are here…” As I ran out of the room to the stairwell I saw two EMT’s and a paramedic, clad in all white carrying a gigantic suitcase. Thank god. After a moment of translation they pulled out a blood sugar meter and took a reading: 1.3. “That’s very low,” Matt said, “according to this website its on a scale of 0-9”. They worked quickly and administered an IV with glucose and saline to Kevin’s outstretched left arm. And as I sat at the bedside, holding the gravity drip I watched one of the most miraculous recoveries I’ve seen. In a matter of moments Kevin went from ghost white and barely able to hold his own head up, to completely conscious and functioning. “Is this really happening, or am I dreaming?” He asked.

“It’s real, how do you feel right now?” I said.

“I’m ok…”

Thankfully Kevin is ok and didn’t have to go to the hospital. They got his blood sugar up to 7.5 after the IV, which is within the 6-9 range that he told me he needs to stay in. Kevin has type 1 diabetes and it turns out that after our late night cooking he took some insulin right before bed which is routine, and went to sleep. The problem was that he took too much and the result was that it broke down the sugars too quickly and he crashed by the time he woke up. I have to say I felt pretty dumb that I didn’t act faster in that situation, and even dumber that I didn’t sit him down and have him properly explain procedure when he crashed a few weeks ago. Lesson learned. Luckily Matt and I were there though, who knows what would have happened had Kevin been alone in the room as per the previous two months before our arrival. Nevertheless I now know how to use a blood sugar meter. What a crazy way to wake up. Good morning Vietnam…

Day 29- Mui Ne and the like...

Bonjour. It has been a while, but I’m back with tales of the north… or more accurately central. This past weekend a group of six volunteers took a bus to a town called Mui Ne which is about a 4 hour drive north of Saigon. We chose Mui Ne because it’s a beach town that had pretty good reviews from the local volunteers, and at 4 hours drive it was just far enough to where you cant successfully pull off a day trip. This means there is a lot less traffic and the area is much cleaner. Mui Ne was definitely as advertised…

If I had to describe Mui Ne I would say it is very quaint. Much different landscape than the other parts of Vietnam I have visited, and with a beach you really cant go wrong. We made sure to get some sun at the beach and also did a phenomenal tour for $6 that took us about 50 kilometers outside of Mui Ne to some local sand dunes where you can sled, hike and rent ATV’s. It was a pretty amazing few days.

We are now headed back to home base for some more volunteering which is going very well. My regular classes have started to take a liking to me, the older local volunteers I teach all want to be my friend on facebook, and I really enjoy being the cool “good cop” teacher for all the little kids. Sometimes I do have to check myself though and do some disciplinary stuff.

I only have 9 more days in this great country before I’m en-route to good old Colorado. Life out of a backpack definitely wears you out slowly… so needless to say I will definitely be ready for a lot of commonality of home. But before then I have some more teaching and a visit to another town to the north: Da Nang. Keep on pluggin and live it up, no regrets.

Here is a video I put together from the Mui Ne excursion…

Mui Ne from David Daly on Vimeo.

Day 21- Cu Chi and the Vietnam War

Back from the weekend and my first hand experience with the Vietnam War. 8 of us booked a trip to Cu Chi this weekend which is 2 hours north of Saigon. The bus was cool, the weather was hot, and the tunnels were small. When Matt and I first booked our trip we weren’t entirely sure what we were doing, we had read in the Shoestring book that Cu Chi was a place to see if you wanted culture and history…especially during the 60’s and 70’s. So we decided what the hell.

During the war, as you may know, Vietnam was divided in two with the North being socialist and the South being democratic. Saigon, the largest city of the south had a large American presence and Cu Chi was one of the biggest bases for American troops during the war. Of course, just because the South was democratic didn’t mean that the people of the South supported the American cause. We saw a Vietnam propaganda video from the war and it very clearly illustrated the locals resistance.

One of the tactics of the locals was an intricate web of tunnels throughout the Cu Chi region that allowed safe harbor, weapons and intel transportation, and extremely successful guerilla war tactics. Cu Chi is said to have over 75 miles of underground tunnels at various depths, where Viet Cong essentially lived.

While we were at one of the Cu Chi tunnel sites we got to walk around the jungle and see first hand some of the remnants from the war like craters from B-52 bombing runs, broken down tanks which have since become a part of the landscape, and the tunnels themselves. One thing we did not get to experience was the vast destruction that was created by Americans during the war. Napalm wiped out the entire jungle of the area when the VC and the tunnels created immeasurable frustration for the US. I can see why, after the day’s tour the Army was essentially fighting an enemy which was not there. The jungle has since been regrown by the government and is now protected.

As for the tunnels themselves, all I can say is: small. They have been enlarged to allow tourists to crawl through them, but when I took advantage I was still on my hands and knees with my shoulders too broad to fit through without squirming. I have no idea how the VC lived in these… Matt and I also paid to shoot an M1 carbine at the shooting range, which was good fun.

The day after was a nice day off, but Matt and I still woke at 7 to meet a few of the local volunteers for coffee. They really enjoy talking to us because they want to improve their English but don’t talk to each other (or really anyone else) in pure English. Talking to us forces them to practice their English, and us our admittedly rusty Vietnamese. After coffee we all went to the supermarket to pick up supplies to make salad rolls… The ensuing hours were filled with creating a Vietnamese meal from scratch and then devouring it until we were thanksgiving full. Afterward Matt and I were basically referred to as women because we refused to let the volunteers clean up after the masterpiece they had just made. Apparently only the women wash dishes in most families. Later that night, we went out and played shuttle cock (basically hacky sack) until we could no longer track the birdie, watched a movie and chalked it up as a weekend. This week is going to be a full one until we head off to Mui Ne on Friday. Mui Ne is a beach town and I could not be more stoked to get some sun time in for the first time this trip. Adios. 

Cu Chi Tunnels from David Daly on Vimeo.

Day 20

What a busy couple of days… It has been a while since my last post but I’m back for updates. Its amazing how the days fly by when you are only teaching 4 hours a day and exploring as much as you can for the rest. I’m starting to get the hang of the whole teaching thing and its nice to feel organized when you walk in the classroom even if its only with games for the kids to play.

Yesterday was a particularly big day here in Saigon. We had class in the morning, where I was teaching at a girls shelter. This was particularly fun because up until that point I had only taught all boys. The girls of this age group were way more advanced than the boys and way better behaved. They were also extremely shy though, probably because im the strangest looking human they have ever seen haha.

After morning class ended Matt and I had a personal tour of a few Saigon gems that are close by our hostel. Firstly we visited a Pho restaurant, which is a native Vietnamese noodle soup- amazingly delicious. The typical Pho is served as noodles, beef and broth with a plate of bean sprouts, kale, and a type of basil which you add and spice up with chilis and chili sauce. I tend to overdo the chili sauce and start sweating every time I have it…

From there Matt wanted to get iced café which we have heard so much about so Thao, (our guide and one of the staff at VPV) took us to one of the coffee shops nearby. According to Thao, while most of us back home go out to bars at night to socialize, the Vietnamese go for coffee- so she was a reliable source for good coffee. I’m not a huge coffee drinker but I was thoroughly impressed by the whole experience. We walked in through a massive set of plain double doors into a small oasis in the middle of the city. Tropical trees, a waterfall, a stream you have to hop across on rocks just to get to the tables. And the coffee was equally as well crafted.

The afternoon lesson was a group of university students who wanted to practice their interviewing skills. And even though they struggled mightily with it all it made me happy that I knew they were improving. Within a two hour period I knew they were better prepared than many of their classmates, and within a couple of weeks, hopefully they will be ready to apply for jobs in their fields of study.

Yesterday was Andy’s last day and so we had a big night out on the town with the whole group. It was great to get the whole crew together for a night. I’ve gotten really close with the 14 of us that are still here and I’m sad to see Andy go. This weekend we booked a tour of the Chu Chi Tunnels, which are to the North of Saigon. The chu chi region has a network of miles and miles of underground tunnels that were used by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam war. I’m looking forward to crawling though some history tomorrow…