Travel Season Begins

Today I head to Danang for two days.  This is like a practice run for the real thing since I will be traveling consistently throughout March and into April.  As a matter of fact, I will be traveling right up through September.  By practice run, I mean I can make sure my baggage basic load is up to par.  There is nothing worse than being on the road for more than a couple of days without some essential item, and this practice run gives me an opportunity to check and make sure everything that needs to be in my bag is there.

 

Travel season is year round, but this break I get from December through February makes it feel like I have been in one place way too long!  Diep calls me a five star traveler, but she says it in a way that makes me feel dirty.  I don't know why I feel guilty, because she travels nearly as much as I do and her travel costs us money.  When I travel, I actually spend less than my per diem, or daily allowance.

 

As a matter of fact, Diep and Megan will be heading down to Saigon to attend the wedding of her niece as I head to Danang.  She has been antsy to go somewhere because she has been in Hanoi for nearly a whole two months now.  Her mother broke her leg a couple of weeks ago, so this is a good opportunity to visit her mother and go to the wedding. 

 

We were eating at our favorite Japanese restaurant when I told Megan about her grandmother breaking her leg.  I should have waited until after we finished eating, or even when we got back home because Megan started sobbing after I told her.  That is one sensitive little girl!

 

The weather in Hanoi has been cold and wet for the past week, so I have no regrets about leaving today!  When it rains here, people forget how to drive.  Traffic bogs down and it takes forever to get anywhere!

Hoan Kiem Lake Turtle

Anyone who has traveled to Hanoi knows of Hoan Kiem Lake.  When someone refers to the center of Hanoi, they are most assuredly referring to the area of Hoan Kiem Lake. It is translated as Restored Sword Lake and has a legend attached to it.

In the 1400s, Le Loi (posthumously known as Le Thai To) rose against the Ming to claim independence from the Chinese.  He was initially unsuccessful until he was given a sword by the Dragaon god, after which he led a 10 year campaign ending in victory.  One year after his victory, a giant golden-shelled turtle rose from the lake as Le Loi was riding in his dragon boat.  In a human voice, the turtle asked for the sword back.  Le Loi threw the sword into the lake and the turtle grabbed it with his mouth and descended into the water.

In the Ngoc Son Temple, built on an island in the lake in honor of one of Le Loi's generals, Nguyen Trai, there is a stuffed giant turtle.  This turtle, too, has a history.  It was found with a hole in its shell, dying on the edge of the lake in 1967.  Initially, the people who witnessed the turtle thought it had been struck by shrapnel from American bombs, but later it was determined a fisherman from Thai Binh named Thu had struck the turtle with his shovel after it got snagged in a net and threatened to capsize his boat.  In the autopsy, "experts" determined the turtle to be 900 years old.  This is surely an exaggeration but there is no doubt the 250kg turtle was no youngster when it died.

Now, there is at least one giant, soft-shelled turtle still alive in the lake.  He has surfaced recently and appears to be very sick.  Experts in Hanoi are working to determine whether they should recover the turtle for treatment or let him remain in the lake in the hopes he will recover on his own.  The lake is extremely polluted, and the fact that the turtle has survived this long is a testament to its heartiness.  It is possible this is the last of its species.  Though it is sad, it is unlikely the people of Hanoi could make the lake clean enough to sustain the existence of this majestic creature.  With him will go the legend.

Where did the weekend go?

I find myself sitting here at the computer on Monday morning wondering where the weekend went.  Luckily, today is Presidents' Day so I get an extra day off, but other than that the last two days went by in a blur.  I don't even remember anything too interesting that happened... it just blew by.

This is my last weekend at home before I take off on a couple of TDYs that will take me through the month of March and into April.  In a way, I am looking forward to it because it will be a time that I can get some projects started and completed, but the other side of that coin is that I will be away from Diep and Megan.  I already am looking into them coming for a visit to Hue midway through the mission.

I have no idea what is planned for today.  I do plan on getting in a run on the dyke road right after I finish this blog, but Diep and I have the whole day to ourselves so I am not sure what she wants to do.

In other news, on the 18th of February, a tourist boat capsized in the early morning hours in Ha Long Bay.  12 foreigners died because they were unable to get off the boat in time.  It is a really sad story.  More so by the fact that most of the people who died were in their early twenties.  At first, authorities thought the ship was struck by an underwater objects, but now it looks like someone left an engine cooling vent open.  The investigation is ongoing, but nothing is going to bring those people back from the grave.  Next time I get on one of those boats, I will make sure I run through my emergency exit procedures in my head before I lay myself to sleep.

Hemp Seeds

I recently read in a Men's Health book that hemp seeds are a superfood.  The amino acids are more complete like the protein found in milk, eggs and meat, rather than those usually found in other plants such as soybeans.  They are, apparently, also more soluble than flax seed which is also a seed rich in omega-3 fatty acids.

Since I workout at least an hour, five to six days a week and the Vietnamese foods that I eat leave me feeling like I am not getting all of the protein I need, I usually eat a protein bar or drink a whey protein shake before or after I workout.  Since I work out at lunch, it also helps to keep the hunger pains away until after noon.

The thing is, protein bars and shakes just taste too good to be good for you... at least that is what I am thinking.  How can these bars and drinks taste like chocolate and sugar without having a lot of, well... chocolate and sugar in them?  That is why I just recently purchased a couple of bags of shelled hemp seed and hemp seed powder through Amazon.com.  These are all organic and from what I have tasted so far, taste really good!  I know this all sounds like someone hijacked my account and started ad placements, but I just wanted to get this out there so I can either confirm or refute the effectiveness of the hemp seed.

Other than that, the weather in Hanoi still sucks.

Some flowers and a relaxing evening

On the way home from work yesterday I stopped by the floral shop and bought Diep some flowers for Valentine's Day.  I always pay a lot more than she does for flowers because I am not the right color for the right price, but I think she appreciates the fact that I thought about her.  Fact is, I just got her a new phone the day before V-Day not even thinking a one-day delay could make me a bigger hero... sigh!  Anyway, I managed to talk her out of going out to dinner because, quite frankly, I would rather go out for a nice dinner on a different night.  All of the prices go up and the restaurants get crowded on Valentine's night.

Today everything is back to normal.  It feels like Monday still, but even with today being Tuesday, the weekend seems to be a million miles away right now.  I guess this is where I put my head down and bull through the rest of the week.  Grrr!

Disappointing Weekend Weather

The weather all during the week last week gave me hope that the weather would continue to be mild through to Spring and into the Summer.  Unfortunately, starting on Friday night the rain and cold front moved in.  Yesterday wasn't too bad, but it definitely wasn't what I was looking forward to after the great weather on Thursday and Friday.

Now I sit here in the house not even wanting to go outside.  I went to eat chicken phở this morning with Diep and got convinced today was not for me.  I came back and took a nap while listening to music in the bedroom.  Sleepy Sunday morning!

I believe today is the official last day of Tet (10 days).  That means the streets should clear up around the temples where people have been going to pray.  The Vietnamese definitely know how to pray!  They pray for money, happiness and success.  It must work too, because I see an awful lot of Mercedes, BMWs, Bentleys and Lexi (plural for Lexus) parked outside of the temples.

It really wouldn't surprise me if the weather cleared up on Monday. Maybe I should go to the temple and pray?!

Spring

The spring-like weather is holding out so far.  I haven't worn a jacket in a couple of days and my watch is starting to charge back up now.  I put on about six pounds in the week I took off for Tet, so I will be spending the next couple of weeks trying to take that off.

The wart on my foot looks like it finally fell off.  I am not sure if there is any residual wart that will come back in the future, but I will keep an eye out for it and start the treatments immediately if it looks like it is swelling again.  The Curad bandages were what finally did the trick, but I have to say that the garlic definitely was effective in reducing the wart and stopping the pain.

Diep isn't mad at me right now and Megan is staying out of trouble so I have no complaints on the home front.  I leave for Hue for a month-long job there in about three weeks.  Being away for a month means I have to pack extra carefully.  I have been gone for up to three weeks in the past and find myself missing a lot of the things I left at home.  This time I plan on taking my personal laptop and digital SLR to keep me busy between periods of work.

Lunar New Year Break

I went into the office on Monday, but since then I have been off.  Not much to do and not many places to go here in Hanoi.  I was looking forward to Tet because, traditionally, the roads are practically empty of cars and motorbikes.  I woke up on Wednesday, 2 February, and thought nothing would be different this year.  I was only partially right.

Apparently the vast majority of Hanoi slept in very late on the first day of Tet after celebrations past midnight the night before.  But, by 3pm traffic picked up and the roads were only slightly less traveled than a regular Wednesday at that time.  The second and third day of Tet wasn't much better.  People were anxious to get out and celebrate the much-improved weather.  As a matter of fact, today (third and last official day of Tet) the weather is cool and the sun is out.  It would appear that Tet this year did mark the beginning of Spring.  But, if this is true, it is the first time I ever saw it. Usually, the weather stays ugly for about another month or so before the beautiful Spring weather sets in.  For the record, the two best seasons of the year are Spring and Fall, but the best weather of these two seasons put together only counts for about a month out of the entire year.  The rest is either too hot, too cold, too wet or too gray!

Diep lifted her ban on riding pillion with me in the driver's seat.  The weather was too grand and I was just too damned good looking for her to continue her staunch resistance.  I have been extra careful not to swipe her against any cars, bikes or walls as she rides with me, however.

After this week off, I am anxious to get back to work. I will be going in one day earlier than the rest of the staff as Monday is the official last day off at the office... that is good for those who want to watch the Super Bowl.