Diep takes advantage of every significant break Megan's school has for her to take off for Saigon. I get it, she is stuck in Hanoi away from her home town and wants to get back home. The only thing is, UNIS has several significant breaks throughout the year. Not only is there Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer Break, but there is also the Vietnamese Lunar New Year. That is a lot of breaks.
I get tired of traveling because of the job, but I try to join Diep and Megan in Saigon whenever I can. Especially now that it is so hard to use up all of my leave. This week of Spring Break worked out well for me so I will be headed down to Saigon tomorrow to link up with Diep and Megna who took off yesterday. I told Diep I wanted to go to Siem Reap, Cambodia, the location of Angkor Wat. Diep did the advance work on the bus ride and accommodations, so we will leave from Saigon for Siem Reap on Tuesday morning. I just have to get my game face on, because we have about a 10 hour drive from Saigon to Siem Reap and then return. Hopefully it will be worth it. At least I am bringing my camera so I will have to photos to prove I was there.
Megan applied for a summer hire job at the U.S. Embassy before she left on Saturday. There was a bit of pressure on her because we didn't get the announcement until Friday and she had to get the application in before 1 May. No big deal except she will be in Saigon studying for her SAT past 1 May. Lots going on for my little girl. Even if she doesn't get the job, I am proud of her for putting her cover sheet, resume and supporting documents together without any help from me. She did let me read it, and I was impressed with her letter writing skills.
Megan takes her SAT the day after we return from Saigon. I have my fingers crossed. We will see how much this high faluting school has done for her soon enough.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Vietnam - Laos Border Part II
My team got to A Luoi and we spent the night at Do Thanh Hotel. The hotel was new and clean, and a step up from the guest houses I have stayed in the area in the past.
On Monday morning we took off early for the vehicle dismount point, rucked up and took off. We walked for over three and a half hours before we had to turn around. We were within an hour from the border site and most of the hard part was done, but we reached a point where, if there had been a serious injury, we could not have gotten the victim out with the equipment we had. With no signal on our satellite phone and no way to get to an area to cut a helicopter landing zone, it was just impossible to mitigate the dangers.
It took just as long to work our way back to the vehicles. Even with a shortened hike, we walked a total of 14 kilometers over some pretty intense terrain. We spent a good portion of our hike walking in a streambed. The streambed was covered with slick limestone and cannonball sized rocks that were extremely hard to navigate through. To me, the stream bed was far worse than the mountain trails. With no less than forty pounds in gear per person on the U.S. side, it was extremely difficult to stay upright because we couldn't get any traction on the wet rocks. I fell no less than 10 times and I didn't have a monopoly on falling. Watching the burden-free Vietnamese lithely jumping from rock to rock, it was hard to keep our frustration in check.
I guess I found our limit that day. But, I feel better knowing it was a safety limit and not a physical limit. I find it extremely hard to prepare for these missions physicallly because I live in Hanoi where there are no hills. I did decide, however, that I need to change up my physical fitness routine adding more endurance leg work.
We were lucky in some aspects of our hike. The weather remained cool, but it didn't rain. And, I only got hit by one leech.
On Monday morning we took off early for the vehicle dismount point, rucked up and took off. We walked for over three and a half hours before we had to turn around. We were within an hour from the border site and most of the hard part was done, but we reached a point where, if there had been a serious injury, we could not have gotten the victim out with the equipment we had. With no signal on our satellite phone and no way to get to an area to cut a helicopter landing zone, it was just impossible to mitigate the dangers.
It took just as long to work our way back to the vehicles. Even with a shortened hike, we walked a total of 14 kilometers over some pretty intense terrain. We spent a good portion of our hike walking in a streambed. The streambed was covered with slick limestone and cannonball sized rocks that were extremely hard to navigate through. To me, the stream bed was far worse than the mountain trails. With no less than forty pounds in gear per person on the U.S. side, it was extremely difficult to stay upright because we couldn't get any traction on the wet rocks. I fell no less than 10 times and I didn't have a monopoly on falling. Watching the burden-free Vietnamese lithely jumping from rock to rock, it was hard to keep our frustration in check.
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| One of the many obstacles on our way to the site |
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| Taking a quick break at one of the waterfalls |
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| Skirting the side of a karst |
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| Taking a break along the streambed |
We were lucky in some aspects of our hike. The weather remained cool, but it didn't rain. And, I only got hit by one leech.
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Vietnam - Laos Border
Today, I am in Danang and later I will hit the road north heading to Hue and then Hwy 49 west to A Luoi District in Thua Thien Hue Province. There my team will stay overnight before we head to the field tomorrow.
A Luoi District encompasses the A Shau Valley and I will be heading to the extreme northwest point of A Luoi. As a matter of fact, advance information tells me that once I get out of the vehicle, I will be walking another four and a half hours to the site I will be surveying. It lies exactly on the Vietnam - Laos border. Good news is, it is only four hours back and the weather is cool. Bad news is, the weather forecast calls for light rain. My predication is lots of slips and lots of leeches. Hopefully we will get it all done in one day and be back. It is hard to believe that the 8-plus hours of walking will take me a horizontal distance of only about eight miles.
For a lot of reasons, I won't go into the specifics of the site I will be surveying. The importance of this activity for me is two-fold. Obviously, the mission is important to prepare a team to come in and recover the location in the future, but it is also important for me because this will be one of the longest and most difficult, single-day trips I will have been on. I am interested in finding my limits here and this work could very well take me close to or to that limit.
I got an opportunity to talk to someone in the know about this particular case and the story is very interesting. I hope things aren't so busy at the site that I can't take a minute to reflect on what happened there so many years ago and mentally recompose the events as they took place so long ago in such a forgotten place in this work.
Today is Sunday, I wish I was home with my wife and daughter. I can comfort myself by knowing I have both days off next weekend.
A Luoi District encompasses the A Shau Valley and I will be heading to the extreme northwest point of A Luoi. As a matter of fact, advance information tells me that once I get out of the vehicle, I will be walking another four and a half hours to the site I will be surveying. It lies exactly on the Vietnam - Laos border. Good news is, it is only four hours back and the weather is cool. Bad news is, the weather forecast calls for light rain. My predication is lots of slips and lots of leeches. Hopefully we will get it all done in one day and be back. It is hard to believe that the 8-plus hours of walking will take me a horizontal distance of only about eight miles.
For a lot of reasons, I won't go into the specifics of the site I will be surveying. The importance of this activity for me is two-fold. Obviously, the mission is important to prepare a team to come in and recover the location in the future, but it is also important for me because this will be one of the longest and most difficult, single-day trips I will have been on. I am interested in finding my limits here and this work could very well take me close to or to that limit.
I got an opportunity to talk to someone in the know about this particular case and the story is very interesting. I hope things aren't so busy at the site that I can't take a minute to reflect on what happened there so many years ago and mentally recompose the events as they took place so long ago in such a forgotten place in this work.
Today is Sunday, I wish I was home with my wife and daughter. I can comfort myself by knowing I have both days off next weekend.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Tax Time
Mom always said it, and she was right. I am a procrastinator. I guess she started to get suspicious when I would wait until the last weekend before a school project was due to sit down and write a 20 page paper and build my project. Forget about the fact that we had been given three months notice on the project... I just couldn't be bothered. I would like to attribute my procrastination to some higher level of cognizance on my part. Something like, "Why do this project, I could die in some unforeseen accident before it is due and then I would have wasted the few weeks I had left in this life on something that didn't matter!" Unfortunately, in all honesty, that isn't the reason. In all likelihood, it is for two reasons: 1) I am lazy, and 2) I am pretty good when put under pressure to get something done. Take it for what you will.
Anyway, I have a lot going on right now, and though I had planned on getting my taxes put out last weekend, it just didn't happen. That means I am getting it all together today... a Monday, and the first day of the last week I have to get my taxes in. I leave for the field on 13 April, so this is it. No biggie, really, TaxCut makes things easy and I don't expect any hiccups, though I will be writing a big fat check to Alabama and Washington for the savings bonds I cashed in. This, right before our furlough... if that ever happens. The feds have already started pushing back my furlough days.
Today is Monday and I took the day off. Mostly because I worked on Saturday and didn't need anymore comp time in the bank. Diep and I enjoyed the morning well enough (part of my procrastination plan). We dusted off one of the Yoga DVDs that I bought a couple of years ago, moved the furniture in the living room, rolled out our Yoga mats and did Yoga for about an hour. It went a lot better than I expected, though I was surprised how much strength it took to hold some of the poses, i.e. downward dog. I was also surprised at how tight I was in the shoulders. Our little session went so well, in fact, that I think we will try to do this three times a week.
After Yoga, we went downtown and ate Thai food. It was a pleasant morning. Diep stayed downtown while I came back to to what I had been putting off. I was waiting for the update to download so I thought I would get a quick post in. This is it. The download is complete. Wish me luck!
Anyway, I have a lot going on right now, and though I had planned on getting my taxes put out last weekend, it just didn't happen. That means I am getting it all together today... a Monday, and the first day of the last week I have to get my taxes in. I leave for the field on 13 April, so this is it. No biggie, really, TaxCut makes things easy and I don't expect any hiccups, though I will be writing a big fat check to Alabama and Washington for the savings bonds I cashed in. This, right before our furlough... if that ever happens. The feds have already started pushing back my furlough days.
Today is Monday and I took the day off. Mostly because I worked on Saturday and didn't need anymore comp time in the bank. Diep and I enjoyed the morning well enough (part of my procrastination plan). We dusted off one of the Yoga DVDs that I bought a couple of years ago, moved the furniture in the living room, rolled out our Yoga mats and did Yoga for about an hour. It went a lot better than I expected, though I was surprised how much strength it took to hold some of the poses, i.e. downward dog. I was also surprised at how tight I was in the shoulders. Our little session went so well, in fact, that I think we will try to do this three times a week.
After Yoga, we went downtown and ate Thai food. It was a pleasant morning. Diep stayed downtown while I came back to to what I had been putting off. I was waiting for the update to download so I thought I would get a quick post in. This is it. The download is complete. Wish me luck!
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