Update Part One: Christmas and New Year

I'm finally back after two months travel, during which time I clearly abandoned my blog. Yikes. In the past two months I've been to Danang, Hoi An, Dong Hoi, Nha Trang, Ho Chi Minh City, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, and Sihanoukville (the latter three in Cambodia). Eight cities and two countries might not sound like a lot in two months, but I prefer slow travel. And I did some backtracking. And I took two short breaks at home in Nha Trang. But, now that I'm back in Nha Trang for good, I should get back to regularly updating this thing. So, without further ado, here's the first installment of an update of my past month and half.

Christmas in Da Lat
Key Words: Da Lat wine, Christmas miracles, and Ms Dung

Most of the other Fulbrighters and I met in Dalat to celebrate. We stayed at Dreams Hotel, which continues to hold the title of my favorite hotel in Vietnam (and now Cambodia). At $20 dollars a night for a double room and breakfast, the price is higher than average, but definitely worth the indulgence. The two locations of the hotel, located on the same street, are owned by the lovely and sweet Ms. Dung, who treats all of her guests like family. Breakfast is even served family-style in the kitchen. And breakfast is something you do not want to miss--eggs to order, fresh baguettes, butter, cheese, peanut butter, Da Lat strawberry jam, vegemite and marmite (yuck), piles and piles of fresh fruit, delicious coffee and homemade passionfruit juice, plus cold cuts for the carnivorously inclined. It's a true feast! On top of this, the rooms are lovely, the beds are comfortable, there's a sauna and steam room, and the showers are divine, with a million jet settings and even jets that come out of the wall. The second location of hotel has...wait for it...jacuzzi tubs.

We opted for the first location, though, so that we could stay at the hotel that Ms Dung herself staffs. She's one of the hotel's best features. On Christmas Eve, she held a big party for all of the guests, offering heaps of food and numerous bottles of wine. Perhaps out of a little homesickness, I offered to help prepare for the party; I wanted to feel like party of the family, getting everything ready for a big Christmas dinner. I ended up rolling a gillion spring rolls (that included pork. yuck!) down in the kitchen while Ms Dung's family and staff prepared the kebabs that would be grilled later. I didn't understand nearly any of the conversation but it felt so comforting to be in a kitchen, helping to prepare a meal.

The party was a huge success, and Ms Dung even ordered in special vegetarian food for me and the two other vegetarians in our group. By the end of the evening, my friends and I were all stuffed and significantly buzzed/slightly drunk. Attendant pictures are up on Picasa . We all retired to one of our hotel rooms, piled onto the beds, and played "Never Have I Ever." It was the most enlightening and bizarre Christmas Eve of my life. Definitely a far cry from my usual gnocchi-and-movie tradition with my mother!

On Christmas morning we all lingered at breakfast for a couple hours before going out into the city. Feeling like I needed some time to myself, I branched off from the group, found some taro bubble tea and wandered around alone for a couple hours. Maybe I needed a little reflection. To be honest, the week before Christmas was harder for me than any time since I've been here. I missed my family and friends, I missed Sam, I missed the cold weather and Christmas music and fires in the fire place and lights on houses. I missed all the little Christmas traditions that I had taken for granted. I'm not as rootless as I thought.

We all went out for a really nice Christmas dinner at Cafe de la Poste, a French restaurant associated with a five-star hotel in the city. A bit of a splurge, it was one of the best meals I've had here. And it was Christmas, so the splurge was excused.

My first Christmas away from home was thus as home-y as it could have been, with my friends and the gestures of Ms Dung at Dreams hotel. I was glad to have the holiday behind me, though, and get on with the festivities for New Year.


New Year/The Craziness That Went Down in HCMC
Key words: Beverages, balcony, dancing, beverages, robbery, dancing, Estonians, up-til-dawn, dancing

My time in HCMC was absolute madness in so many ways. After separating for a few days, most of the group met up again in HCMC for New Year. We started the party a little early, though. December 30th was Jahmila's birthday, which involved sushi, an Irish Pub, Go2 Bar, and further festivities on the balcony of our hotel. We met some Estonian guys who were staying across the hall from us, a new friendship that would turn out be be central to our New Year's experience in the big city.

Depsite our long night on Jahmila's birthday (some of us, myself included, were still up when the sun rose--this would be a common occurrence), we hit it hard again on New Year's Eve, of course. Our group and the Estonians gathered on the balcony, shared lots of toasts, and a little after 11 we transferred the party to a nearby park where there was a huge concert and celebration. Completely oblivious to the events on the stage, my new and old friends and I danced like crazy. Alone, with each other, with both the willing and reluctant Vietnamese spectators who were now watching us more than the concert. Danced danced danced. Karl, one of our new friends, spun me around like a pro while a circle of onlookers circled around us. Tom, another new friend, danced in a puddle. Apparently there was a video of this on my camera but...well....more on the camera later.

At midnight, Tom and Tom (there were two Estonians by the same name) opened bottles of champagne and sprayed them everywhere while I danced around the impromptu fountain and made sure to kiss all my new and old friends firmly on the lips. I get kissy after a couple drinks.

Getting us all to a club after the party on the park turned out to be nearly as difficult as creating peace in the Middle East. As soon as half of us would gather, the other half would disappear into the crowd again. Among other things, Jahmila realized she'd lost an earring and seemed willing to give her life to find it again. It took some harsh talking to to get her abandon the earring, as the girl gets, well, let's say determined when she drinks. Two taxis, a xe om, and probably an hour later, we all somehow managed to get to the club where, once again, I danced danced danced danced.

Walking home, though, I experienced a quite unfortunate event. I was robbed. A guy on a motorbike whizzed by and ripped my purse off my arm. Karl, my new dancing partner who was walking me home, tried to run after the guy but it was pointless. The thief was on a motorbike! At first, maybe from the shock, I adopted a rather Zen attitude about incident, yelling to Karl while he ran after the thief that it didn't matter, the bag was gone and there was nothing to do about it. My acceptance of the event yielded almost immediately, though, to a deep sense of loss. Perhaps this was once I realized exactly what I'd just lost: over $250 dollars in cash, my debit card, my camera (and all of the faaaabulous pictures from New Year's and Jahmila's birthday), my phone, the little ice cream cone cell phone charm that my sister gave me, my favorite wallet that I bought at the dollar store, all of the sentimental mementos I kept in my wallet, and the purse itself, which was new (but only $5). I thus sat down on the sidewalk and cried like a baby, while Karl put his arm around me and tried to shoo away the crowd of Vietnamese people who had gathered around to stare. (To be fair, some of them donated some napkins for me to blow my nose.)

Luckily I had stuffed a 50,000 dong note in my bra in case of an emergency (not to add to my cleavage). Some part of me seemed to know that I was going to be robbed. After he somehow managed to stop my crying, Karl hailed a cab and we returned to the hotel. I tried to pay for the cab with the last 50,000 dong to my name, but Karl, gentleman that he is, insisted on paying for the cab. He even let me use his mobile phone to call Sam in America, to ask him to cancel my bank cards. These kind gestures were in addition to the fact that his sandals broke while running after the thief. Yikes. Now shoe-less Karl wasn't the only great friend around. Becca loaned me 3 million dong so that I could, you know, eat. And get back to Nha Trang where I had a credit card that I could draw money on.

I stayed a few more days in HCMC and indulged in a few more nights out, including another night out at the whore-iffic Apocalypse Now Club (where we went for New Years). Becca, Jahmila and I had our own private dance party in the middle of the club, apparently. David said at one point he looked at us from across the room and we were just in the middle of the dance floor, our hands all up in the air dancing together with the biggest smiles on our faces. The Estonians left the following morning, and I woke (at 1 pm) to find flowers from Karl, who hoped to revive my spirits after the robbery. Mission accomplished.

I myself left soon, as well. After all the craziness, alcohol, poor eating and very little sleep, (not to mention loss of money), I needed a brief respite in Nha Trang before Sam would arrive in less than a week....

Coming Soon
Update Part Two: Sam's Visit and the Kingdom of Wonder