Seafood - Nguyen Canh Chan Market

Bananas on My Street - Nguyen Canh Chan

Another Lewis photo~

This is Hoi An

Another Lewis photo~

Devon's Turn

What a trip. Before this trip, I didn't know what to expect. Now, after the completion of the trip, I have realized that it is nearly inevitable to not know what all to expect on such a trip.

Whew.

This trip included a few firsts for me. To begin, I have never been off the continent of North America. It feels strange to say that I have flown over the Pacific Ocean. We did a lot of travel within Vietnam too; I don't know that I've ever visited that many different cities in one month. HCMC, Nha Trang, Ha Noi, Ha Long Bay, and Hoi An were all the cities we visited, that's five different cities in one month. That's a lot. At least to me.

HCMC was arguably the most exciting of the visited cities. Our time in HCMC started out with a taxi ride which marked our first experience with the roads of Nam. I still remember passing on the left with oncoming traffic. I have not forgotten that thrill.

And that first taxi ride was only the beginning.

Another first for me was attending a middle-school. I was home-schooled throughout my middle-school years, so I never did attend a middle-school here in the States. I find it odd stating that my first middle-school experience took place thousands of miles away from anyplace I have ever lived. My day at middle-school was... notable. Perhaps that is an understatement with my barfing in the cafeteria and later kinda-sorta unofficially getting asked to an official dance. Text fails to give a good reflection here. So, I'll move on.

Sleeper-buses were new to me. I really like my bed here at home, but sleeping on a bed on a bus was a neat experience. The aspect of falling asleep at the place of my departure and waking up at the place of my destination was sublimely a really cool deal.

Now I know this doesn't really have anything to do with Nam, but at one point on that sleeper-bus my left foot fell asleep so heavily that I practically couldn't move my foot. I tried to move my foot at the ankle, but it wouldn't. It felt really weird trying to walk when the muscles of one ankle wouldn't work...

Anyway, back to the subject at hand--

Nam, in general, has good food. That was a good experience, all the tasty food. It seemed that in any direction there was tasty food calling to be consumed, "Devon, Devon!" it would cry. A particularly tasty treat Marjie had in her neighborhood was fresh pineapple. I never quite understood why my Dad liked pineapple so much, but I think I do now. Tasting that amazing slice of happiness was like all the cares of the world melting away. Okay, okay, not like that. But really, that pineapple was one of the most delicious foods of the entire trip. No joke.

The weather of Nam was quite different from here at home as well. The continuing warmth of HCMC was something that I am not well acquainted with here in the Seattle area. How is that? I will say that I now have a better appreciation for milkshakes. =)

All of Nam was so much more than these words, but these are a few samples. I hope the readers have enjoyed my blogging.

And I want to thank my Aunt for her enabling my family to take this amazing trip to Nam. It has been a great experience, one that I will certainly not soon forget. Thank you very much, Aunt Marjie.

This is Devon Griggs, over and out.

Lewis' Eye

Lewis took some really good pictures while he was here, so every once in a while I am going to feature one of them...

Reflections on our trip by Carol.

For months we looked forward to our trip to Vietnam. Well, we're back and it seems like a dream -- a very, very good dream, however. Marjie took her best experiences from living there for 1 1/2 years and consolidated them into a very full and complete 3 1/2 weeks of adventures for us.

We experienced the motorbike madness of Ho Chi Minh City; enjoyed meeting Marjie's roommates, Katherine and Franco, and her good friends, Thuy and Thanh; sailed a junk on beautiful Halong Bay where we stayed in huts with attached full bathrooms on Monkey Island; visited cultural museums in Hanoi; stayed in two resort towns, Nha Trang and Hoi An, where we soaked up the sun on the beaches and swam in warm ocean water; had clothes and shoes made; visited Marjie's school and met many of her students; shopped in her neighborhood market; and ate many, many meals of delicious Vietnamese food. It was all wonderful, but I think my favorite was her neighborhood which I am going to write about next.

We stayed in a hotel about a five minute walk from the "castle." It wasn't a fancy hotel, but it had air conditioned rooms, tiled bathrooms, a refrigerator and TV, comfortable beds, and was very clean. The cost was $11.00 per night. Leaving the hotel we could walk down the street and purchase a dish of spring rolls and fried noodles, a bowl of pho', rice cakes, rice and chicken, or any number of dishes and drinks at the stands along the side of the street. Turning a corner and walking down an alley brought us to the morning market. There we could buy anything we desired from individual vendors. Along one side might be fresh fish, rice noodles, a stand selling pho', underwear, kitchen utensils, cosmetics, Thuy and Thanh's fabric stand, bananas and other fruit. The other side might be beef, grains, fresh rolls, children's clothing, toys, and a stand selling cooked clams and scallops on the half shell. The market opened at 6:00 and closed at 1:00; it was very crowded with people doing their shopping for the day. Then for two hours the streets became fairly empty as many people rested during the hot part of the day. Because it is so warm there, many of the homes are open to the outside. The living area of homes include the street in front of the homes, where you see many people relaxing, visiting, and children playing. It is noisy, friendly, crowded, and inviting, and makes me realize that we in America live in a very isolated, sanitized environment.

One day I asked Thuy if she would teach me to cook pho'. She agreed and we met the next morning to purchase the ingredients. At the first stand we bought the spices, the next we bought the rice noodles, then the beef, the herbs, the bean sprouts, and the sauces. That evening we cooked at Marjie's. She showed me what to do telling me to "taste and think" about the flavor throughout the cooking until I got it right. The pho' that night was delicious; hopefully I can replicate it here.

We couldn't have asked for a more unique, eventful, or wonderful time. We loved Vietnam; it is easy to know why Marjie decided to stay for another year. Thank you, Marjie, you were an excellent tour guide!

Same Old, Same Old- Happy New Year!

I was reading Facebook updates Tuesday night and many people were commenting that it was nice to "get back into routine." I felt the same way. Getting on my motorbike and riding to school against traffic on the sidewalk felt so great!!

We sure had fun, but I don't feel very rested after this vacation and plan to do only that and gym stuff all weekend long.

I have asked my family - who is now back in the (much colder) greater Seattle area - to write reflective blogs sometime this weekend. They are busy sleeping off their jet lag, though, so we will see if that happens.

I am wondering, specifically, what part of Vietnam they would take home with them, if they could. (As well as what they would leave here. Which is obvious to me but maybe not to you.)

I don't even know where to begin to tell the stories of our three weeks together traveling through Northern and Central Vietnam, or how great it was for me to see my family become addicted to T and T, my seamstresses, my pomelo guy, rice cake ladies, spring roll lady, make-up lady, wonton soup cart guy, seafood alley people, yellow rice stand crew, the Bum Bum girls, etc, etc, etc... However, one morning in particular - I think it was Christmas Eve morning - all seven of them ran around collecting food for a few hours, and we used the castle as a Home Base Reporting Center for Neighborhood Eating. That was fun.

As for pictures, we have millions of them. But here is one of my favorites - Nolan and his new shorts with the neon green stripe - THE SHORTS THAT TOOK A VILLAGE TO MAKE. Remember, Thuy rode all over Saigon looking for the color he wanted and Sweet Seamstress really got a kick out of his design expectations. And here they are, on the flesh. Nolan was very very happy with those as well as his green and red checkered shorts and his designer shoes from Hoi An!

Ok, family, I am taking more time off. You tell a story - or whatever. It was so much fun to have you here.