Reminders

Yesterday was an interesting day of travel.  It is hard to pick the right adjective to describe the day that we experienced. By no means was it a bad day. In reality, it was an amazing and eye opening day, albeit heartbreaking.  Perhaps the best description could be "eye opening."

Less than fifty years ago Cambodia was the victim of one of the worst genocides of the 20th century. In 1975 the Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia and immediately went to work in creating what they believed was a utopian classless society. Part of the Khmer Rouge's plan was to eliminate any and all aspects of society that may challenge their views. With that mandate, the Khmer Rouge regime systematically murdered three million Cambodians in about three years.

With this tragic history so relevant to modern day Cambodia, we took yesterday to visit some of the sights of remembrance. Words cannot describe the feelings that come across you as you stand in places where such terrible atrocities took place. Even though it is not the most uplifting experience, it is one that we will never forget and a day that will shape our lives for the better in the future.

Here we visited Choeung Ek, or more appropriately known as The Killing Fields.  This is the site where over 20,000 people were murdered and dumped in mass graves.  Today, it is a site of remembrance and education.  Heidi is setting up her audio tour at the start of the site.

This is one fence around a mass grave where over 100 women and babies remains were located.  It is called the "Killing Tree" for a large tree that was used to murder the babies and children. Today, Buddhist prayer bracelets have been placed along the fence by tourists and monks alike to show honor and respect to those whose lives were lost upon this "Killing Tree"

Today, this land looks calm and peaceful.  However, the land is still filled with the discarded remains of thousands of men, women, and children who spent their final hours being brutally murdered by their fellow countrymen.

Our next stop was to Tuol Sleng -- or S-21 -- an old school that was made into a detention and torture center during the Khmer Rouge regime.  Over 8,000 men, women and children came to this center between 1975 and 1979.

Once a place of education and respect, these classrooms were made into small cells and torture rooms.  The photos of all those who came and died here now line the walls.  Most people are just known by their numbers and have no names associated with them.

The feelings of death, loss, and brutality were palpable. 

Only 7 people survived S-21 and walked away from the regime.  There was no one spared -- from the elderly to the holy to little children and babies, the faces of those lost in this center were haunting.

Saigon --> Phnom Penh

Yesterday, we left on our last trip before heading home to the states for the summer.  Early in the morning we loaded onto a bus bound for Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  7 hours, 2 border crossings, and $10 later, we arrived in Phnom Penh.  We quickly set out in the heat of the day, exploring the city on foot.  This was a big mistake, big, HUGE!!  No one walks around PP.  Why?  Well maybe because it is about 100 and within 12 steps you are totally sweated through and your hair looks like you just stepped out of the shower.  We quickly realized why everyone else was riding along the streets in a tuk-tuk and made many mental notes to do the same for the rest of our time in this city. 

Despite the heat (and the grumpy Heidi that came along with it), we made good use of our first afternoon in the city.  We saw palaces, wats, monks, and Buddhas.  We drank coffees in tuk-tuks, beers on the river, and draft beer at Khmer BBQ joints.  We met some locals and were blown away by the kindness of the Khmer people.  All in all, we are ready to keep exploring and seeing more of what PP has to offer.

Heidi in the no man's land part of the border.

Adam thought that he could get himself to Phnom Pehn faster if he drove himself.

The Royal Palace was royally hot, but also royally beautiful.

Monks out for a afternoon stroll.

Even though there were plenty of places offering good happy hours we made our own on the banks of the river.

Last Sunday?

Today might have been our last Sunday in Saigon.  If all goes as hoped and our school comes through with our last paycheck, we just spent our final Sunday in HCMC.  We only have a few weeks left which will be spent traveling before (fingers crossed) getting on a plane soon to fly back to the states.  To fully enjoy this day in the city, we did many fun and exciting things.  Okay, not so much.  We did many normal and routine things that we have done many times in this crazy city.  However, we enjoyed them all despite being quite nostalgic for the year that has seemed to fly by.

Typical:  We went for delightful coffees.  The plot twist:  We tried out a new cafe.

Typical:  We spent some quality time posted up in this really quite, peaceful spot.  The plot twist: Heidi made many "to do" lists for packing, moving, and this summer instead of reading.

Typical:  We went to "our" spa and then out for a great Korean lunch.  The plot twist:  Heidi broke out of the massage or facial rut and got her first manicure at the spa.

Typical:  After his spa treatment (haircut), Adam was famished.  The plot twist:  Adam ordered a new dish of Korean food and DID NOT enjoy a lunch beer!

Typical:  We came home to do some chores and get ready for the week.  The plot twist:  Adam threw away his "school spirit shirt" and man ... did it feel good to take the first step towards purging this school from our life!

Congrats, Grads!

The school year is finished!!  The last few days have been a hubub of activity, goodbyes, classroom cleaning, and grading.  Today marked the official last day for students as it was graduation day.  Now, graduation looks a little different in Vietnam than is does in the good ol' U.S.of.A.  First of all, the ceremony is not held at some lousy high school stadium but rather in the most fancy venue of all of HCMC -- the Opera House.  Second, not only do the seniors walk across the stage, but so do the grade 5 students (in full on regalia) to celebrate their transition to middle school.  Also, the ceremony is not a well timed and abbreviated but is rather chaotic with everyone from parents to students to government officials to past graduates giving speeches and providing "words of wisdom."  Yes, we got to spend 4.5 hours of our Saturday morning celebrating the accomplishments of students and wondering, "when the heck will we get lunch!"

No, no.  The teachers are not graduating but we were still required to wear a cap and gown.

Grade 5 graduates on the steps of the opera house.  No expenses were spared for graduation (wish we could say the same about the rest of the school year)!

Ms. Thuy, Mike (Minh) and Ms. Heidi.  A happy trio.

Luna and Mr. Adam posing for the camera.  This graduate will be heading to school in London now.

The elementary teachers lined up in their black robes, waiting in the hot Vietnamese sun for the show to start.  We did not smell too hot for our processional in.

Adam and Bethany after Beth got her "scholarship" for the next academic year.  She makes it rain VND.

Yes we are smiling but all we were thinking was "4.5 hours of our life - GONE!"  We made ourselves feel better with rice lunches and beer.

Celebrations

Those who know us best are very aware of our love for a "celebratory cocktail."  We love to celebrate every momentous occasion and have even been known to celebrate some more mundane things.  Moving abroad did not stop our love of toasting with a nice gin & tonic in hand.  We made it through another week of work -- celebratory cocktail.  We ran 12 miles in 98 degree weather -- celebratory cocktail.  We did not get the trots after eating street meat -- celebratory cocktail!!

Lately, we have had a lot of fun "celebratory" occasions happening in our families.  Despite being thousands of miles away, we still join in the festivities (whether they are being celebrated at home or not) by making a nice drink and saying a little cheers in honor of those we love the most.  Don't think that it is just some catch-phrase we use.  No ... when we say, "We will have a celebratory cocktail in your honor" then by-god, there will be one in your honor!

When sisters get new jobs -- we celebrate!

When nieces have their first birthday and little brothers pass the quarter century mark -- it's a celebration.

And when sisters (and nieces) say "yes" to adding someone into their family (Ryan) -- we CELEBRATE!

Siesta

We have a love-hate relationship with one very Vietnamese daily routine -- nap time!!  Every afternoon, right after lunch, it seems that every Vietnamese national closes up shop, quits working, stops studying, or whatever else they might have been doing, to enjoy a nice long nap.  We understand that a full belly of rice and the extreme heat are the perfect nap-inducing combination.  However, it can be a little frustrating when you need some service between the hours of 11 am and 1 pm and no one is awake to help you out!

We are continually amazed by where people rest -- on floors, in the undercarriage of buses, on mopeds, and in hammocks strung from re-bar on the construction site -- there is ALWAYS a good place to sleep.  In fact, the only ones who are considered crazy are those expats who refuse to partake in one of Vietnam's favorite pastimes!

This cyclo driver even added a board to his cart to help him rest a little more soundly!

Rounding

Every week, we go to the market to purchase our fruits and veggies for the week.  Whenever we get home, we become excited to see what "extras" our market friends have thrown in for us.  Sometimes we open the bag to find green onions.  Sometimes it is cilantro.  Other times, handfuls of little, spicy red peppers.  We have always smiled and laughed about how they must think our cooking is extra bland and boring and they are doing their part to help us develop a more flavorful palate.

Well, imagine our surprise when just a few weeks ago we learned the truth.  These additions were not well-intentioned freebies.  Rather, they are thrown in to round a market bill up to the nearest thousand (as is the smallest denomination in Vietnamese dong).  We were not getting some extra help but rather simply helping our market man do easier math.

Our collection of "free" mini peppers has grown over the past few weeks and can now fill a Tupperware container. 

The gift from our market means we are making everything extra spicy.  This means that our booties be burnin'!

Blue Ribbon

Adam claims to have found, "the best sandwich in the world."  A big statement ... we know, but this sandwich can live up to the hype.  This sandwich is so delicious that we literally count down till the weekends when we can make the drive and pony up the $1.50 to enjoy this little slice of heaven on earth.

Fresh pickled veggies, onions two ways, pate, and fresh sliced pork, donor kebab style all on a crunchy-yet-fluffy baguette.  Amen and hallelujah!

Falling Prices

How much does this cost? 40,000 Dong? 30,000 Dong? 20,000 Dong? All of the above. 

A funny thing happens in Vietnam. When we first go to a new food stall, or veggie stand, or roadside fruit vendor (or any place that does not post prices), we inevitably get ripped off some. This mark up in price is what we call the "white price." If we were able to speak Vietnamese better than we do we could certainly talk to the merchant and tell them that we are well aware that they are over charging us. Unfortunately, our Vietnamese vocab is still on par with that of a six month old baby. Luckily, there is a way around the white price. All you have have to do is continue to go back to the place that overcharged you and you will see the prices drop.

This morning we swung by a noodle shop close to our house for breakfast. We have been to this place a couple of times and really enjoy it. We like it even more because we feel that it is very cheap but high quality. Every time that we have visited this noodle stand the price of our meal (and we get the same thing every time) has dropped by 50 cents. We thought that we were getting a great deal the first time we ate there but our customer loyalty and getting overcharged in the past is is now paying us back. Today we paid the same price as the Vietnamese couple next to us. Victory.

Cash Cab Asia

We loved to watch the TV show Cash Cab back in the States. How could you not like 30 minutes of television based solely off of random trivia? Well, good news for us, there is also Cash Cab Asia which takes place in Singapore. So while we were in Singapore last weekend we were on the hunt for the Cash Cab. Now granted we never took cabs because they were too expensive, but by God we would have flagged down the Cash Cab in a second. To keep us on our game we practiced our trivia over our entire trip. "Quick, name all of The Backstreet Boys in alphabetical order...GO". In the end we did not find the Cash Cab. I think that with our travel budget we should look of the "Cash Subway".

Filth

Just yesterday, we posted about the amazing city-state that is Singapore.  It was flawless -- clean, quiet, polite, beautiful, and green.  Really, it seemed to almost be the most perfect place on earth.  Ironic, then, that in this most beautiful locale, we also experienced one of the lowest-of-lows that we have ever come across in our lives and it looked a lot like public toilets!

Yes, these public toilets we chose to use were the most disgusting, dirty, stomach-churning, toilets that we had ever experienced.  We want to spare you from the nightmares we have been having but here are a few words that might get the idea across:  hair clumps, wet floors, female troughs, rat poo, no TP, and do-do smears.  Sorry Singapore, but this bathroom stinks!

Walking toward the public toilets.  It was quiet and eerie even then.  Maybe it should have been a sign.

The doorway to hell.  (Please note the man sitting outside collecting money to use the facilities.  We are glad he did not try to take our money for there might have been an uprising).  We were so upset after this encounter, we had to go drink a beer!

Latitude 1

After work on Friday, we hopped a cab and jumped on a plane to Singapore.  We only had about 36 hours total in the Lion City so we had big plans to make the most of every minute.  Those plans were promptly discarded as we realized that you don't run Singapore -- Singapore runs you. 

The island at latitude one is such a different pace of life than HCMC.  Instead of motorbikes and rickshaws crowding the roads, Ferraris and Bentleys take over.  Instead of street stalls selling food for 40 cents a plate, westernized restaurants dominate with $18 appetizers and $12 beers.  And, instead of women heading out in their best matching pajama sets, women head out in $2,000 dresses and $800 heels.  Despite all these things, we managed to travel in a style that was authentic to who we are.  We walked the city, enjoyed Hawker food, saw beautiful sites, met some awesome locals, and sweated more than we ever have in HCMC.  Yes, life at latitude 1 was a fun experience ... one we hope we can repeat again in the near future.

We were glad that our breakfast buffet at the hotel was free because the hotel itself cost almost as much as a down-payment on a house!

We stayed in the Colonial district with a ton of original buildings from the time when Singapore was a British colony.  This museum used to be a home for boys.  Adam wished he had lived in a home like this building.

We walked through Fort Canning Park named after a Brit named Canning.  Half the island seems to be named for him.  The park was beautiful, green, and ridiculously humid.

Heidi was nervous about this cannon being aimed at modern buildings at the bottom of the hill.  Good thing there was a sign stating it was "only for decoration."

One of the coolest finds of the day was that we stumbled into the Singapore Civil Defense (Firefighters and EMT's) free open houses.  We were so excited to play on all the equipment.  Us and the 25 kids under the age of 5 who were also there.

Adam decided that being a firefighter was nothing like his PlayMobile toys made it out to be.

On our walk around the city, we came across another awesome building (the old Police Station) where the over 900 window shutters were painted vibrant colors.

At the river esplanade we marveled at the clean water that did not smell like raw sewer.  Magical.

Then this guy showed up ...

After walking for hours, we found some hawker stalls where we got big bowls of pork-wonton soup and beer for about $5 each.  A true bargin.  (Note:  Heidi was too hungry to have her picture taken!)

We spent some quality time in this H&M where, gasp, we were yelled at for bringing coffee inside.  That is a $500 fine in this country.  We got over our grumpiness and still purchased some much needed clothes.

Adam enjoyed the spice exhibit at the National Museum.  It was free to go on Saturdays from 6-8 pm and for some reason, we were the ONLY people there.  Weird.  Like other people have something better to do than check out a museum on Saturday night.

We went to Chinatown Hawker stalls for dinner.  Adam with his two Baos -- pork and yam.  Delicious.

Where our delicious dinner came from.  Here we got Singapore fried noodles -- a common staple across SE Asia but these ones were actually from Singapore.  Amazing.

Don't try to take away his noodles.

Heidi's dinner choice included a HUGE plate of spicy, spicy stir fried bean sprouts.  Thank you, Singapore!