Ok, it’s been a few days, but I promised to get back to my journal entries from Vietnam….
Days 4 & 5
It’s 4:45 am and my roommate, Dr. Bob Garrett, and I are wide awake. We both went to bed way too early. I went upstairs to go read and get some coffee but there’s not a single light on or even a front receptionist! So, I’m back in my room, listening to the rooster outside my window, the dog barking, and wondering how my life back in the States got so complicated. Everything is 
simple here. You work, you play, you laugh and don’t worry about terrorist attacks, mortgages, or car payments. The people who live here are like family. They live with one another, work with one another, and their community is their life.
In the U.S. we have neighbors who we don’t even know, but here it’s different (at least in Sapa).
Today we are going to go to Catholic Mass in a church that who knows how old it is. It looks hundreds of years old, but I’m sure it’s not that old. I have never been to Mass before so this is going to be interesting.
We hiked to these waterfalls called Cat-cat (unsure of spelling… but that’s how it sounds). It was a brutal hike but worth it. It made me so sad how much litter was down there. I never realized how mad that kind of stuff makes me.
On the way back I was so tired that I caught a motorbike back to Sapa. My driver "B" told me that he was a good, slow, easy driver… so I told him I wanted someone else. He said, "No, no! I drive fast!" Once we got moving I encouraged him to pick up speed… he complied and we had a blast! I so want a moped when I get back!
(Day 5)
The morning fog here is unreal! It is incredibly dense and cold. Here in Sapa we are within spitting distance of China. The mountains here are gorgeous! Unfortunately, because of the fog you have to catch brief glimpses of them and burn the image into your memory before you lose it.
We made a friend in our hotel manager. His name is Dat. He went out to eat with us last night and then joined us for a short game of Phase 10. He loves that game! We also met Moo, a 19 year-old friend of NorthWood’s who was our guide. She was a blast!
In the village we were in yesterday we met a 13 year-old girl who is an aspiring tour guide like Moo. Her name was Lao Mai. Her english was better than ours. She was so funny! She kept calling Donnie a "lady boy" because of his earrings.
My village guide was named San Mai. She has had a rough life, like everyone in the village because she looked like she was 60-ish but she’s only 38. She showed me where everyone lived, told me how many people were in her village (2,500) and showed me their school. Th ename of this people group is Red Dao (pronounced "za-ow"). At the very end of theri village is a cave that is 50 km long that comes out in China. The Red Dao would hide there when the French would attack several hundred years ago. The very interesting part is they said they would hide from the Americans during the vietnam war… that is interesting because the U.S. denies EVER being in N. Vietnam… interesting indeed.
At our church last night we had a baptism service where we baptized 50 people! It was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen! After the baptism service we had communion… the first one for 50 people. It was very cool.
I promise that I’ll post more of my Vietnam journal entries soon. I’m playing catch-up with work and school… I’m barely treading water. I’m going to need a hand before my head gets complete submerged.
Check out my Vietnam pics I just posted.
Just a short pause to mention the theme change of the website. In honor of my recent adventure in Vietnam, I have temporarily changed the "theme" to a bamboo-looking, Vietnamese-feeling theme. Enjoy.
After a long day of touring Hanoi, we boarded a train to go for an 8 hour ride north to Sa Pa. The train was filthy with only a squatty potty for a toilet (squatty potty + moving train = no good whatsoever!). Our beds had short hairs all over them so I just bundled up in clothes to ride out the night.
When we arrived in Lao Cai, we boarded a very crowded bus to ride for one more hour up a mountain. We were like canned sardines, and the driver was a madman with a lead foot!
We went and toured Sa Pa on foot where I gave in and bought two purses for Bryce and Kyla. The street vendors here are ruthless, but very sweet. They do not give up and they trick you into telling them your name (or the names of your companions, which turned into a game for us. We’d "sick" the sales girls on our friends… good times) and they never forgot them! Matt Allen (one of the interns) told them my name is Booby. So that is what I shall forever be known as in Sa Pa, Vietnam.
I just cleaned up and we’re about to go hike the mountains. This reminds me of Ouray or Silverton (only with an Asian flair). The women of Sa Pa are less vein than the women of Hanoi. Very traditional, non-western here in Sa Pa while Hanoi feels more western.
It’s cold right now and very foggy. It’s dense like San Francisco fog! You can cut it with a knife.
*side note not in journal: The train we took to and from Sa Pa we deemed the "P.O.W Train" because of the bars on the windows (which was for our protection because of the stops we made during the night (kept people from jumping through the windows to hitch a ride). We were never in any danger, but the train accommodations were an eye-opening experience. Also, Sa Pa is very quickly becoming a world-wide tourist destination because of it’s beauty and because the tallest mountain in S.E. Asia is there, Pan Si Pan. When the locals say that name it sounds like they are saying "fancy pants". The hotel we stayed in "The Royal View Hotel" was a beautiful place but because Sa Pa is still in a rapid development stage the water for showers was very finicky. You were never sure if you were going to freeze or get scalded. And they had no heat and it was cold, so what they would do is while we were hanging out in the lobby (we taught the staff to play Phase 10 which they absolutely LOVED) they would start a fire in a hooded, moveable pit and bring it in and sit it next to us. They had a trick to keep the smoke down though. They would put water in a soda can and the steam from the can would keep the smoke from rising… a trick that any true Coloradan who camps in a cabin already knew. But the Texans were just dumb-founded by this.
Over the next week or so I will be re-writing my journal entries from Vietnam here. Like I said in my last post, it was so hard to get all my feelings down on paper.
Day One; March 6th… or 7th, I’m not too sure
Our flight from DFW to Seattle was supposed to have left at 8:55pm central time. We actually left the airport at 9:40pm. At DFW they told us that our bags could only make it to Taipei because our layover was not long enough to make the transfer. Once we arrived in Seattle though, Bob Roberts worked his magic and fixed the problem… we hope. *side note: The reason we were delayed was becasue the computer on the plane crashed… two words you don’t want to hear on a flight.
Anyhow, it is currently 12:17pm central standard time, and 3:17am where we are right now which is somewhere over northern Japan. I think I’m flying over TJ (my brother-in-law) right now. It has been dark since we left… it’s messing me up big time! So let’s see, we’ve been in the air for almost 15 hours and I have yet to see daylight. This is going to be hard.
They just made an announcement that there is a sick passenger on board and they need a Dr. or a nurse. This is going to sound bad, but I hope they make it all the way to Taipei so we don’t miss our next flight.
This part is not in my journal, we never found out who was sick or what was wrong and apparently it wasn’t too bad because it didn’t mess anything up.
WOW! What an amazing experience! I can’t believe I’ve gone almost 31 years not knowing what the rest of the world is like. We here in America really live a sheltered life. Here’s a perfect example, while in Hanoi we’d watch CNN and watch news about Zimbabwe, Asia, Europe, some N. America, and S. America and guess what the first thing I saw on CNN when de-planing in Dallas. Anna Nicole Smith on CNN. It’s no wonder the rest of the world thinks we’re uncultured and narrow-minded! I went for almost two full weeks of no Anna Nicole Smith, no Brangelina, no Hollywood who’s-doing-what-to-whom, and never missed it for a second! Stupid, fat Americans indeed. But you know what? God bless the American FDA. That’s right. I said it. The Food & Drug Administration gets my kudos for making it safe for me to drink the water, enjoy lettuce on my hamburgers (that is made from cows, not who-knows-what), and cleanliness issues in general.
Ok, my political views put aside for a moment, give me a few days to contemplate and re-orient myself to Central Standard Time and I’ll post some pics and my journal entries from the trip. I journaled every day that I was there, but we did so much and saw so much that it was hard to get my feelings and observations all down on paper. The Vietnamese people (and Asians in general) are the most beautiful people on earth. The Vietnamese were so hospitable (other than some disgruntled tribal street sales ladies who wouldn’t bargain or would bargain but would get the short end of the stick). I have so much to write and so much to do (I have TONS of homework to catch up on and TONS of appointments for work to catch up with… pray for me).
One quick funny story. Upon de-planing in San Francisco, I went through customs and the lady at the desk told me, "Welcome home, sir." To which I responded, "It’s good to hear an English speaking customs agent." She giggled and said, "I bet." Then, she turned to answer her phone… in spanish. I said under my breath, "Welcome home indeed." I never thought I’d be so glad to hear our bi-lingual nation!
Man, my head feels like some redneck parked his pickup on top of it!
Some Vietnam things: I’m not going to be able to do my plan of doing daily updates on this site from Vietnam because it’s too risky to take my laptop with me (which stinks because I need to do some papers while I’m gone). What I am going to do is take my paper journal and re-write my entries when I get back. I’m going to make a special journal section for this trip. I also cannot take my nice Canon EOS Rebel EXT (nice camera!). So I’m going to load up on disposable cameras and turn them into digital pictures once I get back. I’ll post all pics when I get back.
If you can’t tell, I have not given up hope on going to Vietnam yet. I’m bound and determined to get better before my flight leaves Tuesday night. Here’s my theory on why I feel the way I do: I got a typhoid shot and a hepatitis A shot the other day that makes my immune system work overtime on fighting those things so I caught the mother of all colds. Makes sense to me. Pray. Pray hard. While I’m on dayquil I do ok (it’s how I’m coherent enough to type right now), but if I don’t take meds I’m pretty much passed out on the couch (Rennee’s asleep in bed ‘cause she worked last night). I thank God that none of the girls seem to be getting sick. I pray they don’t. That would be horrible for poor Rennee while I’m not home.
This is just my luck. 3 days until I take my very first trip out of N. America, and I am the sickest I’ve been in years! Dayquil isn’t even making a dent in it. It gives me the ability to watch the kids (Rennee got called in to work lastnight), but that’s about it. After a few minutes of the twins, my body is screaming for an 8-hour nap. Pray for me. I have to get better before Tuesday. There’s no way that I’m going to be left behind on this trip!
On another note, tomorrow night is the premier of the documentary of The Lost Tomb of Jesus on the Discovery Channel. Of course it was discounted 27 years ago, but someone is bringing it back into the spotlight. Of course it’s not true, but Newsweek is going to be running an article about it the week of Easter, Time Magazine is rumored to be running a story on it, all the morning shows are eating this up, and it’s very public already. As believers it is our duty to watch it so that we know how to respond to the mass criticism that is going to follow behind.
SELAH JAN VAUGHN!!!!
The world was blessed with yet another Vaughn girl on Tuesday, February 27, 2007! My brother, Tony and his wife Dani had Selah Jan Vaughn. This is their second child (two girls… alas, the Vaughn boys can’t seem to crank out a boy to save their lives). Congrats guys! We love you and she’s beautiful! Can’t wait to meet her face-to-face.
I’ll post a pic of her soon… can I, can I, can I, Dani????!!!