Ah...you just have to go for it, the motorbikes weave around you - most of the time!
Jim and Judy at Jim's "farewell dinner"....
Dessert for Jim's "last supper"...
Dragon for 2012 - the year of the Dragon, and 1952, and the Dragon Hotel!
Waiting for Simser.....
Photographing the orchids at the Botanical Garden.
Topiary fun!
They are looking at a relative of Addison the cat. We have better pictures!
Jim at the Museum of History - elephant tusks!
The Independence Palace, Saigon - The Reunification Palace.
Jim looks serious about this helicopter on the roof.
Who's the guy in the dark glasses?
Busses, bikes, motorbikes all swirl around us as we make our way to the palace.
What we see on the sidewalk....
Vietnam House is a great restaurant for lunch. Nice and cool on a hot hot day in Saigon!
Jim takes some Chinese kale sautéed in garlic.
Vietnamese pancake.
Such a quiet spot for a delicious lunch.
flowers at the market
Dragon fruit and watermelon
Ba Na Na Nah!
Jim buys a paint brush.
Jim makes a nice friend at the market.
It is very warm and overwhelming at the market today.
Jim crosses the street. See the old market and the tallest building in Saigon behind it?
Up every morning at 6 or 6:30, we can sleep this time except this is the only morning we receive a ‘wake up’ call at 6:30! We are staying in the Hoang Hai Long Hotel. That’s funny, we never asked for a ‘wake up’ call.
Later in the day, we find out Judy Simser asked for one and we being in 904 and she being in 1004 got her call! She asked for the call but never got it! Ha ha!
Judy has graciously agreed to run the Saturday Parent Meeting with Paige. That gives us a day free! It is Jim’s last day in Vietnam. He must return to work on Monday. It takes over 36 hours to travel home! He is flying via Tokyo.
Jim & I enjoy a leisurely morning. Jim has to pack because he is leaving this evening. Breakfast at 9:15 really does taste more delicious than at 7 or 7:30. Today we have corn fried rice, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, homemade yogurt over papaya, a veggie omelet, and coffee.
We have a day in Saigon ‘without a plan’. We start walking toward the market. We admire all the fruit and flowers. We bargain a bit with market sellers trying to get good deals on t-shirts, scarves, and trinkets. Jim has fun with a lady selling necklaces who ends up giving us a good deal about half of what she originally wanted which is just double what everything is really worth and then she begs Jim for one American dollar which he, of course, gives her. We go out of the market, onto the street, and then back into the market in the next doorway looking for a deal on t-shirts only to discover that THAT same lady was on this side, too. We laugh and laugh. She knows a lot of English. She says she learns it just from selling things to people, never went to school. Bantering with her is fun. However, this is her job and our fun. That does seem a little crazy, but crazy fun. We make some good purchases for her and for us.
We meande down the wide sidewalks. It is a HOT day. We drink plenty of water as we go. It is nice to step into the fancier airconditioned shops!
We find our way to the Vietnam House for lunch (air conditioned!). Jim spies a delicious dish on the table next to us. We ask the people what it is; Vietnamese pancake. We order a vegetarian one – yum! This is a kind of crepe. See photo. The rice flour with little bits of corn is so light and tasty. Filled with mushrooms and bean sprouts we savor every bite. Also try Chinese kale sautéed with garlic and love it! All of this we wash down with a bottle of Perrier. When the bill comes and is about $15 US dollars, we say; “Nice!”
Back into the heat, we walk over to see the old Post Office, the cathedral, and then down to the Independence Palace. Knowing all we know about the “Vietnam era”, this is a bit weird especially when we see the helicopter on the roof. We know this is where the South Vietnam leader surrendered to the Viet Cong in 1975. We saw the room where Nguyen Van Thieu sat and waited for the transfer of power, only to be told that; “He can’t transfer what he does not have.” We are fascinated to hear the Vietnamese talk about this pivotal point in history that way. The palace is well, quite palatial! Evidence of Feng Shui in every room, makes the place peaceful and beautiful. We marvel at the largest lacquer painting in Vietnam. The press room, the gambling room (!), and all the dining rooms bring us back to that time and make us realize how much has changed in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) in 40 years.
We take an air conditioned taxi across the town to the see the History Museum, the Botanical Gardens, and Zoo. How nice to meet Judy, Jackie and Frank there! The best time to be at a zoo is when they feed the animals. We see how MUCH the elephants eat – all plant strong! I love seeing giraffes, haven’t seen one since I was a kid! The monkeys are all camouflaged in the trees, but we spot them. We see a cloud leopard – Addison the cat’s relatives! Well, we see the cage for the cloud leopard, he must be inside sleeping. The animal topiaries delight us as we try to quick as we can figure out what they are. Orchids are outrageously gorgeous!
Back to our Dragon Hotel to the wonderful cool air condition room – ah! We plan to have dinner at the World Hotel across the street. Crossing these streets is always a risky business. You just have to find a time when the motor bikes aren’t too thick and just go for it! We join another couple and whew, make it just fine. Our dinner is fantastic. Jim has the vegetable curry, Judy has a cobb salad, and I choose two vegetable dishes; sautéed vegetables and layered potato. We toast to a wonderful week completed. We are a fine team. All being trained by the same amazing mentor – Dr. Daniel Ling, we are all carrying on the amazing teaching he gave us. Oh, we miss Dan Ling, but feel close to him as we share our techniques and strategies based on the Auditory-Verbal Principles Dan professed.
Today we are talking about one of the other incredible professors of spoken language for people who deaf, Alexander Graham Bell. Why?.... because March 3rd is AGBell's birthday!
No, we did not have b-day cake for dessert, but sticky rice with mango and syrup AND homemade chocolate ice cream make this farewell dinner for Jim quite special.
Paige and Laurie meet us in the hotel lobby to say “good bye to Jim”. Judy and I ( along with Hien, the bell boy) escort Jim to the taxi. Jim is off to the HCMC Airport flying to Tokyo then waiting for 12 hours to get the direct flight to Boston.
It’s been a great week teaching the professionals at the Children’s Hospital #1 in Saigon, Vietnam. Judy and I carry on as the GFCHL Auditory-Verbal Therapists, but we sure are gonna miss Jim!
