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Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Email to Friends: Free Days in Sapa, Hanoi, and Hoi An

We had a free half day in Sapa. I woke up at sunrise and headed out to continue breaking in my caving shoes and get my legs ready for the climbing in the cave. I set out on a path through a calla lily field, meandering through dirt paths into the valley below. Crossing through farm fields and little villages, following paths and the Hmongs to get down. One family invited me in for tea, which was nice. Cat Cat village is now the start of many tours, and dirt paths are now paved and super touristy. Went the other direction, enjoying all the water buffalo on the way. I still want a water buffalo. They have the sweetest faces and are generally pretty mellow. Do you think I could keep it on my balcony and ride it to work? Maybe as some sort of a service animal?? Anyhoo, saw some village kids head into the valley to a beautiful river. They were fishing with plastic bags tied to sticks and swimming, so I joined them. After they ran off, I crossed the river on a bamboo bridge and climbed up part of the mountain. Afraid I wouldn't make it back to the bus on time, I scurried back down into the valley and straight up the mountainside on slippery dirt paths. Huffing and puffing, the little Hmong 80 year old women effortlessly passed me, offering their hands to help me up, or watching me to make sure I got up okay. A man let me even go through his house as a shortcut through the village. Made it back to town for a quick shower before boarding the bus for the six hour bus ride to Hanoi. Grabbed my favorite bun at a rest stop that is one of my favorites. It is like the Vietnamese version of a Hot Pocket filled with a boiled quail egg and rice noodles, minced pork and mushroom in a gravy. The Vietnamese mission people were worried it would make me sick, but my iron stomach wins again.

Our free day in Hanoi was pretty rainy. Our hotel was right near Ho Kiam Lake. I walked around the lake and then meandered the narrow streets, stopping for coffee or eating random things along the way. During the heavy rain, I visited the Women's Museum, which was very interesting. I liked the drawings of what young people thought "gender equality" looked like. One of a woman slaying a dragon to rescue a man in a tower and another of a few women sitting enjoying beers together while the man was at home watching the kid and cleaning the kitchen. People continue to speak Vietnamese to me when I am not with the group. At one point at the museum, an artist setting up asked her Vietnamese counterpart, "Can you speak with her in your language?" pointing to me. Ha! Continued to eat my way through Hanoi and practiced with my cave lens at night around Ho Kiem Lake. I love this city.

The next day, we flew to Danang and then bussed to Hoi An to check into our super swank resort. Soft(er) mattress, fresh flowers on the pillows, pool, the whole nine yards. Got in a quick workout in preparation for the cave and headed in to old town. Just as touristy as a remember it, but even more crowded (and this is supposedly low season). But I found grilled lot leaves stuffed with beef on a skewer, another of my favorite street foods.

The next morning was a clinic at an elderly home in Danang run by some Sisters. It was a change of plans, as supposedly, the government did not give us permission for the initial plan. Not sure the full story on that. I will reserve my thoughts on the organization and short term medical volunteerism for later. Any way, they brought a few kids over from a kindergarten. I think we only saw 118 people? But the old people were super cute and appreciative. One spoke more English and hung out and talked with me. She learned English as a nurse working with a US Navy doctor. She showed me pictures of her when she was 20 with her nursing class. Super sweet. They all speak to me quietly in Vietnamese, no matter how many times they are told I only speak English. There is this adorable little woman who I nicknamed Yoda (she is about 4'5", giggles a lot, holds my hand and shares knowledge). She was awesome.

And then came Easter. We have a clinic at a church in a town in Danang. Service was held in the morning, for those that wanted to attend. I, of course, chose to set up for clinic instead. As soon as mass was over, what seemed like the whole town lined up to be seen. We saw a total of 188 people, adults and kids. Lots of goiters seen in this area, several developmentally delayed kids, and almost all the adults have hypertension. They know almost no English, but as soon as I pull out the blood pressure cuff, they giggle and say "high." The Father of the church was pretty funny. Playing harmonica, guitar, flute to entertain as we worked. They made us duck for lunch. The sweet Vietnamese woman who provides us with snacks and tea, coffee, and water always makes sure I get enough to eat (everyone makes fun of me as I seem to always be eating). She also makes me a double "Betsy-sized" coffee, as she noted how much coffee I drink (we are up around 5:30am every morning for clinics).

We are invited to a special Easter dinner. Once clinic wraps up, I head to the kitchen to watch them cook. Two girls speak English pretty well. I learn how to make lantern table decorations from clementines (think jack-o-lantern carvings, but much much smaller). My big American sized fingers are not so good at it, and after a few, I am sent to put chopsticks in paper wrappers :) Dinner is a delicious feast! Soup, noodles, ostrich... So many dishes. They also have a karaoke machine, with which the Father and a few of our Vietnamese team belt out a few tunes. Strangest Easter dinner I have ever had.

The next day was our free day in Hoi An. I went to wander the town early. Next, I hit up the market. Lots of hustle and bustle, even in the drizzle. Maybe I ate some snails picked out of the shell by this sweet little old woman with her dirty fingernails. But she wanted me to try them, and they were really delicious! I then set off for a long walk. I only make it a few miles before a group of people eating, drinking, and playing music invite me to join them under the jackfruit tree. They feed me and offer me beers, not accepting any money. Eventually, I excuse myself, signaling that I need to keep walking. They nod in understanding and I continue walking along the river. End up in some fishing/pottery village and find a place for afternoon coffee with a sweet grandma and her little grandson. Other villagers come by and we use Google translate to try to talk to each other. I stay a few hours and one of the guys offers to give me a motorbike ride back to the hotel. We stop for dinner and agree to coffee later that evening.

He shows up with fishing poles, which I had mentioned earlier that I liked. We went night fishing a few towns over with his friends. I didn't catch anything, but it was fun and very peaceful.

Now we are in Ho Chi Minh City. We had a clinic today at a deaf school and saw a whopping 364 kids in the very hot Saigon weather. One more busy clinic tomorrow serving street kids and then leaving the group and heading to the cave!!

Love,
Betsy

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Email to Friends: Arrival in Vietnam, Viet Tri, and Hello from Sapa!

Long flight followed into Hanoi by way of Taipei. St. Patrick's Day didn't even exist for me as I flew over the International Date line... I did crave a rueben sandwich when I hit Taipei, but none were to be had in the airport amongst the Bubble Tea and Hello Kitty stuff. Met the team at the Hanoi airport, which is about half American and half Vietnamese (kind of like me?). We load up our truck of medical gear with everyone's second checked luggage bins reserved for the mission and hop on our bus for about an hour and a half bus to a city called Viet Tri. We arrive at our hotel and unload all the medical bins. I meet my roommate Kate, who seems nice and is a Pediatric Resident who is about to start her last year in ER Peds. Dropped my backpack in the room and immediately headed out for a walk around the city for a little bit and checked put the local market. No one really speaks any English here, and everyone speaks to me in Vietnamese first, any way (and often continues to speak to me in Vietnamese, even when it should be pretty clear that all I understand is the Vietnamese words for coffee and ice cream). Dinner was prepared for the group by the hotel. And then the exhaustion hit and I crashed out, too tired to care about the beeping motorcycle horns and cars under my window, or the super hard Vietnamese mattress (man, I forgot how hard these things are). Luckily, I have my thermarest with me for the cave trip, and it makes for a super comfy sleep if blown up and put on top of a hard mattress. May start traveling with it everywhere.

Had my first steaming bowl of pho for breakfast, then introductions and organizing the supplies, and lunch at the hotel. I am not jetlagged at all, since I never came off my night shift schedule (which is similar to the local time here). The food is good, but I would rather eat on the street or in the market. We were told again that the rules for the group are that the "buddy system" is to be used and no one is to go out without a buddy, as it is "not safe." This was likely directed at me, as this is a discussion that started before we left, as I had concerns about some of the "rules" and was assured that it would be okay. Pretty irritated, as I am very capable of handling myself and being aware of my surroundings and am not a five year old and do not like being treated like one. I am an adult, and while I am here to work, I also paid money to be here and would like to do my own thing in my free time, as long as it does not comprise the medical mission. Plus, I need alone time every day and also need to exercise before my cave trip. Pretty much ignoring said message until they want to chat with me about it. At least the woman running the little stand at a bus stop outside is really nice. I sit with her and her 13 year old daughter, but don't understand much of what is said. A nice man treats me to an iced coffee.

We head to nearby Kings Hung Temple as a group by bus. Fun few hours of sightseeing. It was a cloudy day, so not much of a view at the top. At least I got to walk a lot of stairs. Later, we visit the school for children with special needs. A few kids live there who were left at hospitals. Many are deaf and some with developmental delays. This is followed by a really yummy dinner at a local restaurant, as a treat from the school director.

Next morning was another bowl of pho at the 6:30am breakfast, and then off for our first clinic. I will be in triage, which for this is mainly vital signs and moving kids through to the doctors. There are two other Americans (both Physician Assistants) and two Vietnamese nurses in triage with me. The kids already receive their hygiene and teeth brushing lessons before getting to us. We send them over to the doctors and then they hit the dental area before getting to pick out a toy. Things seem to run relatively smoothly for Day 1 and with a half day clinic, I think we saw about 84 kids. Afterward, we head back to the hotel. I sit at the little stand for a bit, practicing English with the daughter (she brought her English lesson book and we point to stuff). Get another coffee and they fill my water bottle with tea, as I say goodbye and the group gets back on the bus for a 5.5 hour bus ride to Sapa. Some of the Vietnamese crew makes a pretty tasty dinner and serves us on the bus.

Nicer hotel in Sapa (but still unsure why this trip costs each volunteer about $125 per day plus airfare, with shared rooms) and I was a bit saddened by all the changes to the area since I was here ten years ago. Paved roads, lots of neon flashing lights for pizza joints, a tram to the highest mountain in Vietnam, and bars blaring Bob Marley music. This was my favorite place in Vietnam before, and while it was kind of touristy before, now it is way more so. But the scenery as the fog rolls over terraced rice fields and friendliness of the people is still near and dear to my heart. There is something unexplainable that really draws me to this area and people.

Our first clinic in Sapa serves 240 ethnic minority Hmong middle schoolers. There are three of us in triage (mainly just vital signs, as we don't have an interpreter). I also jump out of triage to do any wound care or splints that come up. Lots of head lice, a probable broken forearm/elbow, and a heart murmur with clubbed fingers. Long day, but lots of fun. A group of us want to walk back to the hotel, but are told "it is too dangerous", even though the Hmongs are trekking up and down the road all day. Ha! Whatever. Being told we have a totally free evening, only to find out it is another group dinner at some hotel restaurant is making me beyond annoyed. Having absolutely no alone time for days on end and a group leader, Raina, that is forever telling us we can't do things in our free time sucks. But after dinner, I find a meat on sticks place that you point to what they want and they grill it for you. Looks delicious! I tell my roommate (who is a kind of vegetarian) that I am coming back the next night for dinner. I peek inside, and there is some of our Vietnamese crew (truck driver, head nurse, and a few others). They invite Kate and I in and feed us more. "Vegetarian" they say to Kate, until I point out it is wrapped in bacon. They laugh and remove the bacon for her with chopsticks... Really good shredded mushroom wrapped in bacon. They also bought us each a beer. So kind... I feel bad that the Vietnamese crew and American crew seem to remain separate, other then the translators. I tend to stick withe the Vietnamese crew (even with the language barrier), trying to sit with them at group meals and help them when they "serve" the Americans meals and such.

The next day is another early morning, this time with younger kids at the Hmong elementary school. We carry our heavy bins of gear down 80-90 steep uneven stairs to get to the school, which is out in the terraced rice fields. Haven't heard the final numbers for today, but I think we only saw around 120 kids. They were adorable! These kids were very poor. You could tell they tried to put on their best clothes, whatever that outfit may be. They each received a bag with a few donated clothing items and toys. I found one little boy in tears, and found a translator to find out what was wrong. He either lost his bag or didn't get one. So sad. On a break, some of the girls went to go play on the rice fields and I went to sit with them. One of my favorite girls had been given a Barbie doll (which I know the donation came from a good place, but I and at least one other man on the mission found it kind of inappropriate to give a blonde hair, blue eyed, big boobed doll to an ethnic minority girl). She promptly ripped the head off and threw it down the hill, giggling and sitting down to play with her now headless doll. Totally my hero! We finally got to have dinner on our own... Well, on our own except we can't leave the hotel without a buddy. My roommate agreed to not tell anyone and I snuck off for a few blissful hours of alone time. I went back to the food on sticks place and ordered almost one of everything (including some tiny, unidentifiable bird thing). The owner and workers were really kind and also gave me part of their dinner they had made for their family. I saw our truck driver and another one of the Vietnamese men that bought us beer they night before walking past, and invited them to join me for a beer. Much needed night of independence from the watchful eye of the mission leader.

We packed a small three day bag of stuff and put our big bags in the truck. The driver will drive to Hoi An and meet us in a few days. We have three free days, roaming Sapa for a half day tomorrow before jumping on the bus to Hanoi for a day and then flying to Danang/Hoi An. Then we get back to work. As you likely guessed, I will probably be incurring the wrath of Raina by sneaking out as much as possible on my own for the next three days. Well, that's it for now. More when I have the time.

Love,
Betsy