Not a Good Idea

http://www.thenational.ae/uae/courts/scorpions-drummer-jailed-for-insulting-islam-in-dubai-airport?utm_source=Communicator&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=&utm_campaign=%5b%5bADMC_THENATIONAL_LT.ADMC_THENATIONAL_LT.LATEST_NEWS_SUBJECT%3a%3a%7b1%7d%3f%3fThe+National+Newsletter%5d%5d

Clever Business Cards

http://www.boredpanda.com/creative-business-card-designs.

A Gold Mine!

I just saw an article about a Nissan car painted with self-cleaning paint?  When does this hit the market?  The guy who washes my car uses buckets of water, same as the guys who drive the 18-wheelers.  That technology would hit the jackpot in this area, for sure.

Check out the video below.

Tetrahedron Kites

Many years ago, when my boys were about 8 and 10 years old, they were a part of a program to increase the number of kids of color in the hard sciences, called MESA (Math, Engineering, & Science Achievement).  It was an after-school and summer program.  The summer program was held at the local university.  I wanted Ben and Frankie to be comfortable in a college setting, and to understand that it was expected that they would continue their education beyond high school.  I wanted them to see there was nothing to fear.  It just a bigger, more specialized place to learn.

Anyway, I would volunteer with the summer program, and it was the director who encouraged me to take the test that would allow me to become a substitute teacher. With that, he could pay me for the work I was doing.  I owe that man a debt of gratitude.

This program was hands-on and all about making complicated concepts real and easier to understand.  One of the favorite things the kids made were tetrahedron kites, out of straws and tissue paper.  Making these were a wonderful example of the marriage of math, science and engineering, all tied up - literally - in one project.

I've thought about this time a lot lately for two reasons.  One, it is exceptionally windy here on most days.  And two, the kids in this community have absolutely nothing to do.  My heart goes out to them. I was raised in a community like this, but I escaped through reading.  My Mom always made sure there were books and magazines for me to read where I "traveled" the world through literature.

Although it is never OK to paint with a broad brush, but typically, this is not a reading culture.  I saw one of our bus attendants, the ladies who ride the buses with the students and then stay at school all day to help monitor the halls, reading a book, and it caused me to stop and take a second look.  There is a campaign in the state called "Abu Dhabi Reads" to try and change this.

My apartment building is one of two that houses about twenty families.  All are ex-pats from other Arab countries, except me.  They're mostly young families, with little kids.  There's a big toy for climbing for toddlers and pre-schoolers, but nothing else for the school-aged kids to play with.  It's fascinating to see some of the games they make up though.  What they lack in resources, they've made up for in ingenuity.

That brings us back to the kites.

I made one and took to school to show the teachers and encouraged them to allow this term to be one of hands-on learning.  They didn't bite.  So, I decided on the next windy day when I was at home, to fly it myself.  Forrest had a great suggestion of making more than one, so some of the kids could try it too.  I'm convinced after flying them or seeing them fly, they'll want to learn how to make them.  They're cheap to produce, and I found everything needed to make them locally.  I haven't tested them yet because the winds have been uncharacteristically calm since my kite production began.

Here's a picture of them below.

I've left some string attached to tied on to the roll of string that will be used to fly them.  Below is a video of how to make them.

I've tweaked this a bit by using the pattern that I found below.  Also, I tie three straws together instead of all five like it's demo'd in the video.  I think it's easier that way.

 Here's to a successful kite campaign.

I'll keep you posted.

Cheers.

Triple Dose of Happiness

Below are three videos to Pharell Williams' "Happy" song.  The first one is of British Muslims.  The second one is Chicago Muslims' version.  The last one is from Straight No Chaser, an a cappella group, and one of my favorite.

Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVDIXqILqSM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwQIcqv2XKw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv4WEeFhhAI


BONUS:  Below is the original video with more than 200 MILLION views!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Sxv-sUYtM

Why?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/23/burj-khalifa-base-jump-sets-world-record_n_5196667.html

Perfect Bacon

I haven't tried this because pork is so hard to find here, but it looks like a great idea.

Check out the really quick video below.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/22/bacon-tips_n_5187367.html

Little Brown Ballerinas

Just darling!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/17/black-ballerinas-brown-girls-do-ballet_n_5166068.html?utm_hp_ref=black-voices

Helping Others

I've attached a heartbreaking account of the injustices levied toward Lupe, Ben's wife, and several others who worked for an agency charged with helping the neediest of kids in San Francisco.  It became pretty clear very soon, that the folks in charge of this organization were of the shady variety.  When they feared an expose, they fired folks left and right.  Little did they know that in firing them, they weren't silent as they had hoped.  They are speaking out, letting the world know of this travesty.

Please read and pass this along.  Also, there is a mad dash to raise funds to continue this good work that has been started.  Please help with that too, if you can.

http://www.crowdrise.com/helpinglupehelpothers/fundraiser/luperodriguez1

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope you are well and in good spirits. I apologize for this long message, but please take the time to read it. It would really mean a lot to me.

On October 28, 2013, I began working as a Mental Health Specialist for Horizons Unlimited of San Francisco (http://www.horizons-sf.org/).  Horizons is a youth development and empowerment organization that has been serving at-risk youth and their families in the Latino and under-served minorities communities since 1965.  Up until 2012, the organization had not had the capacity or the funding to meet their clients’ mental health needs. Many of the clients at Horizons are undocumented, and research shows that this population has been traditionally unwilling to pursue mental health treatment.

Being a Latina myself, I empathize with the barriers to treatment that exist within our community, such as limited access to Spanish-speaking and culturally sensitive mental health professionals.  That is one of the biggest reasons why I was so excited to begin this position and fully immersed myself in the work. 

Due in large part to the cultural connection, my clients at Horizons have had a huge impact on me.  My two sisters and I were born here in California, but our parents were undocumented people that migrated here illegally. As with so many who immigrate to the US, their reasoning for putting themselves at risk was the hope that they would be providing us with a better life. 

On February 27, 2014, I was fired and given no reason for the termination and immediately escorted off the premises—a humiliating and traumatic experience to say the least. I was fired 8 days after going to City and County of San Francisco and asking questions about the grant that was funding my position. In particular, I wanted to understand how funds were supposed to have been allocated for the grant, as I had evidence that funds were being mismanaged. The Executive Director, Nora Reddick, accused me of going over her head by going to City and County program manager to get clarification on the funding allocation requirements of the grant. 

But what tears me apart the most is that I was forced to abandon most of my clients, one of them being 6 years old. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, I have a moral and ethical obligation to ensure that my clients transition smoothly when therapy is coming to an end. Abandoning a client without any notice or consideration of their current mental and emotional state could potentially destroy any and all progress made by the client.

Unfortunately, I was only able to contact the clients whose numbers were in my cell phone at the time of my termination.  This was only a very small percentage of my caseload.  While I was being fired, I pleaded with Nora to please let me finish out my shift.  That same evening, I had a client in crisis that I had planned on escorting to a Women’s center, but, after being terminated, not only was I not allowed to escort my client to the center, but I was not permitted to even speak to her and let her know what was happening or find her an alternative staff member to support her urgent need for housing. 

I am continuing to see some of my Horizon clients on a weekly basis pro bono. But, as many of you know well, unfortunately San Francisco is an extremely expensive city. My husband, 15-month-old daughter and I are not in the right place financially for us to continue living in San Francisco if I’m not bringing in an income as well. So, the weekend of April 26, Ben, Milu and I will sadly be packing up our belongings and moving to Sacramento.  Don't get me wrong, we are excited to return to the city of trees and to get to spend time with dear friends and with my sister Mari and her girlfriend, Courtney.  However, it is also extremely saddening and anxiety-provoking to have to suddenly uproot and leave our lives in San Francisco behind.  I feel awful knowing that I will only be able to see these pro bono clients for another couple weeks and that I might not be able to help them transition to new therapists. Unfortunately, finding an organization that provides Spanish-speaking therapy is very difficult, even here in San Francisco.

What is also so very sad is that within two months of me getting fired, there were 3 other amazing and caring individuals also working at Horizons who also stepped forward to advocate for themselves or their clients and were terminated immediately as a result. All of us were fired and subsequently escorted out of the building, being forced to abandon our clients.  Equally if not more troubling is that fact that we later learned that this practice has been in place at Horizons since Nora took over as the Horizons Executive Director approximately 16 years ago.

Last night, the San Francisco Mental Health Advisory Board allowed many of us to share our story and alert the Board to the many injustices and the ‘culture of fear’ that are so pervasive at Horizons. We were able to provide strong evidence and first-hand accounts of management abusing staff and clients and being negligent in a number of different critical areas.  In addition, we believe that there is evidence to suggest that certain members of management have been systematically misusing and possibly embezzling funds for many years. 

I would like to sincerely thank all of the current and former staff and clients from Horizons as well as friends of ours for supporting us in person and in spirit last night. We are trying our hardest to fight this injustice through as many channels as possible, and your support through the difficult time means the world to all of us on this case. 

Love,
Lupe and all you lovelies☺

Lupe Rodriguez, LCSW 26961
Mental Health Specialist
(916) 396-0835

Provocative!

This church has a sculpture of a "homeless" Jesus on a park bench on their property in an affluent community.  Needless to say, it rattled some cages.

http://www.npr.org/2014/04/13/302019921/statue-of-a-homeless-jesus-startles-a-wealthy-community?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=share&utm_medium=facebook

Hat tip to Forrest.

But Daddy!

Trying to reason with grownups . . . is no fun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8l9-W66BGI

This and That

I clocked how long it takes me to get to work today.

One minute . . . exactly.

So why in the world would I bother to drive, you ask?

Because of all the stuff I haul back and forth.  And because sometimes I have to make a mad dash to the book store (as the teachers' stores are called here).  And because the weather is so unpredictable.  The day may start off calm, but later it is unbelievably blustery.  Or maybe it's because I'm just lazy.  No, that can't be it.

This town kind of reminds of the Naval Station we were based at in Lakehurst, New Jersey.  The town was small and had a down home feel, and the base was even smaller.  When we arrived Ben was five and Frankie three.  I used to put them in a wagon, and we'd run errands.  The bank was a block away, the commissary, two.  Frank's job was less than a block behind our housing.

Here, everything is within a six block radius.

I'm guessing because the town is so small and we're such a great distance from Abu Dhabi (three hours), they have all of the utilities and things you need, all in one building.  So you go here for internet and cable, for insurance, for car registration, etc., all conveniently in one spot.  This I love.  And it's not just here, but the two or three little towns around us have the same set up.

Side note -

A couple of things I forgot to mention about Vietnam.

First, the food was fabulous.  I was shocked because I've never been a fan of it when I had it back home.  I love Chinese food, but what I tasted in China was horrible.  I tried it at the hotel, when we were out and about, and finally at a highly recommended local joint.  Not good at any place on any level.

The other thing that was interesting was how the men and women who wore masks, and there were many, looked like they were wearing a burka.  You could only see their eyes.  I left the land of covered up folks, only to find it again in Vietnam.

Interesting.

To me anyway.

I hope all is well in your world.

Good morning to you.

Good night to me. 

Do's and Don'ts of Chocolate Chips Cookies

In addition to things you should and shouldn't do when baking chocolate chips cookies, at the end of this article is a slideshow of delicious looking cookies with the recipes.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/11/chocolate-chip-cookies_n_5128221.html

The Christie Cookie Company website, the maker of the Doubletree Hotel's cookies, is still acting funky, and has been for months.  And their customer service stinks.  The saving grace is that their cookies are amazing.

But, alas, they are not available unless you live near a Doubletree Hotel.

So, people, dig in and bake your own.

Yum.  Yum.

Chinese Football

This article is long, but oh so entertaining.  It is about the dawn of football in China, with only movies, like Rudy and The Longest Yard as their guide.

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117246/chinese-football-my-season-chongqing-dockers

Go Dockers!

Black Ad Men & Women

I've enjoyed the show Mad Men, which is set in the 60's and features men and women who work for an advertising agency.  With the exception of an African-American secretary, there are no blacks on the show.  The slideshow below shows the pioneers and current top-producing ad men and women.

http://www.theroot.com/photos/2014/04/top_black_advertising_executives.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content&mc_cid=e9bf80003f&mc_eid=ac9b7800d4

Side note -

In 1968, when I was twelve years old, there was a television show on called "The Mod Squad."  It was about three cool young folks/hippies, who were undercover policemen.  It featured Clarence Williams III in one of the lead roles.  Peggy Lipton, who was married to Quincy Jones, and is the mother of Rashida Jones (Parks & Recreation), was also on the show, along with Michael Cole.  It was such a rarity to see black folks on TV, that it was an "event" each week when it aired.  We would stopped whatever we were doing and sit mesmerized for that hour.

In many ways, we've come a long way, but in others, we still have a long way to go.

What a Record!

One hundred percent of the African-American boys in this school have been accepted into four-year colleges and universities, for the fifth year in a row.  This is the kind of record we need to be celebrating.

http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/04/chicago_s_urban_prep_does_it_again_100_percent_college_acceptance.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content&mc_cid=e9bf80003f&mc_eid=ac9b7800d4

Congratulations to this young men and their families for this terrific accomplishment!

An Evening of Soul

Women of Soul to be exact.

The lineup includes Jill Scott, Melissa Etheridge, Tessanne Chin (new to me, who does an amazing rendition of Donna Summer's "Last Dance"), Janelle Monae, Ariana Grande (also new to me, who is incredible on Whitney's "I Have Nothing"), Patti Labelle, and Aretha Franklin.

http://video.pbs.org/video/2365217043/

Hat tip to Roz for sharing this.

Get ready to rock and roll.

Two Video Clips

The first one is about guys waxing for a good cause.

http://vimeo.com/90612797

The second one is about young love.

http://vimeo.com/79889254

What do our choices/taste in things say about us?

What a Kid!

I've never been a fan of talk shows, but I love that Ellen is so generous with having kids on her show.  This fourteen year old piano prodigy is fantastic.  Best of all, he has a wonderful personality.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/09/ellen-piano-prodigy-surprise-daniel-brouchard-jonathan-quick_n_5118123.html

Sit back and enjoy.

Coming In At Number 2

Imagine my shock and pleasure to see the name FAYE mentioned in the article below.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/07/baby-names-youll-hear-more-of_n_5051437.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

Frankie and Cara - clearly you are trendsetters!

Clean Water & Cleaned Up Pictures

Every day I get an email from The Grommet, a website that offers creative do-it-yourself folks a place to sell their wares.  Some of the items are nice, but too expensive, but many are reasonable and are answers to every day issues many of us face.  The item that caught my eye recently is Lifestraw, a portable water filtering system that works just like a straw.  You may be sucking up dirty water, but by the time it goes through the straw, it's good to go and ready to drink.  It's especially useful for folks who camp and hike, and for people in places where they who don't have access to clean water.  Check out the link below for more info.  It's available at Amazon, too.

http://www.thegrommet.com/lifestraw-personal-water-filter-personal-filter

Remember the "Hot Girls Pearls" I mentioned some time ago?  They are the string of pearls that you keep in the freezer and on the miserably hot days, you wear them and instantly you're cooled off.  I saw them first on The Grommet.  Here's the link to them on Amazon.  If I had been thinking, I would have taken them on the trip to Vietnam.

http://www.amazon.com/Hot-Girls-Pearls-Necklace-Insulated/dp/B00GOHYE1Y/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1397058170&sr=8-5&keywords=hot+girls+pearls

Huge thanks to Forrest for showing me how to quickly and easily edit the pictures I've taken.  I'm not a "camera" person, so the advent of cameras on phones was made just for me.  I always have my phone, and so now I always have my camera.  As far as the editing, it's amazing what a little crop here, a little shading there, can do to enhance the photos.

Side note -

I've enjoyed these days off.  There are so many things I could be doing, and need to be doing, but my rationale for putting them off is, if I had made the second trip as planned, I wouldn't have done these things.  So, if I get any of them done now, it's a bonus.

Oh, the games we play with ourselves.

Or is it just me?

Greetings from . . . home

I didn't make it to Singapore.  I hope to reschedule soon.

Here's what happened.

On the all-nighter from Vietnam, the retainer holding my teeth in place, broke.  The last time this happened, I waited a week or so before seeing the orthodontist, and ended up back in braces again.  I didn't want that to happen.  Let me tell you, braces on senior citizens is not a good look.  So, on my one day layover, I tried to get it fixed, but it was Friday (our Sunday) and no one was available.  I waited til Saturday, knowing I would miss the flight.  If I had gone, I would have gotten back from Singapore this coming Friday, and would have had to wait even longer to see my guy.

Anyway, I think I jinxed the trip by mentioning where I was going in my last post.  It's better to wait until I'm there to write about it.  Of course, I'm not superstitious or anything.

Just saying.

Hope all is well in your world.

Cheers.

  

Ho Chi Minh City Tour

There wasn't a meeting place for this tour.  The bus picked up each of the participants at our hotels.

I braced myself for our first stop - The War Remnants Museum.  I knew there would be things that would be hard to see and harder to try to make sense of.

The museum is divided into seven themes: 1) Historical Truths, 2) Requiem (a collection of photos from 134 journalists from eleven countries, who were killed in the war), 3) Photo collection from Japanese photographer, Nakamura Goro, 4) Imprisonment Conditions, 5) Aggressive War Crimes, 6) "DOVE" The Children's Education Room, 7) The World People in Support of Vietnam Resistance.

There are a few artifacts, mostly guns, and airplane parts, but mostly the museum is composed of room after room filled with pictures that told the story of how the war began, the ravages that occurred in it's wake, the people who suffered as a result, and the hope for peace in the future.

The following pictures on the way into the War Remnants Museum.
They are stationed in the entrance courtyard.

The pictures of the dead people lining the roads were tough, but seeing children who were deformed from Agent Orange exposure was the toughest.  To their credit, they also included, very prominently, pictures of GI's and their families who fell victim to this deadly gas, too.  The saddest of all though was a corner of the lobby with a gift shop manned by a staff wearing orange shirts, but you didn't need the shirts to see that they were physically deformed, in the worst way.  The items for sale were all made by them, as one of them proudly stated.

Before we sign up for wars, it should be mandatory for those charged with the task of sending young men and women to the battlefields, to spend time listening to those folks who have experienced war and it's aftermath.  It should also me mandatory that they sign up their loved ones first.  Maybe then we wouldn't be so quick to engage.

This picture and the one below are of guns used in the war.

This chart compares statistics of the US involvement in three wars.
World War II lasted 3 yrs, 8 mths; The Korean War lasted 3 yrs, 1 mth; and
The Vietnam War lasted 17 yrs, 2 mths.
It goes on to list the dead and wounded in each one.

This is a close up of the kind of tombs
I was trying to describe in yesterday's post.

This is the entrance to three very dark, haunting rooms
that depicts the conditions of prisoners of the war.

A prisoner bolted to the wall.

This is a barbed wire cage where 2-3 prisoners were kept.
There was not room enough to sit up.

This is a guillotine.

This following photograph is graphic, but it says it all.  The caption is quoted below.  I'm guessing this is a quote from an American serviceman.

The GI (on the right) and others are sitting next to beheaded men.

The above picture shows exactly what the brass wants you to do in Nam.  The reason for printing this picture is not to put down GI’s, but rather to illustrate the fact that the Army can really fuck over your mind if you let it.

It’s up to you, you can put in your time just trying to make it back in one piece, or you can become a psycho like the Lifer (E-6) in the picture who really digs this kind of shit.  It’s your choice.

As we were leaving, I noticed this bench that made up a sitting area outside, on the way out.

Sacramento caught my eye.
I'm not sure if this person is a sponsor of  a World at Peace (or a Vet?)
or the one listed below.

From the museum we went to church, and it seemed fitting.  We visited the Notre Dame Cathedral that was the meeting place of my first tour.

Me in front of the cathedral

A view inside the church

A couple taking pictures in front of the church and the post office.

Inside the post office

 

This is one of two beautiful maps on
either side of the wall as your enter the post office.
Although you can't tell it in this picture, the red doors are telephone booths.

On the opposite wall, the red doors house businesses.

This picture is fuzzy, but it shows people
actually doing business in the post office.

Next up, a temple in Chinatown.

These are incense cones.  The overwhelming scents from the incense
burning always reminds me of college when folks were smoking reefer and trying to mask the smell with incense.  

An altar maybe?

The top of this temple is so intricate, it's amazing.
I'm sorry I couldn't capture it.

After the temple, we headed to a market.  It was crowded with stuff and with people. Not my scene, at all.  Thankfully it was a quick trip.  There were three black women that I struck up a brief conversation with who I thought were from the US.  They were from an island off the coast of Africa.

Scooters parked outside the market

The entrance to the market

Our final stop was the Presidential Palace, that is strictly a tourist spot.  The president hasn't lived there since the unification of the country in 1975, but it was left as a museum to the presidency.  It was a beautiful building with impressive stuff inside, but by this time we were exhausted from all we had done and from the heat. There was no escaping the heat.

Outside of the Presidential Palace

This is a Russian tank on the grounds of the Presidential Palace.

This is a Chinese tank.  An interesting note was
how much smaller these were compared to the US tanks.

This is a bank of phones.
What you can't see is the red one that was to be used in times of crisis.

A sitting room for the president and his guests.

This sitting room was for the VP or the president's wife.
Can't remember which.

His personal theater.

The projection room for the theater.

This was built to be a meditation room, with panoramic views on all four sides,
but the last president to occupy the palace made it a dance hall.
You gotta love him!

His personal helicopter

A blast from the past, for sure!

The kitchen

His jeep

His Benz

At the close of the war, this car was one of the spoils for the victors.

Tomorrow I pack up.  I'm going to back to Abu Dhabi, and will be leaving for Singapore a few hours later.  Of course, it would have made so much more sense to go to Singapore from here, but getting Groupon to understand that would have taken a lifetime.

So, more soon.

Cheers.

Remarkable Achievement!

This kid was accepted to all eight of the Ivy League schools.

Amazing!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/01/kwasi-enin-ivy-league_n_5067211.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

Mekong Delta

My apologies to all of you who received the email version of this post.  I thought I hit PREVIEW, but I clicked PUBLISH instead.  It reflects the many mistakes I usually catch when in the preview mode.  Sorry!

The Saigon Opera House was our meeting point today.  What a lovely building!

Saigon Opera House

Garden next to Opera House

Fountain in the same area

In the video clip below, I'm standing across the street from the Opera House, with my eye on the traffic.  I want you to see the scooters.  Also, although most are driving too fast for you to see, but check out the last guy's face mask.  Most folks riding the bikes are wearing some kind of mask.  The most prevalent ones were made of cloth, very much like a cloth diaper.  I'm guessing so many people wear these is because they have no other protection from the pollution.  Interestingly, I've seen many more face masks here, but the smog was far worse in China and India.

We were a larger group of ten today.  There was one guy I knew from my tour yesterday.  He and I were the only Americans.  Everyone else was from Australia, with one person from Japan.

I took tons of videos trying to catch a good shot of the tombs that are sprinkled throughout the countryside.  These were absolutely fascinating.  They were ornate.  Some looked like gazebos, some like altars, some were surrounded by a fence, and many had sitting areas.  Their colors varied from white, to pink and blue, gold, and green.  The thing that was remarkable was how randomly they appeared.  Most were deep in fields, but a few were next to the roads.  The ones that were next to streams looked especially peaceful.  Our guide told us people are not buried in cemeteries like we're used to.  Although there was one area we passed by yesterday that had a cluster of tombs.  The assumption is they were all from the same family, and they were buried on their land.  Somehow it's comforting to have the opportunity to be laid to rest where you lived.

The Mekong Delta is about 1.5 hours from Saigon.  It is a rural area, but since the onset of tourism in that began in earnest about fifteen years ago, there have been shops and things opened to accommodate the visitors.

When we arrived, we got on a kind of cruise boat that holds about 20-25 people.  Again, the was only ten of us, so it was very comfortable.  Our first stop - to check out coconut candy being made.  Let me say right here, if you're concerned about the cleanliness of food preparation, you should probably skip this part.  That's because the coconut is shaved by straddling a tool that you sit on, and then you shave the meat out onto a pretty grungy surface.  Sugar and the milk from the coconut is boiled on an open fire.  Then when it's just right, that mixture is cooled and rolled by hand.  No gloves.  Then, to make the candy with nuts, it's rolled again, folding the nuts inside.  Again, no gloves.  This is then cut into thick strips, and layer onto a mold where it is pressed to make long thin strips.  No gloves.  Those strips are cut into rectangle pieces and wrapped by someone else.  Yep.  Again, no gloves.  For those of us brave enough to taste some, we got a real treat.  It was delicious.

Young man tending to boiling coconut candy mix.

This lady is mashing the candy into a mold
where they are shaped and then cut into bite size pieces.

From here we left our boat behind and boarded two tuk-tuks.  They were makeshift yuk-tuks in that they were a motorcycle that had a flatbed attached, fitted with benches that held six adults each.  The roads, really paths, we were on could only accommodate a vehicle going in one direction.  We met kids on bikes and other scooters, that we passed, but we were kissing' close.  Quite frankly, it looked like we were going in circles, but after about 45 minutes, we arrived at our destination.  A hotel(?)/restaurant in the middle of nowhere.  We all sat together, minus our guide, and had a terrific meal.

Foliage along the path

Another view of the path

This fish was delicious.
We never to eat something that is staring
back you,  but we ignored the eyes and dug in.

After lunch, we walked another path that led to the water where we boarded three paddle boats, with four folks each.  I don't have any pictures from this brief journey because we were all holding on for dear life!

From here we met our original boat, and back to the shore we headed.  Thankfully, it was cooler in this area, especially when we were on the water.

On the ride back to Saigon, I asked our guide if many Americans visited, and if so, were they the older folks who were there during the war.  She said there were many American visitors, but almost all of them were younger.  I then asked if there was any animosity toward Americans (although I have definitely not experienced any) because of the ravages of war.  She said people understood that it wasn't the choice of the American or the Vietnamese citizens to go to war, but it happened, and we all live with the consequences of it.  A generous attitude, for sure.

The bus ride back was a quiet one.  I'm sure I can speak for us all and say it was a full, fun-filled adventure that tuckered us all out.

Two quick side notes -

First, one hundred US dollars  = 2,108,000 dongs

I've often wondered why countries do this - have their currency is crazy large denominations?

Secondly, when booking a hotel here, you must show a marriage license to bring someone into your room.  I'm sure there are places that ignore this, but it certainly had me looking sideways at all the old white guys on my flight over.

OK.

Just one more thing - I found out about why this place is called Saigon or Ho Chi Minh.  It's because the city is Saigon, and the greater area it encompasses it is called Ho Chi Minh.

Well, that's it for today.

Tomorrow I have a city tour, then the next day I depart.

Until then . . .

Good morning to you.

Good night to me.