Hell of a Hike

We just came back from a strenuous hike on the Lang Bian mountain, it was very difficult. This mountain has five volcanic peaks ranging in altitude from 2100m to 2400m. It took us 2 hours and half to make it to the top. I almost gave up because my legs were shaken and I felt dizzy. I wanted to get to the top. Finally, we reached the top about 12:30 pm. The view was spectacular and fantastic with so many peaks and mountains around. Half a century ago these mountains were populated with wild oxen, deer, boar, elephants, rhinoceros and tigers. The top half of the mountain still has lush foliage. Twenty minutes before reaching the top is the most difficult part,it gets slippery and steep.
On the way back unfortunately, I was really tired and I wasn't paying attention and fell down. I got tripped on a big vine, and I got hurt really bad. But I was able to hike back to the village.

Visiting an Early Childhood Center

My husband and I visited an Early Childhood Center owned by the government. The children, aged from three to five years old, were happy to see me and immediately recognized that I was a stranger and greeted saying hello, hello. They asked their teacher which language I could speak. I told them English and Spanish. I showed the principal my identification and a teacher who could speak English translated for us. I was introduced to the students and they were happy and sang a song for me and then I sang for them. The interaction was warm. Even without the language, I was able to made then follow me doing some exercises. I sang the numbers in English and other songs. Some of them were able to sing with me and others tried. I was surprised that they weren't shy and willing to do the activities.

The principal, a woman, was friendly and showed me the three classrooms where the children were. The ratio is 30 students and one teacher. The students behaved good and follow directions. Of course, I was thinking that the students don't have other children who speak a different language like in the United States. Parents do not have to pay anything for the care. I enjoyed seeing the children with their uniforms and getting in line without any trouble. I think that it would be nice if the children that I work with in the U.S. wore uniforms to avoid so much competition concerning who wears the fashionable clothes and shoes that the big corporations push to make money without thinking that many parents don't have enough money to buy expensive items for their children.

Cobras and Pythons

In Mi Tho we went to visit the snake farm where they produce an antivenom medicine against cobra bites. The minute I stepped in the farm, I felt the presence of the cobras it was a beautiful farm whith mango trees and palm trees and some other wild plants. We saw hundreds of outdoor cages all around the part where the cobras were. We started to look at the different kinds of pythons. Some pythons were huge and long, but for the size of the reptiles the cages were too small. I was impressed with the different colors of pythons. Some were black and brown others were the color of the mud. The cobras got ready to attack if we got too close. Their head became wide and its stands his head. Some of the cobras had in their cages frogs and rats to eat. The cobras differ in color too, the black cobras were so shiny and had big scales. When leaving the farm we saw the big bottles of cobra whisky supposedly good for the health and other beliefs that the Vietnamese have.
I was told by the clerk in our hotel,to be careful when walking in the countryside because we could see them. He told me that cobras are eaten and are a very exquisite delicacy and people prefer to eat the skin because it is very tasty.

Communication

Traveling is not easy especially when I don’t know the Vietnamese language. We have tried so hard to learn at least some words in Vietnamese, but the pronunciation is not easy. Some people laugh at us others try to help but make us repeat. We use sign language most of the time in the hotel, restaurants and stores, but it is very difficult. For example, last night we waited one hour and a half in order to eat dinner because we thought we already had ordered the food, but apparently we didn’t. I was so hungry and tired. Finally, one lady offered to help who happened to be having dinner. She ordered some food for us and we ended eating after one hour an half.

This afternoon we went to a restaurant and the waitresses couldn't understand what we wanted to order. The problem was that we wanted to eat fish, but they couldn't understand us because fish and chicken are pronounced almost similar,at least to our ears. We laughed a lot because it was so difficult to communicate what we wanted to eat. Sometimes we have to point to other customers dishes in order to communicate what we would like to eat.

Yesterday morning we had such a terrible time getting on the bus to Chau Doc, we got into the bus and when the bus started to leave we found out that the bus was going to the wrong city. We got off the bus which had air conditioning and we were directed to a small mini-van that was going to Chao Doc. We sat for a few minutes and we started to sweat. We got off the bus while the driver waited for more passengers. Finally, we were like sardines there were about 18 people in the mini van. It was so hot and I started to sweat, and felt dizzy and got a headache. I wanted to get off the bus, but it was impossible because we were squeezed in the back. I was talking in English but the driver didn't understand what I was saying. Luckily the ride was only 40 miles. I felt really bad and I wanted to scream and cry. I wanted to go to Chau Doc. I felt much better when I saw an old lady smilling at me, I thought if she can do it I can do it too.

What a big headache we get when we are not able to understand. The Vietnamese Language is not even close to English. Now, I understand much better the inmigrant from Southeast Asia, it must be a nightmare when they come to the U. S and they are not able to communicate with the teacher or the rest of the population.

The Canals of Vietnam

We are now in the Mekong Delta; it is really an interesting place especially with all the canals.
Between the canales I could see the beautiful colorful different kinds of fruits that they plant or grow naturally. Vietnam farmers are excellent farmers. Everything grows so nice and in perfect rows, it is such sight to see. I have enjoyed the guavas, mangos, Japanese maranones,, caimitos, zapotes and some other kinds of fruits that they grow around the channels.
I love to see how people live in their boats and how they transport different materials. They transport big piles of sand, wood, pipes, and some other kind of merchandise. It is astonishing to see how hard people work in this canals and how they manage to survive in their small boats.
We were in Mi Tho two nights in a hotel by the river. I was watching from the hotel terrace how a mother was bathing her naked child and then she started to wash their clothes. And then the mother lit a small cooking stove and started to cook. The children were having fun on the deck flying a kite. The next day the whole family left to work and came back in the afternoon and I saw that the mother did the same routine.
I have obserbed something that strike the most it is against the law to ride a motorbike without the helmet, but it is O.K. for younger children not to use helmets or other kinds of protection. What a contradition.

Leaving India

We left Agra at noon to go to Delhi after visiting the Taj Mahal. The trip was very tiring, long and difficult because the traffic as usual is horrendous. It is an amazing congestion with trucks, cars, bicycles,motor bikes, three wheelers, camels pulling carts with different kind of materials, cows crossing the road, and some other animals like goats, dogs, and elephants sometimes. What would have taken two hours took us six hours. Often times the traffic was completely stopped luckily it wasn't so sunny. Well before arriving in Delhi, we could see the poor peoples' shanties all along the highway in terrible conditions. It was heart breaking for me to see families in these conditions. What was moving to me was to see the children playing in the garbage and it seems normal and nobody seems to care. Maybe I am wrong.

Wow, the Taj Mahal is such an increiduble monument. What a magestic piece of art.
I love the architecture of this amazing structure, but I feel so sad the people in power seems to ignore the conditions of the needy people. It seems that thousand of year have passed and poor people are still suffering the same conditions as in the past.

Jodpur Fort

Wow what a fort and amazing jewl in Jodpur the minute you started enter the city of Jodpur we can see this magnificent fort that I have ever seemed.

I love to see the beautiful cradles that the royal family used for their babies.

The history behind this fort is painful especially for the maharaja women who were supposed to kill themselves if their maharaja died. Luckily the British outlaw this tradition went they took over India. .

Stressfull Ride from Jodpur to Jaiper

Traveling by highway in India can be a nighmare. We left Jodpur at 7:45 am since the trip began our driver was honking every other few seconds. It was an astonishing scene. There were on the road semitrucks, cars, tractors, wheelers, bicycles, cows, bulls, and camels and of course people trying to cross the road. It was such as scenary, but what drove my crazy was the honking of all the trafic, it was the law of who has the biggest truck or vehicle. I got a terrible headache because of the over crossing of the traffice two lanes are use as four lanes and at moments I thougt we were going to crash. Furthermore, the dust and smoke from the traffice make things untolerable, I didn't know what to do at this point. I thought should I tell our driver to stopp and continue later. But in reality in India the traffic seems to never stop. I enjoyed looking at the beautiful wome dressing their glimerin shiny saris and carrying wood, or pick up some sticks.

My Journey to Rajasthan/You have to see it

To come so far to this beautiful jewel, one must see it to believe it. Rajasthan is not an easy place to visit, but it is an astonishing place with so many forts and palaces. The forts are amazing gorgous and magnificent places. We went to see one of the forts today, and I always feel really bad seeing the way the masters or maharajas have leave having so many wives. Some of the rugs were made with gold and silver. The rug is an amazing jewel of the ancient times. What I think is that this place is surrounded with so much poverty around these magnificent places. It seems that most people seem to just accept the situation the way it is.

Today, we went to see another fort which is one of the most beautiful jewels of the Maharajas. This fort was an important place during the midevil era, when the majaraja died the wife was supposed to throw hersel on the funeral pyre. It is astonishing to me is to see how luxurious this fort was already 500 years ago.
It seems to me that the situation hasn't changed for the unfortunate people who don't have anything. I feel bad, and wondering when the system is going to change since now the upper Indian class is still celebrating weddings with saris that cost 5,000 or 8,000 rupis. On the other hand, I know that not all India is the same when it comes to their social status. For instance in the south city of Kerala, the Communist party controls the city. In Kerala we were told that 100% of the people are literate and women seem to participate more in the society. I could observe that people seem to live better off that here in Rajasthan where people seem to have many problems especially with the housing. The poverty is overwhelming here.