Return to St. Paddy's Day in Chicago

Date: Saturday, March 13, 2010
Travel: The L & CTA
Lodging: Hampton Inn & Suites Chicago
Photos: 20100313 Dyeing The Chicago River & More Chicago

Chicago is like my 2nd home to me, just like (Philadelphia, NYC, Kalamazoo, and the many other cities I continue travelling to for business). Chicago is a major hub for American Airlines, and also has direct flights from Tucson via Southwest, so if you count the number of times I land in Chicago, I've really been there over 30 times. What's kind of scary is that at O'Hare Airport, there is a smoothie shop which has a customer appreciation program, where for every 12 smoothies you buy, you get one free, and I have already gone through a few already. Anyways, it was only 3 years ago which I had made my first true visit to the city, as I was made a road trip from Milwaukee, and it was also St. Patrick's day. I did not do my research and just decided to wing it and drive through. What a mistake, the traffic was insane, there was no where to park, and I had no idea where I was going. I just figured....look for the Sears Tower (Now renamed Willis Tower). Anyways, I knew from watching the movie "The Fugitive," that Chicago dyes the river green, and I really wanted to see that, yet I had no idea where it was. As I finally found the Chicago river that day, it was truly green.

Advance the clock 3 years later, I know my way around the city a lot more, and I know how to do my research more. This time around, I would not miss the actual dyeing of the river. Walking from my nearby hotel on Grand & State, The best viewing areas is along the river/Wacker between Michigan Ave. & Columbus. Anyways, it was a very cold and foggy, yet there were a lot of folks that had made it to see the spectacle. So a few minutes before the scheduled start time, you get to see the initial dyeing boat leaving a green streak down the river towards Michigan Ave. Shortly following the dyeing boat is another boat swirling back and forth in an S curve stirring up the dye in the river. It was a neat scene, as if it was like a scene from Batman, with the green ooze down the water and fog covering the towering sky scrapers. It is quite different than to just see the river green.



I also decided to stick around a bit for the parade, with the marching bagpipes and the green dogs. It was really too cold for my arizona ass, and I'm not Irish enough to just watch the whole parade ( however, enough to drink the green beer at a pub...just half of course ).



A few days later I decided to come back to Navy Pier, where almost a year prior, I had lost my Canon pocket camera. It was a blessing in disguise though, because now I had no more excuses to not get a DSLR. If it wasn't for that misfortune, I would not have the ability to take a million new pictures. I suppose this picture and this picture would offer the best comparison.

Anyways, I expect to be out in Chicago in the next month, and I have a few projects in my mind that I want to complete.

A Visit to the King

Date: Friday, February 12, 2010
Travel: Rental Car
Lodging: Hampton Inn Southaven
Photos: 20100212 Elvis' Graceland

After full week at a client in Memphis, I made some time before my flight home to visit the king, Elvis, in Graceland. The area surrounding the site seems to be a bit shabby and old. The site itself was a definite tourist trap, with overpriced souvenir shops, glitz, and long lines. It was really cold outside with snow on the ground, yet there was still a pretty long line to get on the shuttle. I never really grew up as a fan of Elvis, so I suppose it was difficult for me to actually understand or appreciate the place. Maybe it was the admission ($35!!!!!) and parking price ($10!!!) I could not understand. I think it is definitely a generational thing, because 90% of the visitors seem to be seniors. Then again, many folks my age should have been at work. Nevertheless, it was still something to see. You get to see the lavish lifestyle that Elvis lived, at least it was lavish during his time, and you can see all the achievements that he had. I think my favorite room was the game room with the pool table, where the whole room was decorated and draped in fabric. Along with a tour of the mansion, you can tour his personal jets, and his automobile collection. After all of that, my favorite part of the day was to enjoy some Memphis BBQ. I went to a place featured on Food Network, Corky's BBQ. They are most noted for their dry rub seasoning on their ribs. I had the full rack with half wet, half dry, and it was all tasty, and all devoured. My server was surprised that I could finish all of that and my sides, but I can surely build a big appetite.

Last days in Saigon

Date: Monday-Tuesday, January 18-21, 2010
Travel: Rental Van
Party: Linda, Vu & Family
Lodging: Hai Long 1
Photos: 20100118 Saigon Bien Hoa Family Pictures, 20100120 Saigon Cafes More

Except for my parents, we had moved all of our bags from our hotel in Bien Hoa, to one in HCMC, since Stella and I had some other plans going on. Stella would go and meet up with some of her family members living in Vietnam. I would be meeting up with my girlfriend Linda, later that night. This would be her 2nd visit in so many weeks. In the morning we would go around the city, and make visits to other extended family members. In the evening, we visited one of my cousins house, who was doing very well for himself, creating faux furnishings using aluminum. He has a new SUV, which vehicles in Vietnam gets taxed 100% if it is an automobile, and another 100% if it is imported. An imported Mercedes for example, would cost 3 times the price of retail. It is a status symbol, and although wages are not the high on average, there is a major discrepancy between the extremely wealthy, and the extremely poor (which is the majority) and not much in between. The same goes in my family, we have some that are very well off, and some that are not. Phones and electronics cost a lot more there than back at home, but everybody wants to have the latest and greatest gadgets, even if their salaries are a magnitude lower. It's all relative. More people there are willing to spend 3 months salary on a nice phone, where as at home, people might hesitate for a phone purchase of 1 weeks salary. I suppose there's just so many other factors that we have to worry about such as higher cost of living in general and healthcare, and people don't need to have a nice shiny gadget to be judged upon.

Later that evening, my cousin takes us out to a nice seafood restaurant, and even after the hospital episode with my brother, they trusted this place more, and chowed down. I had to bail a little sooner, to pick up Linda from the airport. We met up back with the family at a mall in the city, where my wealthier cousin suggested to go and buy clothes. My mom also made a promise to my niece Tiffany that she could go out to the market and point out anything that she wants. However, this mall, called Diamond, was ritzy, and everything was so expensive. Toys were even twice the price that we could find in the US. I guess my cousin is much more higher class than us, we didn't want to spend a dime there. My mom ended up fulfilling her promise at a supermarket in Bien Hoa, where she was able to load up on Hello Kitty stuff at fraction of the prices (like 1/10). Inside of Diamond,there was a Pizza Hut inside (which is special here), and pepperoni pizza had never tasted so good. I am not sure whether the quality was higher than a local Pizza Hut, or was it that we had too much Vietnamese food lately.

The next couple of days, it would rain, so there is not much we did but sit at cafes, eat and shopped. We went to Chinatown for a delicious lunch, and then at night, I took Linda out to Van Thanh where we enjoyed a romantic dinner on a gazebo over the lake. The crazy part of the dinner was the price shock. We had a full meal, with appetizers, entree, and desert, while being alone under a wooden hut like gazebo, for only about 10 dollars. Then on top of that, there was a 90 minute massage and facial session provided at the hotel for only 6 dollars. Stella mentioned that it was one of the best massages of her life. All for almost the tenth of what we would normally pay. We had to take advantage of that.

We spent some more time shopping, this time at Ben Thanh market, and there were a lot of trinkets and crafts that we were able to get for great deals. We had already built a solid baseline from days before, and this time we were going to take advantage of that knowledge and put it to work. Unfortunately we can only take so much back, and we had initially squeezed our whole family and bags into a minivan, which we had parked in LA and planned to drive it back to Tucson. It looked like we would need an alternate plan than to drive 7 people home. So it was decided that my brother and his family fly back from LA to Tucson, while my parents and I take the van back with the luggage.
Linda had to fly back Wednesday night, the day before I would return back to the states, so we drove down to Bien Hoa, where she could meet my maternal family and Ba Ngoai (maternal grandmother). Then in the afternoon, we would go pick up an aunt of mine from Hue at the airport, who had some great snacks for us. And again in the late evening, when we drove back to the airport for Linda's departure, we met 2 more aunts coming from Hue and Da Nang. I think I have seen that airport 5 times ( it was starting to feel like business trips ).

On the final days, we just spend more quality time with the whole family, and try to squeeze as much gifts and souvenirs in the bags as possible. I almost passed out at the airport, just minutes before our own departure, but I was able to gather myself with some of my aunts herbal treatment (which was like back scratching). I think I have had enough. I got a little better, but driving home from California was brutal, and we did not get home until 4 am on a Saturday morning. In'n'Out tasted great, and I needed a week to recover.

Family Night at Van Thanh

Date: Sunday, January 17, 2010
Travel: Rental Bus
Party: Vu & Family
Lodging: Hotel in Bien Hoa
Photos: 20100117 Van Thanh Resort


After spending a long morning recovering from the previous day's drive, we visit my grandfather's burial site. We invite the entire family (a very large group) out to dinner in the city. We had to rent out a large bus for this trip. Being a sunday, the driver of the bus was speeding down the road at probably 50 mph (NOT kmh)! I actually felt scared for some of the mopeds on the road. I guess he just wanted to do something he won't be able to do on a weekday. We end up going to the Van Thanh resort offered a large park like area filled with many restaurants, but notably for the weekend, there was a buffet dinner. It was really pretty, and there were wedding at every corner. The buffet dinner looked nice, but I think my family in particular was not feeling well, and the appetites were simply no longer there after weeks of over eating on Vietnamese food. I think we would argue that the food was not mediocre overall, and of course nothing could taste as good as home food, but I think it was the fact that it was eating so much every day. If I recall back to specific moments, there were plenty of times where my tongue felt satisfied.

Stopover in Dalat

Date: Saturday, January 16, 2010
Travel: Rental Bus
Party: Vu & Family
Lodging: Hotel in Bien Hoa
Photos: 20100116 Dalat


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Failing to find airplane tickets to HCMC (Saigon), we have to find a private bus to take us and all of our luggage. We decided that we might as well stop by Dalat, which there is some history from Stella's family there. Dalat is a mountainous town, and it was preparing for its annual flower festival. I think Dalat is a destination for the locals because of the higher elevation offers a cooler environment from all the tropical heat. After 4 hours of driving hell, especially on the dirt roads, we make it to Dalat for lunch. After that we search around for Stella's mother's childhood home. We ended up finding it, and there was no one living in it. We spend only another half an hour at the local market before we end up driving again. This time we would spend another 7 hours on hellish roads. It was windy, bumpy, slow. It's a good thing we were able to get a bus where you can just lay down across the seats. Never again... We make it into Bien Hoa by late night, where Ba Ngoai (maternal grandmother) lives, and spend time with the family there.

Nha Trang & Vinpearl Land

Date: Friday, January 15, 2010
Travel: Taxis
Party: Vu & Family
Lodging: Nha Trang Lodge Hotel
Photos: 20100115 Nha Trang Tour, 20100115 Vinpearl Land





My brother finally got to take in the beautiful beach of Nha Trang early in the morning. He was well rested, and was ready to go. In the morning, we decided to do a little tour of the city, starting with Hon Chong, followed by a visit to Po Nagar, and then the villas of Bao Dai. Some people were just feeling tired and wanted to rest up during the afternoon. Later that evening, the family takes the cable car over to Vinpearl Land, which for the longest time I thought people were saying "Vin Bun Lan." It's essentially a resort island, with an amusement park built on it. Getting off the cable car, we were dumped into an amusement area designed for children with slightly dated fair rides. However, there is a resort if we walk further (which we didn't), but we did go down to the aquarium, which is new, modern, and not half bad. There is a ritzy shopping area, and a stage used for water and light shows. It looks the area could be really nice with a lot of restaurants and cafes, but it all seemed very empty. It seems to be geared towards tourist, but it was not busy at all. Perhaps it cost too much, or its just not the high season. At least we as a family were able to taste a little bit of Nha Trang, even though we technically based out of there for 5 days.

Return to Nha Trang

Date: Thursday, January 14, 2010
Travel: Taxis
Party: Vu & Family
Lodging: Nha Trang Lodge Hotel
Photos: 20100114 Thap Ba Spa Bac Loc's Vacation Home

Coming back to Nha Trang, I learn that my brother has moved from the hospital to a private institution with much better care. He was in a room by himself with AC, and a nurse right outside the door at all times. He was getting better as well, and was ready to be discharged that evening. With the better news, the rest of the family decides to go around and finally have a little fun. So we head out to Thap Ba spa, which is another hot spring spa, and the major draw of this location is the mud bath. The spa site is beautifully located along the hill, and is fully loaded with individual tubs, with varying sizes. Since there was 6 of us, we get to be at the highest level in the family section. New mud fills the tub up each time new patrons enter, and after half an hour of sifting through the mud, it is then drained away. There is an area with chaises around so you can lay around letting the mud to dry, followed by a nice warm spring water shower. To help rinse away all the mud in all corners and cracks of your body, there are a couple stone walls, with jets shooting out horizontally. It was a lot of fun just to run around in. After this rinse off, the next stage are family warm water spas, where you just sit and soak in the warm mineral water. After all that, then you can go down to the pool area, also filled with warm spring water, to waste the day in. Theres a mini waterfall you can soak in, or just sit back and relax and get a massage.

After all the relaxation, we visit one of my parents friends vacation home, which is under construction. The 5000 sq feet behemoth sits a little outside of Nha Trang, and has a gigantic balcony overlooking the nearby hills. Perhaps this might fuel the fire in our own family to look into some property.

That night, my brother is finally released from the hospital, and we could finally rest as a family. So now that we know he is ok, we have to make our next travel plans. The initial plan was to fly to Saigon, but the flights were sold out. I thought the train was good, but we have too much luggage. Imagine carrying 14 full size luggages everywhere... what a pain. Being such a frequent traveler, I like to travel light. Anyways, it was too late to buy flights, because it was sold out. We just had no idea when we could go because my brother had to go to the hospital. One thing was for sure, is that he had to spend at least 1 day in Nha Trang.

Dropping off Linda

Date: Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Travel: Taxis
Party: Linda, Vu & Family
Lodging: Sleeper Train

Linda and I arrived to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) around 5 am, where we got some help from Chi Be, a cousin on the maternal side, to get a hotel. We spend lunch with Chi Be, and a handful of other cousins, for some Pho, a brief tour of the city, and some coffee. After wards, Linda and I were able to go around and shop, buying trinkets, souvenir and gifts. We put on our great bargaining skills and got some great deals. However, it really seemed like we were setting a lower baseline of market value for each thing we buy. This would really help me get some nice deals on many other things for days to come. As the time approaches, we make our way to the airport. I had already purchased a train ticket which was scheduled about an hour after Linda's scheduled flight, since the stations were pretty close to each other...on paper.

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However, even leaving 3 hours prior to the flight from the hotel seemed like a bad idea, as the traffic was at its peak rush period. Only needing to drive around 2 km, it would take over an hour and a half, where we ended up in a stretch of 30 minutes sitting in the middle of an intersection. We would frequently see the driver walk out of the car just to see what was going on, and chat with other people. After a bittersweet departure, I would have to rush to the train station to take another sleeper back to Nha Trang. This time I got to meet someone in my room, and he happened to be part of an event which is taking place at my hotel in Nha Trang. Sweet, now I get to party.

Sick in Nha Trang & Train to Saigon

Date: Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Travel: Taxis
Party: Linda, Vu & Family
Lodging: Nha Trang Lodge Hotel
Photos: 20100111 Nha Trang Beach



The airport in Nha Trang was actually closed, as the city had expanded and it was no longer safe to fly in to that airport. Instead, the nearby Cam Ren airport, which was a converted air force base, is where we landed. Its out in the country side and it was filled with a ton of mosquitoes. Already suffering from the runs from the terrible oyster-like animals, my brother was stung by mosquitoes as well. Over night, he ended up falling over, and was taken to the local hospital. The hospital was not a desirable place to be at, as the small rooms housed 4 patients, with windows and doors swung wide open. The bathrooms were not necessarily clean, and the care was not prompt. Of course if you feed some hidden cash into the system, you would find yourself getting a lot more attention. My brother was not doing well at all, getting fevers and chills, along with an upset stomach. My parents stayed with my brother, and we just ended up spending time around the hotel. It was difficult to really go do anything when somebody is not feeling well, but the hospital is not a place where you wanted the family to sit around either. The difficult part was that I had to take Linda back to Saigon for a flight the next night, but the only reasonable train to take was an overnight sleeper train, so we had to be ready to leave that evening.

The train, which was named the golden train, or formerly known as the VIP train, was indeed clean, especially from stories that I heard from the normal trains. The room had 4 beds, and had a TV, which we could not control so it really ended up being more annoying than convenient. The ride was pretty smooth, but it did not move at constant speeds and would randomly stop at points. I actually ended up getting a very good sleep.

Ha Long Bay

Date: Sunday, January 10, 2010
Travel: Touring Van
Party: Linda, Vu & Family
Lodging: Ha Long Hotel
Photos: 20100110 HalongBay


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Early in the morning we take a van including, another cousin working in Hanoi to Ha Long Bay. Even though the bay is not far from Hanoi, we have to wind through traffic and small roads for over 3 hours. Once we arrived, Chau had arranged an entire junk boat for just our family. The boat could probably sit over 100, but we only used up over just a dozen seats. The cruise was to be a half day long, and would include an entrance to a nearby cave. During the short cruise, there would be lunch served, and again, plenty of seafood.

As we returned back to the shore, we stayed around the coastal town of Ha Long for dinner and eventually for the night. What was strange was that Ha Long Bay is a known tourist destination, but yet the town seemed a bit empty. Granted that it was not the high tourist season, it still seemed to be too empty. We went to a nearby restaurant where there was not 1 customer inside. It was a fairly large restaurant. The food ordered was strange, and was not tasty. The Pho ordered had tomatoes in it, which is absurd. And then there was this oyster like animal. It was very expensive and tasted horrible. So horrible in fact that it would lead to a huge amount of troubles over the week, landing him in the hospital. (See post )

After waking up early in the morning the next day to listen to an NFL playoff game with the Cardinals, we shop by local artisan markets, where we end up purchasing crafts. Crafts which are a bit more pricier than other places, but with higher qualities. Spending so much time shopping, we did not have a chance to go back to Hanoi, and instead just went straight to the airport to fly out to our next destination of the beach town, Nha Trang.