Some Fun Facts

1. The traditional Vietnamese conical hat has 16 bamboo rings. When you buy a conical hat, if it is an original it will hav the 16 rings.

2. The conical hat has many uses. If a lady likes a man she will cover her face except for her eyes, if she doesn't like a man she will cover her entire face with the hat which means "go away". The Vietnamese people aslo use it to scoop water, fan themselves, collect fruits and vegetables, and cover their tummy when they are pregnant because they are embarrassed.

3. The Chinese favorite part of the fish is the cheek. (I tried it, it was good!)

4. The Chinese favorite part of the duck or the goose is the left leg. Do you know why? Because it stands on it's left leg to urinate so the muscle is stronger...Not kidding!

5. In Vietnam, if a woman cannot get pregnant, she will send her husband to another lady that has agreed to have a baby for them. They will try to get pregnant for 1 month. If she gets pregnant they will pay her $7000 US dollars, if not she does not get paid. This is all kept very private.

6. In Vietnam, only 2 people are legally allowed to ride on a motorbike, but many ride with 4 or 5 people. Children under the age of 8 are not required by law to wear a helmet when riding!

7. Numbers of good luck in China are 3 which means happiness, 8 which means wealth, and 9 which means long life. People will pay millions to have these numbers on their license plates on their cars.

8. In China, the groom's family pays for EVERYTHING, the wedding, wedding dress, rings...and a dowry to the brides family before they are even married. If she decides not go get married, he is out the dowry.

Fish Dinner

Last night we took a 40 minute boat ride through the choppy channel to a little fishing village for dinner. We had a ten course meal with crab, scallops, lobster tail, grouper, prawns and squid. The dinner was amazing! The boat ride there and back was breathtaking.

Jade and Noodles

We also visited the Jade Market and did some shopping. We then stopped at a local noodle shop for wonton soup. When we arrived there were no tables, so the waitress rushed some men out and fixed-up a table for us. She didn't speak any English so I had to point out the drinks we wanted. The noodles bowl was big and the noodles were long. Each bowl of soup cost $18 Hong Kong Dollar which is $2.50 US. We left the waitress $20 Hong Kong Dollar tip and she tried to give it back. When we told her to keep it she almost cried and was very thankful. Matthew, our guide said that was the biggest tip she has ever gotten and will probably ever get. He said typical tipping is 2%, 3% or 5%.

Wong Tia Sin Temple- The Fortune Teller

We visited Wong Tia Sin Temple yesterday. We were able to experience the process of the fortune telling. We entered the temple and were given a round wooden container with 100 wooden sticks in it. You ask a question you want to know, ususally when worshipers face a decision or a croosroad in life. You then kneel and shake the bamboo cylinder until a flat bamboo stick falls out onto the ground. The stick has a number on it, that is the number that goes with that question. You continue to do this until you have a number for each question. We then went over to the soothsayer and gave him our number and question. If you receive a "good" card it means good things for you and you are to keep it for one year, if it is a "bad" card then the soothsayer will keep it and burn it for you.

Culture Shock

We are in Hong Kong and all are in culture shock from the move from Cambodia to here. The city is beautiful. The skyline is endless with mountian peaks in the background. The population of Hong Kong is 7,008,000 and the primary tongue is Cantonese. The city is so technologically advanced. The subway system is very user friendly and tickets are available via touch screen maps. You just touch where you want to go and how many people are going and it prints your ticket!!! So far, there is more of a language barrier here than in Vietnam or Cambodia. Our dinner was $887.70!! This is the first time we have had to exchange money and the rate is 7.8 Hong Kong Dollar to $1 US dollar. Off to the Jade Market and The Wong Tai Sin temple today.

Headed to Hong Kong

We went to dinner last night with the group and this morning we are headed to Hong Kong. I am sad to leave Cambodia.

Faces of Cambodia

The people of Cambodia and Viet Nam are so open to having their pictures taken. We have been welcomed and feel comfortable hanging out with the locals on the streets. The children are a little shy but warm-up with encourage from their parents.

Flowers on our trip

Russian Market

This afternoon we went to shop at the Russian Market. I don't know why it is called the Russian Market, but we did lots of shopping!! We also handed out more books to kids on the streets! We are headed to dinner with the group for our last night out. We head to Hong Kong tomorrow!

A Painful History

Today we visited the Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh where Cambodians were kept and tortured before led to be murdered at the killing fields. We then took a 15 km trip to the Killing Fields where we observed mass graves, clothing of the vicitims and human remains. It is amazing to think that this happend in my lifetime.

Professional Day

Tuesday we meet with Dr. Alice Smith and several other collegues, newly qualified SLP's and directors of various programs here in Cambodia. We learned about the programing that is in place for children with disabilities and AIDS. They spoke of their goals and challenges here in Cambodia. In the afternoon, we were able to visit the Rabbit School, a school for children with severe disabilities or children with AIDS. The school shared a building with an orphanage which we were able to tour and visit the children. All the children were so excited to see us! I will post photos when I get time.

Our last stop was All Ears Cambodia, an Audiology clinic set-up by Glyn Vaughan. The clinic provides services to Cambodians from newborns to the elderly.

In the evening, a group of us took a tuk tuk down to the river front, were we walked the streets of Phnom Penh shopping in little boutiques tucked in the darkness. We walked to a huge park where there were 5 or more big groups of people line dancing. Each group had their own boom box hooked up to speakers, all playing different music. We danced with the groups which the observers found quite comical. I even had a guy tell me to pay a dollar to dance with his friend.

I have given some money to the kids on the streets, but decided to start carrying books to give instead. The kids love the books!!!! I gave a book to a little girl yesterday, we looked at the book together. She imitated everything!!! She barked for the dog, meowed for the kitty, pretended to eat and sleep, and jumped like a frog. The laughed so hard when I was jumping around like a frog! Even with the languge barrier we were able to connect, it was so powerful!

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

We have been so busy, I have been falling behind in the blog! On Monday, we flew to Phnom Penh. In the morning we were able to get a wonderful overview of what speech therapy services look like from Dr. Alice Smith, a speech pathologist that spends 7-8 months a year working here in Cambodia. Alice specializes in cleft lip and palate and works closely with several orginizations, hospitals, and clinics to provide traininga and therapy. In the afternoon, we went to the Royal Palace built by the French in 1866 and the Silver Pagoda. The King lives on the same grounds and he was home at the time of our visit. We then went to the National Museum and took photos of the garden. Outside of the museum were many many kids begging for money and food. Several of the children were naked and dirty. A family lived on the corner of the street protected by a tarp hung between two trees. One of our delegates took four kids and bought them all new clothes! We spoke with the mom that lived on the corner, she was very interested to know all about us. The people on the streets have picked-up English quite well from the tourists. We were able to collect about $70 to give to the mom and she was very thankful.

We ate dinner at the FCC, Foriegn Correspondance Club, this is where all the reporters would come during the war.

Siem Reap, Cambodia

It was almost 99 degrees today in Siem Reap. We had a wonderful buffet breakfast at the hotel then headed to get our pictures taken for our passes to Angkor Wat. We walked throught the temples and took a million pictures. There were even children skinny dipping in the moat around the temple. Cambodia is beautiful! We spent the afternoon relaxing at the hotel and had a massage in the early evening. We took a tuktuk to the Moon Light Market and did a little more shopping before we leave early tomorrow morning.

From Vietnam to Cambodia

Last night when we arrived home from our long day, we visited the market in Vietnam. It was busy with locals and tourists. They had everything from shoes to dried fish. I took some great pictures but don't have them uploaded due to technical difficulities and time. I was very sad to leave the wonderful people and country of Vietnam today. We arrived in Siem Reap, Cambodia early this evening and took a short bus ride to our hotel. When we arrived we were greeted with music, dance and fresh tea. The hotel is beautiful and the lobby smells of lemongrass. The walk ways to get to your room are outdoors along a pond with huge lillypads. After dark all the pathways are lit with torches. We had a wonderful buffet dinner at a local hotel and then took a short walk throught the dark streets over to the night market. The Moon Night Market was so busy... foot massages for $2, bars, and many many things to buy. To get back to the hotel we took a 5 mile ride in a tuktuk pulled by a motor bike. To explain a little bit more about the traffic laws here in Cambodia and also in Vietnam...well there are none! Bikes, cars and buses pullout in front of other vehicles, drive against traffic and weave in and out. At one point while we were riding the tuktuk, all we could see were headlights ahead while weaving to avoid pot holes!!! We all agreed it was worth the risk! We are headed to Angkor Wat tomorrow. It is supposed to be hot!

Mekong River

Yesterday we took an hour and a half motor coach ride to the Mekong Delta and took a boat ride on the Mekong River. We stopped at a island and were shown how to make fresh coconut candy. We drank honey tea with the bees and walked 1 km through the island to see the local people and homes. The Vietnamese people are so welcoming and opened their homes for us to take pictures. After the walk, we had fruit and listened to music from the local people. The most enjoyable part of the trip was when we took a Sam Pan boat ride down a narrow water way through the island to the river. For lunch, we ate riverside.

We returned back to Ho Chi Minh around dinner and went to the market. The market had everything! Food, Clothes, jewlery, shoes...The ladies would say "Mam" and tell us "more" when we tried to talk them down on the price. On the way back, wehad to cross 3 streets, which was an experience in itself.

Vietnam Trip

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A Day of Professional Awakenings

In a nutshell, here was our day. I will add more later!

WOW! What an amazing day! Life changing! We started the day by visiting the Rehabilitation Hospital here in Ho Chi Minh. The Rehab center was opened in 1966 during the Viet Nam war. We met with 5 doctors, learned about thier facility and their needs. While at the hospital Dr. Carol Koch presented on Childhood Apraxia of Speech which was then translated into Vietnamese. The center provides orthopedic operations, limb rehabilitation, and prosthesis for amputees. The doctors were so excited we were there and asked us to please come back to their rehab center.

Our second stop was at a Children's Hospital. The hospital provides services to 5000 inpatients a year and 1, 400,000 outpatients per year. We met with a pediatrician, Dr. Pham Ngoc Thanh and a PT who have invended speech therapy in Viet Nam, through self study. They did not have any SLP's on staff. We were able to see the facility, visit the daycare for disabilities, and the early intervention/pshchology/speech therapy department.

Our third and final stop was at the National College of Education in HCMC. We met with the Principal and the teaching staff. They are very interested in starting a program for education in Speech Pathology. They currently provide training for teachers in the areas of visual, hearing and intelligence impaired children.

We are off this morning for a day cultural day. I will write more in this post later!

It is 6:11am Thursday morning. Today we will be visiting a children's hospital, a rehab hospital and a university. We found out yesterday that there are no speech pathologists and that we will be meeting with doctors, none of which speak English. Minh has been studying speech pathology terms for 3 months in order to be prepared as our translator. AMAZING!

Minh said that this lady was selling bread illegally and that if the police caught her they would "take her cart and she would cry".

Coffee on the sidewalk

Our guide, Minh told us that in the mornings people will illegally bring out little tables and chairs to have coffee on the sidewalks until the police come to chase them away. They will get up and run with thier tables and chairs!

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam yesterday morning at 10:30, after 34 hours of travel. On th flight into the city you could see colorful rooftops of houses side-by-side piled on top of each other. We were taken to our hotel by motor coach and the entire way I snapped pictures of motor bikes weaving in and out of traffic, driving on sidewalks and going against traffic. There are 4 million motor bikes in Ho Chi Minh! I took pictures of the street vendors, many of which happily posed for pictures. We visited the International Palace and the Vietnam War Remnants Museum. Everyone is so friendly and welcoming!

We are in Hong Kong. It is 7:30 am Wednesday the 16th. It is 6:30 pm in Kansas City. We flew in over the South China Sea to see the beautiful mountianous islands poking out of the water. We have been traveling for a total of 27.5 hours and have another 2.5 hour flight to Ho Chi Minh. Hong Kong is a little cloudy and rainy, we just missed a typhoon.

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