It's been a while since the last post.
Blame it on a miserable mental state.
But what can you expect in a place like this:
Just after Midnight... Dec. 29th in Vancouver. I'll be at the airport in 24 hours. It is pouring and windy outside. The elephants in the room above me are still sending shock waves through the structure of the building. It's almost like shell shock..... even when it's quiet for a moment, one waits for and expects the next THUD to shake one's bed ! And since it's raining hard, the tires of the countless cars passing within 50 meters of my bed add their horrible splashy noises to the general ambient cacophony.
I finally fall asleep around 2 am......
After swallowing down the Kerrisdale Camera / Panasonic refusal of warranty insult, the day gets better.
I visit Grandma for the last time during this stay and we part on good terms. I'm also relieved to see that the Nurse Next Door who supposedly STOLE everything from her freezer (she cleaned out the 10-year-old crap with terminal freezer burn) is still working there ;-)
Maybe Grandma simply doesn't recognize her? LOL.
I return the rental car by 14:00. $1300 for 6 weeks..... not cheap but not too bad either but I feel much lighter already because I HATE driving a car in this city.
What's THAT?
Translating work?
Oh...OK....
A few e-mails and a few Vietnamese lessons later and I'm walking through the old Grouse Inn to my Vietnamese restaurant when I run into Jason.
He's acting as the security guard at the still not quite empty hotel and has married one of the house-keepers. LOL, I leave town for a bit and all hell brakes loose ;-)
Time to counteract the wine I drank earlier with some food and still be careful not to eat too heavily.... after all..... I'll be in a plane for a LONG time.
It's odd..... the pouring rain of this morning has given way to partly cloudy but dry skies. But what seems more relevant is that the dark mental cloud of being forced to stay in this town finally seems gone. (And NO, it's not just the booze, LOL).
16:00
There is this undeniable (but bearable) lightness of being that I have not felt for at least the last 4 weeks. It is back! I am back..... FINALLY ;-)
Time for a nap before I shower and hit the road?
19:30
Ouch...... Everything hurts.... Shit I'm OLD !
I feel slightly better after a quick shower..... but still feel sluggish and BLOATED.
20:30
Everything is packed.... I just have to put clothes on and walk into the night ..... and I don't intend to go gentle into that good night, LOL.
The hotel actually refunds me the money for 1.5 nights because of the hot water issue..... NICE.... especially, since I had completely forgot about it, LOL. OK, so they SAY that they refund me.... a few days later the transaction has not appeared on my card yet ....
My boarding pass does not have a seat number on it? I asked for an aisle seat and I got seat SBY, even though the check-in clerk confirmed an aisle seat...
WHAT is going on?
In the news: It POURS in Vietnam.... the highway from Nha Trang to Da Lat is blocked ....
What is this????
It's 23:30 and the line-up for the security check extends all the way out HERE?
Unfortunately, there is a 30 minute line-up to GET TO the sign, LOL. When I finally get to the security check, my suspicions are confirmed..... Only 2 out of 6 security check lines are manned are operating..... SHAME !
And I discover another installment of Fabulous Vancouver while walking to the gate:
Those hockey-team 'totem poles' that were outed as being an example of 'blatant cultural appropriation' a few weeks ago? The company making them actually pulled them from their program and apologized.
Of course, the stores in YVR airport STILL sell them..... but what can you expect from an airport simply covered in Native art when in the city outside its gates First Nations people are still being discriminated.
The flight ain't fun.
I get a proper boarding pass at the gate. A middle seat. I initially PANIC, but then realize that I will most likely survive sitting in a middle seat for 13 hours, LOL.
Then the flight is delayed....... WOW, lying employees and sloppy time performance: China Airlines is becoming more and more like Air Canada!
One thing I will NEVER get over is the music that plays in the washrooms of China Airlines (Is that the reason I like flying with them?) It's an instrumental elevator version of THIS AMAZING NEIL YOUNG SONG. Find someone who's turning, and you will come around! .... Come down to the river of sight and you will really understand..... it's only castles burning!
To the offense given by the Vancouver middle seat and flight delay I get to add lousy food, huge transfer line-ups in Taipei, and RUSHING to make the next boarding in Taipei and then a 1/2 hour WAIT for the last stragglers..... oh, and another middle seat ;-(
More rude China Airlines staff during the second flight. Did they send their stewardesses for training in Canada? What is the world coming to?
But then things go more smoothly....
Only a 30 minute wait to get the Visa stamped into my passport. And the following immigration line is overcome in 15 minutes. YES, it takes its time to reach the promised land, but at least it's accompanied by a smile ;-)
I stumble through the huge crowd outside welcoming tourists or their relatives and right away see my 152 bus. It's still only 5000 VND but SOMETHING is VERY different!
During the bus ride I keep clandestinely ogling this gorgeous young Viet man, but maybe I wasn't that clandestine? At some point he gets up from his seat and sits next to me ...
Why does this always happen when I'm barely conscious enough to keep myself from falling off my seat into the aisle?
A short walk later and I'm back in my room. I can't believe how good that feels ;-)
Time to buy wine and refill the phone with 200k..... my account was down to zero but I STILL got internet! HOW civilized ;-)
14:00 I am SO TIRED !
But I just CAN'T sleep...... I'm simply too excited to be here.
By 16:30, I've done sink laundry, called Binh to make sure I have the correct number in 3 days.... worked on the blog.... and almost finished the 1st bottle of ruou trang ;-)
All in all it just feels so good: I'm NO LONGER a fish out of water ;-)
Another visit to Huyen, where she tries to convince me that the Vietnamese culture is very conducive to produce clairvoyants......
There is still a LONG line-up at my Bun Cha place, too long for my level of tiredness ....
... so I decide to go for an old staple
Too bad their menu (Mackerel 100k) is misleading. It's 100k VND per fish....
19:00
I simply can't stay awake any longer, but I set the alarm on the new cell phone to 23:45 so that I can be awake for the new year.....
 |
| UGLY weather |
I finally fall asleep around 2 am......
After swallowing down the Kerrisdale Camera / Panasonic refusal of warranty insult, the day gets better.
I visit Grandma for the last time during this stay and we part on good terms. I'm also relieved to see that the Nurse Next Door who supposedly STOLE everything from her freezer (she cleaned out the 10-year-old crap with terminal freezer burn) is still working there ;-)
Maybe Grandma simply doesn't recognize her? LOL.
I return the rental car by 14:00. $1300 for 6 weeks..... not cheap but not too bad either but I feel much lighter already because I HATE driving a car in this city.
What's THAT?
Translating work?
Oh...OK....
A few e-mails and a few Vietnamese lessons later and I'm walking through the old Grouse Inn to my Vietnamese restaurant when I run into Jason.
 |
| still some TVs (for sale @ $25 a pop) and nightstands available but it will be HISTORY when I come back .... |
Time to counteract the wine I drank earlier with some food and still be careful not to eat too heavily.... after all..... I'll be in a plane for a LONG time.
It's odd..... the pouring rain of this morning has given way to partly cloudy but dry skies. But what seems more relevant is that the dark mental cloud of being forced to stay in this town finally seems gone. (And NO, it's not just the booze, LOL).
16:00
There is this undeniable (but bearable) lightness of being that I have not felt for at least the last 4 weeks. It is back! I am back..... FINALLY ;-)
Time for a nap before I shower and hit the road?
Ouch...... Everything hurts.... Shit I'm OLD !
I feel slightly better after a quick shower..... but still feel sluggish and BLOATED.
20:30
Everything is packed.... I just have to put clothes on and walk into the night ..... and I don't intend to go gentle into that good night, LOL.
The hotel actually refunds me the money for 1.5 nights because of the hot water issue..... NICE.... especially, since I had completely forgot about it, LOL. OK, so they SAY that they refund me.... a few days later the transaction has not appeared on my card yet ....
 |
| Freezing people at the Vancouver Centre SkyTrain station. |
WHAT is going on?
 |
| The last supper in Vancouver for a while |
In the news: It POURS in Vietnam.... the highway from Nha Trang to Da Lat is blocked ....
What is this????
Typical Vancouver again: The sign shows the wait time to get to the security check from the sign itself.
And I discover another installment of Fabulous Vancouver while walking to the gate:
Of course, the stores in YVR airport STILL sell them..... but what can you expect from an airport simply covered in Native art when in the city outside its gates First Nations people are still being discriminated.
The flight ain't fun.
I get a proper boarding pass at the gate. A middle seat. I initially PANIC, but then realize that I will most likely survive sitting in a middle seat for 13 hours, LOL.
Then the flight is delayed....... WOW, lying employees and sloppy time performance: China Airlines is becoming more and more like Air Canada!
 |
| I sleep though 8 of the 13 hour flight even though for the first 2 hours I am frequently awoken by turbulence jolts that make me fear that parts of the plane will rip off |
 |
| Taipei, barely time for 2 cigarettes before I board the next plane |
 |
| got lost? |
But then things go more smoothly....
Only a 30 minute wait to get the Visa stamped into my passport. And the following immigration line is overcome in 15 minutes. YES, it takes its time to reach the promised land, but at least it's accompanied by a smile ;-)
I stumble through the huge crowd outside welcoming tourists or their relatives and right away see my 152 bus. It's still only 5000 VND but SOMETHING is VERY different!
 |
| They have advertising soup bowl handles now, LOL |
Why does this always happen when I'm barely conscious enough to keep myself from falling off my seat into the aisle?
A short walk later and I'm back in my room. I can't believe how good that feels ;-)
Time to buy wine and refill the phone with 200k..... my account was down to zero but I STILL got internet! HOW civilized ;-)
14:00 I am SO TIRED !
But I just CAN'T sleep...... I'm simply too excited to be here.
By 16:30, I've done sink laundry, called Binh to make sure I have the correct number in 3 days.... worked on the blog.... and almost finished the 1st bottle of ruou trang ;-)
All in all it just feels so good: I'm NO LONGER a fish out of water ;-)
Another visit to Huyen, where she tries to convince me that the Vietnamese culture is very conducive to produce clairvoyants......
There is still a LONG line-up at my Bun Cha place, too long for my level of tiredness ....
19:00
I simply can't stay awake any longer, but I set the alarm on the new cell phone to 23:45 so that I can be awake for the new year.....
