Going on a small vacation

Hello everyone,

I know I've been terrible about updating lately. I'm going through some rough things over here, and just haven't had the energy or the inspiration to write. I'm focusing on me for a bit, getting my body healthy, and my head and heart back to normal.

So what better time for a vacation, right? We have a four-day weekend for Liberation/Reunification Day (April 30th) and Labor Day. So me and my friend and coworker Mareike are heading to the mountains, to a village called Da Lat, to see something new and hopefully escape the oppressive heat of Saigon.

It takes about 7 hours to get there by bus (on a windy, narrow mountain road, I'm told), and we've got out hotel booked for 3 nights. So, armed with out Lonely Planets and cameras, we'll head off to hopefully see some waterfalls and pagodas, as well as take in some mountain vistas. We shall see.

I am only hoping that I can relax enough, open my mind and heart up to this new place, and have a good time. I think I will. Again, we shall see.

I would love to hear any friendly voices right now, so if you're bored, shoot me an email. I'll reply. Unless I'm in on a mountain somewhere, in which case...I'll still reply. Just later.

More soon. Love.

I'm melting!

Today I woke up around 10:30 am, expecting to have a choir rehearsal (I have joined the International Choir of Ho Chi Minh City) at noon. So I got up and walked to the market to get fruits and veggies, and in the 20 minutes that I was out there (actually within the first 5), I was drenched in sweat. Lovely, huh?

So I got picked up by Long, my motorbike driver, at 11:45 and dropped off at rehearsal, only to find that it had been cancelled. It being relatively (maybe a 30-minute walk) close to my house, I walked home. And man--it is BOILING out there.

According to weather.com, it's 92 out there but feels like 104. With 60% humidity. Jeebus.

So I picked up a Ngoc Nghia--a sugar cane juice with lots of ice--and am now home, in my air-conditioned room, trying to dry off. Oy.

I'm not all that talkative lately, in this forum

So, we may have a new kitten. I don't know if he has a name yet, but it might be Curry. He's tiny-tiny. And his ears remind me of the bat (Batty? No, that's Ferngully...) from the movie Anastasia, the one who says "and I geeve her a HA! and a hi-YA! And I keeck her sir!"


Also, in my last weekend at Mui Ne, I went back to the sand dunes and there were ponies munching on lotus-lake grasses:


It was super hot, so that seemed like a good idea, I guess.

That's all I got for now.