so glad to be home! so glad!! loved vietnam for sure but there is nothing compared to being home. it's cold here. i'm here for a week or two then planning on heading south to central america...costa rica for my yoga (+ surfing) retreat end march. more to come...as i continue the flow. it's so good to live yoga on and off the mat...in continuous flow! peace. http://www.tweeyoga.com [View Full Entry]

---

---

our last day in vietnam together. i had been away from mom for 3 days in cambodia. it was refreshing but i missed being with mom. so i took an earlier flight to ho chi minh city to meet up with mom and my cousin dong's house. mom was glad to see me as she was taking her usual post-lunch afternoon nap. i woke her to go explore saigon to try to find the house that i was raised in....the one we left before the fall of saigon. mom was game. we got some lunch and jumped in a metered cab [View Full Entry]

---

---

and so i was torn about leaving mom...but i tried to change my flight out of vietnam for another week to find out that all the flights on my airline (EVA) leaving vietnam for the states were booked and full through march 20th! i couldn't get out and i didn't want to stay THAT long as much as i loved it. my bag was getting too heavy and i wanted to reconnect to home. i didn't want to miss cambodia's temples of angkor...so i booked a flight from hanoi to siem reap. at first i thought it was a mistake so [View Full Entry]

---

---

so hanoi was a fun city to do in a day. i live in nyc...it was like visiting another city but pretty fun to be a part of the majority this time. also imagine all the nyc subway riders on motos (motor bikes). they don't have much of a public transportation system so most of them travel by moto! and no joke...it's ridiculous! one day i tried to cross the street at 5pm (rush hour) and looked in just one direction and could not find a gap for at least 5 minutes. i soon found out from my cousin nguyen to [View Full Entry]

---

---

the infamous "uncle toe" that i've talked about in yoga class. we arrive at his home (and aunt tuc and cousin nguyen) at 6am in the morning after a decent night's sleep on the train. uncle tho still works part-time as a doctor at a nearby clinic. he left home at 20 to attend medical school in the north of vietnam. soon after the war broke out and he could not return home. he was of two sons who went to north vietnam to study. the eldest 2. my great grandfather died of a broken heart as he never got to [View Full Entry]

---

---

now it continues to unfold. my family lineage. the tomb of my ancestors. my mother's mother's family temple. these are my roots! we arrived in hue and checked in for a solid night's sleep. the next morning we would hired a car to visit my great grandfather's uncle's tomb. i had no idea what was in store. i just knew we were to leave at 7am. yikes. the next morning 7am, bright and early, aunt huong, uncle vinh, + mom were ready to go. remember they are in their 60's! i guess they wake up early at that age right? dressed [View Full Entry]

---

---

(part two, feb 22nd) so after seeing my mother's mother's family temple we had a few hours to explore hue. yes i know..only a few? no perfume river boat ride? totally american style...rush in take pictures, rush out. we had a train at 4.45p to catch out of hue to hanoi. the original option was a 22 hour bus ride! no way in he--! i was heading for a plane but realized that i should stay with mom...and besides....this train ride had a sleeping car...only 12 hours...but all sleeping. i stayed. it all worked out. but not before we raced to [View Full Entry]

---

---

(part two, feb 21st) ....we then continued down the road to find the family that was maintaining the tomb. wow! another epic experience!! we pulled into (follow me here) my mother's cousin's house. her grandfather's brother's son's house. the entire family was there!! it just happened to be the anniversary of the cousin's mother's death. the older relatives were dressed in ceremonial gowns and head wraps. they were honoring her with a huge feast, lit incense and bowing and prayers and burning of money. they burn (fake) paper money, furniture, and clothing. the buddhists of thi [View Full Entry]

---

---

(part one, feb 21st) definitely one of the most heart-blowing experiences of the trip!! discovering my roots in the rice fields. visiting the family tomb + temple. an epic experience. i walked on the earth that my great ancestors walked on. and not only that...i visited a town where my great grandfather + uncle were very well-respected and loved individual in the province. let me back up. so that 13 hour bus ride was in fact worthwhile. it got us to the family tomb! once we arrived in hoi an, we slept long and hard...then hired a taxi to take us [View Full Entry]

---

---

so we're driving along the road from hoi an to hue. my uncle in the front seat, mom, aunt huong and me jammed in the back seat of a tiny car...but hey! who's complaining. i'm not on the open tour bus right? so i ask mom if she can ask the driver if we can stop in danang on the way to hue. the driver says no...it's 2 km off the road. i ask mom to re-translate and "ask politely again" that i am strongly suggesting or actually requesting or actually saying that we must stop in danang on the way [View Full Entry]

---

---