Blogs from Can Tho, Mekong River Delta, Vietnam, Asia - page 12

Feb 25 Finally we arrive in Can Tho at the Victoria resort. IN keeping with the pattern so far it was another long travel day. Quick painless flight to Ho Chi Minh City where we arrived about 10:30 am. I had forgotten how long some of the lineups in Vietnam can take. The processing of our entry/extra landing document thingies (which you need as well as a passport & a visa) seemed to take forever.. followed by a wait for our baggage that resulted in us exiting the airport about 12:30! We were met by a private car and driver and driven to Can Tho a journey of only 200 or so km that took us 4.5 hours.... the last 9 km alone took over an hour as it involves a ferry etc. The hotel is ... read more

We said goodbye to Saigon for the last time this morning and headed east along the road. The first setback was at the end of the new dual carriageway when there was the mother of all gridlocks. Imagine buses, lorries, vans and cars all sounding their klaxons as they move forward and backward, drivers out of their seats assessing their chances of bettering their position and, amidst all this, mopeds wriggling between the vehicles in all directions! We escaped eventually and headed out of the city through Chinatown and the roadworks that reduce the road to a bottleneck every 500 metres. After a couple of hours we made stop at a roadside rest stop that was better than any service area we've ever seen - anywhere. Spotless tables, high ceilings, different dining areas, immaculate gardens and ... read more

The Day My University of Kansas English Professors Turned Over In Their Graves It was January 9th, 2008 and I am back in Cần Thơ up to my eyeballs in library troubles when the strangest thing happened. I was offered a job as an English Teacher. 15.00 dollars a class and I could have as many classes as I want. Want to go home first, just sign a one year contract and they will fly you round trip free. Here in Việt Nam they don’t have a clue about my English background. The truth is, English is not my native tongue. My native tongue is Sanfordese. Named after the country I grew up in those first 10 years of impressionable learning. If you grew up around Sanford Kansas USA you spoke Sanfordese. It is not a ... read more

Miss Hòa A Future Rotary Youth Exchange Student? In 2002 when the Unification Library was dedicated they had the children of the area sing and dance and as always the children were as good and cute as can be. The star of the show was a little Miss Hoa, who lived just across the canal and could really sing and dance well. Every now and then I would hear news of Miss Hoa, how good a student she was and that the Church sent her to Saigon to study the electric piano under Bich Lieu Nguyen’s guidance. She learned a lot in one summer and when she returned to Canal B she was appointed the Church organist. Every time I showed up at the Unification Library and they had the children perform it was Miss Hoa ... read more

Cán Thơ, the Kansas State of the Mekong And Thien An Orphanage Cán Thơ is about three time larger than Vình Long and the home of the agricultural university of Việt Nam. They were host to Rotary District 5690’s/Heifer International’s Orphan Life Skills Project. It is now closed. From that project though, I became acquainted with “Aunt Rose” the leader of now Thien An Orphanage. It is the best project I am acquainted with in Việt Nam unless you count Trang our Rotary Exchange student a project. District 5690, Kansas and Oklahoma has made its impact on this orphanage. Two years ago we drilled them a fresh water well and installed their water system. We also bought them a computer for office work and English software. One year ago the Rotary Club of Overland Park KS ... read more