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Published: October 1st 2007
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Boys on Water Buffalo
These boys were riding the water buffalo and jousting one another with sticks. I had my last real office day on Wednesday, and my last day of work on Thursday was spent showing two Intrepid Indochina (tour company) guys around the villages and the park to get their feedback and advice on our project. Mark (Australian) and Hung (Vietnamese) are two chain-smoking, heavy drinking ex-tour leaders who are both brilliant when it comes to planning and doing tourism in Vietnam and a lot of fun to hang out with. They gave me a lot of good information over beers. There's a bit of a disconnect between the NGO world and the business world and we need both involved in the planning of this project in order for all the ideas to actually work as a business. And it was also encouraging to hear them say the area has a lot of tourism potential despite needing a lot of work.
So my last real day of work turned out to be a lot of fun. Unfortunately poor Chi Sen was feeling sick and not her normal saucy self. She had a meeting so after a tour of the main park road, stopping at the 8 Women Cave (the youth volunteer memorial) and meeting up
with Mr. Thai who was my past host in Chay Lap Village, Chi Sen left and the drinking began. We had some rice wine at lunch and then while walking to the main part of the village Hung spotted a beer place and grabbed a few cans to drink while taking a tour of the village. Somehow despite, or perhaps because of the relaxed beer-fueled atmosphere, we had a very productive day. I feel like the direction we need to take this project has become much clearer and I feel as though the way there is less scary and ambiguous. So we talked business while I earned the title "tanker truck" by keeping up with the beer guzzling and we met up with Chi Sen for a boat ride before heading back to Dong Hoi.
I spent my last night in Dong Hoi having one last QB Bar pizza and many more beers with Chi Sen, Mark, Greg, Evi, and the Replacement Westerners. The Replacement Westerners are a Dutch couple working with a German NGO and a Canadian working with the Land Mine Survivors Network. The number of Westerners in Dong Hoi just doubled. In the two months I
have been in Dong Hoi I only saw Greg, Evi, and a group of American soldiers looking for MIA's before the last week or two of my stay. Then I started spotting them randomly at a Bia Hoi stand, walking along the street, even at my hotel. I saw one guy sitting by the side of the road by himself as I was riding my bike past. He waved at me and I just stared at him like he was an Eskimo in the tropics. I even caught myself making a comment about a tourist who was within listening distance. Nothing mean ("Now that's a tall guy!"), but I was used to making comments like that in English knowing that no one could understand. Weird.
The goodbyes were also weird. They always are for me. Since I had just met the others and I would be spending a few days in Hoi An with Greg and Evi, the only goodbye that was poignant was to Chi Sen. She gave me a beautiful lacquer bowl and a small joke present for Woods (a flowery apron) and she tried really hard to perk up for my goodbye dinner despite feeling sick.
We talked like the tentative plans for me to return in December for two weeks as a consultant were definite (they are not, but I'll try) and hugged, but I don't think it will sink in that my Vietnam mom will soon be very very far away from me. I think I will miss her most when I hear a really good dirty joke.
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Jason
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Sigh.
If only we could cite beer as a productivity enhancer here :). And was Hung, well......? Nevermind.