One last whirlwind week

Well, we haven't written in a while (sorry), but mostly because we've been all over the place in the last few days. I think last time I wrote was the 9th, so I'll do a quick play-by-play for you of what we've been up to since then.

10 June: Like I said, they had pretty much run out of things for us to do at the house-building place, and had a whole soccer team coming in to volunteer anyway. So Tiffany's family took us to this place called Monkey Island, which was, as you might guess, an island with monkeys. Lots of monkeys. One tried to jump in the car as I was getting out. The day involved lots of monkeys, cool mangrove forests, creepy music from a monkey carnival, and a thunderstorm that chased us all under a gazebo-type thing for shelter. Little did we know, a monkey was also seeking shelter there, so we had lots of adventures with it before it finally ran away from our driver. There was also a mysterious trashcan-looking thing a little ways away that kept rocking back and forth, which was creepy till we discovered there was a big tortoise in there, waving its arms and legs around and making the whole thing rock. So, in all, we didn't get to see much of the island since the rain stopped the tour boats from running, but the experience of being sequestered in a gazebo with a possibly hostile monkey with a phantom trashcan rocking around the mangrove forest outside was definitely worth it.

11 June: Off to Soc Trang province. Very,very long car ride involving multiple ferries. By the time we checked into our hotel is was pretty late, but we still met up with the pastor of the area's Christian church, who is connected with SOMEDCO. Apparently, it is particularly hard for people around there to get good healthcare, since they're in the middle of nowhere and are both ethnic (Khmer) and religious (Christian) minorities. So SOMEDCO has helped set up a community-based system out there, by stocking "medicine boxes" in certain churches and training a few people in the community to recognize common symptoms and know how to deal out the medication. They also do a lot of education about hygeine, preventative healthcare, etc. From the sounds of things, the program has had a great impact in the area already.

12 June: Driving around random areas to check out more SOMEDCO work. We got to see one of the famed medicine boxes and were kind of surprised by it. After hearing so much about what a great impact these meds were making, we did not expect to see the high level of (what Americans consider) placebos that they had there. Yes, they had some antibiotics, paracetamol (Asian tylenol), cholesterol lowerers, etc, but they also had tons of random vitamins, "dragon elixir," etc. Very interesting.
We were also taken to see some other projects. SOMEDCO apparently has their hands in everything. We're very impressed with the organization. They dig wells for clean water, roof houses, build churches, etc. Very cool to meet with the people the organization has actually aided.

13 June: After staying the night in Can Tho city, we drove for a ways more, till the roads could no longer allow full-size cars, then walked across a swaying plank of wood onto a big boat with the rest of the SOMEDCO volunteers who had come to meet us, and traveled for about another hour to the place we were having our mobile clinic. Middle of nowhere. Seriously. So cool. And actually, we were having a lot of fun with this at the hotel the night before, and at the mobile clinic: as it turns out, we were actually the first Americans/first Caucasians that some of the people there had ever seen. Is that a mind trip or what? To one man in our hotel, America now equals Brandon Hankey. That really makes you think. I hope we've all been giving good impressions on this trip!
Anyway, the mobile clinic was sweet. Since we're just students, they couldn't really have us do much beyond blood pressure screenings, but it was still cool, and we're all rockstars of blood pressure now. We saw some pretty crazy stuff too. Lots of goiters, some missing eyes, one eye that we were thinking might have fairly advanced retinoblastoma, chicken pox, some super-high blood pressure, etc. Also, they had a dentist volunteering at the same time, and watching her work was amazing. The people there are either incredibly tough, incredibly desperate to get rid of their problem teeth, or both. The dentist lady would numb them up a bit (not as elaborate as Western dentistry), grab some big pliers, and just yank out the offending tooth. And the patients never flinched! Just bit down on some gauze, thanked the dentist, and walked away! Ridiculous.
We had to leave the clinic a bit early (sad), since we had to get back to HCMC that night. Couldn't take the boat back to the van though obviously, so we ended up hiring motos! Gotta say, motorcycle rides through rural southern Vietnam are one of the coolest things I've experienced here. Such gorgeous surroundings, so much fun. And don't worry, parents, we were all wearing helmets, firmly seated behind very experienced drivers, and not going all that fast, due to the small roads. So much fun. Loved it. Great last working day, though I'm sad our work here is done.

14 June: travel to Hanoi with Tiffany's cousins Annie and Cherry. Once we got to Hanoi, we hooked up with our tour guide and drove to Ha Long City. This area of northern Vietnam is absolutely gorgeous. Not sure if I should say it's mountainous or not, since it's certainly no Rockies, but I don't think "foothill-ous" or "very large and fantastic hills-ous" are words. Very beautiful though. We also stopped at a pagoda along the way, which was pretty sweet.

15 June: Ha Long Bay! I'm running out of time on the computer and words in my head right now, so I can't do it justice, but it was stunningly gorgeous. Do a google image search of "ha long bay" or "halong bay" and check out the pictures. If I remember right, there are about 200,000 sheer limestone islands in as many square kilometers. Amazing. They just pop up all around you. As you navigate through on a boat, there are just layers upon layers that keep opening up in front of you. Very fun boat ride, very mysterious. We had the whole boat to ourselves for some reason, which was great. We even got them to stop for a bit in a lagoon so that we could jump out of the boat and swim for a while. What a great day. How are we here? This is ridiculous. How did a bunch of 20-something year old students with no jobs, no income, no place in the world, no anything, end up spending such a great month in Asia? Removing pyogenic granulomas in the Philippines? Seeing broken-off acupuncture needles in an x-ray in an ER in Phnom Penh? Walking in some of humanity's greatest artistic achievements in the Angkor temples? Riding boats and motorcycles to check blood pressures in the Mekong? Hanging out on a private boat watching some of the world's greatest landscapes opening up before them in Ha Long Bay? Ridiculous. Nonsensical wonderful ridiculousness.

-Alyssa