Quick Holiday Update!

Wow it has been really busy! Apologies for only a quick update - we are on our way to the airport to enjoy Christmas and New Years in Bali!

I spent last week in the coastal city of Nha Trang helping to teach a training course for Vietnamese MPA managers. The course was put on by NOAA and I had a really great time getting to know all the participants and other instructors. I was able to share some of my experiences from MLPA in California and also practice my Vietnamese quite a bit. Every night I went out with some of my new Vietnamese friends and tried a different small food stall - these ranged from tiny tables on the street to the couches of living rooms. We had excellent Pho, Banh Xeo, and seafood. One evening, I played badminton with my friend Vy and learned that it can be a pretty competitive sport! I'm still sore. I also visited a couple of the local early morning fish markets to see what they were bringing in - Tuna, Gar, Marlin, as well as sharks and manta rays at the pelagic market, and every small fish you can imagine at the more local markets. At one market, some local fishermen rewarded my ability to speak Vietnamese with a fish - of course I was unable to refuse, so I took my little Christmas present back to the hotel and we had it for lunch. It was a fun week with many new friends (I even earned a nickname) and hopefully I'll be able to take part in similar trainings in the future! While I was teaching marine resource management in Nha Trang, Nikki was down south in Can Tho escorting some high level officials to talk with professors in the Mekong Delta about climate change. Though it was a great opportunity, it sounded exhausting! The good news is that it's looking like we will have the opportunity to collaborate on projects together in the future - fun! The next week, Nikki had a nice girls' weekend with several of her new friends - shopping, shoes, brunch, and mid-day sangria - the usual!

Holiday season here in Ho Chi Minh City is in full swing. All the stores are decorated with lights and nativity scenes (most of the nativity scenes are strangely in huge constructed caves). The consulate had a Christmas party last week with food, caroling performances, and of course Santa. I was both the MC and one of the 5 elves, so helped to dole out presents to 106 very excited children, many dressed like Santa themselves! Last night, Nikki and I went with the post language program to an area in the north part of the city that is famous for its decorations. There were soooo many people! The decorations definitely lived up to expectations - my favorite was sequin veiled Mary and baby Jesus under a disco ball. We sang carols in Vietnamese and English, had fun playing with the local kids, ate all kinds of street food, and generally enjoyed ourselves. Nikki and I came home to our decorated apartment (complete with a fake tree and stockings) and enjoyed a wonderful Christmas eve eve together opening presents. And this morning we are off to Bali! 

Happy Holidays to all our friends and family and hope you are well!!!

Cambodia and The Angkor Wat Half Marathon

Cambodians are some of the nicest people on Earth. Nikki and I took a 45 minute flight over to Siem Reap last weekend to participate in the 15th Annual Angkor Wat Half Marathon, and were continually impressed by the huge smiles and general friendliness of these people who have endured so much. Just look at Nikki's pictures above to get a sense – my favorite is the little girl running through the lotus field.

We arrived Friday afternoon, checked in to our fantastic hotel – which had the aura of an elegant Indiana-Jones-esque outpost – and headed downtown to get some grub. We dined al fresco on fish amok and other regional specialties while tuk tuks (moto-taxis) filled the streets and the biggest bugs I've ever seen filled the air (no wonder so many are eaten here!). We meandered through a narrow shopping/dining alley to find the night market, where Cambodian dancers took to the small stage and little kids danced and played amidst traditional music.

The next day we headed South to the Tonle Sap – a massive freshwater lake supporting millions of people living in floating villages. The size of the lake increases 4-5 fold between the dry and rainy seasons, so the position of the villages also changes throughout the year. We took a boat out and saw people moving their houses, taking in their catch, and selling their wares on the water. There was even a floating full size basketball court! We bought some notebooks/pencils and brought them to a Vietnamese-run primary school where we practiced our language skills with one of 3 teachers responsible for the 300 pupils. We hopped back in our tuk tuk and headed to a nearby temple/archaeological site, but not before stopping at a lotus farm where cute kids brought us flowers and lotus seeds to eat. The stunning site we visited was one of hundreds in the Siem Reap area and situated next to a modern Buddhist temple. After poking around for a bit and meeting a student of the monks, we grabbed a bite to eat in a peaceful butterfly garden in town, and visited the very well done National Museum, where thousands of the Angkor artifacts are on display. After a lovely dinner by the pool, we headed to bed early to prepare for an early morning…

The alarm went off at 4:00 AM and by 6:00 we had grabbed brekky, taken a bus to the site, and were watching the sun come up over Angkor Wat. There were something like 4,000 people participating, so it was a madhouse, but Nikki and I both fared pretty well. The race course wound through the huge site, passing giant temples, beautiful lakes, and the occasional pile of elephant droppings (yuk!). Nikki ran the 10k in just over 60 minutes, which was a 10 minute personal best – not bad for training on a treadmill. I placed second in the half marathon in just under 1:16, barely edging out a Japanese celebrity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neko_Hiroshi) and losing to the Cambodian national star by almost 6 minutes. There was even a little coverage in the local press: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2010120645172/Sport/hem-bunting-cuts-it-in-half.html. The race itself was started by a Japanese Olympic marathoner and was designed to raise money to bring artificial limbs to land mine survivors (which is a huge issue in Cambodia) and save kids from HIV/AIDS. It was really touching to see participants in the wheelchair and artificial limb categories and you had to admire their determination. A handful of other folks from the US Consulate also ran and I think they have convinced us to sign up for another iconic race in May, along the Great Wall of China.

It was a quick trip, but we really loved getting a little exposure Cambodia. We are looking forward to a return visit in February, when we will get to see Phnom Penh and more of the temples at Angkor Wat.