Faster, faster...

Ahhh, the 'master cleanse!'

fresh organic lemon juice (5 a day), water, maple syrup (grade B), cayanne pills --- All & all it wasn't so hard to drink 60-100 oz a day. My body never felt hungry once. But, my mind, now that's a different story. I craved chewing, weird. Days 7-9 were the hardest & it was intermittant.

So, I've finally made it the whole 10 days. Last time I only made it to 6, but I know what the problems were. I'm toxic free now, right? Riiiiight; I know those parasites & such are just waiting to burrow back in. :-p

Everyone should try this at least once. It's good fo' da body & min'!

Golden

This was supposed to be of the Golden Gate Bridge (San Fran., CA), but it ended up being just golden streaks. I like the picture anyway.

We were on our way to take a friend of Christina's back towards Berkley after eating at the Matterhorn fondue restaurant. Needless to say her lovely friend isn't the best with directions, which is why she took the train into the city in the first place. She said to go North on 101 because that's the way she always takes to come into the city. but, she lives on the South side of San Fransisco. This would make my 4th time over the Golden Gate.

Bbbrrrr

This was a post in our staff folder today.

"Changed the Cold Weather Travel to use the New Wind Chill Temperature Chart: Student travel will not be allowed at temperatures below –30 degrees Fahrenheit except by jet. Ground travel (car, snowmachine) by students between villages will not be allowed if the temperature including chill factor is below –25 degrees Fahrenheit. Air travel (expect by jet) by students will not be allowed if the temperature including chill factor is below –35 degrees Fahrenheit. http://www.lksd.org/board/actions0102.htm"

I guess Yahoo said that the wind chill in Bethel is -47 now.

Volcano!

Step back, we have a volcano fully errupting after 20 years! I guess yesterday Augustine volcano errupted 5 times & it may not be finished yet.

Alaska Airlines canceled 43 flights yesterday & 23 flights today because of the ash in the air. Some schools are closing because of smoke & ash. The volcano is about 60 miles away from Homer, Alaska.

Go to the Alaska Volcano Observatory website to see the latest updates http://www.avo.alaska.edu

35 hour Sunday

So, our 11 hour flight back to America from Hong Kong placed us in Cali. 1 hour before we left... giving us a 35 hour Sunday.

Pinkie & the Brain ... wait, that ain't right

You like the new look?

Along with this one, I bought a long black wig to be used as a prop celebrating the Lunar New Year with our students (my class mixed with Jr. High).

It's the year of the Dog ... ruff!

Hong Kong Hodown

There are a lot of these around the city. I hear that they're little blessing alters to bless the house of whoever lives above street level.

This is the Chinese symbol for vegitarian food.

This scaffolding was built out of bamboo with little plastic ties. This guy was breaking it down, throwing polls onto the street.

I just liked these brooms. I didn't get a picture of the ones in Thailand, but they were of horse hair or some kind of animal hair.

Wall-O-Fish (fish for sale)

These mohawk turtles were too cute.

HK Hollywood Lane ... Road to the Stars ... What was the name of this place?

"It's a statue! Of an actor!" rang through my ears several times as Christina was referring to the 7' bronze Bruce Lee statue we were going to see. Her parents wanted to go see it. But, as a bonus I got to touch Jackie Chan's hand prints! I didn't think his hands were so huge.

Giant Bronze Buddha - Take II

This is the heart sutra written on these 50' high tree halves. They're placed as an infinity symbol in the ground. Christina's mom couldn't translate because she said you would have to know Buddism & their beliefs. She could read it word by word, but it wouldn't get the whole meaning.








Of course, I took a detour out of infinity to go on an extra hike. This is what I discovered... The S China Sea









and a different side view of the Bronze Buddha.

If you look dead center (maybe a little S center:-), you'll see the moon.










If you can supersize this photo, you can read more about the Wisdom Path & the Heart Sutra.

Giant Sitting Bronze Buddha on Lotus

Was that title long enough for you. This might be close to it's real name actually. Well, this is a fairly new Buddha on L...? Island near Hong Kong. It was finished in 2005, I think, & is 34 meters high. To boot you get to climb 240 stairs to go just underneath him. Inside is neat with walls & walls of memorial to people. There are also














The sun was just beaming today.













What's the original meaning for the swastika? I think it was like an emblem meaning peace or a way towards a utopian life. Hhmmmm...









Now these are insense burners!

HK Subway

Empty subway...









Full Subway ...

Ho Chi Minh

This is in the president's palace, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Cuties

These are some of Christina's cousins (she took these pictures).

Cu Chi Tunnels

Cu Chi Tunnels are a network that were started in the 1940's & took 20 years to build. They were used during the war for soldiers to hide out. The bottom of the 3 levels is 30 meters underground.


Trap doors & bamboo spears anyone? (photo by CP)













This is one of the original holes used to enter the tunnel system. (photo by CP)














Our Vietnamese guide.















This is the entrance made for visitors who can't possibly go in the tiny 12" Vietnamese enterance :-). This is me going in, where I saw a tiny bat snuggling in for a day's rest. He was about 1' away from me.






















Assending up the stairs.

Au Dai (Ow Tye)

These are the Vietnamese dresses, Au Dai. We had these made for us. Each of us bought 2. My fabric & the taylor fee added up to $48 for 2 dresses & 1 pair of slacks. Wow!
Christina's dad is just a prop.

Buddah

After a 3 hour drive to the beach & playing for 1/2 a day we went to visit a couple of Buddist temples. This was at a Chinese temple. Christina's family here practice Buddism. We stopped at this temple so that her great uncle could pay his respects; it was the temple where he was confirmed.

Housing

This housing is mostly cement with metal siding for a roof, sometimes walls. The city houses are really skinny (maybe 10 feet across) & stacked up tall (2-4 stories). The stairs are fun to climb in these.

Siagon Zzzzzoooooommmm

This was mild traffic.

Picture it:
Scooters ... Mopeds ... Bicycles

Now add 1 to 4 bodies stacked on top of any one of those. Sometimes 10 deep (10 bikes across). Hundreds lined up on each side of the road. Throw in scattered taxi vans & cars, people crossing & walking with us, the bicycles with a seat in front, a bicycle with a 5 x 5 basket in front stacked up to it's driver's chin, a few people walking their vender cart with corn or pork or novelties .... This is the traffic in Ho Chi Minh city New Year's day 2006. But, this isn't just holiday traffic.

It's been a New year for me for about 17 hours longer than most of you. It was kind of funny to think about my day almost being over & you're just now throwing down for the New year a couple hours after midnight. Ok, back to this lovely traffic.

We saw a couple boys resting their heads on the handlebars for a little nap on the ride home. Women in heals & business suits fashion their motorbikes. A couple of guys. Some brothers & sisters. Grandparents. A few on the cell phone, dialing what have you, just like they were in a car. Some wear face masks, some don't. Some wear helmets, most don't. But, if you're on the freeway you'll get a 10 day impound fine if you aren't weating a helmet. A lady carying a tall metal frame resembling an ironing board. A huge box wedged between you & you'r driver. Groceries stacked. Water jugs hanging off each side. The most people I've seen on one scooter is 4 adults: 4 skinnies mind you. I also saw a family of 5. People ages 17 (maybe younger) to 75 driving along all seeming not to have a care in the world. I'm not sure exactly what consitutes breaking the law here, but we saw a couple of young cats pulled over. But, 2 out of 2 million (on this street ;-) ain't bad.

I had the pleasure of being about to ride about for over an hour. I was taken into the center of town by Christina's 2nd cousin. This is where most of the traffic action took place. I kept waiting for that fear to hit, but it didn't. I thought for sure it would come when I'm staring at 4 scooters coming towards me, a taxi van, a few scooters & a bike on the side ... nope. When handlebars brushed my knee I should be a bit nervous right. A 7 road turn about was on our route. Molst of the time you're inches or feet away from the other scooters, vans, or people walking. Oh, riding on the sidewalk is ok too; no one even bats an eye. If you don't like how the flow is going on your side of the road, just drive on the other side. I don't know why there is even a dotted line in the middle; I guess it Is ok to pass at any given moment though. Organized chaos.

When the traffic light (mostly just the walk/don't walk signs are used to guide, except for in the center of town) changes people are still going. The way it changes is you force them to stop & trickle through by going on ahead, beeping your horn... no one minds, it's just the way it is. Weave & dodge, weave & dodge ... beep, beep, beep ... beep, beep. We're all only going about 25 kph. I haven't seen one accident. When you see a toddler standing up between his parents weaving & dodging traffic & they're not even concerned. Or when you see a mom breast feeding from the back seat of the motorbike, while her other child is in front of her husband, you feel safe. I only used a couple of fingers to steady myself when we had to jolt ahead, or stop quickly.

I dare not drive in this, but I'm up for another ride any time.

Dinner

They are making Bung Xao (sp?). It's a crepe-like dish that has bean sprouts, mung beans, shrimp (head & shells attached), pork that you also wrap with lettuce & mint leaves. I also had sugar cane juice, which kind of tasted like diluted coconut milk. A meal for 13 people drinks included cost $12!