Vietnam

'Member when I blogged the other day about Wix, showing off me looking 12 and daydreaming about the stars? Well I found some proof for you that I did go to Vietnam and didn't make that part up. I have hundreds of pictures of my trip to Vietnam, but Lord only knows where they are. Well, I know where they are. They are on CD's in the Rubbermaid Bin in the wardrobe in the guest bedroom. Why does it seem so incredibly cumbersome to upload pictures? One of these days I am going to come up with a system that works. But for now, I really don't have one at all whatsoever. I just tried to upload some from my camera to show you recent photos of the boys from my visit to Carla's yesterday, but the camera battery died in the process. And now I can't upload from home because I downgraded to DSL lite to try and save a little money and it is not fast enough to upload pictures! And ugh! Then again it could also be the computer itself because it has some problems and shuts down a few times a day. It's always somethin'. However, I found these on snapfish from 2005.

I went with these nuts. An amazing group of highly successful people chosen by a fabulous organization known as the American Council of Young Political Leaders...and they picked me too. Included in the group were a White House Staffer, a Secretary of State, two State Senators, a Boston City Councilman, a Lobbyist and me. I had an absolute blast and loved every minute of it...almost. The Vietnamese government leaders truly rolled out the red carpet for us and we were able to experience the best of the best of their country. I would go back.The first night there we went to this Water Puppet Show. I found it funny the way they pronounced Water Puppet...it was all very staccato and quick and fast with emphasis on the T's...more like, whitterpuppetttt. I have never been so sleepy in my whole entire life. We flew into Chicago, then Osaka, Japan or somewhere and then Hanoi I think and then went to that crazy whitterpuppettttt show and I was soooooooo jet lagged and miserable. But the show was amazing, from what I saw.We stayed in this one amazing hotel in Hue. We also stayed in some pretty horrific places that just make me laugh thinking about them. We made it fun and I honestly have not laughed so hard for so long, about so many things, that often in my life. Our group got along amazingly well and we had an absolute blast. We were all total strangers, from various parts of the country and walks of life, but we made it fun and enjoyed the adventure. And I wish we were all out by that pool at this Hotel in Hue right now. I kept the card from this place and would love to go back. We took Pedicabs or rickshaws around town in Hue. We wanted to go do Karaoke one night because we had heard that is what Vietnamese do. We asked the drivers to take us and we wound up at this literal hole in the wall. It was a concrete block house with a pleather sofa and a tiny, tiny little TV with rabbit ears and two microphones. We laughed at what it was. We expected American big televisions and air conditioning. No way. I think there was one tiny dim bulb in the ceiling, pale green walls, that horrific L-shaped sofa that could swallow you, and a gross dirty plastic bucket with luke warm water, a few pieces of ice and a few warm bottles of Tiger beer floating inside. I have honestly never laughed so hard in my entire life. We sang horrifically and recklessly and quite soberly. I will never forget when we chose to sing the Beatles "Hey Jude" and the lyrics came up, "ra ra ra ra" instead of "la la la la"!!! and it was no joke. It was also funny that the graphics for each song were the same. I had not done Karaoke before, nor have I since, but evidently some of the songs feature lyrics with pictures in the background to make it more like a music video and create a little ambiance along with the song. Well, in Hue they only had three "graphics"...and they were all of random animals, like sheep and goats and bulls and the like. Each song would rotate through those same pictures over and over. Maybe you had to be there, but it was the funniest thing I had ever seen. Never mind Senator Merle Flowers singing country music which was also up there, but I want to see him succeed and have vowed to never show the video proof I have.Every meal was entertaining. Here we actually had entertainment. We saw this a lot. Lots of dancing and singing and overall entertainment at the tables. We ate at the very best places in each town and often ate buffet style, eating as much as we wanted of a huge variety of foods. That was fun. Until we went to Ha Long Bay. This has to be one of the most stunning places on the planet. Photos simply do not do it justice. They rented a boat for us and prepared a meal for us on the boat. We stopped and toured a cave! Then Paul did this:And I followed suit. As did a handful of the others and those of us who did this got violently ill while those who did not seemed to be fine. Ok, so maybe "violent" is a strong word. But my stomach was a wreck for quite some time and the amazing Vietnamese cuisine suddenly didn't appeal to me so much anymore and I just wanted to come home and have normal food and even after I came home I still didn't feel so hot. But I am better now. After four years one would hope so, right? But I can say I swam in Ha Long Bay, can you?