Vietnam
It's back to the eyes, ears, and nose for another round of this blog. This time, I find myself in Vietnam on a surgical mission with Changing Children's Lives, a non-profit organization that provides cleft lip and/or palate repairs to children in developing countries.
After making it successfully out of Newark Airport in Snowmageddon, we arrived 5 hours late to our destination, Cao Lanh, Vietnam. Our trip included stops in Anchorage, Alaska where I ate Reindeer Sausage, Taipei, Taiwan where I had access to the China Airways VIP lounge and ate unlimited Dim Sum and drank unlimited beer and espresso, and a quick visit to the Saigon, Vietnam airport. We then took a 3.5 hour busride and arrived in Cao, Lanh. It is a small city in the Mekong Delta of South Vietnam, and has almost exclusively local people living here.
The first day of our trip involved screening about 50 children to find out about their anatomical deformities and their general health conditions. One patient had to be turned away for an unknown musculoskeletal/neurological deformity and a few patients had to be turned away for other reasons. The patient that was turned away for muscuolskeletal reasons was done so because the patient had a history of being on a ventilator when he was younger and the team was concerned that in the event that the patient had difficulty coming out of anesthesia, the hospital we are at might not be equipped to deal with it.
After finishing the screening around 3pm, we made a 1 hour ride through a weaving road, into the rice paddies and tributaries of the Mekong Delta, and arrived at a Nature Preserve where we went a 1 hour boat ride through the Delta and Preserve. It was serene and relaxing, to say the least.
There is a definite language barrier here as nobody speaks any English at all. In addition, Vietnamese is a tonal language, so it is more difficult than, say, Spanish, to learn. It makes all of the interactions difficult, awkward, and funny, all at the same time. I wish I could communicate more with the people that I see, but, smiling and acting goofy has at least helped me to draw smiles from those I interact with.
The food is both exotic, aromatic, and flavorful. They eat the whole chicken here and when you get chicken, you get everything on your plate, including the head, feet, wings, breasts, tail, etc. They think that by eating the whole thing you are not wasting anything, but more importantly, appreciating the entire life/being of the chicken. I haven't decided what I will be eating of the chicken yet. Other things we've eaten have included a version of egg drop soup with strands of an unknown type of meat and boiled quail eggs, garlic beef w/ baby bok choy, fried fish cakes, which is essentially unknown types of fish mushed together and battered and fried, Pho, which is Vietnamese noodle soup, and spring rolls. Because of the French colonialism, they have great French bread at every meal, which turns out to be a big bonus if you are not into the food that is being served....
Here is what I have seen so far....
Screening Room
Examination
After making it successfully out of Newark Airport in Snowmageddon, we arrived 5 hours late to our destination, Cao Lanh, Vietnam. Our trip included stops in Anchorage, Alaska where I ate Reindeer Sausage, Taipei, Taiwan where I had access to the China Airways VIP lounge and ate unlimited Dim Sum and drank unlimited beer and espresso, and a quick visit to the Saigon, Vietnam airport. We then took a 3.5 hour busride and arrived in Cao, Lanh. It is a small city in the Mekong Delta of South Vietnam, and has almost exclusively local people living here.
The first day of our trip involved screening about 50 children to find out about their anatomical deformities and their general health conditions. One patient had to be turned away for an unknown musculoskeletal/neurological deformity and a few patients had to be turned away for other reasons. The patient that was turned away for muscuolskeletal reasons was done so because the patient had a history of being on a ventilator when he was younger and the team was concerned that in the event that the patient had difficulty coming out of anesthesia, the hospital we are at might not be equipped to deal with it.
After finishing the screening around 3pm, we made a 1 hour ride through a weaving road, into the rice paddies and tributaries of the Mekong Delta, and arrived at a Nature Preserve where we went a 1 hour boat ride through the Delta and Preserve. It was serene and relaxing, to say the least.
There is a definite language barrier here as nobody speaks any English at all. In addition, Vietnamese is a tonal language, so it is more difficult than, say, Spanish, to learn. It makes all of the interactions difficult, awkward, and funny, all at the same time. I wish I could communicate more with the people that I see, but, smiling and acting goofy has at least helped me to draw smiles from those I interact with.
The food is both exotic, aromatic, and flavorful. They eat the whole chicken here and when you get chicken, you get everything on your plate, including the head, feet, wings, breasts, tail, etc. They think that by eating the whole thing you are not wasting anything, but more importantly, appreciating the entire life/being of the chicken. I haven't decided what I will be eating of the chicken yet. Other things we've eaten have included a version of egg drop soup with strands of an unknown type of meat and boiled quail eggs, garlic beef w/ baby bok choy, fried fish cakes, which is essentially unknown types of fish mushed together and battered and fried, Pho, which is Vietnamese noodle soup, and spring rolls. Because of the French colonialism, they have great French bread at every meal, which turns out to be a big bonus if you are not into the food that is being served....
Here is what I have seen so far....
On the Street.
Traffic.
Riding With Dad.
Looking On
Arrival
Arrival
Coffee Time.
Mother and Child.
Moms and Children.
Being Screened.
Snack Time
Screening Room
Screening
Holding On
With Mom
Cleaning Up
Examination
posted by Jon at 16:27
1 Comments:
hola juan,
when you go to karaoke, don't sing "my way" by frank sinatra. read this article to find out why: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/world/asia/07karaoke.html
when you get to saigon, if you only have a short period of time, you should visit the war remnants museum and eat lunch at ngon restaurant.
try to spend time in coastal regions if possible. nha trang and danang are beautiful... as is the popular halong bay.
if you go to hanoi, be sure to spend time hanging out around hoan kiem lake early in the morning. definitely eat cha ca at cha ca la vong on cha ca street. tell a rickshaw driver to take you there and he'll know what you're talking about.
if you are going to spend an extended period of time traveling, email me for reccs (kgulati99@gmail.com). i spent last summer in SE Asia.
KG
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