l’heure bleue.

I’m back in Santo Domingo for one more week.  Last week, I was staying in the southwest province of Pedernales.  It’s this small town right along the Haitian border, which I actually crossed without knowing when we went to the market.  I later found out that we were about an hour and half from Port-Au-Prince, much closer than I would have ever imagined being.  It was unfathomably surreal to physically be an hour and a half away from a completely destroyed city, yet was comfortably safe in a perfectly fine, nearby town.

A friend of Pam’s family tried to go, but there were so many obstacles in the way:  the unpredictability of destroyed roads, special vaccinations needed before entering the city, and the chilling reality that the entire city smells like rotting dead bodies, a smell so unbearable that they had to turn around.

I was looking at the D.R./Haiti lonely planet guide book that I brought down here, when I realized that almost all of the Haiti side of the book is completely irrelevant now.  I couldn’t bear to even skim through those pages and pages of restaurant  and hotel reviews, knowing that they’re no longer there.

Rest in peace.

A random thought outline.

J.D. Salinger just died,

which makes me think about my Vietnamese version of Catcher in the Rye (the first non-English novel I’m attempting to read),

which will always make me think about Mark David Chapman (because he was obsessed with the book and thought he was Holden Caulfield when he shot John Lennon),

who will always make me think about uncle (because Mark David Chapman worked at the Vietnamese refugee camp that he stayed in at Fort Chaffee in Arkansas).

Therefore, today I thought about my uncle.

A public “Hi Mom & Dad” message.

Hi Bo Me!

Khoe khong?  Con khoe.  Bay gio, con dang o T.P. Santo Domingo, thủ đo cua Dominican Republic.  Tuan truoc, con o gan nong thon (T.P. Pedernales), cach xa day 4 tieng bang xe hoi.  Con gap gia dinh cua chi Pam va sau khi minh di ra Pedernales, moi nguoi noi voi chi Pam “em do co khoe khong?  Co biet tai sao minh thich no khong?  Buoi vi mat cua no nhin rat la hien.”  hi hi.

Nha cua gia dinh chi Pam (rat la lon!)

O Pedernales, co nhieu bai bien dep lam- mau xanh troi sang!

Va o bien “Bay of the Eagles” co nhieu con buom luon!

O day, nguoi ta an nhieu ca kho, ca chien, tat ca moi loai ca… va con an cung duoc.  Con chi nghi la con se thich an ca nhieu hon, neu minh chi an mot lan trong mot luc… nhung, o day, nguoi ta an ca buoi sang, buoi trua, va buoi toi!

Khong sao.  May ban cung thinh thoang met an ca (nguoi My quen an nhieu thu), cho nen, minh cung di ra an do an Chau Au

Tat ca moi nguoi Dominican biet choi tro choi “Dominos.”  Bo Me co biet tro choi nay, k0?

Hom nay, chung toi se di xem bao tang nghe thuat cua T.P. Santo Domingo.  Cuoi tuan nay, con se di phia Bac den ban dao Samana.  O do, co them bai bien dep va thoi nay- co nhieu ca voi toi ban dao Samana!  Nhieu lam! Hon mot ngan con!  Con rat la vui mung cho cuoi tuan nay

Thoi, con phai di bay gio.  Con chi muon viet mot chut de Bo Me biet con van khoe  Con se goi dien thoai di dong cua Bo Me luc con toi tieu bang Florida, nhe?

Chuc Bo Me mot tuan am va vui ve!

Love,

Hy

To Pedernales, we go.

Pam and Matt, my two pulchritudinous hosts in the D.R.

I’ve been down in Santo Domingo for about a week now.  I haven’t been able to find any disaster relief teams to volunteer with, and I figured it would turn out this way, since most disaster relief initiatives take quite a bit of time to start up and get organized before they can handle volunteers.  For the first few days though, it was just frustrating and difficult to relax since I couldn’t get over how physically close I was to Port-au-Prince and it made me feel helpless.  But, I was also reading a lot of news about it everyday, and as each day went by, I felt less and less comfortable about going to Haiti, given the rise in crime-rate and safety issues.  Mark kindly reminded me not to worry, “It’s important to be there after the fire and smoke are gone, as much as it is to be in the fire itself.”

Tomorrow, I’m headin’ out with Matt and Pam to the southwest tip of the D.R., out in the countryside.  Pam’s family has a house out in Pedernales, where her family runs their business.  We were actually supposed to go down a few days ago, but we weren’t sure if the roads were going to be open or if Pedernales was safe enough after the earthquake.  Everything is in order now, and soon I’ll be in a land with no internet, beautiful mountains, pristine, empty, turquoise beaches, and their adult-sized chocolate lab puppy, Loki.  In my guidebook, it writes this about the southwest: “Few travelers come here.  There’s a reason for that: it’s remote, and its treasures yield themselves only to those who apply the effort.”

I asked my friend Ben for any suggestions, since I knew he spent a semester after college down in the Dominican Republic working in the tourist industry.  He wrote: “If you’re willing to head a few days off the beaten path, Bahia de las Aguilas (SW corner on the far side of Barahona) is probably the most beautiful beach I’ve ever been to.”

Eureka! What convenient circumstances, I’ll be down that way tomorrow.  It’s always nice to get travel suggestions from friends and be able to act on them; afterwards, you have this almost, miraculous, dream-like connection with each other because you’ve both had similar experiences in these far away corners of the map.  It reminds me of when Jacky went to Thailand, and she posted these beautiful photos of a heaven called Erawan Waterfalls National Park.   She told me to go see it myself… and I did a year later.

I digress.

Most noteworthy experiences so far:

-Sitting in the backseat of a car with all the windows rolled down, listening to blaring merengue/bochata music as we drive down next to the ocean along the coastal highway, Calle El Malecon.  At the time, I remember thinking “The temperature and tempo of the breeze outside of this moving car is the same as this song’s.  That’s really nice.”

-EVERY meal.  With my obsessively deep appreciation of all looks, tastes, and textures of food, combined with Matt and Pam’s life priority to “always eating well,” we make an incredible eating team.  Every meal has been memorable so far, and yes- everything that has gone into my body has sure been photographed.

so. many. types. of. prosciutto.

-It’s goddamn 80 degrees and sunny in January for me.  Wow, that needs to sink in.  I should probably never complain about anything ever again, and just be thankful that my chapped hands and lips have healed.

Oh, I’ll probably start a new blog format very soon.  I just purchased my first registered web domain (I know, I’m growing up so fast.), so I can eventually organize my pictures, stories, blog, and travel posts more attractively.  Thought I’d give a heads up.

DR Bound. (No, not the Doctor’s. The Dominican Republic.)

Ft. Lauderdale/Miami Airport.  12:00 a.m.

I’m in transit, on my way to Santo Domingo, D.R. to visit my friend, Matt.

Today at the check-in counter, I schmoozed with this older woman for about 10 minutes and we laughed and laughed and laughed.  Made me realize this wasn’t the only time- I have a special talent of entertaining older women, I suppose.  She took about five extra minutes to look at/comment on my full passport.  ”Wow, honey… you sure get around!”

She gave me an emergency exit seat on the plane without any extra money… man, they’re the best seats.  They have so so so much leg room and all you have to do is pretend like you’re confident in your emergency exit door opening skills during the height of widespread panic.  Piece of cake.

I’m dressed up in nice slacks, dress shirt and tie, as if I was a business man.  So were the three other men in the emergency exit seats.  That was kinda funny.

An older man, probably in his 50’s, came and sat a seat away from me.  I started to make small talk, but that ended soon after he said, “Alright. You walk the aisle, find a good-lookin’ gal, and we’ll let her sit in the middle of us. Sound good?!”

I nodded, fake laughed, and pretended to fall asleep immediately.  He was a giant NYC creep.

Just found about the earthquake in Haiti.  I’m hoping to find some way to get involved with an aid relief team once I get down to Santo Domingo tomorrow, we’ll see how that plays out.

I have to go.  I’m in the way of a carpet cleaner, he’s signaling me to move out of the way.

To be honest, I’m not sure which road has made all the difference.

The infamous Vietnam Airlines stewardess, just anxiously waiting to greet you.

Mary, Jessica and I went to see our first movie in the theaters in 2010, “Up In the Air.”

Thoughts:

I’ve been flying solo in airports since I was 18.  If I could make a guesstimate, I’d say I’ve been on over 75 planes by now.  Maybe more.

I’ve spent so much time alone in airports | sat next to so many strangers | slept overnight in three airports (soon to be 4).

I’ve explored every wing of several different airports | with my headphones on | walked some of my longest walking meditations in airport terminals |thus,  never minded long connecting flights.

I would run through these daydreams of meeting that lone traveling girl of my dreams in the bookstore | then meeting her again in my flight’s boarding line | always romanticizing silly daydreams.

Why am I so infatuated with constantly being in new environments/surroundings?  Why do I feel like other places in the world can give me something that living in the United States can’t right now?  I’ve questioned myself so often to make sure that my intention behind my frequent traveling wasn’t just some form of self-righteous escapism.  I know I’m happy (or at least content) being home in the U.S. near all my friends and family, and it makes sense that I would feel comfortable here, because what’s more comfortable than being in your primary comfort zone / the one community that you’ve spent the most time building in your life?  But, I guess the only time I feel truly at peace with no anxiety whatsoever,  is when I think I’ll be somewhere new soon; when I”m not feeling stagnant, but feeling like I’m “on the move.”  I think it’s partly harmless excitement and anticipation to see how my life unfolds (which seems ordinary), but I recognize that it holds me back from being completely “present.”

The one thing I can sorta make sense of, is that I’ve come to realize how much I want to live with difficult challenges. It may be the Vietnamese work ethic that my parents instilled in me (although, our motivations are clearly different since their’s was a matter of survival), and perhaps it involves an acceptance of the fact that life should inevitably be challenging, but I just don’t think I’d ever want to be comfortable and spoiled.  It’s not that I like being a busy bee- oh, it’s far from that.  I think I like not having it all figured out.  I like living in a state of confusion (makes every day interesting, right?), like I’m living some video game where I have to absolutely try my hardest to make sense of things.  I like having to always problem solve or be somewhere where all of my previously-learned perceptions and knowledge contribute to understanding nothing.  I enjoy being in a new place and starting from a point of “lost,” so that I can work towards the point where I feel like I’ve completed whatever it was I was supposed to learn there.  I like how I have to put so much effort into adapting to new surroundings and am so magnetized to the process of transforming that initial experience of discomfort into one of, well, comfort.  It’s exciting.  It feels important.  It feels rewarding.  It feels like I’m actually doing something of value in my life.

Maybe I’ll never be satisfied again if I choose to live in an environment that I’ve already figured out.  It’s a strange example of being non-committal, because in a way, I’m actually completely committed to understanding that environment at first, until that one point where I get this subconscious green light that says, “Okay.  It’s time to leave this joint.”

Perhaps I’m just younger, healthier, and more energetic than I perceive, and this lifestyle choice won’t last much longer; I guess I should just enjoy the fact that I have the ability to do the things I’m doing.  Other times, I daydream that I’ll never find something to ground/stabilize me, and I was chosen to live this life in an eternal state of transience.  I guess I’ll never know until I’m older if that’s a good or bad thing for me.

Well, since I’ve only been analyzing the negative undertones behind the frequency of my traveling, I should at least shed light on the other end of the spectrum: appreciation that the year 2009 was by far my most traveled year (that’s pretty cool.)  I’m 23 years old, and I’ve covered a pretty large chunk of the world already.  Neato bean burrito.

A 2009 Hy Huynh Timeline (for future, old man Hy with memory loss)

January 2009

Hue, Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

February 2009

Hue, Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Rach Gia, Vietnam

Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam

Long Xuyen, Vietnam

March – May 2009

Hue, Vietnam

June 2009

Long Xuyen, Vietnam

Kien Giang, Vietnam

July 2009

Hue, Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Siem Reap, Cambodia

August 2009

Hue, Vietnam

Ho Chi MInh City, Vietnam

Endicott, NY

Mexico, NY

Oswego, NY

September 2009

Endicott, NY

Manhattan, NY

Brooklyn, NY

Dobbs Ferry, NY

Ithaca, NY

October 2009

Chicago, IL

Portland, Oregon

Avenue of the Giants, CA

San Francisco, CA

Los Angeles, CA

Death Valley, CA

Las Vegas, NV

Tucson, AZ

White Sands, NM

San Antonio, TX

Houston, TX

New Orleans, LA

Collins, MI

Holly Springs, MI

Asheville, NC

Lexington, NC

Philadelphia, PA

Endicott, NY

November 2009

Clarksburg, MD

Philadelphia, PA

Boston, MA

December 2009

Burlington, VT

Barnard, VT

Boston, MA

Darlington, MD

St. Mary’s City, MD

Philadelphia, PA

Endicott, NY

And just in case future, old man Hy thought 2010 would slow down, here are some of the traveling plans already set for the next two months (January-February):

New York, NY

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Syracuse, NY

San Jose, CA

Boston, MA

Oh, boy.  It just won’t stop.  I guess I should maybe sign up for a frequent flyer miles program soon.

Trứng Vịt Lộn makes a comeback.

I’ve been missing these guys since I left Vietnam.  I’m so uncontrollably excited that they’ve made it back into my life in the U.S.  Oh, I’m a lucky one.

Trứng Vịt Lộn (1)

Trứng Vịt Lộn (2) (Sorry in advance to the weak-stomached.)

I have an absurd obsession with the word “fusion.”

Last night’s creation: Hy’s Viet-omelette

Fillings: lo mein noodles, sauteed carrots & onions, minced pork loaf, and cheddar cheese.

eHow to avoid falling victim to ethic jokes.

Das Bierhaus vs Vietnam Restaurant 2

When we pulled up to this parking spot in Burlington, VT, I immediately noticed the pub/restaurant right beside us called Das Bierhaus.

After about 20 seconds of contemplating whether or not I should make a joke (my friend Nathan is a German citizen), I did.

“Hey, Nathan… so uh, any particular reason why you picked this spot? Did you feel most comfortable parking here next to Das BIERHAUS?  Or is there something you’re trying to tell me?”

It was a lame attempt at poking fun of his cultural heritage.

————————————————————————————–

A few seconds later, we turn around and head up the hill.

I look to my left.

:::SLAP!:::

Vietnam 2 Restaurant. Right next door to Das Bierhaus.

It felt like I had been struck with God’s mighty hand of spite, as if He threw down a Vietnamese restaurant building when I was looking in the opposite direction, just so I could feel dumb about my lame ethnic joke.  It was very funny.

Moral of the story?  Wear a fashionable ski-mask at all times to soften the blow of God’s mighty slap.  Or just never make jokes. ever again.

Vietnamese dishes for the holidays.

fried rice cake with egg & scallions / banh bot chien

tomato & tamarind-based crab vermicelli noodle soup / bun rieu cua

Hue style beef rice vermicelli / bun bo hue

Vietnamese chicken curry / Ca Ri Ga

Di Mai's infamous pho

Plain rice flan with ground pork/wood ear mushroom / bánh Đúc

Vietnamese chicken & cabbage salad / goi ga

sweet glutinous sticky rice / xoi

Vietnamese egg rolls / cha gio

Vietnamese spring roll / goi cuon

Seafood hot pot / lau hai san