Home Again, Jiggity Jig and a Pig

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Home again. Here’s a wrap-up of my last 40-something hours. Yesterday morning I went with Susan to the post office and then for some last minute shopping. The post office had a sponge to wet my stamps, but my cold, sweating water bottle was more effective. We took a cab over to a store called Craftlink. This is a store that supports the minority craftsfolk in rural areas to get a fair wage and keep alive the crafts of the regions. It’s like a Ten Thousand Villages store in Vietnam and supported by Church World Services. Some of the craftsfolk are actually Mennonite. It was a wonderfully cute, 3-story store so we started at the top and worked our way down. With the power of Visa and knowing that I was providing a fair wage for workers, I had no trouble stocking up for gifts for the future!!

After shopping, we went to a restaurant called Koto. It was so cool and trendy, it could have been in LA or NY. It was started by a chef trained in Australia and is run by street children who are being taught to be cooks and waiters. They have an 18 month training course that is an apprenticeship, allowing the kids to learn a skilled job. Their slogan is, “Know One, Teach One” and there are a lot of great pictures of graduating “classes,” including one with Bill and Hillary Clinton!!

In the afternoon, I went with Liz (another Sandy-friend who had just arrived from the states) and Sandy jewelry shopping and to order more clothes. I was so impressed with the clothes I had had made, I ordered more shirts and a pair of pants. Liz will bring them back to the States next week. On our way, I saw a new thing on a motorbike that made me laugh so hard, that I had to replace “coffin” from my “number-one-funniest-thing-on-a-motorbike.” [The coffin was on our way to Ha Long Bay. When I told Sandy I had seen the bright red and gold coffin, she said, “It’s probably empty.” As if THAT was the funny part!] So I look ahead of us and notice hoofs hanging in front of the driver’s left leg. Before I can fully explain to Liz and Sandy what I’m seeing, I realize that there are hoofs and a HEAD hanging off the right side. The driver is going through traffic with a full-grown, albeit dead, pig hanging over his bike lying on its back. While I was (unsuccessfully) trying to get out my camera, Sandy said she pulled up next to a motorbike like that once—and then the pig started PEEING. Hers was still alive and on its back!!!

I got a manicure and pedicure while Sandy and Liz got massages and then we headed home. I had more pho (soup) for dinner and ate almost the whole thing!! After dinner we headed over to a ‘Culture Night’ from one of the school teams. They were doing an version of American Bandstand with music through US history. The team performed or lipsynced for everyone from Tammy Wynette to Greenday to Kelli Clarkson (of American Idol). On the stage with them is a statue of Ho Chi Mihn and he seemed the happiest when ‘Elvis’ was on!!

I took a cab to the airport for my 11:30pm flight. Once though customs, there was a little shopping center with the opportunity to spend what little VND I had left. I got some last minute small things. One of the Duty Free shops had Droste chocolate and I thought that the whole Dutch theme from the Japan portion of my trip was coming full circle. I didn’t get any sleep on the flight, though not from lack of trying or lack of space. I had no neighbor on the flight again. In fact, except for Japan-LAX, I had space next to me on every flight!! When I got to the airport, I had to go through customs and immigration to be able to stay in the airport for the day. I didn’t have to pick up my bags, however.

Now I had booked a Day Room on-line through the advice of several friends. When I got to the main lobby, I went to information to ask where the day rooms were. This is where the best laid plans go awry. Because I didn’t have my boarding pass for my 4pm flight, I had to go through customs, but now I find out that the Day Rooms are on the other side of Customs. However, I can’t go BACK through customs because I don’t have a boarding pass. And…I can’t get a boarding pass because the counter won’t open for another 2 ½ hours!! At this point, I REALLY tired from still being a bit sick and all the travel. I go up by the shops and find the observation deck, thinking I might be able to stretch out there for an hour or two, but the observation deck is actually outside and it’s been raining. I find a fairly empty hall with 3 seats in a row that don’t have arms and I just curl up and doze off and on.

I know once I go through customs that there aren’t any regular shops, just Duty Free, and since I don’t need any Chanel, Guess, Izod, or cigarettes I need to do any shopping I want to do before I go through. I’m also not thinking overly clearly and am trying to find somewhere that will serve a “bland” breakfast. I finally find a little restaurant that has pancakes and eat my breakfast and the new 5-day does of antibiotics. Somewhat fortified, though still sickeningly exhausted, I head down to try to get my boarding pass. This is a fairly long line, though moving fairly quickly. I head through customs (convinced that there is nothing that I NEED to shop for in Japan that I can’t get in Little Tokyo in LA) and head into “Duty Free Land.”

Mental and practical note: just because it FEELS like Mall of America, doesn’t mean that it IS!! I’m staring at the map (no mention of Day Rooms) and looking at the “Guide to Narita Airport” brochure (mention of Day Rooms, but no map) and feeling like a hidden camera must be somewhere, when a middle-aged man, who is also a tourist, not an employee, says, “Can I help you find something?” I tell him I’m looking for the Day Rooms and “Gabriel-san” (my name, not his real name) kindly walks me over to the information booth that was around the corner. They point me in the direction of the Day Rooms and within minutes I am signing up for 4 hours of sleep. They give me a key to room D, and I am pleasantly surprised to find a twin bed and my own bathroom with toilet, sink and shower!! I sleep off and on (mostly ON) and was ready to go.

As I get on the plane and get settled into my seat, a group of US students get on the plane. This eighth grader gets on and realizes, to his EMENSE horror, that he is sitting not by his friends, but by ME!! The look on his face was slightly amusing, but when his friends walked in, saw who he was sitting by, and snickered or laughed!!! I’m officially the old lady that kids don’t want to sit by. As we landed, I said, “So, was sitting by me as bad as you and your friends thought it would be?” He blushed and said, “Yes,” but I’m thinking he meant “no” and was just flustered that I actually spoke to him.

So now I’m back, safe, and sound. Not as sick as even 2 days ago!!

Thanks for following this journey.