Opry

When in Nashville one of the "must do" places to see is the Grand Ole Opry. It was so much fun!  We had great seats just four rows back.

Some of the performers I didn't know and some were vey familiar. Names like Marty Stuart, Vince Gill, and John Oates were some that I knew.  Glen Campbell's daughter made her Grand Ole Opry debut and was very impressive.

Highly recommended!

First Game

I have always wanted to go to an American College football game and in Nashville I got my chance. Vanderbilt vs Texas A & M.

One of the things I was most interested in was the tailgate parties that are prevalent throughout US football stadiums. This tailgate party was a little disappointing as they didn't have it in a parking lot, but rather in a blocked off street. Regardless, it was fun....Texas A & M fans throw a far better party than their Vanderbilt counterparts.

Texas gave away free t shirts, crying towels, beer and hot dogs. They had a fire pit going trying to keep people warm on this cold day.

About five minutes into the game I braved the cold wind and stated to walk to my seat, took a look at one field goal and walked to the Marriot Hotel next door and watched the game in the comfort of a lounge with a nice, big glass of wine. I never did sit down in my $100 USD seat!

I had gone to game with Mo's brother and his wife....we had agreed to meet in front of the Marriot when we were ready to head back to downtown. As I was leaving the lounge to go meet them, I found them just leaving the lounge. They, too, had been cold and watched the game in comfort. It was a rather large lounge!

Don't let the small crowds fool you...the stadium filled up. The empty seats were in the warm up.

A Little Bit of Everything

Cowboy boots were on the agenda today and we spent the better part of two hours checking them over and eventually buying our fair share.

Buy one pair and get two pair free....who could refuse that offer?  By the looks of the stack at the end of the session, not many could.

We did a lot of walking and lots of eating, but fried bologna sandwiches just does not appeal to me! 

We spent quite a bit of time in the Country Music Hall of Fame and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

The walk to and from the hotel crosses a walking bridge built in the early 1900s. It connects the downtown to the Titan's football stadium and our hotel is across the street from the stadium.

We have yet to try out the Pedal Tavern, but I'm sure someone will suggest it soon.

Obviously we weren't in Memphis....even so we found our Elvis!

Resting Up

I love how Fred helps me get the house ready for our trip to Tucson....he stays out of my way!

Market Day

The Sunday market has a little bit of everything, from meals to groceries, bikes to tools and clothes to furniture!

There wasn't much that we needed, but we did manage to buy some candied almonds and pecans.

My favourite source of gummies!

As usual we ended the day by buying some shrimp on the way home. We were able to get 1 kilo of grande shrimp for 160 pesos [13.00 Cdn]. Usually when I ask them to clean the shrimp they do a great job...today all they did was yank the heads off so I had to spend quite a bit of time getting rid of all the stuff you don't want to eat!

Changing

We have needed to replace our two patio doors for years now, but have always found excuses not to do it....too expensive, too busy!

Last week, on a whim, we drove to see Sergio about replacing them before we head south. He gave us a pretty good price and here he is today.

Our old ones would hardly slide anymore and these move with the flick of a finger...so nice. In fact, they are so nice that today we booked him to replace all the windows in the house. Not the massive hallway one, but all the rest. We go from one extreme to another...all within the span of a week.

These are the old doors leading to the bedroom and the kitchen

Sergio getting the door frame ready for the new insertions.

The new doors don't look much different, but they work! Someone can't stand dirty windows.

On the Course

Today was a golfing day, even though rumours have been swirling around about the poor condition of the course. It wasn't in great shape, but we suffered through it...so did the horses who have been let loose to feed on the overgrown fairways.

Tradition has it that everyone has to stop for a refreshment after the round, whether it be iced tea or a cerveza and today didn't disappoint! 

Kia enjoyed the round as much as the rest of us, but she wasn't thrilled with the long wait afterward.

Visiting With Friends

Debbie Stevens and her partner, Gord, have chosen to spend the winter in Mexico. They arrived in San Carlos on Friday....we caught up with them at La Trattoria. We had a good visit and some fun introducing them to traditions of San Carlos.

They plan on spending a month here and then are moving farther south. By coincidence, they chose Lo de Marcos and are booked at the same RV park that we stay in. Small world.

Yesterday we introduced them to JJ and his quirky ways and today we are taking them to the Soggy Peso. A group of us are heading out there so it will give them a chance to meet many people from this area.

Another Session

Today was spent making 12 kilos of candied, pickled peppers...oh, so good! But so very hot! We didn't remove the seeds so this batch is hotter than heck.

As you can see, the guys were working very hard on this project...their vocal input was so valuable.

While we were relaxing with a cooling beer after, a small hummingbird hit the window and it took a while before it could recover. Such interesting birds.

Just in Time

We had one of the easiest border crossings we have ever had and were at our house in San Carlos by 12:00.

We had a pleasant surprise in store for us as Chuyita and her son worked for two days getting the house ready for us. They had washed all the dishes, cupboards, windows etc. They had also taken the time to move our outside furniture back outside. That was a godsend as it takes us hours to do that ugly task.

Chuyita is the Mexican woman we hire year round to take care of our house..she comes every two weeks while we are gone and every three weeks when we are around. She is fantastic.

All we had to do was unload the car and change our bedding. That gave us plenty of time to go to the clubhouse for Hallowe'en Mexico style. Each resident contributes candy to the community basket and it is given out to the guard's children and friends.

A BBQ followed but we instead went to our favourite Italian Restaurant...maybe too many fatty foods on the way down?

Zena blew a shoe and was not a happy camper!

Visiting in Vegas

The people you meet in Las Vegas! Bruce, Diane, Fred and I at lunch on Wednesday....Fred's cousins through the Humeny side of the family.

We had a very enjoyable afternoon with Diane...we were able to see the house she is staying at right now while dog sitting, plus we made a detour to her house to borrow her freezer for our scallops and salmon. Both houses are in very nice areas and are all 55 plus homes. No kids in sight!

We are on a mission today to do some grocery shopping and maybe get a little car work done. There is a rattle by the wheel well that is driving me crazy so Toyota Express here we come.

We will get another short visit with Diane on Friday morning when we pick up our food and then we are off to Nogales.

Debbie and Gord had some RV problems so we won't be driving with them to San Carlos. They will follow in four or five days.

Moving Right Along

We left Eatonia around 11:00 am on Saturday with the intention of going to Medicine Hat to see Kayne. We spent a very pleasant evening with him and moved on to Butte, Montana today.

The weather is absolutely perfect for driving... no wind or rain!  We made great time and were settled in our hotel by 2:30.

We decided that we have had enough of Mexican scallops, beef and salmon so we bought an electric cooler to carry our supply to San Carlos.  I was worried that the cooler wouldn't keep the food frozen for eight days, but we have been extremely lucky so far.  Last night we were upgraded to a "kids room" and it came equipped with a full size fridge and tonight the hotel supplied a freezer for its guests who are transporting frozen foods. All hotels should do that!

Tomorrow our goal is to get past Salt Lake City and stay in Orem, Utah.

Potty Talk

A day didn't go by without a discussion concerning the condition of the nearest bathroom....usually this discussion took place during meal time, of course! 

Here are just a few of the more memorable statements:

     I have seen worse!

     Don't go into the one with the blue urinals!

     They are okay, just stay away from the second one...it has a giant spider in it!

     Can you wait?

     There isn't any toilet paper!

     This one has twenty rolls!

     The door doesn't lock.

     Do you need toilet paper...I have some.

     You have to use the men's...they are working on the women's!

     You have to use the men's, they finished with the women's!

     Be careful of the faucet....the whole thing moves because it is only connected to a hose!

    

     Let me take your backpack, you don't want anything to fall in!

    The only thing I would fish out is my passport...watch, phone, sunglasses all stay in!

     I can't tell by the picture if it is men's or women's!

     It's in the engine room ( of the boat)...the fumes from the engine hide the odours!

     It's on a two foot riser.... Make sure you quads are strong...keep your balance!

Perhaps the most important question was, "Alice, can we use your hand santitizer"?

     

     

     

Early Morning

This picture was taken at 5:30 am and already people are set up and selling vegetables and breakfast.

Look how far onto the city street they are. I feel like a target when I cross the street and they are comfortable sitting there.

Museums

We spent a good part of the morning visiting the War Remnants Museum. We had been to the same type of display in Hanoi four years ago, but I think this one was more impressive.

It makes one feel kind of uneasy looking at all the photos of cruelty and death....not a comfortable museum to spend hours in. No photos were allowed inside.

Breakfast

Only two more days of Asian breakfasts! Not that they are bad breakfasts....on the contrary, they are usually excellent, but I am missing my yogurt, cereal and skim milk. Especially my skim milk.

I just don't want any more omelets, fried rice or soup for my first meal of the day. Even the excellent fruit is becoming boring.

Sometimes the location can make a huge difference on how I feel about the food. Breakfast served right on the Mekong makes one feel much better about the food they are consuming...whether it is better or not.

Today was the typical Asian menu, but it was served on a roof top terrace making it a much more enjoyable meal than it actually was.

Almost Home

Fred and I left Hong Kong a little later than planned due to a late arrival of the plane, but made up time on the flight over. And then we circled Ho Chi Minh City for half an hour because the airport was closed due to a severe thunderstorm! Not really my favourite time to land.

After the relatively calm three days of Hong Kong, Saigon feels like a mad house. The drive from the airport was insane....Saturday evening at 6:15, pouring rain, windshield wipers that worked only on occasion, a driver who didn't know where our hotel was located....all makes for a trip of the lifetime.

Adelle, speaking of rooms, if you want to recommend a hotel to a client, this is the place. It is new, modern, clean and located in one of those typically tall and narrow Vietanmese buildings. We have a fairly large room overlooking the market so I can't speak for the other rooms...this is the one you booked for us and I believe it is an Executive room.

Seeing we are without our fellow travellers, we don't know what to do with ourselves today. I think we will just wander around the city. We do want to go back to the Reunification Palace so will fit that into our days here.

The Stinkers

"What's that smell"?  I think we heard that pretty much everyday.

I am almost proud of the fact that I was the first to confess that it was my sandals...almost proud! Although my travelling companions were much too polite to say anything, my sandals started to have regular showers after that ill-advised confession.

Asian hotels always have two toothbrushes ready when you arrive and they soon became my sandal's best friend. The toothbrush, my sandals and the bath gel spent many hours together. I guess it isn't the best idea to only bring the sandals on your feet and not any spares!

Towards the end of the trip, I began to notice strange odours in the vans, in the Tuk Tuks or anywhere there were feet...and the odour wasn't always mine. Suspicion set in and after three weeks in this heat we weren't quite as polite. Comments were plentiful and sometimes a little funny and sometimes a little cruel. Sorry.

After lunch today we thought we might have to have a sandal burial and I actually have a picture of the offenders, but couldn't download it....you just have to take a guess on the sandals size and colour! From now on all pictures will be from the knees up.

The moral of this little blog is to realize that one pair of sandals and 35C heat don't get along. We all brought a pair of runners along, but the heat!!

The reality is that in the beginning of the trip sandal smells were a big thing, but by the time this trip was over we had to admit that we have smelled much worse. Much, much worse!

Cities

Hong Kong is not the largest city I have been in, but it is one of the most interesting. Spectacular buildings everywhere. They say that New York City has over 800 buildings taller than 100 metres while Hong Kong has 2000 or more. That says something about the skyline in this city.

Yesterday we wandered and found the Mid Level escalators and an area called Soho. Hong 

Kong is not at all flat and these escalators take people from the lowest point all the way to the top. You can get off at various points to shop, eat or just plain people watch. Quite often in our case, people watching involves a refreshing beer. Today was no different...we may make a beer drinker out of Alice yet!

The escalators are under the shelter, perfect because today it rained for much of the day. Didn't stop the happy wanderers.

We splurged and are staying in the club level rooms in this hotel....free breakfasts and afternoon drinks and appetizers.

The appetizers and wine was our first course, Pringles our second and gummies our third. The second and third courses supplied by 7-11 down the street. We found out this morning that Alice and Jim ate at the same elegant dining establishment that we did. Some days you just can't muster up the energy to search for a restaurant. Besides, who knew that Jim loves Pringles?

Tonight we promise to eat a perfect last meal in Hong Kong....we all leave tomorrow. Us for Vietnam and Alice and Jim for Canada. They have a great flight, Hong Kong to Vancouver while we fly the milk run....HCMC to Bangkok on to Tokyo, Calgary and finally home to Saskatoon.

Arrived Safely

After a long day of flying, we arrived safely at our hotel. The flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong was far different from our other flights this past three weeks. We actually flew on a normal plane after weeks of prop jobs.

But the people! We have been flying on small planes with anywhere from 12 to 30 people....this flight amazed me in numbers alone.  Have to get my elbows sharpened again to stop the line jumpers.

Security was a little loose in Laos and Cambodia so I had to gear up to organizing my liquids, having my computer ready, along with standing in line to go through X Ray machines that were actually manned all the time.

I'm a little tired this morning after one of our latest nights. We found a bar street next to our hotel and decided we had to try to live like twenty year olds again. We made it to two beer before reality kicked in and we declared ourselves officially tired!

 

Drive Back

The drive back to Pakse was long and sometimes boring, but mostly there was always something to look at.

Things such as the young women selling BBQed chicken on a stick. They would circle the van whenever we stopped.

And the rice paddies. The plots were full of water and getting transplanted as we drove by. It is an interesting process, one that is very much like Canadians buying bedding plants and transplanting them in the garden! Except on a much larger scale. The main difference being they grow the rice themselves in a small area and then move them to three or four larger plots.

The above picture shows it all, from picking the seedlings to the already seeded plots in the background.

It doesn't show it here, but the little boy is pulling a board through the water to level the ground for transplanting.

We have done well all trip not getting wet, but today it was a little more difficult to get out of the boat. No plank means jumping from one board to the other. One foot got a little damp...the rest of the crew?