Another update from Martin

Hey!
It's 2:14pm on Saturday, and we're in the city of Phnom Penh in Cambodia. We just arrived here a couple hours ago and checked into our hotel (The New York Hotel, which d/n resemble N.Y. at all.) Yesterday was an amazing day. Angkor is such a neat place, but it is also an amazingly hot place. It was around 95-100F during the day. I took around 350 pictures there, and I hope that some of them are good. The tour company hired a local English speaking guide that talked to us as we toured the temples. We were at the temples from around 7am-11am and again from 3pm until about 6pm. We went to Angkor Wat during our second session, and the sky was filled with storm clouds for most of our visit. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately since it was so hot) it did not rain.
I've learned that I am an amazingly horrible barterer, and that I just need to shop at supermarkets (I get the same prices the locals do).

We have a very friendly and fun group on this trip. There are only 4 other people on the trip besides us. A couple Vietnamese women around my age, a Vietnamese woman who moved to California 25 years ago, along with her sister who is from HCMC. They all speak pretty good English, so we're able to interact and joke around. One thing that's interesting here is the number of relief organizations that are present. There was a free children's clinic in Siem Reap where a long line of people were lined up to be seen. About 1 in 4 of the billboards are a piece of information by a nonprofit relief group. I even saw a Worldvision billboard.

Today we're going to tour around Phnom Penh at 4pm, go to dinner, and then stop by a casino for a short visit. I don't think any of us are too excited about the casino. Tomorrow the rest of the group is going to the market in Phnom Penh, but Kathy and I are going to get in a Tuk Tuk and go to one of the killing fields memorial sites. The round trip ride should only cost around$5. After that I think we're going to head back to HCMC. Hopefully we'll be able to get back in! :-)

-Martin

(Martin called me tonight - which is Monday morning from him. He returned to Ho Chi Minh City and will be there for a few more days.)

Martin in Cambodia

From Martin:

We've arrived safely in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The trip took around 11 1/2 hours, including about two and a half hours of stops for breakfast and lunch. We covered approximately 500 km. Cambodia is so much different than Vietnam. There aren't nearly as many fruit producing trees, and the traffic is a small fraction of what it was in Vietnam. The country isn't nearly as developed, which is quite understandable due to the US B-52 bombings, Khmer Rouge rule, and subsequent invasion by Vietnam. I have also noticed a lot of humanitarian aid here. There are signs advertising USAID along with other organizations. I also saw what looked to be a food truck distributing food to families. I doubt if I will see much of this in Siem Reap since it is such a tourist town.
I haven't had much interaction with the people yet since we just arrived about an hour ago. Tomorrow we will go to Angkor Wat and visit all of the temples. It looks like such an amazing place.

We spent the previous two days in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam, where we spent around 3-4 hours by boat touring the region. Riding in a vehicle on the roads is not very fun. I'm sure that auto manufacturers have to find some different ways to pitch their products since the roads are so congested and bumpy. Í fight motion sickness most of the time on the road.

One thing that really surprises me here is the lack of protections for the average citizen. The plumbing and electrical systems in Vietnam have been very scary. Lines from telephone poles can dip within about 5 feet of a sidewalk. We have often seen children sandwiched between two parents on a single motorbike. And they rarely wear helmets! When we toured a couple sweatshops near Ho Chi Minh City we saw so many potentially dangerous situations for workers! I also need to ignore how my food is prepared; even in the better restaurants. Richard mentioned that raw beef was left on the "clean" floor in a restaurant we ate at yesterday for lunch (thankfully I'm not sick yet.) I can't imagine the level of fines that OSHA and the FDA would hand out if these were in the USA.

We only have 5 full days left here in Cambodia and Vietnam. Here's a rough agenda for the remaining days.

Friday, 3-18: Visit Angkor Wat (all day). Night market visit (evening)
Saturday, 3-19: Travel to Penohm Pehn. The tour company has booked a trip to the casino since it is a popular destination with Vietnamese tourists. Since we will not arrive there until evening there will probably not be much else to do.
Sunday, 3-20; Go to the large Pagoda in Penohm Pehn. The rest of the group will go to the main market in town, but Kathy and I are going to take a tuk-tuk to the killing fields memorial. Our tour guide said that it used to be a part of the tour, but that people who went on the tour became too sad. I guess that's why they added the casino then. We then will return to HCMC that evening.
Monday and Tuesday: 3/21-22: I'm not quite sure what will happen these days. I know that Kathy would like to visit a hospital in HCMC. Due to a miscommunication the University had us leaving on the 21st instead of the 23rd. I'm sure we can find something to do.

I'm not sure when I'll have time and access to the internet next, but I'll try to send out another update.

Martin Eltzroth

Martin's Travels

Here is part of an e-mail Martin sent me the other night from Vietnam (he is there on a faculty trip with the Michigan Global Awareness Consortium):

"One very cool thing happened today so far...I found out that a Christian church is located in front of our hotel. I think I'm going to try to go to an English service at 5pm today if we are back from our trip outside the city. I was talking with some of the people at the church at it has been around for 4 years. It looks like a somewhat charasmatic church. I'm curious as to how they "do" church here.
Well some of my fellow travelers are starting to get sick. Eric has been sick since yesterday afternoon, and Kathy was feeling sick this morning. Today we're going to a neighboring province, tomorrow we're going to the Chu Chi tunnels and then to a formal dinner. Tuesday and Wednesday we are going to the Mekong Delta. I think we're going to see some floating cities there! Thursday we leave for Cambodia. We'll be in Angor on Friday, and then in Penohm Penh on Saturday, and drive back to Saigon on Sunday.

One slight problem is that Open U had us leaving on the 21st, but we do not leave until the 23rd. I think I can find something to do.

Before I came here I heard people mention how nice, polite, and sincere the Vietnamese people are. I think that's an understatement. I feel very welcomed here even though the only thing I can say confidently in Vietnamese is "Sorry". :-)

Anyway, the day is about to begin. I love you very much, and I miss you alot!
sorry, gotta go. My ride just arrived.

I MISS YOU.
Martin"

I never would have predicted how MUCH I miss him! We have busy schedules, but our paths cross even at work more than I realize. When one of us is driving to or from somewhere, we call the other to chat. When I was driving home from Bay City on Sunday, I hated that I could not just call him and tell him about what I thought of the PRIDE training session I had just attended. It was so weird to think that he was probably sound asleep on the other side of the world!

So far - no bats in the house!

Dogs and Bats and Nets

Last week we had an adventure with a bat. I did not want an adventure with a bat. It was finals week, I had plenty to do!

I never saw a bat up close until I moved into this house. In fact, I don't remember encountering bats until I moved into Michigan. When we first moved in, I noticed Shasta kept going over to our VCR and sniffing around. It sat on the cover for the storage area for the wood bin, so it connected to the garage. Long ago, the previous owners converted the fire place to gas, so there is not use for it anymore. Except as an entry point for bats. I suddenly noticed this little brown head that kept peeking up. I FREAKED out, managed to scare it back into the wood box and Martin sealed it off from the house side. I recall him telling me to put on a hat. I said "why"?, and he said "because you don't want it getting caught in your hair". That just about did me in. Another time he noticed one swooping around one evening. He was afraid to tell me, but eventually had to. The next day, while cleaning the living room, I discovered it sleeping from the beam on the ceiling. Martin managed to get it out of the house.

This latest escapade began last Wednesday night. Martin had been gone, and I had thought it curious that Shasta was not hanging out around the family room couches with Maggie and I. Now I think she was sniffing out the bat. Shortly after Martin got home, I noticed something swoop out of the corner of my eye and both dogs leaped into the air. It swooped again and I realized what it was, and the dogs excitedly tried to catch it so Martin hurried them out the back door and then ran for something, leaving me in the room with the bat. I realized it had fallen into one of my plants and was now creeping down the side of the pot. Then it fell to the ground - which made me think it was stunned or hurt. I was screaming for Martin to HURRY UP, then threw HIS coat over it. That didn't work, it creeped out and hid under some papers, then almost got under some storage bins. I knew it could head into our game storage cabinet so I was trying to direct Martin with his net. Then I really looked at the net. The net with the HUGE holes intended to catch a very small bat! So then he threw the stock pot over it. We got our bearings and then I got the net close to the pot, and we sort of just threw all of it out the back door (by this time we had put the dogs upstairs). Then we stood at the window staring at the net, trying to figure out if the bat was gone.

The next afternoon, I noticed Shasta and Maggie - well, their butts I should say, as they tried to crawl under the step from the deck. I couldn't figure out what was so fascinating to them that they would get themselves stuck under the step. Whenever I tried to peek under, in their excitement they would either knock me over, lick my face, or push me out of the way. Shasta was barking a bark I had never knew before. FINALLY, I got a peek. Now I know that Shasta has a "I found a bat" bark. Apparently, the poor bat must have crawled through the boards on the deck, and eventually fell asleep under the step. I tried to just keep the dogs in the house until evening, and hoped the bat would fly away that night (AFTER eating as many mosquitoes in the back yard as possible).

Friday morning, I noticed Maggie playing with something (JANE - quit reading now!). She always plays with whatever so I didn't think much of it. She eventually wanted in, and just hung around the family room. Some time later, I happened to glance over at what looked like a leaf on the floor. You can guess the rest. I screamed for Martin and he disposed of it, so our next adventure was a trip to the Vet. Dr. McNeilly seemed not too concerned, and a little amused, and gave them both their rabies booster. We went ahead and did their yearly shots and heart worm test, so that bat turned out to be VERY expensive for us!

Please, God, don't let any bats come in the house while Martin is away!