Kung Hey Fat Choi / Chuc Mang Nam Moi!

I just want to say hello to everyone and wish them a Happy New Year. Being in Asia made me realize that not only that you are living with your own culture but within asian culture as well. In five and half hours, everyone here will be celebrating the first day of the new year. WOOF WOOF!!!!

Mount Kilimanjaro here I come...

Well I suppose I better confirm the rumour going around that I will be preparing to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Since Calgary has been a place where mountain climbers live and train for climbing mountain world wide. I know of a few names who climbed in the southern BC rockies ended up climbing Mount Everest.

Sometime this year or early next year depending on the travel logistics and who coming, I am going to make an attempt for Kilimanjaro and enjoy what africa has to offer.

Some people may think I am crazy to take on Africa's highest mountain but I love to take on adversities as I always struggle with them but always overcome them no matter how bad they are. Being in Vietnam alone made me realize there are more things in this world then what Canada has to offer but also being in Vietnam made me realize there are more adversities and ventures and it takes more work to face and to succeed them.

I will need to investigate if I can do this through a charity as I would love to take on the opportunity to know that I am doing this not only for myself but also for humanity. After all, there are people who are suffering and can benifit from a opportunity like this.

Anyone interested in taking on this adventure with me?

Shopping for a Tet Tree...

Usally weeks before the Tet Holiday in Vietnam, people would go out to the countryside to search for their (as westerners call it -> Christmas Trees) beloved spiritual orange trees. My friends and I decided to travel outside of Hanoi by motorbikes like Harry and Lloyd in Dumb & Dumber and determine if we should bring one back for our houses. The trees came in different shapes and sizes but I will let the pictures tell the story...
Orange Tree "farms"...

Close of up the fruit (not for eating)...

How everyone transport them from the farms to their houses...

Close up of Moon gasping for air after meeting the biggest tree of her life...

Scotty decides to play squirrel time in the trees. Anyone got a nutz?

Photographer Thu prepares for her dangerous assignement...

Diep smiles for the passionate traveler...

Scotty make a good bargain with the tree seller. We are now best friends...

UNIS Tet Party...

This is the first year that I celebrated a Tet party with the school that I am working at at a local Hanoian nightclub / resturant. I was asked to perform in this traditional Vietnamese dance as three other guys chickened out before asking me. I was quite surprised and honoured to do this as we got some great photos of our achievements.

Canada Election Wishes

Martin, Harper and Layton are flying on the Executive Airbus to a gathering in British Columbia

when Martin turns to Harper and says, chuckling, "You know, I could throw a $1,000 bill out the window right now and make someone very happy."

Harper shrugs and replies, "Well, I could throw ten $100 bills out the window and make ten people happy."

Not to be outdone, Layton says, "Well I could throw a hundred $10 bills out the window and make a hundred people happy."

The pilot rolls his eyes and says to his co-pilot, "Such arrogant asses

back there. Hell, I could throw all three of them out the window and make 32 million people happy."

Denver Broncos 27, New English Patriots 13

I guess everyone would think that my travels would not include American Football? Since I don't have good T.V. Channels at home I ended up getting really early in the morning to go to a teacher friend who got pirated satellite at home and we can watch almost all the sports channels from the US. With Ben being a big New England Patriots fan, it was hilarious to watch him scream in agony every time the screwed up and a turnover happened. Poor Ben. Well they always say, next year right?

At work right now catching up on the backups from the weekend. Will be going home in a few hours to clean the insides of the fish tank. I have to post a picture of the tank and hopefully a few photo shots when the fish are not scare of me anymore.

The Fortune Teller commands the days...

Don't ask me why but some days in Vietnam are sooo special and commonly predicted by local fortune tellers for Vietnamese weddings. In western culture you would expect to pick a day because the Hotel conference room is available or not available but here it is all based on numbers so today being January 11, 2006, it means 1/11/06 and can be used for couples tying the knot.

I have been invited to two lunch weddings today but could only goto one because they were held at the same time and in locations far apart from each other. The wedding that I ended up going to was a best friend of Minh Nguyet's and I knew about it 2 weeks ago. The other wedding I wanted to goto was my ex-girlfriend Minh Thu's but she called me late last night and also it was out in the country side far away from work. She is getting married to a Vietnamese man who lives about 20 minutes away from her house and now will be moving on the next step in her life. Perhaps motherhood will be following her footsteps. I was surprised when she called but I knew this was the life she wanted and we became friends after our relations after a year and a half.

Tonight I finally added my favorite fish (Tin Foil Barbs are the common English name for those fish lovers who want to know) into my fish tank at home tonight. A slow process of introducing them because you have to let the bag float for 30 minutes and then every 15 minutes you have to add 1/2 cup of water from the tank to allow the water temperature and chemistry to balance before letting them gain their new freedom.

I don't have names for them yet but I will be watching their personalities and then the names and pictures will appear on the website.

Stay tuned for more exciting action of Scotty's fish tank in Hanoi!!!

Superbowl is Gay...

Thank god it is friday... nothing but a stressful week with school starting on Monday morning. So many things to do with so little time... Why Management?

Anyway, enough of my rambling... check out this kid's solo grammy hit!!!

Click here...

Happy New Year!!!

Wishing everyone a safe and Happy New Year.

Writing this blog from Dalat City in South Vietnam where the country side's beauty resembles the same as the Canadian Rockies. Fresh smell of Pine needles over a BBQ fire, the huge trees with sticky bark filling the landscape views every where we went. Rode horses like a scene in Legends of the Fall.

It is very relaxing because I knew this would be my only time away from work and the stress in my life and allow me to do things that I want to do instead of burning energy thinking of the problems I encountered in the last 5 1/2 months.

Rented a bike, walked through the local market to see if we could find anything different than Hanoi, brought strawberries, ate Southern Vietnamese food including eggs (Yes, it is cooked over 100 Degrees F) and many things that people would do a on Vacation.

Riding a motorbike through the hills of Dalat..

Another photo shot of riding the bike through the hills of Dalat...

Opps!!! Me need to break the wind...

On assignment in the mountainous city of Dalat...

Enjoying the day in Dalat doing various activities that I never expected to do in a long time or having I said that... in Vietnam.

Scotty having a passionate moment with the local elephant.

Getting ready for taking a photo of the sunset.

Always wanted to drive a steam roller.

All the queen and king's horses...

For those who think Vietnam don't have horses... think againChi Diep enjoying a close up of the horse in Dalat

Scotty and Minh Nguyet enjoying horse together

Chi Thu and Chi Diep in a wonderful pose...