Vietnam: Hanoi

My mom, my sister, and I are now most of the way through a 17-day tour through Vietnam and Cambodia. The tour started in Hanoi, Vietnam, and will finish in a few days in Bangkok, Thailand.  The trip was Stephanie’s idea- she has travelled with this company, G Adventures, twice before and had really good things to say, so- Voilá! Here we are on a mother-daughter vacation.

We all met up in Hanoi. Stephanie arrived a day early and already had the lay of the land when Mom and I showed up.  There are literally millions of motorcycles and scooters zooming around the narrow streets of the old city and shop wares and tiny plastic chairs from the eateries spill out onto the sidewalks. (By ‘literally’ I mean that there are about 7 million people in Hanoi and approximately 5 million motorbikes). The result is that you are constantly dodging objects both moving and stationary, you are sucking down exhaust fumes all day long, and your senses are generally overloaded in every possible way.

One of our local guides gave us some advice regarding crossing the street (traffic lights don’t seem to exist in the old city): “Close your eyes, think of the Happy Buddha, start walking, and the motorbikes will go around you.”

And, in my experience, he is pretty much right.  If you walk at a constant speed, the drivers can judge your progress and navigate around you. I felt a bit like Moses parting the Red Sea at right angles.

                        

                                                              A street market in Hanoi

Another tour guide said that he only frequents corner coffee shops so that he can chuckle at tourists trying to cross the street while he sips his coffee. He claims that he can tell how many days someone has been in Hanoi purely by how confidently they stride out into the busy streets.

Needless to say, Hanoi is a bit of a shock to the system.  We had roughly a day and a half to see as much as possible before the tour started so we walked around Hoan Kiem Lake and saw people doing their morning calisthenics, visited the Fine Arts Museum and the Temple of Literature, and wandered all around the French Quarter. Stephanie had already visited Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum and told us that, given our time constraints, it wasn’t worth the wait.  Instead, on our second day, we went to the Vietnamese Womens’ Museum and the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology where we stumbled upon a water puppet show already underway.  We had read about shows in our Lonely Planet guidebook- this art form originated with rice farmers in flooded paddy fields. They would stand in waist-deep water behind a bamboo screen and operate the puppets via bamboo poles concealed under the water. After 10 minutes spent listening to the piercing falsetto of the Vietnamese narrator and watching wooden puppets splash around, we felt like we sufficiently grasped the concept and never needed to watch water puppets ever again. Too harsh? Maybe the jetlag was making me a little more judgmental than usual… 

                                                         The actors waiting off-stage

Hanoi, while a little frenetic at times, provided a great introduction to the themes that have continued to pervade this trip: warm and friendly people, rabbit-warren street markets, motorcycle mayhem, rice with every meal, and photo opportunities around every corner.

Having my cake and eating it too in the Bay Area

Well, I enjoyed my time working at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland so much that, since my last blog post, I extended my travel contract yet again. In fact, I extended my contract so many times that I reached my limit. One can only work in a particular geographic area for 12 consecutive months and still retain the title of (and reap the tax benefits of being) a travel therapist. Longer than that, and it looks like you are ‘putting down roots.’  Alta Bates offered to hire me on as permanent staff member and I debated long and hard- agonized, really- over whether to accept.

Pros: I have wonderful co-workers here and the acute rehab setting is my favorite thus far; the Bay Area landscape is beautiful; the arts, music, and food scenes are all flourishing, and outdoor opportunities abound within a 4-5 hour drive.

Cons: the cost of living- and the cost of real estate, in particular- is incredibly high.  Many people with good salaries end up being life-long renters because they cannot afford to buy property; traffic is pretty terrible a lot of the time; it is on the other side of the country and multiple time zones away from my family and many of my friends and, because I would lose the tax benefits of being a travel OT, the pay cut would be significant.

It is more complicated than that, of course but, in the end, I turned down the offer. Although don’t want to accept a permanent position at the present time, I don’t feel ready to leave the Bay Area just yet either.  I basically want to have my cake and eat it too! There are 2 ways to ‘reset the clock,’ so to speak, so that I can resume work as a travel OT.  One is to take a 45 day break from working; the other is to take a contract greater than 45 miles away from Alta Bates, and then return.  Alta Bates would be happy to have me back but it gets tricky because, no matter which option I choose, there is no guarantee that they will have an active need for a traveler when I’m ready to return. And then I would have to find a position somewhere else in the Bay Area- in a potentially less enjoyable setting, and in a potentially less convenient location. It all depends on what is available at time. This is sort of what I imagine high stakes gambling would feel like...

My last day at Alta Bates was December 28^th. I’ve got my recruiter on the lookout in case any convenient short-term contacts pop up but my plan, at present, is to take 45 days off. And a chunk of those days are already accounted for by a trip to Vietnam with my mom and my sister!  In fact, I am writing this long-overdue blog post from my bed in the Lantern Hotel in Hoi An.  It has been a fascinating trip so far with so many sights and smells and sounds to take in.  We fly to Ho Chi Minh City tomorrow and I’m hoping I can use the flight time to write a small post about what we’ve been up to so far.

An Oaklandish Lifestyle

Last week marked the end of my 3-month stint in Oakland, California.  I have extended my work contract here by another two months, but someone had already booked my AirBnB rental for that time period so I loaded up my little car and relocated once again.

It was a short and sweet little move, up the road a few miles and into the apartment of my co-worker, Nachelle. In fact, it was such a short drive that I made multiple trips! Technically, however, Nachelle lives in Berkeley, which is a whole different animal, so I thought I would write a quick post about Oakland before I leave it behind for good.

I have to be honest with you- I didn't shed any tears as I drove away.  East Oakland has a pretty lousy reputation, and West Oakland isn't much better. Central Oakland, around Lake Merritt, is becoming quite desirable and, as you wind your way up into the hills, there are some really very nice parts- but where I lived wasn't one of them.  I don't mean that it was terrible or that I felt really unsafe, but I've never been so vigilant about taking everything out of my car when I parked it, and I never went for a run right from my front door.

When I lived in Pismo Beach, I was awoken by shaggy-haired guys living a homeless variation of the surfer lifestyle going though my dumpster. In Oakland, I would walk out to my car and find elderly, apron-wearing Asian ladies pushing little carts and fishing through trashcans with gloved hands. Both were looking for the same things: glass bottles and aluminum cans.   Because in California, you get a 5 cent rebate for each one.

My current hospital, Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, has regular issues with the local homeless population. As in, they come in to use the bathrooms, take the applesauce-that-makes-pills-go-down-more-easily from the fridge, and try to sleep on the therapy mats at night. One of my patients was wheeled back to her room after her therapy session, and the physical therapist discovered two homeless women using her bathroom to shower. They said they were getting cleaned up to go to a funeral....

Apparently riots and protests are regular occurrences here, too. I've never seen so many police in one place as when I ducked out early from a bar that was live-streaming the Golden State Warriors (our local pro basketball team) in this year's NBA finals.  The police were there to stave off the sort of celebratory rioting that occurred when the Warriors won the NBA finals in 2015- I'm told that more than one car was set on fire.  A few weeks ago, one of my local freeways was shut down by protestors as part of the 'Black Lives Matter' movement- although they were courteous enough to alert the local authorities ahead of time, so that commuters could make alternate plans for their drive home.

On a positive note, however, I've never been privileged to such a concentrated collection of street art- it runs the gambit, of course, from tags and graffiti to commissioned murals, but a lot of it is really, really good. Oakland (and probably the whole East Bay) also has easy access to a number of state parks up in the hills. These parks offer some great day hikes and a multitude of vantage points for really beautiful views across the whole San Francisco Bay. I've hiked to a number of them and I'm constantly surprised to discover that San Francisco is swathed in fog while Oakland enjoys sunny skies, so the weather seems pretty consistently better on this side of the Bay!

There is a good chance that none of these things are exclusively 'Oaklandish,' but they helped frame my experience there. Berkeley seems to have its fair share of can-collecting Asian ladies and tent cities under freeway overpasses, but at least I'm on a street now with bikers and joggers and dog-walkers, and I've even gone for a run leaving right from my own front door.

Angel Island (or My Favorite Views of the Bay Area so far)

The plethora of outdoor adventures within driving distance of the Bay Area is pretty incredible...kind of mind-boggling, actually.  And for your sweat and toil, you are rewarded with views that are just plain stunning. At the end of my time here, I will have only scratched the surface.  Of the places I have explored thus far, Angel Island is definitely one of my favorites.

San Francisco Bay has a couple of islands in it. Alcatraz is the most famous- or infamous, but Angel Island has a pretty interesting history too.  Portions of the island have been used as a cattle ranch, a  military fort, a WWII POW camp, a Quarantine Station, and a Nike Missile Station. From 1910 to 1940, the island was used as an immigration station and was even referred to as "The Ellis Island of the West.' Approximately 1 million immigrants were funneled through here for processing and, because of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, a number of Chinese immigrants were detained here for years while awaiting entry to the mainland. The entire island is now a state park and a California Historical Landmark.

The island is only accessible by boat, so I booked a campsite, packed my backpack, and boarded a ferry.

Ayala Cove, where the ferry moors, is a fantastic picnic spot.  I went on Mother's Day so the barbeques were roaring and the champagne was flowing. Just beyond the tree line is a paved 5-mile road around the island. Cars are prohibited but you can bring your bike over or take a little tram tour around.  If you walk up even higher, you hit the hiking trails.  One trail circles you around the island and the other takes you up and over the top.  I did both before heading over to my campsite and pitching my tent. The people at the campsite next to mine invited me over and we played cards until sunset- then headed up to the summit again.

The summit is only 788ft above sea level, but it offers spectacular 360 degree views of the Bay. My photos just don't do it justice. There are only 11 campsites on the island which makes it all the more magical- you feel like you have an entire island almost to yourself, and yet you are surrounded by a greater metropolitan area of 4.6 million people.

As I mentioned, there is some stiff competition for the Bay Area's best day-tripping destinations, but I think Angel Island would give any of them a run for their money.

                                                                 Looking one way...

Looking the other way.....

                                                   My campsite neighbors' view

                                                  (That tiny little island is Alcatraz)

                                                           ...then pan a little to the right...

                                                      ....and a little further to the right......

Apparently I lucked out- the sunset is often obscured by the notorious Bay Area fog- you can see it here just starting to roll in.

And...Oakland!

A few months have gone by, which means I've moved yet again.  I didn't go far- only about 45 minutes away- but the surroundings are quite different!  I left the manicured, Tesla-filled suburbs of Silicon Valley for the grungy, graffiti-filled city streets of Oakland.  For the more geographically inclined, I was technically in the South Bay before, and am now in the East Bay.  As the crow flies, I'm closer to downtown San Francisco, but now I have to go over a toll bridge to get there! Oakland is similar to St Louis in the sense that the neighborhoods are a little patchy.  Beautiful homes can be a couple of blocks from barred and boarded up buildings, so it is always a good idea to know where you are going.

Everyone is being priced out of downtown San Francisco, however, so the hipsters and the young families and lots of other people have been flocking here and the landscape is changing quickly.  As a result, despite the grittiness, Oakland real estate is really expensive! 

Nevertheless, I decided to splurge on my own little rental apartment instead of sharing with a roommate. The area itself isn't amazing- in fact, it kind of borders a not-so-great area- but my street is fine, I've got a nice family living below me, there are fruit trees in the backyard, and I can get to work in 10 minutes, even with traffic.

And the truth is, I chose this rotation not for the location, but for the job.  I am working in an acute inpatient rehabilitation center at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center.  I haven't worked in this setting before, but its the one I've most wanted to try since I first became an OT.  I'm pretty pleased to be here!!

                           (gratuitous Golden Gate Bridge photo from a recent hike, not in Oakland!)

I had a birthday and I'd like to tell you about it.

At the end of last month, I had a birthday.  Another year older, another year wiser, etc., etc.

I had only been at my Stanford job for 2.5 weeks at this point so, upon walking into our little documentation room that morning, I was completely blown away to find a small celebration waiting for me.

My lovely co-workers had put together an adorable breakfast parfait buffet with yogurt, granola, fruit, and coffee. I was just so touched that they went to all that trouble.  OT, PT, and SLP (speech language pathology) are all considered 'helping' professions and they tend to attract genuinely 'good' people. This works out beautifully for me as a travel therapist, because it means that I encounter kind, caring, and compassionate people everywhere I go. (I can't say the same for all of my patients- but that is a different story!)

Since my birthday fell on a Wednesday, there weren't any extracurricular celebrations, but I did manage a few phone calls with family and friends and I ended the day with a lovely restorative yoga class.

For my birthday weekend, however, a fellow traveler named Sommer invited me to join her and a couple of her friends for a weekend in wine country. (Napa and Sonoma are both just a couple of hours drive from San Francisco). We first drove to Bodega Bay for a clam chowder festival. After sampling half a dozen chowders around town, we did a wine tasting at Sonoma Coast Vineyards, and finished the day off with deliciously greasy pizza at Russian River Brewery in Santa Rosa.

The next day, we drove a windy road to Calistoga, a delightfully charming little spa town at the north end of Napa Valley.  We had a delicious brunch at a French bistro, tasted more wine, and then wrapped up the weekend with a dip in the local hot springs (funneled into a swimming pool) AND- a mud bath!  This was a first for me- they use peat imported from Canada, local mud, and water from the hot springs.  I felt like I was climbing into a cow trough but I'm sure it did all sorts of good things for my skin (!) and it was an experience I will not soon forget.

                                     I could not have asked for a better birthday celebration!!

New Year, New Location, New Travel Rotation

Well, my apologies, ladies and gentlemen.  It turns out that I'm a pretty terrible Blogger.  I was quite a good little Blogger years ago when I wrote about my Semester in Spain.  And I did a reasonable job of posting updates when I lived abroad in Australia, especially since I didn't have internet services half the time!  But this time around?  I just let life get in the way....

So I'm going to try again, and we're going to keep the expectations low!

First, a quick summary of what I've been up to since I last put fingers to keyboard on this site.... I mentioned that I extended my contract an extra 5 weeks in order to finish just before the Christmas holidays.  As part of the deal, however, I took a week off and zoomed down the coast to Los Angeles, Newport Beach, and San Diego, then drove inland to explore the desolate beauty of Joshua Tree National Park.

Over Thanksgiving, my mom and dad and sister came to visit!  They did some day trips up and down the coast while I went to work, but I managed to join in for some wine tasting and beach walking here and there. On Thanksgiving Day we built up an appetite exploring the Oceano Dunes atop rented ATVs (a massive area as been set aside as a 4x4 playground) and our Trader Joes  turkey dinner turned out surprisingly well.  My mom and sister and I also spent a lovely weekend driving up the coast along Highway 1 to explore Big Sur, Monterey, Carmel, and the beautiful coastline in between.

After I wrapped things up in Santa Maria, I flew home to Charleston for Christmas with the family. I had hoped to secure my next travel position before the holidays started, but I had to mix some job-hunting in with the holiday-ing- and actually ended up excusing myself from a Christmas party to do a phone interview! Stephanie and Jonathan headed back to NYC and London, respectively, so I drove up to Raleigh for New Years to catch up with my North Carolina friends and (ex) co-workers. It ended up being a really lovely finale to an already lovely holiday fortnight.

I was pleased to accept a travel position at Sanford Medical Center out in Palo Alto, California- and I'm already two weeks in!  They have me working on the Neurology and Neurosurgery units so the work is really interesting. While Palo Alto is part of the Bay Area, I'm a good 30 miles from San Francisco, and am instead living in the area known as Silicon Valley, home to lots of big tech companies and many more start-ups.

Unfortunately, I don't have any post-worthy photos of Stanford or Palo Alto yet because, although California is in a terrible drought, it is an El Nino year- and we've had nothing but cloudy skies and drizzling rain since I arrived!  My co-workers have been really welcoming and Eileen, the lady I'm renting a room from, is easy to get along with, so I seem to have landed on my feet!