Good Morning, Vietnam - Part II

NOTE: Part I of Good Morning, Vietnam was featured in the last blog entry.



The first morning in Da Nang, Vietnam began the same way that every morning did for the rest of the trip. John Phan and I, as well as a few other members from his family rose with the sun at 5:30 a.m. and took a dip in the South China Sea to start our day. We weren't the only ones who did this, as thousands of people were out on the sand and in the water each morning, which would definitely not be the case at that hour of the morning at any American beach. John tells me that because of the extreme heat and humidity that takes over once the sun starts to sneak too far past the horizon, many people choose to get their exercise in during the hours near dawn and dusk. John also related that he rises early and goes to sleep earlier than usual in Vietnam, which is quite different than his lifestyle on the tournament trail where the days don't start until noon and play commonly goes until 2 a.m. This was just another element of the alter ego of John Phan that I discovered on the trip, along with the lifestyle of charity work that he embarks on with his family.



Over the next three days John and his family piled into a van (one of two that John purchased for his family) after the morning swim and drove many miles to distribute food and money in envelopes, with me riding shotgun the whole time. In addition to many places in Da Nang, our stops consisted of villages in the surrounding areas of Hue almost two hours north up the coast from Da Nang, and Hoi An just 30 minutes south. Most of these villages are fishing communities, and like the rest of the world this year; these people have felt the harsh realities of high gas and oil prices. This has cut sharply into their fishing operations while the skyrocketing prices of rice, their main food staple, have made tough times even worse. John tries to help the areas that are the hardest hit, and in every village we went to a family member's house that was used to store hundreds of boxes of shrimp and noodle packets that we were to distribute.



Before the charity work of each day began John made a stop at a nearby temple to pray and bless the giving. The most magnificent of these temples was found outside of Hue, when we drove deep into the jungle and up into the mountains to a Buddhist temple on a lake. We took a small boat to an island in the middle of the lake, where the scenic temple sat in scenic surroundings. The place was simply amazing as nature, architecture, and religion all blended seamlessly together.



The charity donations were organized well in the many villages as people lined up with their families and received the boxes of noodles that would provide them with 30 meals. John told me that he tries to give as many boxes as each family requests, and will oftentimes send extra shipments to his relatives to distribute while he is gone to fill extra need. It was a remarkable experience to walk around these villages and take photos of happy children and villagers after they had received what they so badly needed. Seeing people with nothing makes you appreciate everything that you have, and watching them made me feel ridiculous for all the things I take for granted on a daily basis. In the few cases where I ran across a villager that could speak a few words of English, two of those words always included "Thank you."



It was also very surreal to walk around these villages as an American deep in Vietnam. Everywhere I went within the village a parade of young children followed me, with a few of the older brave ones uttering, "Hello" to grab my attention. Many of them would then rush up when I turned around so they could have their pictures taken. The adults in the village did not seem to be as interested with the fact that there was an American in the village as they were with the fact that there was a 6'6" tall American in the village. In either case I got very used to people sizing me up during the days I joined John and his family for their charity work. It was strange to be surrounded by hundreds of people all day long, but only have two of them around who spoke English. Smiles and laughter translate across all language barriers, but there were many cases of confusion where I went to find John or his girlfriend to help me translate.



During the heat of late afternoon in between charity stops we would go swimming again, either in the South China Sea, or at a river that ran down from the mountains. Think of an American water park set in nature, with absolutely no rules. There was certainly no lifeguards yelling, "Walk!" as the more adventurous individuals in John's family and I jumped into the river from boulders above. Someone even went to the trouble to form a man-made elephant rock that stood guard over the water.



Each night after the charity work John and his family would retire to a house that sat on stilts over a bay just north of the Hai Van tunnel (the longest tunnel in Southeast Asia). The tunnel opened in 2005 and it has taken many hours off of the drive that John and his family has to make to distribute food north of Da Nang. John helped an uncle out financially to build the water house and he often uses it for rest and relaxation after a long day of charity stops. We sat in a patio over the water in the middle of the bay eating the freshest crab and shrimp imaginable, while we washed them down with a few Vietnamese beers. In some cases fresh fish were caught while we were enjoying crab appetizers, and then immediately thrown on an open fire in the adjacent hut before being served to us just minutes later. A Vietnamese custom that John and his family shared with me over dinner was that you never drink alone in a big group. Whenever you raise a beer you announce, "Yo" and all of the adults will cheers you before everyone takes a drink. John told me this is because the family does everything together, and it is rude to drink and not include everyone.



The first two evenings in Da Nang ended at the house on the water, and we had our fill of seafood and beer while the sun set behind the mountains surrounding the bay. It was a truly unique experience and as John said to me numerous times, very relaxing. On the last evening I accompanied John and his family to a karaoke bar in downtown Da Nang. Even the children were allowed to come, which was another strange thing that would never be allowed in the States. John had a private karaoke room for the family, where the children fought for the microphone and the opportunity to sing the next song with the women, while the men drank beer on the other side of the room and avoided the microphone like the plague. I was almost dragged to the microphone at one point and choose an up-tempo road-trip song, "Yakety-Yak," by The Coasters, which involved as little singing as possible. But hey, how nervous could I be when only two people in the room understood the language I was singing? The next morning I was on an early flight from Da Nang to Saigon to start my journey home, and 28 hours later I was back on my doorstep in Fresno, California. John is still in Vietnam, conducting charity work until he returns for the World Poker Tour Legends of Poker at the Bicycle Casino in Southern California on August 23.



Over the course of three days in Da Nang, we visited over 10 places to help the poor, elderly, and sick who were unable to provide for themselves. In addition to half-a-dozen villages, John also took me to two elderly and disabled homes that are fully funded by state-run and personal charity, a temple that John gave money to so they could renovate (they have put up a plaque on the temple to honor John), and the most heart-wrenching stop, a hospital in Da Nang. At the hospital John gave money to young children in the intensive care unit, which was a sad place in need of help. I would like to thank John and his family for taking me in as one of their own during the time that I spent with them. I have never been further from home in my life, but they did everything to welcome me into their homes as if it were my own.

NOTE: I will be on vacation next week and the next blog will go up on Monday, August 18.