Yes, I've been horrible about updating the blog. I blame my negligence on illness, jet lag, and lack of a regular Internet connection.

I returned to the best country in the world on Saturday morning. Inhaling the relatively clean air was incredibly refreshing as we waited for our ride home.

We had some interesting times in HCMC. Again, Brian was an outstanding host, full of stories, restaurant recommendations, and drama for us. He told us about a fire that had recently occured, killing a couple hundred people, in part because the fire department wasn't properly trained and didn't seem to have enough water to combat the blaze. In fact, when we arrived, he joked that we better know where the key is in case of fire, since the windows are all sealed off and our only chance of escape would be through the padlocked front door two floors down. One evening in the middle of the night, we hear Ms. Tran, Brian's elderly landlord who lives on the downstairs floor, yelling, "Brian, Brian, fire, fire, come down. Brian, fire." We hear Brian shouting, "Oh shit! Shit! Christina!!! FIRE!!!" He ran upstairs to knock on our door, then ran downstairs to deal with the fire. We didn't hear them evacuate, so we weren't in a huge rush and were trying to grab essentials like our passports and cash. We then heard Brian scream, "Why did you not just put water on it?!?!" Apparently, the exhaust fan in Ms. Tran's bathroom caught on fire. She didn't know what to do, so she panicked and called our to Brian for help. When he arrived, he saw a relatively small fire and a stunned Ms. Tran who was standing in the way. The fan is in the bathroom, which is your standard Asian variety with a shower that sprays water all over the place, so she could have turned on the water and sprayed out the fire, but instead, she moved some metal hangers that were in front of the fire, slightly burning herself due to the heat conductivity of the metal, and yelled for Brian. Coincidentally, Brian was giving a safety presentation the next day to his employees, and this story will not only serve to entertain me for years to come, but was also a great introduction to his meeting.

We decided to fly from Ho Chi Min City to Singapore on Friday. We spent Friday afternoon in Singapore, staying at a crappy hostile (and it was a hostile environment) on the top of a busy restaurant, with the rooms seemingly held together with little more than some tape and residual crusty build up from previous dirtbag tenants. We got up at 5AM to catch a cab to the airport. We had remembered that the Red Carpet Club in Hong Kong had showers, so we weren't desperate to use the hostile's shared facilities. In fact, I readily admit to putting my bladder's health in jeopardy at various times during the trip and foregoing liquids in order to avoid the toilets. Singapore's streets may be clean enough to eat off of, but I found these toilets too dirty to risk having any more liquids than absolutely necessary.

We arrived after about 17 hours of flying and layover, on Saturday morning, and we were pickled. It was difficult to sleep on the airplane. We sat in the row right in front of the movie screen, so there wasn't much leg room, and I got a headache from trying to watch the movies, yet the allure of the movies was still so tempting, given the lack of anything else to do for the 11 hour flight from Hong Kong. I slept a little, but it was never restful.

We've spent all of our time trying to readjust our bodies to California time, already a challenge but complicated by overall feelings of respiratory and digestive discomfort.

Upon my return, I contacted my place of employment to learn that I have been laid off without severance, despite the fact that everyone else who has ever involuntarily left the company, including those leaving due to performance issues and tho two others leaving during this round of lay-offs (someone there for 6 weeks and another there for less than 6 months), were paid a severance package. In recognition for my 3 years of service to the company, they offered to pay my benefits for an additional month and to say that I am still employed so I can supposedly have an easier time finding a new job, though I may not qualify for unemployment insurance. Given my general principle mindedness, my continuing interest in the law, and the fact that I now have a lot of spare time on my hands, pursuing equal treatment is now a new project I will be undertaking. The process is already underway. Keep me in mind for any super cool jobs (full time or contract work) that you hear of, as I will need to make ends meet somehow while determining my next steps careerwise.

In addition to that project, I still need to upload photos from the trip and write about the crazy Cambodia experiences. Now that I'm feeling a bit better, I will hopefully have a chance to make progress in the near future.

Last night, I had a tough time comfortably breathing. I had to prop myself up on a pillow. We've decided that we've had a great South East Asia experience, and we are craving certain things from home, like clean air (for me) and oatmeal (for Robin). Given we're in a Communist country, access to information is limited, so I've asked my mom to help us research our options. I will eventually (from the US?) write about Cambodia, because we had some experiences worth capturing. Wish us luck in getting back!

To be followed with a more detailed account.

I am now in Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam. I've been sick with a cold for the past 5 days or so, and my illness may have contributed to my overall views on the Cambodia experience. More on the Cambodia trip another day. I recognize that this will put things out of chronological order, which will probably bother me more than anyone else, but sleep beckons.

I went to the Cu Chi tunnels today. Our guide was great, with a very efficient presentation of the facts and tour of the tunnels. The tunnels are about an hour and half outside of town, so that took up most of the day.

I'm staying with Brian, my friend from undergrad who is now running a toothpaste tube manufacturing plant in Vietnam. As expected, his tales of living here for the past year have been quite entertaining, and his hospitality has been very appreciated.

More tomorrow, or at least soon. Just wanted people to know I am still alive. And, actually, I've been considering ditching the New Zealand and Australia portions of the trip and coming home in late November after spending the next couple of weeks in Vietnam, maybe Laos, and maybe back to Thailand, and maybe to Hong Kong. Lots of maybes, I know.