Good bye Edmonton… Hello ??

Mai loves cherries

It was with a little sadness that we left Brad’s place and set off to Victoria. It was good to see and stay with him. Alas, we will see him again soon, as like me, he has fallen in love with NhaTrang and has decided to move there. Now just one or two more friends, and my evil plan will be complete….. Bwaa Ha Ha Ha!……..  OH… ahem…. Anyway, we had our appointment with the Doctor and Mai passed all of her tests with flying colors.. Great!! He is concerned about here ear however, and we have to follow up in Victoria to make sure that everything is OK. Mai as a young girl, had somebody hit her hand while she was cleaning her ear. The instrument pierced her ear and destroyed the bones and drum. When I met her in the late 90’s she was a bit clumsy and suffered from very bad bouts of motion sickness. A few years after we were married, we were presented with a chance for some experimental surgery and we had her inner ear reconstructed. The surgeons cut above her ear and removed certain parts of cartilage and other material to reconstruct her ear bones and drum. The surgery was a complete success and for the first time in 30 years, Mai was able to hear out of both ears. (She still does not listen though!!) Even though the surgery was a success, there was a very small hole left behind that nothing could be done about. Very occasionally, if Mai gets water in her ear, she may have some discomfort or even a minor infection which ear drops clear up. This time it is a bit different. Mai had developed a bad almost choking cough in Vietnam before we returned. The process of hard coughing caused her new ear drum to tear. The tear will heal on it’s own but has become infected. It is infected so bad that we were given some special stuff and sternly instructed that we HAVE to visit a doctor in Victoria before leaving. On the positive side… Don our doctor, has been aware of our new adventure and has plans to come and stay with us when he has some time off. Great!! Not only is he a very nice guy, but we will get a good old fashioned Canadian check up overseas. I guess I might owe him a beer or two for that J.  The pictures today are taken through the windshield as I drove today

We headed out of Edmonton on a cloudy day but soon ran into miserable rain that was headed for the city. We were supplied with some chicken and potato salad left from yesterday’s dinner, so we were able to make good time on our way through the mountains. As usual, the drive from Edmonton into the mountains was spectacular, and we encountered the almost always expected herds of mountain goats and Elk. I spotted no bears on this trip so far, but if you ever spend a weekend in the Canadian Rockies, there is very little chance you will not encounter a bear or two… Just leave them alone and they will do the same. Odds are you will never see a grizzly. ( I have encountered a few of them in my life time and believe me when I say, you are better off not to see them)

Here is a bit for my Vietnamese readers…… The distance from Edmonton to Vancouver is about the same as Saigon to Hanoi. I left Edmonton at 11:00 am and drove at an average of 118 kph. I stopped a little short, however, If I would have continued for 1 more hour, I would have taken a total of 12 hours to drive the total distance. Think about how many days it takes to get to Hanoi if you drive… or even by bus or train. The speed at which traffic moves here is very different than in Vietnam.

The drive away from Edmonton has me thinking of new friends I have waiting for me back in Vietnam. I have only been gone for a little over a week, but am looking forward to carrying on from where I left off. There are many long bicycle rides to do with Carrot, and I have had only a very brief time to talk with the guardian angel of my hotel, Baz.

The nest week will be a very special one. As I age, I see the importance of spending as much time, quality or not, with those who you love and have shaped a person into the individual you are today. Who knows how much time you have left. It is important to enjoy what you have and truly live. I no longer exist and just die a little bit every day, I live and deal with what comes my way on a daily basis….. I can thank Tom for that.

I have just looked at the website stats and have again been totally amazed!!! I will try with my poor memory to tell you about it in my next post

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3 thoughts on “Good bye Edmonton… Hello ??

  1. “Who knows how much time you have left. It is important to enjoy what you have and truly live”. Thank you for the reminder.

  2. Ah, met John of Booze Cruise fame on the Blue Train here to Saigon. I had to leave a day earlier than planned as the Amer. Cons. is closed on Fridays (how dare they!). We spent some time in the dining car chatting over a few Tigers then shared a taxi to PNL where we breakefasted and watched the prostitutes emptying the hotels and heading home. Shared another taxi to my hotel where I left him on his way to the airport and Shang Hai. He too is starting a new phase of life and it was interesting listening to him. I wished him good luck and a ‘be safe’.

    My early departure from NT made me miss my GF’s younger sister’s wedding cermoney and, forgetful person I can be at times, forgot to call her sister and express my congrats, etc. Will do that tomorrow. Must have caught a mild case of short term memory loss from someone. I wonder who….

    Can’t wait to get out of this mess and back to NT so I can get on with MY new life.

    FYI – One can get a new visa (3 mo./multi) in one day for an extra USD20.

    Okay, bed time and up early for dim sum with my buddy Bao. Regards to Mai.

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