It is with sadness and happiness that I am not continuing to post on this site. With changes in my life I am moving on to a new site with new beginnings. Please log on to my new site by clicking on this address.
http://donhoski.blogspot.com/
There are some wonderful memories on this site and I will continue to look at this site to remember what I have been through. There will be many new things to post in my future...
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Celebration...
Went up to the Grand California Hotel last night to celebrate Tommy Lasorda's 81st birthday. There was only about 20 of us who were invited to a great night of food and of course entertainment from Tommy. What a wonderful evening that left me feeling like a very lucky person.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
The third times a charm...
The deeper I get into this country and this culture the more I am amazed at what wonderful people I meet and how beautiful this place is. I went very deep into the countryside this time and was not around white people or english speaking people at all. Yes this was not easy and there was miscommunication sometimes but some amazing things happened and I saw incredible places. I went to 2 weddings and I didn't realize in Vietnam they are a contact sport. I ate all kinds of different foods that I have never heard of before. And I got to see Mt. Fuji on my home which has always been on my to do list.
This all started when I flew into HCM at 10:30 at night and was met by my gal with her sister and girl friends. What a welcome after a tough 24 hour workout to get there. After spending 3 days with Tu in HCM 5 of us left the hotel at 11:00 at night and took a 45 minute taxi ride to the bus station. At 1:00 in the morning the bus left for a 7 hour bus ride across the Mekong Delta. The sheer size of this delta is incredible, I have been across the Mississippi and this is much bigger. The road to Rach Gia is the worst road I have ever been on and there was times I was praying for a Mexican dirt road, I am sure I left a kidney and a couple vertabre on this ride. At Rach Gia we boarded the SuperDong which is the ferry ride thru the An Thoi island chain in the Gulf of Thailand to Phu Quoc island. This ride is the most beautiful boat ride I have ever taken. This area looks like the island Tom Hanks was on in the movie Castaway. After a 2 hour boat ride we arrived on the island and got a van to take us on a 20 minute ride to the main town of Duong Dong where I had rented a cottage on the beach for $40 a night. The ocean is very calm and crystel clear with the temp close to 90 degrees, air temp close to 100 degrees and humidity at 100 %, it was dripping sticky wet air. The infrastructure on this island is old and beat up and it is hard to get around as you have to do scooters in the rain on dirt pot holed roads, so I didn't get to see most of the places I wanted to. The best beaches on the island are on the east side and that just wasn't going to happen with the rain. Still it was a great trip and I will return sometime in the future to explore this special place. Then it was time to go back to HCM and attend a wedding of Tu's cousin and a wedding of a guy I work with who married a Viet gal. These were alot of fun and they make a frat kegger look like a ice cream social. These people know how to party. And all too soon it was time to fly home and I spent a day in Japan where everything is expensive and nobody speaks english. It is beautiful but I know now that there are other places I would rather see.
This all started when I flew into HCM at 10:30 at night and was met by my gal with her sister and girl friends. What a welcome after a tough 24 hour workout to get there. After spending 3 days with Tu in HCM 5 of us left the hotel at 11:00 at night and took a 45 minute taxi ride to the bus station. At 1:00 in the morning the bus left for a 7 hour bus ride across the Mekong Delta. The sheer size of this delta is incredible, I have been across the Mississippi and this is much bigger. The road to Rach Gia is the worst road I have ever been on and there was times I was praying for a Mexican dirt road, I am sure I left a kidney and a couple vertabre on this ride. At Rach Gia we boarded the SuperDong which is the ferry ride thru the An Thoi island chain in the Gulf of Thailand to Phu Quoc island. This ride is the most beautiful boat ride I have ever taken. This area looks like the island Tom Hanks was on in the movie Castaway. After a 2 hour boat ride we arrived on the island and got a van to take us on a 20 minute ride to the main town of Duong Dong where I had rented a cottage on the beach for $40 a night. The ocean is very calm and crystel clear with the temp close to 90 degrees, air temp close to 100 degrees and humidity at 100 %, it was dripping sticky wet air. The infrastructure on this island is old and beat up and it is hard to get around as you have to do scooters in the rain on dirt pot holed roads, so I didn't get to see most of the places I wanted to. The best beaches on the island are on the east side and that just wasn't going to happen with the rain. Still it was a great trip and I will return sometime in the future to explore this special place. Then it was time to go back to HCM and attend a wedding of Tu's cousin and a wedding of a guy I work with who married a Viet gal. These were alot of fun and they make a frat kegger look like a ice cream social. These people know how to party. And all too soon it was time to fly home and I spent a day in Japan where everything is expensive and nobody speaks english. It is beautiful but I know now that there are other places I would rather see.
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
July Campout...
Well it has been too long since I have made it up to the Sierras and spent time with my Mammoth friends but we got together to celebrate VTs and my birthdays camping in Yosemite mountains at Toulumne meadows. We had a great camp site up away from everybody with plenty of room for the 8 of us that made it. Tomatoe had his 9 week out pup named Tilly who proved to be the star of the trip. We had nice weather and enjoyed the beautiful mountain setting. I will have more pics to post later so keep checking back....
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Cinco de Spring...
Well it was time to once again enjoy the wonderful spring snow of Mammoth and of course the friendship our crew has cherished for many years. For the first time in awhile the whole crew was together and we took full advantage of the fun. The skiing was good, the weather was good, and it was Cinco de Mayo so we had mucho fun. Rick has made a great come back and we all thanked the stars for his recovery. We all look forward to future outings and hope our new friend Rosemarie joins us for more fun in the future.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Nha Trang...
It was a 5 hour bus ride from Da Lat to Nha Trang thru some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen. Starting high in the mountains we went across the ridge top with farms of every fruit and vegetable you can imagine, then dropping down to the flat farm land of rice and sugarcane. Every mile brought warmer temps and dryer air. We made a couple of stops on the way and one was at Mui Ve which had the temple you see in the pic below. After about 4 hours into our ride we came around a corner to a awesome view of the South China Sea and followed the coast line to the town of Nha Trang. We checked into our hotel and could not believe the view from our room, it was a corner room with 2 walls of windows looking at a 180 degree ocean view on the 8th floor. I couldn't wait any longer and put on my trunks and walked across the street and jumped into the ocean. Air temps were 95 to 100 with the water at 90 degrees. Tu and I sat under a palapa and enjoyed the sites. The next day we were picked up by van and taken to the harbor to get on a boat with about 30 other people for our day cruise to 4 different islands. On this boat were French, English, Germans, Dutch, Italians, Israleas, Aussies, Kiwis, Chinese, Cambodians, Viets, and one lone American "Me". Some very interesting conversations were heard on this boat ride. The ocean was smooth and it took almost an hour to get to the 1st island where we pulled into a cove for swimming and diving. The reef had great corals and lots of reef fish to see and we had a great time playing in the water. On the 3rd island we were served the most incredible lunch I have ever had. 30 or so different types of sea food and vegetables that all tasted great. On the last island was an aquarium showing the many types of fish that inhabit these waters. By late afternoon we arrived back at our hotel fully drained from having soo much fun. Every afternoon around 2 o'clock a sea breeze picks up that even with the hot sun makes the air very comfortable, we really enjoyed this spot and were not ready to go back to HCM.
But it was time to leave and it took 11 hours to get back to our hotel with a great stop for lunch on the beach at Mui Ne which I will try to return to for a stay at this small beach town in the future.
But it was time to leave and it took 11 hours to get back to our hotel with a great stop for lunch on the beach at Mui Ne which I will try to return to for a stay at this small beach town in the future.
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