Typhoon vs hurricane and more hard times in Asia

                                            

How about the difference between a hurricane and a typhoon. 

Both are tropical weather systems with their difference being  in what part of the planet they happen in.

Tropical weather systems that happen in the Atlantic basin with winds in excess of 74 miles an hour are hurricanes while this occurrence in the northwest Pacific / west of the international date line are Typhoons.

Typhoon Haiyan (going on now) due it's intensity is in it's own class and weather services are classifying it as a super typhoon due to it's intensity with sustained wind speeds in excess of 175 miles per hour and gusts of over 200 miles an hour, yikes.  For me it's hard to put this in perspective so I got in my truck and at 50 I stuck my head out the window and in my mind multiplied it by four, yup, yikes again. Compared to a class 5 hurricane  such as Sandy, with winds of 156 miles per hour and over.

With winds of the magnitude of typhoon Haiyan, combined with heavy rain and breaking surf of over 20 foot that just struck in the Philippines I just can't imagine what the survivors in places like Tacloban are feeling like. Families and friends unaccounted for, lack of proper drinking water, food shortages, home and all their possessions gone and surrounded with the mass destruction the typhoon left in its wake.

Haiyan's storm tract had it coming to shore in the northern part of Vietnam and heading for the China border.  It is said that Vietnam evacuated over 500,000 people from the path of the storm and so far only 6 deaths are reported dead and another 8 from a fishing boat along with the boat are missing.  On land fall the typhoons winds had diminished to the 100 miles per hour range, while dropping 4 to 8 inches of rain.  Though thinking back on my car experiment, even at 50 miles my eyes were watering, so 100 is still a very impressive number and 4 to 8 inches of rain in one shot is big.  I'm not that familiar with the north of Vietnam but if Saigon received rain in that volume the only way to get around most of the city would be by boat.                                                                

After injuring my leg 8 months ago in Saigon.

Not fully recovered and walking most of the time unassisted but carry my cane on longer jaunts.  Interesting in that I was very self conscious of using my cane or even carrying it but people don't seem to notice if I have it or not. 

It might be due to the style or lack of style of my cane.  It's an old rugged looking family heirloom I talked my mom into giving me.  Well really didn't have to talk her into it but need to calm her suspicious of why her avid runner son had interest in an old ragged looking cane. Then remembering when it was time to head back to California and asking my son how I should carry it back and his reply - "just carry it". What a joke I thought it was until the TSA man asked if I could make it through the security check without it, little did I know how this was a harbinger of the future of when I would really need it to get around. 

My cane came to the USA from Europe when my great grandfather emigrated to America.  Our roots are in Scotland, so it could be from their.  In my mind it is from Scotland and I can see great grandfather trudging from glen to glen in search of a sturdy and straight tree branch from the crotch of  a hardwood tree. No thought to it's appearance but just something practical to help support him as I'm using it now.  I know very little about my relatives back in the old country, I like the ring of that - "old country" dramatic sounding isn't it, so I might write a book about them and not have to worry about the facts getting in the way of a good story because all my family is gone and so are the facts.

Lets get back to me - in case you weren't aware I injured my leg exercising at 9-23 park in Saigon in February.  Unlike many I thought I could power through the injury but after a week of my exercising regime I had to give up as I was hardly able to use my leg, which as you might know makes walking a real challenge, especially on or along the street of Saigon.

Bound and determined to find some relief without tossing in the proverbial towel and heading back to medicare land and to be Obama Care for you youngsters. I visited expat doctor Padro at Family Medical Care and he was all that a GP should be.  Referred me to some French orthopedic guy in the same group and as Dr. Pedro was all he should be the doctor was all he shouldn't be. While confirming all the stereotypes I knew of French and their behavior.

Though still with a firm grip on that towel, I decided to give acupuncture a try.  Two weeks and about the same amount of dollars spent and very little relief so I tossed that towel as hard as I could and booked a flight back to the US of A on Cathay Pacific.

A new ortho guy and a course of physical therapy but with no results, then an MRI and the diagnoses is AVN (avascular necrosis) lack of blood flow to my hip joint.  So go visit a another orthopedic surgeon for a second opinion, takes an ex-ray and says there really wasn't a need for the MRI it was very clear from the ex-ray it was AVN and my hip joint was a mess.  The only fix option was to operate and replace the damaged hip a new one.

About three months ago I had the surgery, recovery for a couple days in the hospital after, then home with a walker which I used for a month or so, and all the time intensive physical therapy.  I'm still doing the exercises the physical therapists prescribed combined with walking a good part of most days with very little pain.

We will see how good I really am doing as I'm off to Saigon soon and will be flying back from Bangkok in a few months or so.  Much shorter than my annual trek but should amount to a few interesting stories.  

Soon will be writing about Vietnam visa's and my quest for a better lodging option then my rented room in Saigon. If you have any thoughts about lodging options by the month, drop me a note or make comment on the blog, thanks.
    

A look at Saigon with photos

One of the questions I'm most often asked is "when I visit Saigon - what attractions "are must see's"   My reply is that the must see's is the daily life of the city and the daily life of the Vietnamese people. Grab yourself a street corner and watch what goes on around you, get bored take a walk, hire a cyclo or a motorbike to drive you around.   Though, if you go for a cyclo or a motorbike make sure you negotiate a price before mounting up.  My self I like walking but carry a business card from the place I'm staying and when I tire or get hopelessly lost I grab a taxi or a motorbike and hire them to take me to the address on the card.

Whatever, take your time and do a lot of gawking, Saigon is like unfolding an onion, it's multi-layers of things that some times are not what they seem or there's more to it than you thought.  I still walk down street I thought I knew and make new discoveries.

The following photos and some examples.  

Note:  click on an image to expand it and at the bottom you will thumbnails of the photos - 

streetside mechanics

Banana motorbiking

What a smile

Drive- in fruit market

Fresh fruit snacks on a roll

hem - Pham Nhu Lao backpackers area

Vietnamese girls bedecked in traditional ao dai's

quickly disappearing French colonial architecture  

cyclo mounted tourist

hem

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 vendor, peddling her wares 

               

coconuts 

low tech alley eatery - specializing in - you may have guessed it eggs