Christmas | The Scamp Abroad

The Scamp in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

Posted on July 4, 2024 by erranteditor

My time in Hanoi was brief. I took a flight to the other end of the country so that I could explore Ho Chi Minh city, one of the largest cities in Vietnam. It is commonly referred to as Saigon, the city’s name until 1945. The city is in the southeast part of Vietnam and is home to around 10 million people.

I was met at the airport by a guide who got me settled into the hotel. I stayed at the Prague Hotel, which had really nice clean rooms and good food in the hotel restaurant. It was also near a 7/11 and the best little sandwich station. I arrived on Christmas Eve, and got to take advantage of the warm weather and the bustling street. One of the great things about being in this part of the world is the smell of street food. Although I was not brave enough to try street food in Vietnam, the smells were amazing.

Christmas day was a journey to My Tho, which is an entrance to the Mekong Delta. I was on tour with three couples from India. The women were all friends from college. There was another couple from India as well as a guy who was travelling solo (also from India) and some people from the US. The whole group was fun and lively and the tour guide was such a nice guy. He was probably in his early 20s and he loved hearing travel stories from everyone.

The first place we stopped was the Vinh Trang Temple. The temple is known for the giant Buddha and the beautiful tiles and gardens. There is a great article that you can find here that provides an overview of the temple, but some of the highlights include:

Statue of Maitreya Buddha: This colossal statue was inaugurated in 2010, constructed from reinforced concrete and steel, standing at a height of 20 meters and weighing approximately 250 tons. Under this statue is an office building of the Buddhist Executive Committee of Tien Giang Province.
Statue of Amitabha Buddha: Inaugurated in 2008, this standing statue of Amitabha Buddha measures 18 meters in height and 150 tons in weight.
Reclining Buddha statue: Often mistaken for the statue of Amitabha Buddha, this Reclining Buddha statue was completed in 2013, with a length of 32 meters, a height of 10 meters, and a weight of 250 tons, made from concrete and steel.
7-story tower: In addition to the colossal and majestic Buddha statues, Vinh Trang Pagoda also houses a 7-story tower located at the rear. This tower serves as a repository for the ashes of Buddhist disciples and monks of the pagoda.

We then boarded a boat and sailed down the Mekong around four islands, Dragon, Unicorn, Pheonix and Tortiose. We stopped on Unicorn island and then took a sampan through the Thoi Son canal to see a honey bee farm and have a very interesting lunch.

The island had a host of animals that were for sale and some interesting drinks that promised a wide range of cures. I was not brave enough for snake wine, but I did hold some bees and a snake.

Once back at the hotel, I had a Christmas Banh Mi, which is a sandwich that was filled with veggies and chicken and some sort of spicy chilli sauce that was amazing. This was not the first Christmas that I have spent away from my family, but it was the first warm one that I’ve had in a while.

I really enjoyed my time in Vietnam, but it was not long enough. 5 days was not enough to see everything, and it is definitely a country that I would visit again. The people were really nice, it was fairly easy to navigate, and the food was amazing. I felt very safe there being a solo female traveller, and found that there were a lot of good tours that could be easily booked to get me around. It really is a must visit.

Call Me Dr Scamp

Posted on October 31, 2019 by erranteditor

That’s right. I am now a doctor. 4 years of blood, sweat and tears. 4 years of edits, research, interviews and data analysis. 4 years of projects, jobs, networking and conferences. 4 years of hard work. I’m not sure how I did it, but I survived the process and might just be a better person for it.

The viva was a gruelling process. I had gotten sick the week before and went through the viva with a fever and no voice. My examiners hated my thesis….and I am not exaggerating. They told me it reads like a jumbled, confused mess and it was hard to figure out what my original contribution to knowledge was. They did not understand the way I positioned my work in relation to the literature. They told me I have six months to rewrite it or they have the right to change their mind.

I am not ashamed to say that I cried in the middle of the viva. I was horribly ill and felt like crap, but I was also so upset that all of the things that the examiners hated about my thesis are the things I battled against with my supervisor….the same supervisor who was not in the room to hear that he had screwed up my work. The same supervisor who decided that I was not worth his time when I sent an email saying that I was upset that his lack of planning for the scheduling the viva could cost me my job. I was also very embarrassed. The examiners don’t know how badly I struggled. They don’t know how much of the thesis was dictated to me by said horrible supervisor. They only read the product of a less than stellar time….and the only name on the work is mine. I am the one who looks like I turned in horrible work. I am the one who now has to rewrite it in 6 months.

That’s not to say that the examiners were wrong though. That work is a jumbled mess that is a product of my experience. The feedback they gave me will make my thesis a better piece of work. It will also allow me the chance to discuss my work in the way that I want to. I have a better message and have really good things to say, and now I get to say them. My due date for resubmission is on my grammy’s birthday. I am taking that as a sign of good luck.

The only downside of this is that I still have a lot of work to do, more so now because I have a full-time job. I am having a hard time separating my bitterness about the last four years and the rewrite that I need to do. It has been more than a month and I have barely made any progress. That, in turn, is stressing me out….which is not helping the writing.

On the bright side, finishing the PhD means that I was able to book a ticket back to California for Christmas. I get to see my favourite people for a whole month. I am thinking that the change of environment and the time with my family will help me tackle the PhD as well. I have not seen my family in almost three years or been in California, so to say that I am excited about this is an understatement. I cannot wait to see how my parents have changed the cabin they now live in, I can’t wait to finally meet my nephew in person, and I cannot wait to sit around a table with my siblings while we play games, drink beer and tell each other to fuck off while we laugh so hard our sides hurt. I can’t wait to drive a car again.

I can’t wait for all the yummy Mexican food.

And mojo. Hopefully, I can find my mojo. I’m still looking for it.

The Scamp and the Writing Challenge: Week 51

Posted on December 25, 2016 by erranteditor

Day four and my love affair with Budapest continues. Today is the very first Christmas that I have spent on my own. For the last few days I have had very very limited contact with other people, and tonight I sat in an Irish pub and had a burger and some stew with a large glass of wine and watched tennis. The world around me swirled and twirled and danced with lights and mulled wine, but I sat in a balcony in a pub watching tennis.

I hate tennis. I have no idea how the flippin sport is scored, and there was no sound, so it was really just an odd series of interpretive dance.

The day wasn’t all bad. I spent most of it walking around the Christmas markets with a hot chocolate and a muffin. When the rain got to be a little too much, I wandered back to the hotel and watched bad Christmas movies. I went back out at sundown so I could see the menorah at the Great Synagogue lit. I wandered down to the Danube so I could see the castle lit up. I couldn’t figure out what was being served in the market (and I don’t eat pork) so that is how I ended up in a trusty Irish pub with my red wine and tennis.

My beacon in the night. Plus, they had a menorah outside. My friends and family text me through the meal, so I wasn’t exactly alone either.

The writing challenge for the week is to write about something that I’ve created. I’ve had almost a year to think on this….and create something.

I’ve come up blank. I think in the last year I have created a lot of good memories. I’ve been to weddings, birthings, new countries and new cities. I’ve met some amazing people, let go of some not so amazing people, and have tried to work on creating a better me. I guess for right now that is the best I can do.

So, my lovely readers, family and friends, have a Happy Hanukkah, a Merry Christmas, and happy almost end to 2016 and that however and whatever you celebrate, you do it surrounded by love and happiness.

The Scamp and Christmas

Posted on December 25, 2014 by erranteditor

It is not really Christmas at the Wilder-Davis-Rodriguez House of Chaos until someone says fuck at the dinner table. That honor went to me again this year. I’m going on a four year winning streak.

This year’s winning phrase: Bill Fucking Murry.

This photo sums up Christmas for me. I’m entirely sober and hyperventilating over a joke my brother told

Happy Christmas from the Wilder-Davis-Rodriguez House of Chaos

My sister and her husband took a “couples” picture, as did my parents. I took a “couples” picture with the most important male in my life

15 years of photos like this. Typical Wilder Children

My Christmas present this year was two tickets to see the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and a plane ticket to Spain. Needless to say, it was a very happy Christmas

Happy Christmas everyone. I hope that you are as lucky as I am and get to spend the day surrounded by people that you love.

The Scamp and a Christmas Tree

Posted on December 23, 2014 by erranteditor

Christmas is in three days.

This year I was able to buy Christmas presents for everyone without making my credit card cry. That’s huge for me. It has been about four years since I was able to do that.

It feels pretty darn good.

Earlier in the week I got to partake in one of my favorite traditions: decorating the Wilder-Davis House of Chaos Christmas Tree. I do it every year, and it is something that I almost gave up (2013 Christmas Tree). I love decorating the tree. I have a routine: I untangle and string the lights; I find all of my favorite ornaments, and make sure that mine are displayed in the front of the tree, and that there are a good representation of everyone on the tree. This year, my brother and I picked out the tree (because he doesn’t trust me to drive his truck), and I decorated it while watching a Newsroom marathon.

My 93 year old grandpa enjoying the Davis tree at the annual Davis Family Christmas

The Wilder-Davis tree. You’ll notice all of the penguins, Dr. Seuss, and cat ornaments on the tree.

The Grinch tree topper. He used to sing, but the cat tried to eat him one year, so he is now silent.

2014-12-22 18.21.42

This is the best ornament on the tree. It is a little red suitcase that matches the big red suitcase that take on all of my adventures.

Every year I think about not packing this one in a box and hanging it in my room.

I love this one. It is a small snapshot of our life in 1995. It was handmade at Knott’s Berry Farm, and has all of our names, plus, my kitty Simon, my rabbit Bun, and Kelly’s cat Socks. This one goes on the tree every year.

The kitties have been drinking out of the tree stand, but so far, the only ornament that has been broken was one that I dropped, and not one that the kitties were playing with. That is a major step up from the four that we lost last year. The one armed Barbie ornament just looks sad now.

This is one of the first times in a long time that I do not have papers to write, presentations to prepare, or papers to graded. I’m excited to have a few days off to watch Christmas movies on Lifetime, cook meals with my brother, and torment my sister about wrapping presents.

The Scamp at Christmas

Posted on December 26, 2013 by erranteditor

This time last year I was giving up my family traditions to stay in a failing relationship. I spent Christmas day driving to San Diego to spend the day with the weasel’s family. This time last year I was locked in a viscous battle over a Christmas tree, and whether or not it was really necessary for me to pursue a doctoral degree. This time last year, I made the choice not to apply to stay in Scotland. To top it off, at this time last year I was being robbed. I lost books, a necklace of high sentimental value, and my laptop. The laptop had three years worth of research that had been sorted, coded, and parceled out to make changes for my dissertation. This time last year I was trying to figure out how I was going to write a final in two days that I had been working on for a month. I had no money, no job, and no clue how to deal with all of the stress.

This time last year, I was miserable.

What a difference a year makes.

This year I got to spend Christmas with my family. I didn’t have to look at a clock, didn’t have to force myself to drive to someone else’s house, and did not have to give up any of my favorite traditions. I decorated a tree, was vastly inappropriate at the dinner table with my cousins, and didn’t have to skip on seeing a movie with my parents. This year I was able to get a teaching job on top of my library job, and successfully completed my first semester of the my doctoral degree. This year I was not stressed about money, about deadlines, or about making someone else happy.

This year, I got exactly what I wanted for Christmas.

My hope is that the people around me are getting exactly what they want for Christmas as well. I have more than 7 readers this year from all over the world, so I hope that everyone is enjoying their day, however they choose to spend it.

Happy holidays everyone, from one wanderlust filled scamp to all of the amazing people that interact with my ramblings.