Editor's Year-End Note

As the Year-End nearly unfolds, fresh memories of last year celebration in Phan Thiết, vividly come back to me. It was Exactly ONE YEAR ago Today, I was on the unspoilt romantic beach of Mủi Né. Images of those good moments are so alive as I can still hear the sound of waves rushing to shore...

There has been a lot of snow in Montreal, comparing to last year's same period of time. Walking in the snow is as fun as walking in the sands of Mủi Né, but the feeling is quite different, and shoveling snow is more a duty than pleasure during these days when snowstorms are very frequent.

While snow brings both leisure and miseries to us, storms and flooding in the Southeast of Asia and in Vietnam killed hundreds of people, ruined many houses and facilities. It is almost unthinkable to hear that people were mauled to death by a tiger in a San Francisco Zoo , whereas in Vietnam, villagers and tourists ran for their life after hundreds of crocodiles had escaped from the farms which were inundated. And again, sarcastically speaking, while automatic assault weapon AK47s was used in a shooting spree in Omaha Mall, US, killing dozen of innocent people, in Khánh Hòa, Vietnam, Soldiers, militiamen and forest rangers armed themselves with the same type of rifle(AK47s) to hunt down almost 5000 crocodiles that flooding had washed away from a state-owned farm...
As the year wraps up, It is good to learn from friends in 'Nam, that recovery and reconstruction effort are under completion to restore normal life: after all it is reassuring to know that they all have survived the flooding and none of them was bitten by crocs. Thanks Wendy and Jack from New Zealand for worrying about my safety. No I didn't fly home this year. Wish I could be there, to join the rescue team or at least to hunt down for the escaped crocs. Thanks Els Ternest from Jersey, Channel Islands who just sent in her Email of Sympathy to the folks in Hội an where flooding has caused serious damage: "many relics of Hội An town, a world cultural heritage, could fall at any time due to being submerged in floods".

On a more positive note, I was pretty excited after being informed by Ken, that the last group of 140 stateless Vietnamese refugees still remaining in the Philippines are soon leaving for Canada. Stella Nhung Davis, a Vietnamese-Canadian Vancouver-based immigration consultant and Ken's sister has been working actively there ever since to help administer the funds raised by the Vietnamese-Canadian community to meet December 31 2007 Canada Dead Line set for the Project Freedom at last, closing the chapter on the boat people.

Last but not least, thanks to friends and fans who have supported me, thanks to all of my readers for visiting my blog, leaving comments (but not spam messages), subscribing to my feed, special thanks to Rina Vardi , the Poet, Artist and Painter from Aussie for her valuable advices about life and love, for sending me beautiful photos of Vietnam before it was destroyed by flooding, and Dank u wel Els Ternest for your Email of sympathy(*) and your story about trekking experiences in Sapa.

Chúc mừng năm mới, Happy New Year, Bonne et heureuse année, Gute newen yar, Gelukkig Nieuwjaar ...