On July 1st, late at night and following a BABSEA Legal Studies Internship Bar B Que party at our Chiang Mai office commemorating both Canada Day (July 1st) and US Independence Day (July 4th), I packed my bags ready for a week of Community/Clinical Legal Education exploratory activities in Vietnam. Deciding what I should and should not bring, like would I need a suit jacket for meeting while in Vietnam, considering it was a million degrees in Vietnam in July, was not an easy task. However, what was easy was the packing of my running gear, knowing in our pursuit of legal education and justice during my trip to Vietnam, running along the way would be a core component.
July 2nd came, as did an early flight from Chiang Mai to Bangkok and a four hour wait in Bangkok. (No place to run although the Bangkok Airport is a million miles long at some points). Then there was my connecting flight to Hanoi, bringing me in around 3pm and shooting me via taxi to the Policy and Law Development Office (PLD) who are one of our partners in Vietnam and also where we have two international legal studies interns based for the summer.
Arriving at the office at 4pm, plans were then quickly made for our 8pm overnight train ride from Hanoi to Vinh City. Out of this office by 5:30pm I had just enough time to connect with Joi Kush, one of our interns , and both of us geared up for a run prior to our train trip going south. Originally planning to do this at her fitness center, time did not permit and instead we braved the crowded outside streets of Hanoi for a quick, and almost painful, 30 minute run in what I would describe as a steam bath/sauna, filled with pollution, motos, people and street sellers involved in all sorts of entrepreneur activities. I especially enjoyed running past the raw meat, sitting on the wood tables in the narrow alleyways, thinking that the temperature was lava level outside and this could not be doing the meat much good.
Joi led and I followed through the narrow streets and finally out and around one of the lakes near her monthly room rental. I coursed around people on the lake, almost falling in twice, and cursing my ankle which still seemed a bit swollen and non-cooperative. After about 20 minutes Joi looked back and asked if we could slow the pace and maybe only do one more lap, which I quickly understood that she was feeling sorry for me huffing and puffing behind her. I agreed happily and we then shot back to her apartment to prep, showered (thankfully without hot water) and headed to the train station to go to Vinh.
The overnight train was a really wonderful and included sharing the car with 6 young adults, all going on holiday, who started out feeding me peanuts and then after conversation, marveled that it is possible for lawyers and law students to actually want to help people and not just make money. When they asked me if it was possible for lawyers to do this and help poor people because they had to make money themselves to eat, I took the plate of peanuts and like a slice of pie, I cleared out a sliver of space. I then explained that it was simply that sliver of space that would represent the community aide work we were asking lawyers to provide and then they would be more than free to eat all the other peanuts. Prof. Giao, sitting in the car and translating, smiled big!
Arriving in Vinh at 5:30 am, Joi, Prof. Giao (my long term friend and colleague in Vietnam and director at PLD) and I arrived at our hotel with my delight because the traffic in Vinh was a microcosm of that of Hanoi and right outside the hotel was a park to run around and also another lake. It also felt about 2 degrees cooler in Vinh. Must have been that it was close to the beach.
So a day of meetings followed, where I actually did bring my suit jacket but did not wear it. We met with the Vice Minister of Justice, Vinh University President, Dean of the Law School and other prominent members of the Faculty of Law. All ended positively with them very interested in implementing a CLE program and also them agreeing to come to Chiang Mai for an exploratory visit in August. Then I was back in my hotel and dinner plans were being made with Joi and me knowing that a 60 minute run would first have to happen. Unfortunately Joi forgot her running shoes so we first darted cross the street to a “mall” and she purchased her $6 pair of athletic foot covers. We then set off but Joi did not have socks and I think the 60 minutes delivered her a foot of blisters and both she and I ran the park for 4 times around, picking up speed along the way. I loved running past so many of the people beginning to buy toys and balloons for an evening of festive activities and them watching us go round and round in circles, smiling and miming us along the way. An hour later we all hit the showers again and a seafood meal of incredible delight rewarded us.
The next day was July 4th and this was dutifully declared a rest day for all of us as we took a rental car to the beach and ate and ate and ate. Sea snake, squid with ink, steamed shrimp, sesame rice cakes, and other delicacies were just a part of our gluttonous day, filled with not much physical activity except swimming and floating in the sea. The night put us back on the train to Hanoi and I arrived back around 6am, gearing up for my “long run” Sunday. I immediately checked into the Lake View hotel and caught up on long overdue emails and relaxed in a/c. I stayed at the Lake View in Hanoi because it has a wonderful view of a lake AND I can run the lake, which is right outside my door at least that is usually my plan.
The day went by and by and Joi and I agreed to meet at her fitness center that evening where I could work out on a treadmill, with the plan of both of us doing 8 miles. However, I arrived a bit earlier than her, set myself up with the largest bottle of water I could muster and set myself in to run 10 miles that evening, slow, slower and slowest, using the run/walk method of 10 minutes of running and 1 minute of fast brisk paced walking. The session was a success with Joi knocking out 8 miles and I coming in at 10, and then me barely dragging myself outside (feel the chill of slight dehydration) and back to the Lake View for a well deserved slumber, although I did manage to fit in a nice French meal prior to my head hitting the pillow.
July 6th was another “rest day” for me, at least in regard to working out, although I felt guilty due to the fact this should have been a cross-training day. I am just a lazy athlete so I skipped this and planned for the next day. I worked hard on our plans for CLE in Vietnam and tried to make sure that all was good back in Chiang Mai as I received positive and pro-active news from our office on the projects they were handling there. Sustainability of our program and the office running itself without my direct presence is a key part of what we are aiming for this year and in years to come.So no physical workout but I did have fusion Vietnamese/French that night and a nice bottle of Australian Chardonnay wine.
Next day, July 6th, was an early morning run on the lake, which I think I mentioned is outside my hotel. The wonderful hotel staff wanted to know when I was eating breakfast and I had to explain that this would happen AFTER my run. All was good, it was hot, and I braved more people and even traffic, as I tried to bring up my slower than tortoise pace and even threw in a few sprints along the way. Done for the day with the running, and breakfast finished, the day led to more meetings, including those with the Vietnam Trade Union University in Hanoi, which was is now very interested in setting up CLE program to assist with workers rights and the rights of woman and the disabled. A little song and dance on the global wonders of what, how and why CLE and it looks like we were in!!! Came back that night and prepped for a 4:30 am waking as we all were flying to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) for the day of many more meetings. I packed my running shoes and workout gear!
The 6:30 am flight with the 3 amigos, Giao, Joi and me was easy and 2 hours later we were in Ho Chi Minh. After an early morning arrival, we began to make plans and trying to set up last minute meetings. while eating Pho soup. An hour later, with plans set for the day, we jumped in a taxi and had the driver find us a fitness center for me to put in a quick cardio. Victory was upon as we were brought to the Victory Hotel; I quickly de-robed, changed and was on an elliptical machine for 30 minutes, due to the treadmills being wobbly and not safe. I pushed hard and the very warm, if not hot, workout room assisted me in this.
Finally done, and feeling gleeful, I showered, dressed and met Joi and Giao downstairs for a wonderful buffet of a variety of Vietnam delights, including snails, and then off to more and more meetings. Once again, this trip like others, proved fruitful, meeting with two more universities interested in working with BABSEA and PLD to do CLE work. One of them was the Vietnam National University of Law and Economics, which was interested in using CLE to work with future employers, as a means to instill best practice principles in them. I thought this was wonderful as it led to the chance of working with two universities simultaneously, one focusing on worker rights and the other focusing on working to make better, more fair employers. What synergism this could lead to!!!
With delight all of us boarded the 9:30pm flight and I arrived back at my Lake View pad past midnight, exhausted. July 9th and my last day in Vietnam allowed me to begin to pull everything together and the day was filled with meeting with potential international donors and supporters of the CLE expansion in Vietnam. Everyone we met loved the idea of working the way we do, and building a future generation of more socially minded national and global citizens.Quite content with the blur of the week, I stepped outside in the evening for one last run and smiled and sang to myself as I ran around “my lake” a few more times, knowing that this was just one more of the many runs for justice I was going to take part in.
