Diary of a Poker Diva - Liz Lieu

I’ve been excited to get this adventure underway and I may have started it off like I was running a sprint when in fact it is more like a marathon… well at least a 10K (I’m talking about a run people, not a tourney, haha.) I am only half way through this trip and I am exhausted. While I might be having trouble keeping my eyes open as I write this, it is a small price to pay to be able to share a hug, a laugh, or a smile, with the people that I am helping.

It’s very fulfilling yet humbling to be back in the place that I was born, giving to those in need. Most of them are very spiritual and through their Buddhist ways they find happiness in their life in which they have few tangible things. Even though I come to Vietnam a few times a year, every trip makes me reflect on and appreciate the simple things that we all sometimes overlook or take for granted. Even though I am here to help them, they actually have helped me also by showing me how they live such simple yet full and meaningful lives.

One of the reasons this charity journey has made me look inside myself more so than any of my previous is because it is by far the toughest that I have ever done. On all of my other endeavors I was up and on the road by 6am every morning to travel to my destination and I always made it back into the city by the end of that day. Not to say that the past trips were a walk in the park but there was a little more comfort and down time.

This trip, a crew of 20 and I were 15 hours outside the city and we continued to travel deeper into the countryside each day. Once we started nearing our furthest destinations I realized that we were unfortunately going to have to cut the last portion of the trip short; the dirt roads were no longer fit for cars because they were mostly sand and full of holes since the floods came through.

I actually made it to one more destination after the roads got bad because it was only about a half hour walk from where the van had gone as far as it could go. The route we took once we left the city allowed me to make several stops along the way to visit and help a poor village in Que Son- Quang Nam , an orphanage for the blind in Thanh Binh, an orphanage for new-born children in Phu Ninh, a village in Phu Yen where the massive typhoon Ketsana occurred, and a temple in Phu Yen that also suffered severe damages from typhoon Ketsana.

(village in Que-Son, Quang Nam)

(orphanage for the blinds in Thanh Binh)

(orphanage for newborn children in Phu Ninh)

(village in Phu Yen where the massive typhoon Ketsana occurred)

(temple in Phu Yen suffers severe damage due to typhoon Ketsana)

We spent a few hours at the temple before heading back on the road back to DaNang, which took almost 9 hours of driving. By the time I made it back to my hotel, which was around 12am, I was super exhausted but couldn’t fall asleep. I finally got about one hour of sleep until I had to get up again and head over to the children’s cancer hospital, where I had chosen 30 kids that were at their last stage, and granted each one of them their last wish.

My next visit was to the elders orphanage, a place that is always on my list to visit every year. It was sad to hear that a few old ladies had passed away since the last time I was there. But I was delighted to see the rest of the other old ladies happy and in good health. I was able to feed them all a nice meal, gave them a 7 item gift bag, boxes of noodles, and 50lb bags of rice.

The orphanage for the new-born was the most touching for me but each stop was very meaningful. I was told many stories along the way and a couple of them about the abandonment of the young and the old were quite heartbreaking. It’s sad that things like this happen but it is a blessing that there are places and people like the ones that I visited that have taken them in to care for them. The whole trip has been a wonderful experience so far and I am looking forward to a little rest and stage two of this little adventure which has already taken me to Saigon and will lead me to Hanoi for the finale.

Cheers!

Everyone’s life is made up of different chapters. We move on to the next chapter for a variety of reasons. Usually we move from one chapter in our life to the next when we reach closure on something in our previous life. It could be a relationship, school, becoming an adult, being able to legally drive or starting a new career. But each chapter is usually marked by the closure of one thing and moving on to the next.

I am now about to enter a new chapter in my life. I am in Vietnam right now and September 6th marks the 2-year anniversary of my father’s passing and my 2-year promise to him. Two years ago, I entered a new chapter in my life; a life without my father in it. I heard of the news when I was on the felt playing the Main Event in Barcelona. I immediately left for Vietnam.

From that day forward, I made a 2-year promise to my Dad. I would commit my energy and time to honor him. Most of you may not know this but I am very much a “Daddy’s girl”. I loved my Dad very much and he was such an important person in my life. I very much looked up to him and felt tremendously loved by him. None of my personal success would have been gratifying if I wasn’t able to share that with him.

In Buddhist culture, we believe in life after death and we believe good deeds can help bring peace and comfort to those who have passed before us. So, I made a 2-year commitment to my father to fulfill his final wishes and do as many good deeds as possible in that time. I wanted to ensure he had serenity, peace and love in his next life. I don’t want him to suffer at all.

Highest Gift to the Departed -

According to Buddhism, good deeds or ‘acts of merit’ bring happiness to the doer both in this world and in the hereafter. Acts of merit are also believed to lead towards the final goal of everlasting happiness. The acts of merit can be performed through body, speech or mind. The persons who receive the merit can be either living or departed ones.

Transferring merits to the departed is based on the popular belief that on a person’s death, his ‘merits’ and ‘demerits’ are weighed against one another and his destiny determined, his actions determined whether he is to be reborn in a sphere of happiness or a realm of woe. The belief is that the departed one might have gone to the world of the departed spirits. The beings in these lower forms of existence cannot generate fresh merits, and have to live on with the merits which are earned from this world.

Those who did not harm others and who performed many good deeds during their life time, will certainly have the chance to be reborn in a happy place. Such persons do not required the help of living relatives. However, those who have no chance to be reborn in a happy abode are always waiting to receive merits from their living relatives to offset their deficiency and to enable them to be born in a happy abode.

Those who are reborn in an unfortunate spirit form could be released from their suffering condition through the transferring of merits to them by friends and relatives who do some meritorious deeds.

As many of you are aware, I have spent a lot of time in Vietnam over the past 2-years. I have spent approx 4 months of the year living in Vietnam and maybe this blog will offer some perspective on why I haven’t been as focused on poker recently because I know many people have wondered why I haven’t been playing as much. It’s simply a different chapter in my life.

I have had that chapter in my life where I used to play poker for 3 days straight without any sleep. In my early 20’s, I had amazing stamina and couldn’t walk away from a poker table. I would frequently put in 2-3 day sessions of straight poker and completely crash for a day or two and then do it all over again. If I could title that chapter in my life, it would have been called the “Grind”.

The most recent chapter of my life was dedicated to my loving and wonderful father. I spent many days and nights at my father’s temple, prayed for him, sent him dedications and lived out as many good deeds as possible. This includes the charity work I do in Vietnam. This is something I will continue to do in the future but really took on more meaning and significance when my father passed away.

On September 6th, 2009, the Chapter entitled: “Two Year Promise” closes in my life and I will move on to the next chapter. I have no idea what is in store but I have come to peace with my father’s passing and I now have closure. I feel confident that his spirit can rest in peace and I know deep in my heart my Dad would love to see me move on and start the next chapter of my life so that is exactly what I intend to do.

This will probably mean more time on the road traveling for Liz Lieu, more time on the felt and back to playing more poker and focusing more on my career again. So be warned poker players!! Liz Lieu is coming back and going to focus more time and attention back to making money and doing what I love. But I don’t regret the decision to take much of the past two years off at all. Luckily, I’ve made enough money over my lifetime and had money saved up to be able to do this. I’m very fortunate to be in that position.

So far I’ve been in Vietnam now for over a month. I left for Vietnam a couple of weeks after the WSOP Main Event in early July. I did take some time however to participate in the APT Macau event. I played in the APT Celebrity Challenge and the Main Event. Other players in the field included Poker Pack crew Quinn Do, JC Tran, Nam Le, Chino Rheem, Steve Sung and a host of other pro’s from the United States and Europe. One of the highlights of this trip to Macau was seeing a number of Chilipoker’s qualifiers sporting our Chilipoker logo.

(photo courtesy of asianpt.com)

I was also approached by famous Chinese language director Janet Chun to participate in the final shooting of a poker film. At first, I didn’t really know how serious they were or not about the offer when they first approached me but they insisted they wanted me to be a part of the movie and for me to be involved in the final table. I spent 3 days in Hong Kong participating in filming the final table scene of the “Poker King”. The movie is scheduled to be out later this year.

I would like to send out a special thanks to the entire movie crew for the wonderful hospitality throughout my stay in Hong Kong. It was an awesome experience!

“Poker King” tells the story of two bitter poker rivals competing for world championship glory. The cast will be all-star, A list Chinese actors and pop stars with a cinema release across the region set for later this year. Actors with the coveted starring roles include Louis Koo, Sean Lau Ching -Wan, Jacky Heung, Stephy Tang, Cherrie In and Josie Ho. There have been several famous gaming films in the region, most notably the 1989 Chinese language classic ‘God of Gambler’s’ starring Chow-Yun-Fat which spawned dozens of spin-offs - but ‘Poker King’ is set to be the first release that focuses on poker.

I think it is the perfect transition for me to move into my next chapter in life. I hope it has some significance because there are high hopes for the poker market to expand into Asia and China in particular. Perhaps the next chapter of my life involves being a part of that expansion; to be at the forefront of the poker movement into Asia. Who knows? I just know that I am in a good place. I have peace in my heart and I am ready to start my next adventure!!!

Love and kisses everyone. I will be flying back into the States sometime next week. I look forward to being back and visiting with friends and family before my next big adventure to Venezia for the Festival del Poker ME, then moving on to London for the WSOPE ME, and lastly the WPT Marrakech, Morocco which is sponsored by Chilipoker. The Marrakech Event will take place from the 12th to 18th of October. I am really excited to be a part of this Event especially because my Chilipoker family has a huge role/ part in this event. I hope to see many of you there!

Cheers!

Feeling very much like a bird with all the traveling and flying I have done in the past couple of weeks—from the US to Saigon to Phuket to Macau…so far.

As you know, I started my travels by leaving the US in late July and headed to Saigon to do some charity work. I left Saigon and flew to Phuket on the 13th to spend a few days with good friends relaxing and getting “inked”. Those were my two main reasons for traveling to Phuket.

While I was there, I stayed in a beautiful villa overlooking the ocean at the Trisara Resorts with four good friends who also got their own separate villas. The first night we got there, we all decided it would be best to just check into our rooms and enjoy a nice quiet dinner at the Resort. We talked, laughed, and joked as only close friends can do and called it an early night so we could start on our short, yet very much needed vacation, the next morning. And that is exactly what we did.

We did not want to waste any time and woke up early to have some fun and relaxation in the sun, water and spa! My friends went swimming in their amazing private pools while I worked on my tan. All my friends had made plans to head down to Patong later in the evening to have dinner and do some evening sightseeing, While I had other special plans in mind that I wanted to do …

I have been waiting to get another tattoo for over a year now and I finally got the chance to get it done the way I really wanted it done. I wanted to get another meaningful tattoo using the art of bamboo tattooing. I found an excellent tattoo artist who’s won a first place award and took down the title “Best Bamboo Artist” in Phuket. So I immediately scheduled an appointment with him to have my latest artwork done. Luckily for me, he wasn’t busy that night and had agreed to come to the resort I was staying at and did the artwork in my Spa room.

Choosing to get “inked” in the traditional way by using a bamboo stick, I got the words “Om Mani Pädme Hum” written in Tibetan script across my right shoulder blade.

“Om Mani Pädme Hum” is easy to say yet quite powerful in meaning. It contains the essence of the entire teaching. When you say the first syllable “Om” it is blessed to help you achieve perfection in the practice of generosity, “Ma” helps perfect the practice of pure ethics, and “Ni” helps achieve perfection in the practice of tolerance and patience. “Päd”, the fourth syllable, helps to achieve perfection of perseverance, “Me” helps achieve perfection in the practice of concentration, and the final sixth syllable “Hum” helps achieve perfection in the practice of wisdom.

This tattoo has so much meaning for me because those are the aspects and vurtures in life I want to try my best to be perfect in. This tattoo is a reminder to myself of how I want to be and how I want to always live my life. It is now forever embedded into my skin so my eyes will never forget the vurtues I want to see in myself. With that being said, This will be my last tattoo because I believe all tattoos have significant meaning to the person getting it and each new tattoo, for me, has always had a much more significant meaning then the last and I don’t think I will ever find another tattoo that will have more significance to me and my sprituality then “Om Mani Pädme Hum”.

The next morning we rented a Crunchy 47′ yacht (Spirit of Baloo) for the day so we could all just chill out and enjoy the beautiful scenery from the waters. I even talked my friends into letting me navigate for a little bit and I felt very much like the “Skipper” even though I was told I looked more like “Ginger” at the helm of the boat then the “Skipper”. All I have to say to that is, “Hey, at least my 9 hour tour didn’t land all of us on a deserted island!” HaHa! JK!

After a full day of touring the island, I was able to relax for one more day and then I was off to Macau for the APT Celebrity Charity event and Main Event. I’m feeling lucky and I’m so ready to win!!! I will let you all know how the tournament turns out and fill you in on all of the festivities tonight is sure to bring in my next blog.

Wish me luck!

Cheers!

I’m back in the States everyone!! I just flew back earlier in the week from the Philippines. What a long and exhausting trip but in a very good way. I played in the APT event in Manila and was able to make my first final table in my first attempt of 2009! Hooray for me. Not a bad start to what I feel like is going to be a very good year.

(photos courtesy of Pokernews.com)

I am currently resting up in Vegas from the long trip in Vietnam and I look forward to driving to L.A. soon to play in some cash games at the Commerce and play in some Los Angeles Poker Classic (LAPC) events. Including the Main Event. I just need a little rest first.

I know many of us like to look at a new year as a fresh beginning and a break from the past even though it really doesn’t make as much sense as we think it does because life is just one long continuous series of days, weeks, months and years but like many of you I still believe in starting fresh and 2009 is no different. I have high expectations for a great year, both professionally and personally!!

I will start off by reporting some very good news. As you know in December I made a “Dear Santa” list about some possible gifts I would love to receive for Christmas. I want to let you know that many of those actually came true! Here is a quick update:

Visitation with my Dad in my dreams. I was able to have a spiritual visit with my Dad while I was in Vietnam. It’s a little difficult to explain but I definitely had a chance to spend some time with my Dad in a positive way.

Receive a little Puppy. Hopefully this will come true soon. A very special person in my life has purchased a puppy for me!! Yippeee. I haven’t received him yet but I have been told to expect my puppy very soon.

Secret Santa for my charity work in Vietnam. I have had one person step up and offered to contribute some money for the work I do in Vietnam. I would like to mention the name but I suspect they prefer to stay anonymous because they do the charity work for the good deeds and not for the recognition.

Good luck in Poker. I made the final table in my first poker tournament in 2009. Most importantly I was able to avoid bad luck and I did get quite lucky when we got down to 12 players to avoid elimination when I was short stacked and pushed all-in on the blinds with J-10. I already feel my luck changing for the better. Watch out!!

(photos courtesy of asianpt.com and pokernews.com)

I’d like to give a shout out to Chris Parker, Tom Hall, Martin Elliott, and all the floor staff at the APT Manila Event for the wonderful hospitality during my stay in the Philippines. As always, a fabulous event!

(photos courtesy of asianpt.com)

More time with family. Okay, I didn’t get to exactly spend more time with my immediate family but I did spend a lot of time with my family in Vietnam in January. I was able to get re-united with my half sister and of course I was able to have that visit with my Dad. I really value my family more than ever.

Happiness and health for my Mom. So far so good.

I also received a very high quality camera from my close friend Doc. Now that I am putting pen to paper, I am realizing that I pretty much received everything on my “Dear Santa” wish list. I guess that means I was a really good girl!!!

I also have something funny to share. If you remember I had a request in my “If I were a Boy” blog for a good guy to submit a resume. Well, I did receive a resume. I will keep his name anonymous but it was a good response to the blog and I found it quite a surprise!

Now that I am back home in Las Vegas, I look forward to prioritizing for the year. One of my first priorities is to get back to the cash games in Los Angeles and Las Vegas a little more often. I will be less distracted by stuff going on in my personal life which is really the most important goal.

I vow in 2009, the attention and time I spend thinking about people who have negative intentions will be minimal. I really do want to make a clean break from everything that went wrong in 2008 and really embrace everything that went right!! I have a great foundation of friends and supporters and I want to build on that.

I do want to have the proper perspective on everything that has happened in 2008. Tonight’s Grammy awards was a great example of that. I am not sure if you are familiar with Jennifer Hudson’s story but she had her brother, mother and nephew murdered in October of 2008. This is her rendition of the song “You pulled me through” at the Grammy’s earlier tonight. At the end of the song she was extremely emotional and I cannot imagine the strength and perseverance she’s needed to pull her through.

I think that is an important lesson for all of us to hold on to dearly. Keep life in perspective!! Sometimes our problems really aren’t that big in comparison to other people’s problems. Occasionally my blog will come across as a little melodramatic and it’s really not the intention. It’s just a cause and effect of sharing one’s inner personal thoughts. So, I would really like to share this following video because it’s very inspirational to me and it’s a reminder to keep life in perspective.

Read more about my poker experiences on the felt and The APT Manila ME at Pokerlistings.

Cheers everyone! I will keep you posted about L.A. and the LAPC soon!!

It’s a Beautiful day and I look back upon Vietnam with great happiness. I think I am going to be able to get back to a more normal blogging schedule. I apologize I’ve been travelling around Vietnam and spending a lot of time with family and simply haven’t been in front of my computer very much.

Now that I am in the Philippines, ready to play the APT Manila main event Day1B tomorrow, I want to share some of the moments that stand out most during my Vietnam trip.  I mostly want to share with everyone that I was finally able to fulfill my father’s two remaining last wishes before he passed away.

My dad had always wanted to get cremated then have his ashes placed right next to my grandmother, which was something I was unable to do for a number of reasons. Firstly, there were no spots available next to or around the area of my grandmother’s resting place. Secondly, my grandmother’s second husband side of the family disapproved and turned down my request numerous times, so without any paperwork and their family’s approval there was nothing I could do. After I returned to Saigon from my trip to Hanoi I decided to call the other family and try again, luckily through some negotiation and diligence I was able to fulfill one of his remaining wishes. On Jan 20th I brought my grandmother and her husband’s ashes over to Lam Te Temple.

My father’s other wish was to find and reconnect with my younger half-sister. I was able to track her down through the help of some other family members and I am so glad to see that she is much better off than I had originally heard. It was very nice to be able to reconnect with somebody who is not only my half sister but meant a lot to my father.

I was able to spend my first Chinese New Years in Vietnam and learn firsthand why my dad always wanted to be back in Vietnam for Christmas and Chinese New Year! It’s quite the celebration. They blocked off a mile of road near where I was staying and decorated the entire stretch of road with flowers, beautiful pots, lanterns and other decorations. There were tons of bright lights and it was a great big celebration!! And they decorated the flowers to be in the shape of an Ox because 2009 is the Year of the Ox!!

I was able to fulfill some of my charity work although I didn’t have the time to do the same type of charity I have in previous trips. Between the wedding, fulfilling my fathers last wishes and dealing with other personal and family matters I decided to donate money to numerous Temples and Monks and have them fulfill the charity work.

The one truly bad thing that happened to me while I was in Vietnam occurred when I first arrived to Vietnam. The main Monk gave me some bad news about a very precious item I had donated the year before. A beautiful Pagoda which was blessed and approved to be placed on the fourth level in the temple was stolen by somebody the day before I arrived.

I’ve felt extremely honored and always sensed a strong feeling of protection with me at all times knowing that the Pagoda I donated sat right underneath the temple’s big Pagoda. I quickly went back to the place where I had bought it in hopes of finding the exact one to replace it but no luck. After about three weeks of looking, I finally found another pagoda statue suitable and unique enough to replace the one that got stolen.

I also came across this description of my Chinese Zodiac sign which is the Tiger and it was so accurate I couldn’t believe it. I even passed it along to a couple of very close friends and they were astonished how closely it resembled me as well. I thought I would share this with you because it’s such a stunningly accurate depiction of my personality and life.

Year of the Tiger

(photo courtesy of (Doc) Phu Vu)

“Born leader” is the key word for the Tigers. They are always in the lead and are most likely the ones to cry out “Let’s Go”! Noble and Fearless, Tigers are respected for their courage, even from those working against them.

Tiger people are daring fighters, they are capable of standing up to the better end for what they think is right. Although they could be selfish from time to time in the little things, they are capable of great generosity. Tigers are unpredictable, always tense. and like to be in a hurry.

Tiger people are difficult to resist, for they are magnetic characters and their natural air of authority confers a certain prestige on them. They are tempestuous yet calm, warm-hearted yet fearsome, courageous in the face of danger yet yielding and soft in mysterious, unexpected places.

Tigers are very confident, perhaps too confident sometimes. Although they love adventures, and are addicted to excitement it is better not to challenge a Tiger’s confidence. They likes being obeyed and not the other way around.

Because Tigers are urgent people and always in a hurry to get things done right, they usually choose to operate alone. Tigers like to work, they are hard-working and dynamic. If you assign a task to a Tiger, the job will be undertaken and accomplished with enthusiasm and efficiency. Tigers make money, but they are not directly interested in money. Still, the Tiger needs not worry about money: just when he fears the money is gone, more seems to show up.

Tigers are sensitive, emotional. They are capable of great love, but they become too intense about it. They are also territorial and possessive, if you are a friend of a Tiger, he wants you to take his side against the bad guys and because the Tiger is so adorable, you often do. As lovers, Tigers are passionate and romantic, but the real challenge for the Tiger is to grasp the true meaning of moderation.

The Tiger, the living symbol of strength and power, generally inspires fear and respect. Tigers’ compelling dynamism, intense activity, independence and curiosity about others make them irresistible, persons of multiple charms; Tigers attract followers and admirers. The Tiger is courageous, active and self-assured, and makes an excellent leader and protector. However liberal-minded Tigers may be, they are passionate, rash, and resist the authority of others. Although they are selfish in the little things, they are capable of great generosity, even of altruism, in the larger. Tigers are men and women of action, thrust by destiny into the spotlight.

Tigers are fearless creatures in as much as they blind themselves to dangers and impetuously rush in where more cautious individuals would fear to tred. Outspoken in the face of injustice, their strong humanitarian instincts will not allow them to pass by if they see a wrong perpetrated upon another.

Tigers tend to renounce confining traditional roles, opting for a more unfettered life. With a wide ranging mind, they can adopt any number of careers. Their many experiences serve to enrich their life and add depth to their nature. Material benefits matter little to them.

Tigers have an inborn magnetic personality that attracts people to them like bees to honey. Warm-hearted, sociable and friendly, they are characterised by their frank, honest and open approach. Their immense kindness and generosity will always shine through except when crossed or backed into a corner, for then they can become vehement and ferocious.

Solitude is often the price Tigers pay for their position of authority, but they become accustomed to it. Better still, they draw on the experience, gaining new energies and great strength.

Chinese say the life of a Tiger born at night will be less hectic than that of Tigers born after dawn and above all, those born around midday. It will be a stormy life full of dangers, but the Tiger will never be bored. Neither Night Tiger nor Day Tiger will have an easy life. The Western term for a particularly fierce woman is “dragon lady,” but the Chinese call her an “old tiger lady.” For this reason some Chinese avoid having children in the Tiger Year — for fear of having a daughter.

The lucky Tiger represents the greatest power on earth, and is the emblem of protection for human life. A Tiger in the house minimizes the Three Great Risks — thieves, fire, and evil spirits. If there are two Tigers in the house, however, one of them has to go!

Happy Lunar New Year Everyone!

Cheers!

Here’s a quick little update from Vietnam. After a 16 hour flight, I arrived just in time to spend NYE with some family. After I settled in of course!! The trip didn’t really start off on the best note. It rained non-stop once I arrived in Saigon. At one point, I guess too much water accumulated on the roof and something was wrong with the drainage so it flooded the upstairs at my aunt’s house. There was water everywhere and we spent a couple of hours pitching in and draining the water the best we could. Eventually we stopped the leak and cleared out the water. I was finally able to get some sleep!

The next day was the day before New Year and that evening a bunch of us gathered together and headed out to a popular night spot, called the Volcano!! The weather was nice so my niece and I went for a walk around the city to see all the beautiful lights and decorations before heading out for the 2009 countdown. Tina’s husband Hoa reserved the best table/section in the house, right above the dance floor and DJ booth. We stayed until about 2am and I celebrated my first official NYE in Vietnam.

The next day I had to do some shopping for a more traditional looking Vietnamese dress for my niece Tina’s wedding. I found some great material in this soft green color and I had a dressmaker follow a set of designs I had. The dress came out beautifully and I was pleased. Unfortunately this day didn’t end quite as smoothly either because I dropped my blackberry into a puddle of water. The phone worked fine but the trackball couldn’t scroll up or down so the phone was pretty much useless. I couldn’t get to any of my applications or my address book. So, I went out and spent $300 for a new phone which didn’t work either because it wasn’t compatible with my service provider. Argh!

Finally, the day of my nieces wedding arrived and it was a great wedding and ceremony. My niece is marrying a very kind and generous man. He is also quite wealthy and the reception was very beautiful. There were more than 700 guests invited to the reception at the Rex Hotel and I can only imagine how much the whole event cost. I was able to spend some time with the groom, Hao and his family and they are very respectful and kind people. I am so happy that my niece found a good man who loves her and will take care of her.

I am in Vietnam for a couple more weeks before heading off to the Philippines. I will continue to visit the temple my Dad is placed at and visit with my half brother and sister in the upcoming week. For now, I am with my aunt, cousin, and nephew in Saigon. I plan to do some charity work as well and travel all over Vietnam. I will keep everyone posted as soon as I can. I am not exactly sure how much I plan to blog while I am travelling but I will do the best I can. I hope everyone had a great New Year and 2009 brings everyone cheer and joy!!