Dear Julian and Paddie,

Don't you know there was a change
The welcoming board with your names was given to me at the end
And you appeared with so big and fresh smile
To start a wonderful day
I did what I had to say
You have beautiful smiles, Paddie
That reflex the bright mind and soft heart
The day was just short
But a lot of memories
And love for peace
Thank you, Julian, for your love, your pictures and your pen
Bringing more and more precious friends
To my country Vietnam
Thank you for your poem for Lan
I like it so much
Thank you for your kindness
To help improve
My use of English I love
I will send you
Pieces of my thoughts
Wishing all the best
To Julian and Paddie
And your dearest family...

Dear Julian and Paddie,

I put my writing on my blog and rearranging it, when you have time, can you read and help me improve by giving some comment or correcting mistakes. Thanks.
Paddie, I hope you like our Vietnam's Ban Me Thuot Coffee.

Lan
http://lantourguide.blogspot.com/


--- On Tue, 4/10/12, Mediahelp - From Julian and Paddie.

Dear Lan,

Here, below, is one of my poems. It is about first love. It is about how when one has one's first love, it is uncomplicated, not sexual, but still with passion. But it must end and it will end, even though, when young lovers separate they may write to each other, the love will slowly drift away.
Some of the words and the way we write poetry may be hard for you because words have many meanings, but I hope you like it.
It was lovely to meet you and I have, at the end of this letter, written a very short poem just for you about our meeting. If I have the time to do it, I will try to help with your English writing, so do send some to us.
Lots of love,
Julian and Paddie. (Please see the two poems below: )

FIRST LOVE.

One summer, days of meaningless hours interrupting moments of precious moment,
No future sought, nothing given; no promise sought, no needs expressed,
Dark those eyes, cold those fragile hands, tall those slender forms hidden beneath the coarser cloth a fledgling wears,
No silks detract, no powder, grease nor scents,
In it's simplicity no barrier breaks the norms , no wrapping hides the cares or masks the looks or spoils the touch,

Letters bridge the distance of separation but dwindle for no reason
Words so tense and longing, yet quickly extinguished by time,
Knowing that the end is a certainty, not in a desire to end,
But in the inevitability that is an end when youth knows not of futures.
No goodbyes, no plaintive duty expressed, no last line, no last word.
Like accidental death it ends; No, like aged death it drifts away.
Where are you now? Must time have sullied that innocent beauty.?

FOR LAN ( Our new friend)

Like mist in the morning, you come to our lives, then fade away when the sun is high,
Gentle mist that washes away harsh thoughts, with song and poetry;
Gentle mist that brings calm and learning from millennia of meditation and lessons hidden from our culture;
Gentle mist that bridges two worlds, welcomes us and showers us with understanding.
Your world has suffered, but like the gentle petals of an early Spring now emerges into summer; flowering hope, a promise that all can renew itself.
And you, the gentle Mist, bathe those petals of hope with soft water nourishment,
We shall return and share our lives again.

Julian

TOUR COMMENT FROM MRS.MARIA MADERO DE CARDONA & FAMILY

Tour Comment From Mrs. Maria Madero De Cardona & Family

Tick  "Excellent" in all boxes for tour guide, driver, Restaurant, Hotel, Sightseeing

Plus precious compliments:

-          General Comments: Excellent attitude, positive, cheerful, knowledgeable, caring, happy, patient, honest, flexible

-          She speaks very good, clear English+ understands very well

-          She’s very good in time management

-          She gives you a fantastic taste of the culture ( her poems and music are beautiful & really show you the art)

-          She carters to cultural differences ( for example: she took us to the western bathrooms)

-          She doesn’t mind repeating things in order to really understand the subject.

-          She makes you feel like her #1 priority.

-          Her personal cultural and spiritual stories make the tour enriching and the long trips quicker. She is a great story teller.

-          She looks out for the customer’s interest.

-          Good restaurant recommendations.

-          Overall she was great, the best tour guide we have in Asia. If there is one thing can improve could be helping tourists with prices. I know this is complicated because the store owners interests but knowing the range of prices can be helpful. For example, telling you is something if being charged too much (in markets)

-          Over all her performance was outstanding

Thank you

Maria Cardona

Thanks Maria for your precious compliments. I know my limitation in the knowledge about prices. Thanks for the book which tell much about prices. However, too many things in the markets are not in the book price lists and prices are changing quite a lot because of the inflation. We need to bargain in markets and in some shops offering fixed prices we can still ask for discounts.

I will try to improve this. I need to make a price survey as I am not a very regular buyer, especially of fancy things:)

FROM FAY AND STU

Hi Lan,

 I meant to email you when we got home last night from seeing your sister-in-law but we're still so tired from the trip home - we wake up in the middle of the night because we're still on Asian time!   She was very lovely and gracious.  I really hope you can make it to Toronto for a visit sometime and we'd love to play tour guide for you.  We so enjoyed meeting you - your love of your country, your enthusiasm and kindness were so much appreciated and helped to make our trip very special.  

Take good care

Fay 

Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2011 6:21 AM

Subject: Thank you note from Lan Your Tour Guide In Vietnam

Dear Fay and Stu,

How are you?

Thank you very much for your kindness to bring my family book to my sister- in-law Phuong. She sent me a message and told me that you brought the book to her working place. Phuong was very happy. The whole family haven't chance to see our Ancestor worshiping house. Now they can read the books and know activities:)

I would like to thank you again and wish you all the best wishes, good luck, health, happiness, peace and a lot of riches.

Warmest regards,

Lan
______________

Dear Lan,

It was wonderful meeting you and having you as our very personal guide to your country.  Your love of Vietnam came through in everything you shared with us.  We came home last night after visiting Ha Noi and Halong Bay and spending more time in Hong Kong with our daughter.  It was an amazing experience that we will never forget.  I will be in touch with your brother this week and arrange to get him the book.

Wishing you all the very best in life and hope to see you in Canada sometime soon.

Fay and Stu

 

Dear Fay and Stuart

Thank you very much for your generosity to bring our family book to my brother Tan and my sister-in-law Phuong in Toronto. They and their children will be very happy.

It was a big privilege to me be your tour guide to learn from you and introduce to you my beloved country and people.

I have to thank you for your visit to Vietnam, as you have brought better chances to  improve our lives and bring our country to the world with your beautiful images in Vietnam.

I hope to see you again and have a chance to visit your country in a near future. If I have a chance to go to Canada, I surely will come and visit you.

May I wish you and your family

All the best wishes

Good luck, health, happiness, success and peace

Your life is full of  love and riches..

Warmest regards
Your tour guide

Nguyen Thi Lan

http://lantourguide.blogspot.com/

FROM JACKIE AND CAROLINE

Friday, December 2, 2011

Hello Lan,

Thank you for your lovely email.

I have attached a lovely picture of you & caroline when we were sailing down the flooded street in Hoi An & a couple of others from the cyclo's that we went on.

I have also included some pictures of myself & my husband when we were on holiday in France, my son celebrating his birthday, the beach in the city I live Aberdeen and also a park which I love to walk around which is not far from my work & is always very colourful with the different trees.

We had the most amazing holiday Lan & this was helped greatly by our 3 lovely tour guides who all took good care of us & showed us the most amazing sights & experiences your country has, and of course all our drivers who kept us safe as we travelled about.

I loved your country and the people Lan & hope to return some day.

I hope you are well and many thanks for the kindness you showed us during our trip.

Jackie
x

________________
          

Dear Lan,

Thank you for your email and kind wishes. We loved our time in both Hoian and Hue and have continued to enjoy the rest of what Vietnam has to offer. Only one more day and then we will be off to Hong Kong.

Will send photos once we get back to the UK, in the meantime all the best to you and your family

Best wishes

Caroline

Sent from my iPad

On 16 Nov 2011, at 14:16, Lan Nguyen Thi <lantourguide@yahoo.com> wrote:

Dear Angela, Jackie and Caroline,

It was a big privilege to me be your tour guide to learn from you and introduce to you my beloved country and people.

I have to thank you for your visit to Vietnam, as you have brought better chances to  improve our lives and bring our country to the world with your beautiful images in Vietnam.

 I hope you greatly enjoyed your trip in Hoian and Hue though the weather was not very good.

I would deeply appreciate if you can share me some photos of the tour so I can keep as nice memories. Thanks.

I hope to see you again and have a chance to visit your country in a near future.

May I wish you and your family
All the best wishes

Good luck, health, happiness, success and peace

Your life is full of  love and riches..

Warmest regards
Your tour guide

Nguyen Thi Lan

http://lantourguide.blogspot.com/

THE MOST PRECIOUS LETTER FROM SWEDEN

FROM HELEN AND LEE

 

From: Lee.Whitney
To: lantourguide@yahoo.com
Sent: Saturday, October 15, 2011 2:17 PM
Subject: Fwd: From Helen and Lee

Hi Lan,

I wanted to add that as you can see we have added those poem's on the English language for you.

The one you were able to read yesterday and the one mentioned yesterday by Trenite (a Dutch man) which was first written in 1922.

Hope you enjoy

Helen and Lee

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lee.Whitney

Date: 15 October 2011 12:20:12 PM GMT+07:00

To: lantourguide@yahoo.com

Subject: From Helen and Lee

Dear Lan

Thank you so very much for escorting Lee and myself as our tour guide yesterday to the King's tomb, the Citadel and the Pagoda. I have travelled to many places, but I enjoyed your tour more than any other.

You brought the heart and soul of Vietnam alive with your wonderful knowledge of history, your poems and your beautiful singing. Lee and I now feel we know Vietnam so much better.

Again, thank you so much and I will be telling all my family and friends to contact you when they travel to Vietnam

All our love

Helen and Lee

We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox should be oxen, not oxes.
Then one fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese,
You may find a lone mouse or a whole nest of mice,
But the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?
The cow in the plural may be cows or kine,
But a bow if repeated is never called bine,
And the plural of vow is vows, never vine.

If I speak of a foot and you show me your feet,
And I give you a boot would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth, and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?

If the singular’s this and the plural is these,
Should the plural of kiss ever be nicknamed keese?
Then one may be that and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.

We speak of a brother, and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren,
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine she, shis and shim,

So the English, I think, you all will agree,
Is the queerest language you ever did see.

Gerard Nolst Trenité - The Chaos (1922)

Dearest creature in creation
Studying English pronunciation,
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse and worse.

I will keep you, Susy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy;
Tear in eye, your dress you'll tear;
Queer, fair seer, hear my prayer.

Pray, console your loving poet,
Make my coat look new, dear, sew it!
Just compare heart, hear and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word.

Sword and sward, retain and Britain
(Mind the latter how it's written).
Made has not the sound of bade,
Say-said, pay-paid, laid but plaid.

Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as vague and ague,
But be careful how you speak,
Say: gush, bush, steak, streak, break, bleak ,

Previous, precious, fuchsia, via
Recipe, pipe, studding-sail, choir;
Woven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, shoe, poem, toe.

Say, expecting fraud and trickery:
Daughter, laughter and Terpsichore,
Branch, ranch, measles, topsails, aisles,
Missiles, similes, reviles.

Wholly, holly, signal, signing,
Same, examining, but mining,
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far.

From "desire": desirable-admirable from "admire",
Lumber, plumber, bier, but brier,
Topsham, brougham, renown, but known,
Knowledge, done, lone, gone, none, tone,

One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel.
Gertrude, German, wind and wind,
Beau, kind, kindred, queue, mankind,

Tortoise, turquoise, chamois-leather,
Reading, Reading, heathen, heather.
This phonetic labyrinth
Gives moss, gross, brook, brooch, ninth, plinth.

Have you ever yet endeavoured
To pronounce revered and severed,
Demon, lemon, ghoul, foul, soul,
Peter, petrol and patrol?

Billet does not end like ballet;
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.

Banquet is not nearly parquet,
Which exactly rhymes with khaki.
Discount, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward,

Ricocheted and crocheting, croquet?
Right! Your pronunciation's OK.
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.

Is your r correct in higher?
Keats asserts it rhymes Thalia.
Hugh, but hug, and hood, but hoot,
Buoyant, minute, but minute.

Say abscission with precision,
Now: position and transition;
Would it tally with my rhyme
If I mentioned paradigm?

Twopence, threepence, tease are easy,
But cease, crease, grease and greasy?
Cornice, nice, valise, revise,
Rabies, but lullabies.

Of such puzzling words as nauseous,
Rhyming well with cautious, tortious,
You'll envelop lists, I hope,
In a linen envelope.

Would you like some more? You'll have it!
Affidavit, David, davit.
To abjure, to perjure. Sheik
Does not sound like Czech but ache.

Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, loch, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed but vowed.

Mark the difference, moreover,
Between mover, plover, Dover.
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice,

Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.
Petal, penal, and canal,
Wait, surmise, plait, promise, pal,

Suit, suite, ruin. Circuit, conduit
Rhyme with "shirk it" and "beyond it",
But it is not hard to tell
Why it's pall, mall, but Pall Mall.

Muscle, muscular, gaol, iron,
Timber, climber, bullion, lion,
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor,

Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
Has the a of drachm and hammer.
Pussy, hussy and possess,
Desert, but desert, address.

Golf, wolf, countenance, lieutenants
Hoist in lieu of flags left pennants.
Courier, courtier, tomb, bomb, comb,
Cow, but Cowper, some and home.

"Solder, soldier! Blood is thicker",
Quoth he, "than liqueur or liquor",
Making, it is sad but true,
In bravado, much ado.

Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Pilot, pivot, gaunt, but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand and grant.

Arsenic, specific, scenic,
Relic, rhetoric, hygienic.
Gooseberry, goose, and close, but close,
Paradise, rise, rose, and dose.

Say inveigh, neigh, but inveigle,
Make the latter rhyme with eagle.
Mind! Meandering but mean,
Valentine and magazine.

And I bet you, dear, a penny,
You say mani-(fold) like many,
Which is wrong. Say rapier, pier,
Tier (one who ties), but tier.

Arch, archangel; pray, does erring
Rhyme with herring or with stirring?
Prison, bison, treasure trove,
Treason, hover, cover, cove,

Perseverance, severance. Ribald
Rhymes (but piebald doesn't) with nibbled.
Phaeton, paean, gnat, ghat, gnaw,
Lien, psychic, shone, bone, pshaw.

Don't be down, my own, but rough it,
And distinguish buffet, buffet;
Brood, stood, roof, rook, school, wool, boon,
Worcester, Boleyn, to impugn.

Say in sounds correct and sterling
Hearse, hear, hearken, year and yearling.
Evil, devil, mezzotint,
Mind the z! (A gentle hint.)

Now you need not pay attention
To such sounds as I don't mention,
Sounds like pores, pause, pours and paws,
Rhyming with the pronoun yours;

Nor are proper names included,
Though I often heard, as you did,
Funny rhymes to unicorn,
Yes, you know them, Vaughan and Strachan.

No, my maiden, coy and comely,
I don't want to speak of Cholmondeley.
No. Yet Froude compared with proud
Is no better than McLeod.

But mind trivial and vial,
Tripod, menial, denial,
Troll and trolley, realm and ream,
Schedule, mischief, schism, and scheme.

Argil, gill, Argyll, gill. Surely
May be made to rhyme with Raleigh,
But you're not supposed to say
Piquet rhymes with sobriquet.

Had this invalid invalid
Worthless documents? How pallid,
How uncouth he, couchant, looked,
When for Portsmouth I had booked!

Zeus, Thebes, Thales, Aphrodite,
Paramour, enamoured, flighty,
Episodes, antipodes,
Acquiesce, and obsequies.

Please don't monkey with the geyser,
Don't peel 'taters with my razor,
Rather say in accents pure:
Nature, stature and mature.

Pious, impious, limb, climb, glumly,
Worsted, worsted, crumbly, dumbly,
Conquer, conquest, vase, phase, fan,
Wan, sedan and artisan.

The th will surely trouble you
More than r, ch or w.
Say then these phonetic gems:
Thomas, thyme, Theresa, Thames.

Thompson, Chatham, Waltham, Streatham,
There are more but I forget 'em-
Wait! I've got it: Anthony,
Lighten your anxiety.

The archaic word albeit
Does not rhyme with eight-you see it;
With and forthwith, one has voice,
One has not, you make your choice.

Shoes, goes, does *. Now first say: finger;
Then say: singer, ginger, linger.
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, age,

Hero, heron, query, very,
Parry, tarry fury, bury,
Dost, lost, post, and doth, cloth, loth,
Job, Job, blossom, bosom, oath.

Faugh, oppugnant, keen oppugners,
Bowing, bowing, banjo-tuners
Holm you know, but noes, canoes,
Puisne, truism, use, to use?

Though the difference seems little,
We say actual, but victual,
Seat, sweat, chaste, caste, Leigh, eight, height,
Put, nut, granite, and unite.

Reefer does not rhyme with deafer,
Feoffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Dull, bull, Geoffrey, George, ate, late,
Hint, pint, senate, but sedate.

Gaelic, Arabic, pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific;
Tour, but our, dour, succour, four,
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.

Say manoeuvre, yacht and vomit,
Next omit, which differs from it
Bona fide, alibi
Gyrate, dowry and awry.

Sea, idea, guinea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean,
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.

Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion with battalion,
Rally with ally; yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, key, quay!

Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, receiver.
Never guess-it is not safe,
We say calves, valves, half, but Ralf.

Starry, granary, canary,
Crevice, but device, and eyrie,
Face, but preface, then grimace,
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.

Bass, large, target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, oust, joust, and scour, but scourging;
Ear, but earn; and ere and tear
Do not rhyme with here but heir.

Mind the o of off and often
Which may be pronounced as orphan,
With the sound of saw and sauce;
Also soft, lost, cloth and cross.

Pudding, puddle, putting. Putting?
Yes: at golf it rhymes with shutting.
Respite, spite, consent, resent.
Liable, but Parliament.

Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew, Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, clerk and jerk,
Asp, grasp, wasp, demesne, cork, work.

A of valour, vapid vapour,
S of news (compare newspaper),
G of gibbet, gibbon, gist,
I of antichrist and grist,

Differ like diverse and divers,
Rivers, strivers, shivers, fivers.
Once, but nonce, toll, doll, but roll,
Polish, Polish, poll and poll.

Pronunciation-think of Psyche!-
Is a paling, stout and spiky.
Won't it make you lose your wits
Writing groats and saying "grits"?

It's a dark abyss or tunnel
Strewn with stones like rowlock, gunwale,
Islington, and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.

Don't you think so, reader, rather,
Saying lather, bather, father?
Finally, which rhymes with enough,
Though, through, bough, cough, hough, sough, tough??

Hiccough has the sound of sup...
My advice is: GIVE IT UP!

UPCOMING FROM CATHY

Message body

HAHAHA... very very funny Lan!

I was impressed with the creative and plentiful ways you came UP with to use the simple little 2 letter word "UP".
That must have taken UP a lot of your time! :)

Is it true that your husband has taken UP working as a tourist guide also? If he is learning from you he is very lucky as he has the best teacher possible! How is your son doing? Is he still away at school? Does he stilll have the dream to open UP his own restaurant??

I must go now... as I have to tidy UP my kitchen. You can never guess what we were UP to today.
This is Thanksgiving weekend, and I cooked UP a big turkey dinner here today. Some of our family came UP to our house and we all filled UP on turkey, potatoes, gravy, vegetables, salads, pumpkin pie & whipped cream.

Now it looks like a bomb blew UP in here....the dirty dishes are stacked UP everywhere... waiting for someone to wash them UP... and since my guests have UP and gone.... and my husband is UP to something outside... it is UP to me to clean UP this mess. But when I am done... I will put my feet UP and relax.

hahaha... thanks Lan... it was fun to stretch my mind to think UP the many ways I could try and use the word UP.

Bye for now!

I wish you good luck, good health, & good fortune!!

UP! UP! and AWAY!!!

Cathy