Mekong Delta

Yesterday we took a two hour bus trip from Saigon to the Mekong Delta. Vietnam…we had finally arrived! It was just how I had pictured the country before we arrived. Lush green banana and palm trees poked up from beneath the water as we sat in a rotting old boat, floating down the many canals.

First we stopped on Unicorn Island where I was hoping the landmass would live up to it’s name and produce a few unicorns for some photo ops. Instead of Unicorns, we were presented with a very large disgusting snake. I don’t know what kind it was and quite frankly I don’t care. As far as I’m concerned, it’s of the kind that I hope I never see again.

People (including Pete) took turns wrapping the massive beast around them for photos. I stood as far back as possible, wishing I had a better zoom lens when it was Pete’s turn. We sipped honey tea there, and bought some delicious honey peanut candy.

We then loaded into the boats, donned a traditional Vietnamese triangular straw hat, and floated down a skinny canal, bashing into other boats making the little Vietnamese ladies roar with laughter.

Walking through a grove of tall green palms, I had an urge to run from the group, find my own little space on the island and live there for a while, rent and hassle free. (weird?!) We arrived at a little hut where they collect the coconuts from the island and make make it into coconut candy, combined with either chocolate, durian or green onion?! The chocolate and plain coconut varieties were heavenly like most sickly sweet fattening sweets here in Vietnam.

Back into the boats, we arrived at another little port with a big bang as our boat just crashed into the dock. What’s one more little boo-boo on this vessel’s exterior? It adds character. We sat with a Japanese couple and enjoyed a delicious Elephant fish, deep fried, that you roll in rice paper with fresh herbs to make spring rolls. Mmmm!

We then took one of the many rusting bikes available to borrow, and pedaled in a direction chosen by chance, with no destination. Little children gathered at the gates to their houses shouting “hello!” and pointing and laughing at us. I still don’t completely understand why they laugh, but I think it’s all a combination of not seeing many white people, wanting to practice their English but a bit timid to do so, and that we are probably the biggest giants they’ve ever seen.

Crossing the river back to My Tho, a huge bridge resembling the Alex Fraser in Vancouver lurked in the distance. It seemed a bit out of place, not very Vietnamese. The Australian government had helped them build it only a few years ago. What used to take over an hour to cross now only takes a few minutes.

Back on the bus I sat contently, reminiscing about the events of the day. This was the real Vietnam. I realize that life here is not going to be like that very often as we’re living in the largest city of more than seven million people, but this was what I came for. This was traditional Vietnamese…the real deal.

Hey, I think Im in a developing country

We had no water at our place all night and morning for an unknown reason. Apparently one day a month they shut off the power to a certain part of Saigon because they don’t have enough for everyone. We thought this could be the issue…so why is the neighbor across the lane’s tap running?

I’ve eaten rice or noodles for the last two weeks, three meals a day. Where can I find a grilled cheese sandwich with pickles? Some decent chocolate? A grocery store with more than five aisles (4 of which are noodles!)?

Our roommate got electrocuted by the photocopier at work yesterday. The outlets in our house spark all the time.

Men build houses across the city in flip flops with no hard hat/safety clothing of any kind.

Parents drive their scooters past our house with a two year old standing on the seat in front of them, barely holding on, and not wearing a helmet. Some people do wear helmets, but their about a millimeter thick and look more like a baseball cap.

Power poles hold about 50 random lines all tangled together, which swoop down low enough that you can run into them walking down the street in the dark.

So many times a day I gasp at the safety hazzards I come across, thinking how utterly foolish. I have to constantly remind myself that hey, I’m in a developing country! They don’t know that what they’re doing is unsafe. They don’t know that their children’s lives are in danger. It’s painful to watch sometimes, especially the time I saw a man sawing some wood on the side of the street, and as he put the small circular saw down to move the wood, it vibrated across the pavement closer and closer towards his food. I couldn’t bare watch the outcome of that one, but I didn’t hear a scream so I assume he’s a-ok.

Life is a lot different here. They have a ‘no worries’ mentality, simply because they don’t know the implications of their actions. Sometimes one must turn a blind eye and remember that this is still a developing country on ‘the cusp’ of being a global contender with adequate safety standards. Atleast we can be thankful that we come from a country where practices like that would be terminated immediately and we have the common sense to steer clear.

Saigon Nights

Night time is the best time in Saigon. It brings out the best in people. Or perhaps just in myself. The city cools down, and people come to life.

Although the constant offers of a xe-om ride to anywhere in the city for a minuscule dollar is enchanting, and most often handy, it does get annoying.

“Oi, oi, hello! Motorbike?” comes in one ear and out the next about three times a minute while walking down the street. They don’t seem to understand that someone might want to walk via the two limbs God planted on our bodies for just that reason!

Last night we had ‘banh xeo’, vietnamese pancakes for dinner. It was your typical street-meatish venue, or even like a bia hoi. Plastic tables and chairs, suitable for a midget. Each time I sit on one I’m terrified I’ll break right through it and they’ll all point and laugh at the giant westerner. The pancakes were alright, kind of like dough deep fried, and filled with bean sprouts and the occasional shrimp. The lettuce and herbs you’re meant to add to them were a little frightening. I told Pete that the crinkly lettuce leaf I ate reminded me of some plant leaves I once ate as a child while exploring down by the swamp.

Well the house hunt is finally over. We are no longer homeless nomads. Nomads still, yes, but now have a roof over our heads. We decided to move into the shared AYAD house with Cherie, Fiona and Jess. It’s a huge four bedroom/six bathroom mansion with two balconies on the roof where I plan to spend most of my days. There’s a full-time housecleaner that I’m still yet to meet. We will be extremely spoiled by ‘Ba’, and I’m not sure I feel right about having a housecleaner in a developing country, but atleast it’s giving him a job. I think he came as part of the house.

Our house is in the Phu Nuaan district, just over the bridge from the top of district 1, the downtown-ish area. In a taxi or xe-om you ride past a horrific smelling river, construction sites, and complete filth. The house seems a little out of place in such an area, but it’s still got character and I’m sure we’ll learn to love our new neighbourhood.

I sit here drinking an ice coffee that is so sweet it kind of feels like my teeth may fall out if I keep this habit up. But God is it good. The coffee is strong and mixed with about half a cup of condensed milk..mmmm! Today we hope to get to a grocery store so we can stop eating out and eat some simple western style food’. I know it’s only been a couple weeks, but eating out for every meal gets exhausting!

While we were househunting, we stopped in a store called Cathy Silk. We got talking to Cathy Silk, whose real name is Moi, and she told us she had a house for rent in Binh Tham district and she’d take us there to show us. Sitting on the back of Cathy Silk’s xe-om, with her chubby little arms swerving the bike in and out of traffic, I put my faith in that complete stranger that she wouldn’t get me killed. She was really the worst driver I’ve had so far, but she was so incredibly sweet, we leaned back and forth to talk to each other the entire trip to her house. The house was great, basically just what we were looking for, but we ended up choosing the share-house so we can save more money for traveling. But while on the back of Cathy’s bike, I wondered why she and so many others were so genuinely kind hearted. I realized that night as the warm Saigon wind swooshed through my hair, that it’s the simplicity of Vietnam that makes people so nice. Here they simply want to make a few bucks. They want to make money so they can live a simple life and feed and cloth their families. They want to make people happy because that makes them happy. At home it seems as though everyone’s dreams and goals are so big that they only look out for themselves, and find ways to get themselves ahead in life. Here it’s all about community and helping people out. They don’t want to take over the world, they’re perfectly happy where they are with what they have. They simply want to live and enjoy life. That’s a mentality I truly beleive is what would make the world a better place.

Saigon, our new home

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh last night and it was surprisingly cool. I still sweat like a pig, and there’s always beads of perspiration dripping down my face, but cool in relation to Hanoi. Quite enjoyable. We wandered the streets and the Ben Thanh markets near our hotel, then had a street dinner of cold rolls and pho…yum!

Ho Chi Minh is so different from Hanoi. Much more western influenced, ritzy areas, fashionable shopping, and so much cleaner. It is very very busy, but not as bad as I expected. The city is a bit more spread out, so there are actually open park lands, and many more trees than Hanoi.

There’s some beautiful old buildings here, it almost feels like Europe in some areas. The hotels near the river are amazing in their architecture. That’s what I find so intriguing about Vietnam, is seeing the absolute opposites in living conditions. Houses literally crumbling to the ground, and enormous mansions in the same viscinity.

The people in Vietnam have been so welcoming and friendly so far. The hotel staff really try to get to know you and help in any way possible. We told one of the bus boys today that we needed an adaptor plug for our laptop…he walked away and came back 30 seconds later with a somewhat used one, and said he’d sell it to us for 20,000 vnd. Sold.

We looked at a couple housing options today, which really made me realize that we’re here for a while! This whole time has felt like we’re traveling, I almost forgot than now I need to bunker down, find a house, and find some sort of income!

An estate agent took us to a huge apartment complex first, but I hated it. It was a huge pink and white building that stuck out like a sore thumb, next to a giant highway. Over our price range as well. The next one was pretty adorable. You had to walk down a maze of back alleys to find it, past traditional Vietnamese family homes, children playing soccer against the alley walls, and even a classroom about the size of a normal bathroom at home, crammed with 20 or so beautiful asian school kids. The house was really good, the only weird part being that it’s a five story building, and everyone gets their own floor, but to get to your floor, you have to walk through the living room of the family on the first floor to get to the stairs! Quite intrusive I’d say, but apparently they don’t seem to mind.

The next one we saw was the house where the current AYAD’s from the intake before Pete are living in Phu Nuaan district. It’s close to a stinky canal and a somewhat dodgy looking area, but very Vietnamese feeling. I have to remind myself sometimes that we are in a developing country.
Not many foreigners live in the area which is kind of nice. Again, we had to walk through a series of narrow alleys to the house, but well worth the trek. The house is an absolute mansion. Four floors, four bedrooms, six bathrooms, another floor on top with balconies on either side, and a housekeeper who cleans, makes the beds, and does everyone’s laundry! Moving home would be extremely difficult if we choose to live there!

Right now we’re enjoying the city, and taking our time to find what suits us best. I’m sure we will decide on something soon, but for now, home is where the heart is! (and my heart’s in Saigon!)

Meat of the street

Breakfast is a tricky thing to find in Hanoi, unless your stomach is ready for the meat of the street. Mine is not quite yet. The past few mornings I’ve wandered down the alleys and past trays of pig face, pig tails, sea worms, and every kind of meat cut you could think of. I’ve opted for a bread roll, with nothing on it.

The past few days have been a real eye opener for us. I am now a master of crossing the streets, which at first is quite daunting. There are not many traffic lights, and where there are, they are not obeyed. Basically you just walk out in front of the scooters and cars, walk slowly, but steadily to the other side. They won’t hit you. Scary at first, but now just plain fun!

We met Pete’s boss yesterday at a lunch here in Hanoi. We started drinking with him at 12 and continued til 10:30 pm. I really think Pete got the best boss. He looks like Elvis and has a son named exactly that. Ha!

Everything here is so dirt cheap. It sounds like a lot when they tell you it’s 200,000 dong, but really it’s under $10. Most meals cost a couple of dollars, and beer is only about 50c at the Beer Hoi, and a dollar in a bottle. People here really like to drink. Not for enjoyment, but to get tanked as quickly as possible.

One of the many pleasures of Vietnam is the iced coffee! Or just coffee in general. It comes with condensed milk rather than regular milk. Sickly sweet but delicious, especially with ice.

Every day as I wander down the muddy streets filled with Pho, bun cha and street meat, I am amazed at how different the Vietnamese way of life is from ours. I still don’t understand it, but I am starting to appreciate many of the things they enjoy. I think one day I will have it figured out, but for now I still feel as if I am in this alien world where I don’t really comprehend the values of their lives. All in good time I suppose!

Hanoi – day 3

We arrived in Hanoi, northern Vietnam 3 days ago. As soon as I stepped out of the airport I thought that I wouldn’t be able to live here. It was soooooo hot. I quickly adjusted though, and now realize that it’s not really that hot. It was about 31 degrees. It’s supposed to be much hotter when we go down to Ho Chi Minh City in a week.

After almost getting into a dodgy taxi with no sign on top, I came to my senses and found a real one. I can’t describe how crazy the roads are here. From what I could tell, turn signals are really not used, just horns. You just honk to let people know that you’re close, which means you hear honking constantly. Scooters outnumber cars by a huge margin, and weave in and out of each other with only millimeters to spare.

Our hotel in in Hoan Kiem Lake district which is the old part of Hanoi. We walked around the lake at night and there’s tons of groups of ladies exercising, and cuddling and kissing near the lake edge! (there’s no public displays of affection away from the lake.) This may sound nice, but the color of the lake may change your mind. It looks like it’s full of green slime and has some wicked bad smells wafting from it!

Yesterday we went to West Lake, the big lake in the city. That one is even worse. Every few meters and fish is floating belly up. Next to a floating dirty diaper. Next to plastic bags and wrappers.

Walking home at night it’s amazing to see how bustling the city is still. Toddlers are running around the front of the family stores, scooters are flying past, and the streets are packed with people. It seems like they get a lot less sleep here. And drink a lot more beer. At 40 cents a pop, I can’t blame them. I think I’m going to get along just fine here.

Vietnam!

Pete and I leave for Vietnam tomorrow. We’re busy preparing for our farewell BBQ today, and it’s just hit me how freaking excited I am!
A bit sad to be leaving Australia already though. I’ve only been here for five months, started some good friendships and was really enjoying my time. But I’m sure Vietnam will be an adventure.
Life has been so hectic lately preparing for our move, but by the looks of it, Ho Chi Minh is not going to be any less chaotic…quite the opposite.
Must go pack and prepare for my goodbyes. Will post photos and stories as much as possible. Eeeeeek, life is about to drastically change!

Ho Chi Minh City prep

This blog is seriously lacking recent photos which I promise to post soon. Beleive it or not I’m never really on the computer anymore, which is actually kind of nice. Well I sit in front of a computer and answer phones all day at work so that probably explains it.

These past few weeks have been spent taking vietnamese lessons/taking my TEFL course so I can teach english in Vietnam/getting our shots for Vietnam and working! So much to do, so little time.

So we fly out on October 11th which is creeping up rather quickly. I can’t wait. After taking my course this weekend, I’m looking forward to teaching english more than ever.

We will be in Ho Chi Minh City for atleast 6 months working, and then we will travel around Vietnam/Thailand/Cambodia/Laos etc before returning to BC for summertime.

I have to admit we’ve been pretty slack on learning the language, but I’m sure like most places, you will always find people who speak english so it’s almost not necessary. But we did go to a couple lessons, and have bought a CD that we play to learn more words. The only think we absolutely know are the numbers 1 – 10. Mawt, Hai, Ba, Bon, Num, So, Bai, Tum, Chin, Moey! That’s not how you write them, just pronounciation. There are 6 tones that rise/fall/gurgle in the back of your mouth that really complicate it!

There’s also a million ways to say how are you, depending on the persons relation to you – friend, elderly, partner, woman, man, child etc. And ma, depending on how you say it, means ghost, horse, mother, and about 3 more things. I think I may be confused…

Anyways, Mike and Kristin arrive in Australia in a week or two so we’re trying to find something to do with them when they get here. Should be fun!!

33 days til departure!…

busy bee

Wow, this blog has taken a serious holiday. For those of you who actually read it, sorry!! Things have been pretty hectic here lately, and the last month of my life has flown by faster than ever.

Not sure where to even start. Well, we’re moving to Vietnam. I think that was still just a possibility last time I wrote. It’s set in stone now…actually booked my flight tonight. Got a pretty good deal from Adelaide to Hanoi for $490. Pete has a week of training in Hanoi until we go down to Ho Chi Minh City to work, so I’m going to explore by myself and have a bit of a vacation!

This last month has been busy preparing for Vietnam, my new job as a receptionist at Hamilton Gordon Accountants, coaching skating, and taking a TESOL english course so I can teach english in Vietnam.

Got some exciting news a week or so ago that my good friends Jen & Shawn are getting married! Congrats!! They’re getting married September of next year and I’m going to be a bridesmaid! Cant wait!

This past weekend we went down to the Yorke Peninsula to visit Pete’s Grandpa Bob. I could write a whole page on Grandpa Bob. Actually I think I will. He’s the sweetest little thing I’ve ever met. Will save the details for a post all about BOB! And took some great photos of Aussie beaches/grandpa bob that I will post this weekend.

Another change is that we’re back at Pete’s parents’ house now, as the girl we were housesitting for came home. How ruuuude. All good things must come to an end. Anyways, we’re back up in Bellevue Heights so we bought a car so we’re not trapped up here (public transport sucks here, especially when you live on top of a hill).
Our car is a 97 Ford Festiva called THE Mary Wilson. After it’s previous owner. I think we still have Mary Wilson’s comb in the glove box…lucky!

Internet is pretty dodgy up here in Bellevue Heights and was vertually non-existent for a while, but I think we’re back up and running now, so when I’m not studying my verb tenses and chalkboard techniques, I’ll do some more updating on the old blog. Stay tuned!

Morialta surprise

This weekend we went hiking at Morialta Falls near the hills in Adelaide. We thought we needed the exercise, so we set out for the 3rd waterfall, the farthest away of the three, which said to allow four hours for the hike. To the falls and back took us about two hours, but it was a great little hike.

About 10 minutes into our hike, Pete grabbed my arm and told me to stop and look. I scrunched my nose up as I was pretty sure it was going to be a snake. We looked high up into the gum tree to see the cutest little koala. He just sat there in a perfect little ball, arms crossed in front of him, eyes closed on a nice little Sunday nap. I got some good photos that I’ll post soon, but unfortunately I don’t have a zoom lens so they’re kind of far away, and he was sitting with his back to us. That was the first time I’ve seen a koala in nature, away from zoos or conservation parks.

We carried on along a winding path with amazing views westward towards the city with a panoramic view of the sprawl of Adelaide and blue water coast. It was really stunning. Photos to follow!

When we got to the falls I had a little laugh at the size which was far smaller than any I’ve seen in Canada. It was kind of pretty I guess, and that was the most water that’s ever been in there I bet. But it was no Shannon Falls or Niagara!

It’s a great feeling to be able to go for a hike in the middle of winter on a beautiful sunny day, 19 degrees, with not a cloud in the sky. I’m so lucky to call Adelaide home…even if only for a while.