Vietnam Day 2 (6/9/09)

When we wake up, eight of us Westerners walk ten paces to the CET office to meet Rylan, our program director. He strikes me as the kind of guy who was born with a backpack and hiking boots on. I may be grossly stereotyping, but at any rate he seems to have an excellent handle on living in Vietnam. He takes us around the same corner from the night before to a different pho place for breakfast. As I sat in the garage-like open-air eatery with my pho and drip coffee, I looked out onto the small impromtu produce market on the adjacent street and felt like I truly belonged. Perhaps this inexplicable feeling is just novelty, but I couldn't care less. Right now, I'm happy with everything around me.

After orientation, our group uses our spare time to explore the city. Naturally we drew stares everywhere but along with a lot of those stares came friendly smiles. There are people everywhere, in shops, eating at miniature tables on the sidewalk, perched above our heads on ladders, and of course on motorbikes. These drivers are absolutely incredible. They can balance anything while driving - fresh produce, dogs, children, flat-screen TVs, you name it. And I'm sure there must be traffic laws but it's unclear whether people are following them or not. What scares me the most is that I think they are. I'm still working on the art of crossing the street. It seems the trick is to wait until there are no motorbikes coming directly at you and then walk at a consistent pace, letting turning motorbikes maneuver around you. Of course, every time I think I've got this system down, I'm quickly reminded that cars are not as agile as motorbikes. Fortunately, I'm more agile than both of them. I don't know much Vietnamese but my numbers and "cam on" (or thank you) seem to be tiding me over. At lunch we get a bunch of dishes to share and even though I'm not hungry (again), I have to try everything. The best part of lunch though was Rylan's call, telling me that I get to meet a well known primatologist from Boulder who'll be in the area and that I get to spend time working at the Wildlife Rescue Center which houses primates! After lunch Van Anh drives us to our meeting with the community partner to discuss our internship. It was my first time on a motorbike and it was really quite fun. It felt pretty safe (surprising given the proximity of some other vehicles) and Van Anh is a very good driver. She'd equipped me with a helmet and a cloth surgical mask (common here for the exhaust fumes) that was pink with sparkly flowers, quite the fahsion statement if I do say so myself. The motorbike turned out to be the perfect way to view the city and I can't wait to go on again (yes Mom and Dad, I will be riding on motorbikes consistently, get used to it).

We went with our community partners to an internet cafe so we can skype the director of the program they're trying to set up in the Ninh Thuan province. Essentially what they want us to do is survey tourists (backpackers and resort-goers alike) in Saigon to guage interest in an ecotourism project in Ninh Thuan. I asked a lot of questions and got some pretty confusing answers, but Van Anh asked a lot too in Vietnamese to compensate. The project seemed like a decent enough idea; people in the community would provide homestays for tourists who would tour the local rainforest and sea turtle nesting beaches. True, surveying isn't terribly glamorous, but it can be very important. Plus, they're sending us to the regions for a few days to give us an idea of what's there, so it sounds pretty fun. However, back at the house, Van Anh and I compare notes and start to develop some concerns. Apparently I lost a lot of information with the language barrier. Turns out the project is intended to be sold to a tourism company, so I'm a little concerned that whatever company comes in might exploit the community and environment there. I'm sort af an NGO kind of gal so when I heard the word "profit" a red flag went up. But, perhaps I'm overreacting and this is all just a big misunderstanding, but I have a meeting with Rylan in the morning to discuss how Van Anh and I should progress with this.