For dinner, we decided to try a slightly more upscale Indian restaurant (and by upscale, I mean about $5 US per person). Molly, Alex, and I were downright giddy with excitement waiting for the food to come. The food ended up being very good, but not at all what we expected. It was all a little more soupy than Indian food in he US and was cooked with fewer spices, but the most unusual thing about it was the appearance. All of the colors looked very pronounced and, dare I say, artificial. For instance, our spinach dish was kelly green (although thankfully it still tasted like normal spinach) and really all of the dishes resembled baby food. But they still tasted good so I guess that's all that matters. On the way back to the guest house, we walked through a night market. It was interesting to look at, but the vendors felt even more pushy than normal and all of the prices were jacked up. Besides, it's a little less safe to buy things off the street at night, so everyone went back empty-handed.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Vietnam Day 15 (6/22/09)
This night-bus ride was much better than the last. I managed to get a lot more rest, even somehow sleeping through some moments I won't mention here. When we got back, I crawled into bed and just slept until noon, giving me a solid six hours in a bed I never thought I would miss this much. The rest of the day we just took it easy, swapping stories about the weekend with the few who didn't go to Dalat.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Vietnam Day 14 (6/21/09)
When we got up, the whole group headed for breakfast near the same market we walked through last night. It looked completely different in the daylight. The street, which was blocked off at night, was now full of motorbikes and trucks carrying food shipments. Some of the same souvenir and fruit vendors were there, but the huge flight of stone steps that had been covered with meat sizzling on small portable grills just last night was now barren. Fortunately, the bakery was still open so I got my own banh mi (the Vietnamese sandwich), which was just as glorious as it had been last night. We also finally succeeded in getting a durian, but we decided to save it for later (though I'm not sure how keen the hotel staff would be on us cracking it open there). I'm becoming increasingly familiar with the patience and persistence of street vendors. Literally the entire time we sat eating breakfast, two vendors stood hovering over us displaying their wears. One woman told Ming that she had two children to support, then repeated the same thing to Khang in Vietnamese.
After breakfast we went to a semi-indoor market where every vendor was selling the exact same goods. I have now idea how Van Anh and Hanh picked a stand but they made a bee-line for one in the center (maybe they'd been there before). The vendor let us sample all of the different dried candied fruits, as well as the dried streaded deer jerky which was really good (it was seasoned in something that tasted like curry and was actually quite spicy, which made me very happy). We ended up buying random fruits and wine made by ethnic peoples that comes in a clay urn and you drink out with straws, which must be quite a sight.
While we were just walking down the street, someone tapped me on the shoulder adn I turned around to find Nhu Ngoc Tran, the high school girl I met in Ninh Thuan! Being a tourist, I never once imagined I would randomly bump into someone I knew on the streets of Vietnam. It was really exciting, especially since I didn't expect to see her again for a long time.
The rest of the day was spent at Van Anh's uncle's house. We drove up a relatively steep dirt road to a gated community, complete with security guard. The house was a beautiful three-story white structure with Meditterranean features. The lawn and plants were perfectly manicured and in the front yard was miniature lake with sculptures in the shapes of mountains with porcelain houses and dancing cranes perched on top. At the door we took off our shoes and entered to the unexpected sight of decadent, baroque-styled decore. Everything from the walls to the chairs was a pale key-lime shade of green. After some tea, we took a little field trip down a very steep hill to a strawberry patch. The hike was a bit more difficult in my skirt and flipflops, but I managed pretty well. There weren't many strawberries because they weren't in season, but it was interesting to see all the different fields around us. Van Anh's cousins collected wildflowers and gave each of us a little boquet as a welcome gift.
We got additional cardio hiking back up the hill and continued up past the house to an even bigger one belonging to the owner of the complex. He was very nice and let us sit in his yard while we went camera crazy and, at long last, ate durian. Van Anh pulled apart the durian (mindful of the spikes on the outer shell) and handed out the sections, eachone containing three golf-ball sized seeds covered in the pale yellow fruit. It really is impossible to fully describe. The consistency was a little soft, a little gooey, and a little stringy, but still more unusual than any other fruit with those characteristics. I didn't love the taste but I definitely liked it. The first moment you bit into it, it's very sweet but then the taste slowly evolves into something uniquely durian. It was the after-taste that most people didn't like, so Kendra and I ended up being the only Americans to eat it (though I couldn't each too much becuase it was so thick, almost like custard). So, the final verdict on durian - it's not my favorite fruit but I enjoyed it and would certainly eat it again.
We got back to the uncle's house and had a lunch of chicken with barbeque sauce, pork, and salad. A home-cooked meal is always comforting and one in Vietnam is a pleasant mix of the exotic and the familiar. After lunch, we went out into the street in front of the house with the whole family to fly kites. The men very quickly raised a large, vibrantly-colored rooster kite, sending it so high above the air currents that it stayed there all afternoon with only minimal efforts from those on the ground. The rest of us flew smaller butterfly kites. All of the Vietnamese roommates were pretty good at it while the rest of us started out rocky but got increasingly better at keeping the kites in the air (at least, I did better than I expected). It was wonderful to watch the family interactions, with the adults gathering on the curb talking while parents helped small children fly the kites. In a way, it reminded me of my own family's get-togethers where everyone is happy and content to simply be with each other.
After flying kites, some of us walked down the hill and followed the dirt road as far as we could before reaching a drop-off. I looked around me in every direction, marveling at the terraced fields and brilliant sun setting behind emerald mountains. Aside from the gorgeous setting however, we noticed a slightly disturbing juxtaposition. On our left, bellow in the valley were small shacks with tin roofs and on our right were gigantic homes (including the one belonging to Van Anh's uncle) up on a hill, always looking down upon the poor farming communities. Kendra's right, Vietnam is a country of stark contrasts.
That night was Van Anh's uncle's birthday so the whole family plus us walked just down the street to a rather fancy restaurant. Our group had ordered a large flower arrangement as a present, so we all got up rather awkwardly and went to the other end of the table to present it to him, singing happy birthday as we walked. Then a cake was brought out and everyone sang happy birthday, also in English which surprised me. I had been to a Vietnamese celebration before so I knew what was coming - lots of food and drinking. The first dish brought out was a relatively spicy fermented pork. Then, the waiters set out miniature grills along with a plate of deer and white boar meat and we cooked our own food. It was all so delicious but I knew there was more coming so I paced myself. All of the students were clustered at the end fo the table but we still see plenty of people because so many of them came down to meet us.
One who was particularly interesting to talk to was Mr. Minh Trung who owns the restaurant and surrounding land. We found a connection when he told us about his daughter, who'd just recently graduated from Duke. It was really sweet to see how proud he was of her. He told us many times how she'd been student body vice president and was now in law school. He extended the offer to us to stay for free on one of his many properties if we ever decided to come back to Vietnam. He earnestly haded out his business cards and made us promise to contact him if we returned.
The other visitors to our end of the table were no less sincere, but slightly less sober. The uncle and his sons came around many times toasting with each of us, sometimes with wine, other times with shots that contained a mixture of vodka and rhinoceros horn (which I can still hardly believe they were using). The girls got away without drinking much of anything, but the guys were pressured to drink and drink again, and then once more for good measure. The last dishes included a big bowl of rice and a sort of rice noodle pattie stuffed with shirmp and fish (the shrimp interestingly enough was still shelled, so we just ate it shell and all) and wrapped in banana leaves.
Afterwards we walked back up the hill towards the house, the stars overhead shining much brighter than they ever could in the smog of Saigon. Back at the house, the men of the family engaged in a time-honored ritual of sitting on a mat in the front yard downing cognac mixed with snake wine. A side-effect of this practice was that some of the girls recieved mild romantic advances from the uncle's unmarried sons. With Alex however, they went to a whole other extreme. When we were leaving, she was persuaded to sit down on the mat next to the uncle, who proceeded to join her hands with his son's while people cheered. We backed her out of there as gracefully and politely as possible.
This whole weekend has been a fun, interesting experience, but two days is enough time spent in Dalat. I'm ready to go back to Saigon. We boarded another bus and I took off my glasses and looked out the window. I fell asleep watching a surreal haze of purplish-grey trees fly by.
After breakfast we went to a semi-indoor market where every vendor was selling the exact same goods. I have now idea how Van Anh and Hanh picked a stand but they made a bee-line for one in the center (maybe they'd been there before). The vendor let us sample all of the different dried candied fruits, as well as the dried streaded deer jerky which was really good (it was seasoned in something that tasted like curry and was actually quite spicy, which made me very happy). We ended up buying random fruits and wine made by ethnic peoples that comes in a clay urn and you drink out with straws, which must be quite a sight.
While we were just walking down the street, someone tapped me on the shoulder adn I turned around to find Nhu Ngoc Tran, the high school girl I met in Ninh Thuan! Being a tourist, I never once imagined I would randomly bump into someone I knew on the streets of Vietnam. It was really exciting, especially since I didn't expect to see her again for a long time.
The rest of the day was spent at Van Anh's uncle's house. We drove up a relatively steep dirt road to a gated community, complete with security guard. The house was a beautiful three-story white structure with Meditterranean features. The lawn and plants were perfectly manicured and in the front yard was miniature lake with sculptures in the shapes of mountains with porcelain houses and dancing cranes perched on top. At the door we took off our shoes and entered to the unexpected sight of decadent, baroque-styled decore. Everything from the walls to the chairs was a pale key-lime shade of green. After some tea, we took a little field trip down a very steep hill to a strawberry patch. The hike was a bit more difficult in my skirt and flipflops, but I managed pretty well. There weren't many strawberries because they weren't in season, but it was interesting to see all the different fields around us. Van Anh's cousins collected wildflowers and gave each of us a little boquet as a welcome gift.
We got additional cardio hiking back up the hill and continued up past the house to an even bigger one belonging to the owner of the complex. He was very nice and let us sit in his yard while we went camera crazy and, at long last, ate durian. Van Anh pulled apart the durian (mindful of the spikes on the outer shell) and handed out the sections, eachone containing three golf-ball sized seeds covered in the pale yellow fruit. It really is impossible to fully describe. The consistency was a little soft, a little gooey, and a little stringy, but still more unusual than any other fruit with those characteristics. I didn't love the taste but I definitely liked it. The first moment you bit into it, it's very sweet but then the taste slowly evolves into something uniquely durian. It was the after-taste that most people didn't like, so Kendra and I ended up being the only Americans to eat it (though I couldn't each too much becuase it was so thick, almost like custard). So, the final verdict on durian - it's not my favorite fruit but I enjoyed it and would certainly eat it again.
We got back to the uncle's house and had a lunch of chicken with barbeque sauce, pork, and salad. A home-cooked meal is always comforting and one in Vietnam is a pleasant mix of the exotic and the familiar. After lunch, we went out into the street in front of the house with the whole family to fly kites. The men very quickly raised a large, vibrantly-colored rooster kite, sending it so high above the air currents that it stayed there all afternoon with only minimal efforts from those on the ground. The rest of us flew smaller butterfly kites. All of the Vietnamese roommates were pretty good at it while the rest of us started out rocky but got increasingly better at keeping the kites in the air (at least, I did better than I expected). It was wonderful to watch the family interactions, with the adults gathering on the curb talking while parents helped small children fly the kites. In a way, it reminded me of my own family's get-togethers where everyone is happy and content to simply be with each other.
After flying kites, some of us walked down the hill and followed the dirt road as far as we could before reaching a drop-off. I looked around me in every direction, marveling at the terraced fields and brilliant sun setting behind emerald mountains. Aside from the gorgeous setting however, we noticed a slightly disturbing juxtaposition. On our left, bellow in the valley were small shacks with tin roofs and on our right were gigantic homes (including the one belonging to Van Anh's uncle) up on a hill, always looking down upon the poor farming communities. Kendra's right, Vietnam is a country of stark contrasts.
That night was Van Anh's uncle's birthday so the whole family plus us walked just down the street to a rather fancy restaurant. Our group had ordered a large flower arrangement as a present, so we all got up rather awkwardly and went to the other end of the table to present it to him, singing happy birthday as we walked. Then a cake was brought out and everyone sang happy birthday, also in English which surprised me. I had been to a Vietnamese celebration before so I knew what was coming - lots of food and drinking. The first dish brought out was a relatively spicy fermented pork. Then, the waiters set out miniature grills along with a plate of deer and white boar meat and we cooked our own food. It was all so delicious but I knew there was more coming so I paced myself. All of the students were clustered at the end fo the table but we still see plenty of people because so many of them came down to meet us.
One who was particularly interesting to talk to was Mr. Minh Trung who owns the restaurant and surrounding land. We found a connection when he told us about his daughter, who'd just recently graduated from Duke. It was really sweet to see how proud he was of her. He told us many times how she'd been student body vice president and was now in law school. He extended the offer to us to stay for free on one of his many properties if we ever decided to come back to Vietnam. He earnestly haded out his business cards and made us promise to contact him if we returned.
The other visitors to our end of the table were no less sincere, but slightly less sober. The uncle and his sons came around many times toasting with each of us, sometimes with wine, other times with shots that contained a mixture of vodka and rhinoceros horn (which I can still hardly believe they were using). The girls got away without drinking much of anything, but the guys were pressured to drink and drink again, and then once more for good measure. The last dishes included a big bowl of rice and a sort of rice noodle pattie stuffed with shirmp and fish (the shrimp interestingly enough was still shelled, so we just ate it shell and all) and wrapped in banana leaves.
Afterwards we walked back up the hill towards the house, the stars overhead shining much brighter than they ever could in the smog of Saigon. Back at the house, the men of the family engaged in a time-honored ritual of sitting on a mat in the front yard downing cognac mixed with snake wine. A side-effect of this practice was that some of the girls recieved mild romantic advances from the uncle's unmarried sons. With Alex however, they went to a whole other extreme. When we were leaving, she was persuaded to sit down on the mat next to the uncle, who proceeded to join her hands with his son's while people cheered. We backed her out of there as gracefully and politely as possible.
This whole weekend has been a fun, interesting experience, but two days is enough time spent in Dalat. I'm ready to go back to Saigon. We boarded another bus and I took off my glasses and looked out the window. I fell asleep watching a surreal haze of purplish-grey trees fly by.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Vietnam Day 13 (6/20/09)
Well, our plan of getting sleep on the way to Dalat didn't pan out so well. This wasn't a sleeper bus like the last one so it was considerably harder to get comfortable in the first place, made only more difficult by the uneven roads and potholes that lay in our path. Apparently, we also drove along some precarious mountain roads with steep drop-offs and no guard rails, but I was drifting in and out of sleep so I didn't see them (probably not a bad thing). We arrived in Dalat at about 5:30 a.m., considerably earlier than expected (which is disconcerting given how fast the driver must have taken those mountain passes to make such good time). Because of the timing, we arrived at the hotel too early to check in, so we sat in the lobby hunched over, trying to snooze with our luggage in our laps as pillows. At some point, the manager was nice enough to let us into the room early, allowing us a couple hours of normal sleep in beds. Not that we really cared at that hour, but the room was rather unusual. It had four queen-sized beds, fited with slightly damp sheets and a leopard print blanket that looked as though it might have never been cleaned during its entire existence. On the plus-side, there was a lot of floor space and the shower was large, but hard to access since the sliding door to the bathroom stuck, making it hard for people to get in and then trapping them inside afterwards. And the smell was an odd mix of grime and potent cleaning supplies that probably contained enough toxins to kill us all from a single inhalation.
Nevertheless, we survived and hired a guide and driver for the day. We started with a breakfast of special noodles with beef and a cafe sua da, which was just the ticket for waking me up and fortifying me for a busy day of sightseeing. I'd heard before our trip that Dalat was touristy (more popular with Vietnamese tourists than Western), but this was almost too much. We drove by the miniature recreation of the Eiffel Tower, which was made even more hilarious by our punchy, sleep-deprived state. Our first stop of the day was a little more low-key and I think my favorite. We rode in little gondalas suspended by a cable to take in the view. We dangled over lush pine foreststs and tiered crop fields, with emerald tree-covered mountains standing just a short distance away.
After that, we went to a site that was a mix between a national park and Disney World. We purchased tickets for a self-powered roller coaster down a steep hill. Kendra and I sat in a go-cart styled seat on a track, with Kendra in the back controlling the speed with a lever while I sat in front and navigated - and by navigated, I mean calling out "faster!" whenever Van's and Alex's carts got too close behind us (I'm sure I was terribly helpful). The first thing we saw when we got off the ride was a gift shop, the first of many we encountered throughout the day. Just beyond the giftshop was a waterfall that managed to retain much of its natural beauty in spite of the plastic animal sculptures and Vietnamese signs alongside the tourists taking pictures from every angle. We took this opportunity to pull out our cameras and do the same since this was one fo the few times in Vietnam we've been able to take pictures without any awkwardness. We scrambled up the waterfall as far as we could and sat enjoying the spray of the water and each other's company, removed from all the other tourists. Rather than take the roller coaster back up (which wouldn't have been nearly as fun), we hiked up a steep incline to get back to the car. We certainly got our cardio for the day.
Next, we visited a pagoda that was beautiful and up the hill from a peaceful lake. However, it was also crawling with tourists, posing for picutres in front of every flower and sacred relic. It definitely took away from the spirit of the pagoda. However, once inside the temple itself, I was able to tune everything else out. There were very few people in the temple except for a monk in a gold robe, holding incense for worhsipers to use while he rang a low dull bell (in the shape of a gold bowl) with a wooden mallot. I felt a bit like an intruder there, knealing in the temple though I'm not Buddhist. However, my actions weren't empty. There's something very moving about Buddhism that I've been unable to find in any other religion, even my own. I'm still Catholic and my religion is close to my heart, but there are elements of Buddhism that are equally powerful. It's not bogged down with rules and sacraments, it focuses on the follower becoming a good person in a very straightforward way.
Our day got progressivley more touristy as it went along. Our next stop was "The Crazy House,"an Alice in Wonderland-inspired complex of houses with unusual, dreamlike architecture. This, once again had several gift shops scattered throughout, but not as many as the next tourist haven we went to. The "Valley of Love" is one of the cheesier places I've ever been. There were lots of props to pose for photos with (down to a cutout of Mickey Mouse himself), romantic hideaways, kiddie rides (which I'll admit I wanted to go on), and ponies for rent with "tourist" written on the saddles in English. On the way out, we visited a gallery exhibiting gorgeous silk embroidery that was incredibly detailed. We even saw one woman bent over a table making her tiny stitches.
Dalat at night made me think of Las Vegas - much slower paced, but still containing lots of tourists, neon lights, and wedding chapels (along with even more shops to buy wedding dresses). We had a wonderful dinner of spring rolls with corn at a tiny roadside restaurant (like street food but with tiny tables). After dinner, we all rented tandem bicycles, which turned out to be incredibly difficult. Molly and I went together but we both had trouble steering it. I'm certain that if we'd had an opportunity to practice we would have been fine, but our route required us to go directly onto the street into a busy traffic circle. Traffic is scary enough when crossing the street on foot, let alone trying to stabilize a heavy two-person bike with the bright lights of trucks and motorbikes coming at you. Instead, we had the others rescue us, Molly riding with Hanh and Alex steering in front of me. Alex and I ended up being the best team of the bunch, consistently going faster than everyone else (which is certainly more credit to her and/or the bike, not so much me). Despite our rocky beginning, it turned out to be a great deal of fun.
After returning the bikes, we walked to a big market with clothes and food, most commonly meat grilled on tiny cookers on the sidewalk. Some people got banh mi, a Vietnamese sandwich made from a baguette, which I've been wanting to try ever since I got to Vietnam. Since I wasn't hungry, Hanh let me try hers and it was everything I'd built it up to be. I'll have a full one tomorrow when I can actually finish it. We ended the evening sitting at a streetside vendor drinking warm soymilk mixed with green bean juice. It kind of put us to sleep so we made our way back to the hotel. Now Van Anh and Khang are here after a long, trying bus rid (complete with break down). Tomorrow, we have once again made plans to eat durian. Every plan thus far has been foiled (including our attempt tonight when none of them were ripe), but Kendra and I are determined to succeed.
Nevertheless, we survived and hired a guide and driver for the day. We started with a breakfast of special noodles with beef and a cafe sua da, which was just the ticket for waking me up and fortifying me for a busy day of sightseeing. I'd heard before our trip that Dalat was touristy (more popular with Vietnamese tourists than Western), but this was almost too much. We drove by the miniature recreation of the Eiffel Tower, which was made even more hilarious by our punchy, sleep-deprived state. Our first stop of the day was a little more low-key and I think my favorite. We rode in little gondalas suspended by a cable to take in the view. We dangled over lush pine foreststs and tiered crop fields, with emerald tree-covered mountains standing just a short distance away.
After that, we went to a site that was a mix between a national park and Disney World. We purchased tickets for a self-powered roller coaster down a steep hill. Kendra and I sat in a go-cart styled seat on a track, with Kendra in the back controlling the speed with a lever while I sat in front and navigated - and by navigated, I mean calling out "faster!" whenever Van's and Alex's carts got too close behind us (I'm sure I was terribly helpful). The first thing we saw when we got off the ride was a gift shop, the first of many we encountered throughout the day. Just beyond the giftshop was a waterfall that managed to retain much of its natural beauty in spite of the plastic animal sculptures and Vietnamese signs alongside the tourists taking pictures from every angle. We took this opportunity to pull out our cameras and do the same since this was one fo the few times in Vietnam we've been able to take pictures without any awkwardness. We scrambled up the waterfall as far as we could and sat enjoying the spray of the water and each other's company, removed from all the other tourists. Rather than take the roller coaster back up (which wouldn't have been nearly as fun), we hiked up a steep incline to get back to the car. We certainly got our cardio for the day.
Next, we visited a pagoda that was beautiful and up the hill from a peaceful lake. However, it was also crawling with tourists, posing for picutres in front of every flower and sacred relic. It definitely took away from the spirit of the pagoda. However, once inside the temple itself, I was able to tune everything else out. There were very few people in the temple except for a monk in a gold robe, holding incense for worhsipers to use while he rang a low dull bell (in the shape of a gold bowl) with a wooden mallot. I felt a bit like an intruder there, knealing in the temple though I'm not Buddhist. However, my actions weren't empty. There's something very moving about Buddhism that I've been unable to find in any other religion, even my own. I'm still Catholic and my religion is close to my heart, but there are elements of Buddhism that are equally powerful. It's not bogged down with rules and sacraments, it focuses on the follower becoming a good person in a very straightforward way.
Our day got progressivley more touristy as it went along. Our next stop was "The Crazy House,"an Alice in Wonderland-inspired complex of houses with unusual, dreamlike architecture. This, once again had several gift shops scattered throughout, but not as many as the next tourist haven we went to. The "Valley of Love" is one of the cheesier places I've ever been. There were lots of props to pose for photos with (down to a cutout of Mickey Mouse himself), romantic hideaways, kiddie rides (which I'll admit I wanted to go on), and ponies for rent with "tourist" written on the saddles in English. On the way out, we visited a gallery exhibiting gorgeous silk embroidery that was incredibly detailed. We even saw one woman bent over a table making her tiny stitches.
Dalat at night made me think of Las Vegas - much slower paced, but still containing lots of tourists, neon lights, and wedding chapels (along with even more shops to buy wedding dresses). We had a wonderful dinner of spring rolls with corn at a tiny roadside restaurant (like street food but with tiny tables). After dinner, we all rented tandem bicycles, which turned out to be incredibly difficult. Molly and I went together but we both had trouble steering it. I'm certain that if we'd had an opportunity to practice we would have been fine, but our route required us to go directly onto the street into a busy traffic circle. Traffic is scary enough when crossing the street on foot, let alone trying to stabilize a heavy two-person bike with the bright lights of trucks and motorbikes coming at you. Instead, we had the others rescue us, Molly riding with Hanh and Alex steering in front of me. Alex and I ended up being the best team of the bunch, consistently going faster than everyone else (which is certainly more credit to her and/or the bike, not so much me). Despite our rocky beginning, it turned out to be a great deal of fun.
After returning the bikes, we walked to a big market with clothes and food, most commonly meat grilled on tiny cookers on the sidewalk. Some people got banh mi, a Vietnamese sandwich made from a baguette, which I've been wanting to try ever since I got to Vietnam. Since I wasn't hungry, Hanh let me try hers and it was everything I'd built it up to be. I'll have a full one tomorrow when I can actually finish it. We ended the evening sitting at a streetside vendor drinking warm soymilk mixed with green bean juice. It kind of put us to sleep so we made our way back to the hotel. Now Van Anh and Khang are here after a long, trying bus rid (complete with break down). Tomorrow, we have once again made plans to eat durian. Every plan thus far has been foiled (including our attempt tonight when none of them were ripe), but Kendra and I are determined to succeed.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Vietnam Day 12 (6/19/09)
This morning my regular breakfast crew, which includes Kendra, Molly, and myself went out for a hearty breakfast of crab spring rolls and clear vermacelli noodles. Afterwards we met up with Wen, Van, and Ming to go shopping. We went into just a few of the more expensive shops just for kicks. We saw everything from dresses that looked like maid's outfits to colorful purses with seaquined alligators on them, thoguh my favorite was still the giant grouper in a fish tank outside a restaurant. We then proceeded to the much more affordable Saigon Square Market, which carries tons of American brands, or rather knock-off brands of clothing that were two sizes smaller than in the US. The booths were all crammed in together and there was no room to move. I was too overwhelmed to do any real shopping, but I did get a bg I needed (a Kipling shoulderbag for $5 US, quite a steal). We tried to have an early dinner at my favorite pho place on 18 alley, but for some reason it closes for dinner, which was devastating. Dejected, we headed back to the guesthouse, resorting to dinner at the outdoor cafe there. My food was alright because I got vermacelli, but nearly everyone else ended up with instant ramen noodles (much like the packaged crap we eat at school). and beef of questoinable quality (many have compared it to dogfood). Nevertheless, everyone did a pretty good job choking down their disappointing meals and we went back to back for Dalat.
This weekend we're going on a side trip to a prvince called Dalat where we're all invited to a housewarming party hosted by Van Anh's uncle. I'm so excited to meet her family and to see how a modern Vietnamese family lives. Our bus left at 11:00pm from the same station I used last time, but for some reason it felt much more sketchy than before. There were creepy scalpers who approached us aggressively and tried to sit next to us, attempting to sell us tickets off the black market. Eventually however, they went away and we boarded the bus with hopes of sleep.
This weekend we're going on a side trip to a prvince called Dalat where we're all invited to a housewarming party hosted by Van Anh's uncle. I'm so excited to meet her family and to see how a modern Vietnamese family lives. Our bus left at 11:00pm from the same station I used last time, but for some reason it felt much more sketchy than before. There were creepy scalpers who approached us aggressively and tried to sit next to us, attempting to sell us tickets off the black market. Eventually however, they went away and we boarded the bus with hopes of sleep.
Vietnam Day 11 (6/18/09)
We had to get up a little earlier today to go to the consulate, which wasn't the best timing becasue some of us had gotten very little sleep the night before. Staying up last night was a blast, but resulted in some pretty impressive bags under our eyes as we walked through the consulate's security check. We met with a woman named Sunshine (who pleasantly lived up to her name), who told us how the consulate works and gave us some information I probably shouldn't repeat here. After our briefing we headed straight to language class. We played a really amusing game to practice directions in which one person was blindfolded and the other had to guide them in Vietnamese. The exercise itself went alright but the really funny part was when our instructor showed me the destination I was to direct Ming to. It was the men's room and in the process of showing me, she inadvertently opened the door on a guy (thank God for the barrier or we would have gotten more of a show than we'd bargained for). We ran back down the hall giggling like a couple of embarassed school girls.
Tonight Rylan was holding an open house at his new apartment and we all wanted to pitch in and get him a housewarming gift. We decided a nice teaset would be perfect so Van Anh, Hieu, Alex, and I set out on motorbikes to a shop they knew of. However, we soon discovered it was a ritzy, super-expensive store with imported china that wasn't at all what we were looking for. So we set out to find another place, which turned out to be a huge fiasco. We started out just driving around looking for any store that might sell teasets. That, however was a complete failure. Our next attempt was a place I'd seen when we took a tour of the city our first day. I knew we were on the right street but I must have missed it because we went up and down the street without finding it - failure number two (mostly on my part I'm afraid). We pulled off to the side fo the road so I could call the others to see if they had a better idea of where we should go. Of course, as soon as I placed the call, it started pouring. I tried to hide under the back of Van Anh's poncho (very difficult to do with a helmet on), but I still got soaked. They didn't have a much better idea than I did so we just went back to the guesthouse in the rain. So that whole venture turned out to be a series of mishaps, ending with us returning empty-handed. But not to worry, we looked up a better place online and Van Anh went out later and got a beautiful set.
During that time, the rest of us went to the Little Rose Shelter where Molly and Kendra are volunteering. The shelter serves as a home to young girls who have been or are at risk of sexual abuse. Some of th girls were in the courtyard when we walked in, just hanging out. They were all so young and so beautiful, it was painful to think of such horrible things happening to them. Inside, the director of the center gave a talk on sexual abuse around the world. It struck me that she kept smiling when she talked to us. I suppose it was just Vietnamese hospitality or she was trying not to depress us. Despite her best efforts, we were still depressed (with good reason if you ask me). This is a serious, heavy topic that it's justified to get upset over.
When we got back, we were forced to make an emotional one-eighty, because we were leaving right away for Rylan's housewarming party. The house was even more beautiful than the last time I saw it, now that everything was unpacked and sparkly clean. The view from the balcony was an entirely new one at nightas twinkling colored lights on the masts of the boats reflected off the Saigon River. Rylan's other guests were a bunch of expats that were very interesting to talk to. One of the Brits carried around a fake rat in his pocket (just for kicks) and caused quite a disturbance by lanching it across the room into a girls lap. After the comotion subsided, I talked with many of the expats about their experiences living in Vietnam and i seems many of them felt the same as me on their first visit to Vietnam. It's all very new and exotic, but in some way living here just feels natural. Who knows, maybe some day I'll be labeled an expat.
Tonight Rylan was holding an open house at his new apartment and we all wanted to pitch in and get him a housewarming gift. We decided a nice teaset would be perfect so Van Anh, Hieu, Alex, and I set out on motorbikes to a shop they knew of. However, we soon discovered it was a ritzy, super-expensive store with imported china that wasn't at all what we were looking for. So we set out to find another place, which turned out to be a huge fiasco. We started out just driving around looking for any store that might sell teasets. That, however was a complete failure. Our next attempt was a place I'd seen when we took a tour of the city our first day. I knew we were on the right street but I must have missed it because we went up and down the street without finding it - failure number two (mostly on my part I'm afraid). We pulled off to the side fo the road so I could call the others to see if they had a better idea of where we should go. Of course, as soon as I placed the call, it started pouring. I tried to hide under the back of Van Anh's poncho (very difficult to do with a helmet on), but I still got soaked. They didn't have a much better idea than I did so we just went back to the guesthouse in the rain. So that whole venture turned out to be a series of mishaps, ending with us returning empty-handed. But not to worry, we looked up a better place online and Van Anh went out later and got a beautiful set.
During that time, the rest of us went to the Little Rose Shelter where Molly and Kendra are volunteering. The shelter serves as a home to young girls who have been or are at risk of sexual abuse. Some of th girls were in the courtyard when we walked in, just hanging out. They were all so young and so beautiful, it was painful to think of such horrible things happening to them. Inside, the director of the center gave a talk on sexual abuse around the world. It struck me that she kept smiling when she talked to us. I suppose it was just Vietnamese hospitality or she was trying not to depress us. Despite her best efforts, we were still depressed (with good reason if you ask me). This is a serious, heavy topic that it's justified to get upset over.
When we got back, we were forced to make an emotional one-eighty, because we were leaving right away for Rylan's housewarming party. The house was even more beautiful than the last time I saw it, now that everything was unpacked and sparkly clean. The view from the balcony was an entirely new one at nightas twinkling colored lights on the masts of the boats reflected off the Saigon River. Rylan's other guests were a bunch of expats that were very interesting to talk to. One of the Brits carried around a fake rat in his pocket (just for kicks) and caused quite a disturbance by lanching it across the room into a girls lap. After the comotion subsided, I talked with many of the expats about their experiences living in Vietnam and i seems many of them felt the same as me on their first visit to Vietnam. It's all very new and exotic, but in some way living here just feels natural. Who knows, maybe some day I'll be labeled an expat.
Vietnam Day 10 (6/17/09)
I've been having pho withdrawal lately so I went with Kendra and Molly to the best pho place we've found so far (the one down the same little side-street I'm always raving about, muoi tam or 18 in English...I'll be referring to it as 18 alley from now on since it has no official name). I'm proud to report that I am getting the tinsiest bit better at the language and ordered my pho and cafe sua nam in almost complete sentences. I was however a little less confident at bargaining for fruit on our way back, but between me and Kendra we managed to get some lovely mangosteen and dragonfruit. By the way, the food here can screw with your stomach a bit. I haven't been sick, it just feels a little odd, like my stomach is still adjusting to being here. Still, the food is so good that any side-effect is worth it. Later, I sat down in the guest house's little patio to finish reading the papers Rylan gave us. While I was reading however, I found the biggest distraction in this place - a little Vietnamese girl whose mother works at the cafe next door. She's got to be one of the most beautiful little girls in this country and she was so giggly and curious about me that I just had to play with her. We didn't speak the same language of course (despite the few Vietnamese words I tried to use), but I found the language barrier to be quite irrelevant. Neither one of us wanted to talk, we wanted to play. We stated a short distance from one another with her on the edge of the patio, hiding behind potted trees and popping out to surprise me. I played peek-a-boo and made silly noises and faces that all sent her into fits of giggles. When we'd established a report, I moved closer and we played around the trees. This child has a tireless appreciation for peek-a-boo - I'm convinced it's the only universal language. Eventually I sat back down, at which point she came over to me and sat across the table and we started mimicking each other's funny faces. When her mother (a very sweet woman who I attempted to greet in Vietnamese) came over and sat with us, the little girl got bolder. I think she'd been afraid to touch me before but now she grabbed my hands and we spun each other around the patio. I played with her for about an hour, so long I was almost late to Rylan's seminar, but it would have been worth it. The simplest things are always so much more meaningful with a child.
Rylan's seminar couldn't possibly compare with the entertainment the little girl provided, but it was certainly interesting. We went over the history and government of Vietnam in an hour, which is of course impossible but he did pretty well. That night, the Duke students rediscovered TV. We watched "Species," which is supposed to be a horror flick but can easily become a comedy when you can make fun of it with a big group of people. We had a hilarious night, though it involved very little sleep (that could be a problem tomorrow).
Rylan's seminar couldn't possibly compare with the entertainment the little girl provided, but it was certainly interesting. We went over the history and government of Vietnam in an hour, which is of course impossible but he did pretty well. That night, the Duke students rediscovered TV. We watched "Species," which is supposed to be a horror flick but can easily become a comedy when you can make fun of it with a big group of people. We had a hilarious night, though it involved very little sleep (that could be a problem tomorrow).
Vietnam Day 9 (6/16/09)
This morning we had our second Vietnamese class. The first one was much easier because I'd learned some of the numbers before coming, but this time we went over a lot of new material very quickly. We learned terms for ordering in restaurants and bargaining, which will both be useful if I can possibly remember them outside the classroom. We had a new instructor today, a beautiful smiley woman who speaks rather quickly but is wonderful at explaining pronunciation. Afterwards Van Anh and I finished up our work, making a brochure and questionnaire to the sound of karaoke somewhere in the building.
For dinner the whole group went out for "special noodles," which really were special. The broth was amazing, though I could be biased by the gallons of hot sauce I poured in. Almost everyone got theirs with chicken, but Loan got pig's blood which she gave me to try. I was definitely going to try it, but I was a little tentative about the brown gelatenous cube so I split it with Kendra and made her try it with me. We took a deep breath, counted to three in Vietnamese and took a bite. After all that ceremony, it turned out to be a non-event. It didn't taste that odd, in fact it didn't taste lik emuch at all. I don't think I'd ever order just pig's blood, but I certainly have no objection to it if it ever ends up on my plate again. On the way back to the guest house, we stopped by to pick up our laundry from a little house in the side-street around the corner from us. It's still unclear exactly how clean our clothes get through this process, but all of my things came out fine (though a couple of people had proplems with their white shirts).
Later that night we were all invited by Phil's cousin to a dodgeball game with a bunch of expats. Half of us were tired, so we decided to wait until next week when they play again. Those of us that stayed behind decided to satisfy our cravings by going ot the little supermarket and buying chocolate (except for Wen, who instead got some knock-off saltines that ended up being a big hit, and Alex who got onion rings that tasted like fishy paper). We spent the rest of the evening talking and enjoying our Western food.
For dinner the whole group went out for "special noodles," which really were special. The broth was amazing, though I could be biased by the gallons of hot sauce I poured in. Almost everyone got theirs with chicken, but Loan got pig's blood which she gave me to try. I was definitely going to try it, but I was a little tentative about the brown gelatenous cube so I split it with Kendra and made her try it with me. We took a deep breath, counted to three in Vietnamese and took a bite. After all that ceremony, it turned out to be a non-event. It didn't taste that odd, in fact it didn't taste lik emuch at all. I don't think I'd ever order just pig's blood, but I certainly have no objection to it if it ever ends up on my plate again. On the way back to the guest house, we stopped by to pick up our laundry from a little house in the side-street around the corner from us. It's still unclear exactly how clean our clothes get through this process, but all of my things came out fine (though a couple of people had proplems with their white shirts).
Later that night we were all invited by Phil's cousin to a dodgeball game with a bunch of expats. Half of us were tired, so we decided to wait until next week when they play again. Those of us that stayed behind decided to satisfy our cravings by going ot the little supermarket and buying chocolate (except for Wen, who instead got some knock-off saltines that ended up being a big hit, and Alex who got onion rings that tasted like fishy paper). We spent the rest of the evening talking and enjoying our Western food.
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