A Lizard Runs Through It
Hello Everyone,
Here’s a long over-due update. I’ll try to cover a lot of topics. If they’re of interest to you, you might want to fix yourself a cuppa tea or a drink and sit back and enjoy. This is going to be a long one. If it isn’t of interest, no worries. That’s what the delete button is for.
Travels, Hoi An: We went this ancient UNESCO town in central Vietnam several weeks ago. The highlights were the quaintness of the town itself; getting clothes made to fit by one of the dozens of tailors there — I had a couple nice blouses made, slacks and a skirt that fit better than any I’ve ever had, a silk bathrobe, and an ao dai–traditional Vietnamese outfit; the Children’s Mid-Autumn festival going on, which included groups of boys going around with a couple dressed as dragons, one in a mask collecting money, and the contstant drum beats of the drummer. In Hoi An we had one of the best meals yet — veggies and shrimp and spices all carmelized in a clay pot, served with rice, 2 appetizers and flan for less than $4 per person. We went on a river cruise and on one side of the boat they saw a large rat swimming in the river, whereas on my side, I saw a water snake.
Travels, Nha Trang: after we got our jobs and housing arranged but not yet ready to start, we headed to this wonderful beach resort town. There were luxury rooms for hundreds of dollars, backpacker beds for just a couple dollars, and plenty of decent rooms for a few dollars more. I can’t imagine who stays in those luxury hotels. The beach was fabulous for swimming in the surf (no rats or snakes) and for relaxing in beach chairs, which you could rent for the whole day and move in and out of the shade as needed. We had great seafood and fresh fruit. There were vendors going up and down the beach, selling everything from books and sunglasses to fresh pineapple. But the highlight was the lobster lady — she carried 2 pots hanging from her bamboo pole. One had limes, oil, plates, knife, other supplies. The other had a small and burning coal brazier topped with a large pot loaded with steaming lobsters. She carried this up and down the beach all day. We went on a very entertaining boat trip, which Tom described best in his email. I’ll attach the description at the end here, for those of you who haven’t already read it. We also went to a beautiful Cham (Hindu) Tower complex, similar to Angor Wat in Cambodia, but on a smaller scale. Still intact, despite unknown construction techniques and 800-1000 years old. Much more impressive than the partial towers we had seen at My Son, but those had been heavily damaged during the 70’s — if I type out the reason why, it will trigger the automatic censor that will prevent my email from going through. But, ancient religious towers that had stood for over 800 years were doing fine until certain things fell on them about 35 years ago.
Coffee: Yes, there’s coffee here. Vietnam is the world’s 2nd exporter of coffee, after Brazil. They serve it very strong here. They put the grounds in an individual cup with a lid on top and a seize on the bottom, and set this on top of your coffee cup. They pour hot water over this and it slowly drips down into your coffee cup. Or, you can drink it iced and white — with sweet, syrupy condensed milk. On a hot afternoon, this is as refreshing as having a bucket of cold water dumped on your head, but not as messy. I love it.
Food: we’ve had plenty of good food and some really fabulous food here, and nothing bad at all. I admit we’ve been pretty cautious and eating only at restaurants and cafes. There are little stands all up and down the street, with people cooking something right there, and tiny little stools where people stop by to buy a cheap, hot meal and sit down to eat. I know we’re missing out on part of the culture and some good food by not going to these. Some of them look fine, but others have some meat that looks like it’s been around quite a while. It’s a tropical climate. There’s no sign of reridgeration on the streets, and plenty of dirt and flies. But these stands are not really an option because the stools are SOOO tiny and SOOO low to the ground, that even if we could sit on them comfortably and not break them (both unlikely), we still couldnt’ get back up. Wll, maybe if we rolled off them onto the sidewalk first and then … nevermind, it just isn’t happening. We’re going to start trying more of the small local cafes, with full size chairs.
People: Everyone is at least pleasant, if not out-of-their-way friendly. (Although many taxi drivers do try to charge double — I guess we have to accept that this is common in a lot of countries.) Vietnamese smile a lot by nature, and it’s nice to see. Little kids often shout “hello! hello!” at foreigners, and giggle when we say hello back. Lonely Planet says this is similar to kids tapping on the glass at an aquarium to see if the strange creature will respond. Whatever, the kids are adorable and this always makes us smile.
Jobs: we decided to work at a school in Hanoi that seems very professionally run, has plenty of resources and a new building, and agreed to let us teach adults at first but then let me take a few kids classes to develop my skills there. Being in the north, in the large and noisy city, wasn’t our first choice, but it looks like a good school, and our job offer in Danang (near “China Beach”) wasn’t due to start for a couple more months. We’ve been working part time for 2 weeks, and starting tomorrow we’ll have full schedules. So far, I can see that the students are very motivated and the staff is very friendly. More details after I’ve been there awhile.
Our house– We found out that apartments are less available and much more expensive than renting an entire house. The typical Vietnamese city house is very tall, long and narrow. Ours is 10 feet wide, which doesn’t sound like much, but it’s fine, considering the house goes back 40 feet and is 4 storeys tall. A wooden spiral staircase runs through the center of the whole thing, and looking from the top down is an amazing shot. The first floor has entry, living room, hall with bathroom and kitchen/dining area. There are 2 bedrooms and a bathroom on each of the next 2 floors, with tiny balconies that are filled with plants. The top floor has the ancestor room (where our landlords have left their “altar” with candles and other items dedicated to their ancestors) and then instead of another room, a top floor covered patio with washer, laundry lines and a view of all the other rooftops around. We are down a nice alley away from the very noisy main street, but unfortunately we are right next to the community announcements loudspeakers, which go off at least once a day.
This is where the title of my email fits in. We have a few pets that came with the house–geckos. They are quiet, feed themselves, don’t make a mess, and just greet us when we enter and then scamper quickly away.
After living in small hotel rooms, we’re now getting used to all this space. We’ve each got our own office set up. But, there’s still plenty of room for guests — if you don’t mind the geckos or the community service announcements blaring in, or the stairs; each storey is 12 feet high, or 20 stairs each — that’s 80 stairs from the kitchen to the laundry room. But, despite these oddities, it’s a pretty nice setup and there’s room for 4 easily, and more in a pinch. Anyone interested???? We’ll be here for a year.
Our local: After our first day of cleaning, moving furniture and unpacking, we headed down the main street to find a place to eat and get a cool drink. The closest restaurant (again, not counting those streetside stands with the tiny little chairs) was called “Pragold, Czech Restaurant.” We were delighted to go inside and find pictures of Prague, the Good Soldier Svejk, and copper vats with Pilsner fresh-brewed on the premises. They even brought us a little dish of peanuts and then charged us when we started eating them, just like the waiters in Prague! I confess that I became teary-eyed when I saw the pictures of Old Town Square.
Well, that’s more than enough for now. I want to spend some time organizing photos and getting them on yahoo to send in a convenient way, but now that I’m starting a heavy work schedule, I’m not sure how long it will take me. If I can’t get to it, I’ll send just a few as attachments before long.
For those of you that didn’t already read Tom’s group update, our Nha Trang boat trip is described below. And here’s where I’ll sign off.
Hope all is well with you and yours.
Take care,
Colleen
Nha Trang boat tour: It was a covered boat with about twenty people. We visited four different islands. At the first, we went snorkeling. Visibility was about 20 to 25 feet so we could see lots of tropical fish, many of which I had seen before but couldn’t name now. It made me remember how much I enjoyed scuba diving. I was the last out of the water.
Our guide, Dat, was very lively, very animated. He promised us a strip show after lunch. “You know the Chippendale’s? Same, same, only better.” He said “same, same” a lot. The strip show didn’t happen but we did have entertainment. At the next island, we anchored and had lunch, a huge spread that was served family style and we ate with chopsticks. (I’m getting pretty proficient at that). There was more food than we could eat and it was very good. The benches in the middle of the boat had been folded flat to make a table for the meal. After lunch it served as a platform for the entertainment.
There was a group led by Dat, the lead singer. He had a back up singer (wearing a cook’s apron and no shirt), an electric guitarist and a drummer. The drummer was the most interesting as his “drums” consisted of several plastic buckets of various sizes that looked as if they had been rescued form the trash heap. He had an actual cymbal but it had a piece missing from one side. However, they made good music and were entertaining and loud. A cross between rock and roll and heavy metal. They sang a song for each country represented by their international group of boaters. Waltzing Matilda for the Aussies and Yellow Submarine for the Brits. there was even a song for the South Koreans on board. When Dat got to the lone Finn, he said “Finland, England, same,same.” A New Zealander got up and he and Dat did a chant with fierce looking threatening movements and facial expressions. Must have been something from the Kiwi Natives. Reminded me of the movie, Whale Rider. For Americans they played played a Twist song and got some of us up on the platform to dance. Modest though I am, I did get up. They finished with a song they sang to the tune of Aulde Land Syne. (sp)
Then Dat announced Happy Hour! He got into a round, floating apparatus in the water that had a box full of bottles of wine and plastic cups. We grabbed life preservers and jumped in. Everytime we swam up to him he refilled our cups. We drank and floated for about an hour.
Next we went to a beach on another island, and finally, we went to the last island and visited an aquarium. Sharks and sea turtles and eels and grouper and assorted tropical fish. It was a great day, and easily well worth the $10!
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higgiro39