Elsbeth writing…
Chuc Mung Nam Moi! Happy New Year in Vietnamese…Happy Chinese Lunar New Year that is. There’s an excitement in the air as everyone prepares for the TET Holiday in just a few days. Many people have already begun celebrating. Red and gold decorations are going up everywhere and the town is beautiful at night with the glittering lights. Decorated potted trees with yellow and pink flowers sit in people’s homes, stores and restaurants. They remind me of our Christmas trees at home. Every hole in the wall is selling ornaments, lanterns, red envelopes for lucky money, and baskets of food. The kids are running around distractedly, asking for lucky money and holding onto whatever little knickknacks their parents or relatives give them. It must be a wonderful time of year for kids here. Very much like our Christmas, only with a more festive atmosphere than we have at home. It’s like a carnival. I don’t know how my senior beginner class will concentrate today on their mid-course test. I’m buying all my classes some cookies and candy, which will probably only make matters worse, and giving my TAs cards. Today I bought a little red lantern with gold lettering and traditional Asian children on it. I hung it up in our living room above the staircase.
Unfortunately (well, maybe fortunately) we’ll miss all the craziness of TET as we’re heading to Cambodia over our six day holiday. All the teachers at ILA are migrating there. They’ve constantly told us to get out of the country for TET because the traffic is insane and you basically can’t get anywhere. All the Vietnamese people are heading home for the holiday. So try to imagine hundreds of thousands of people driving even more like maniacs then usual on their motorbikes, drunk off their arse (as the Scots would say). And on New Years the streets will be as insane as they were over Christmas—if not more so, but I can’t imagine that. So Westward Ho (Chi Minh)!
As of now we’re planning on taking the crowded minibus into HCMC on Saturday morning, then taking a six-hour bus ride to Phnom Penh (the capital of Cambodia) at 1 p.m. The next morning we’ll take another six-hour bus ride to Siem Reap where the Angkor Wat Temples are. We’ll spend a few days there and then head back to Phnom Penh where we’ll stay for a day and a half. Yeah, lots of traveling on the bus. I’ll bring a book and study Vietnamese. We’ll also probably play lots of card games and I Spy. I’m going with a small group of friends and we’re meeting Ellyn and her parents (who are coming tomorrow!) in Siem Reap. It should be a lot of fun. I’m excited to see someplace new and different.
Last Saturday Ellyn and I went to HCMC for the day to buy tickets for the bus to Cambodia. That turned out to be a long ordeal and we were run around in circles. So first we went to a Mailinh Bus Ticket place on Bui Vien. The lady there hardly spoke English and didn’t know what she was doing, so we were told to go to another ticket place a few blocks away. They gave us the tickets, but by then it was getting late and we decided to take the bus back to Vung Tau instead of the ferry. So they told us to go to one bus station. Our taxi driver was stupid and brought us to the wrong station (the one going to Dalat) and charged us $4 when the meter (which he turned off right away) said 22,000 D ($1.50). Then he didn’t give me all my change back, because he said that he didn’t have enough change. BS. I was out of it and didn’t realize I hadn’t gotten all my change so I ran back where he was still parked, yelled at him, and got a little more back. #@%*^/! Anyway, one guy there helped us get to the right station and told some motorbike guys to take us there. However, at this new station you could only buy the tickets for the bus to Vung Tau and not actually catch the bus there. You had to go to the main city bus station. So we caught a minibus from there and after maybe 40 minutes through the crazy traffic arrived at Thanh Pho Ben Xe (the city bus station). Then we had to wait for about an hour for our minibus back into Vung Tau. We were anticipating that the bus would break down or something as well, but it didn’t luckily. So we got back into town and took a taxi back home. By this time we were exhausted. I went out and got some seafood pizza from David’s, fruit shakes, and retrieved my helmet from Waltzing Matilda where we left it while we were in the city. Ellyn had brought her bike back to Waltzing that morning as we were racing to catch the next ferry, which as it turns out didn’t leave until later than we thought. So that was our whirlwind of a day. We did get to see Jenn for a bit at Highland Coffee. That was nice to catch up.
Sunday I just got some things done at home, but still not everything I wanted to as usual. This week has gone by fairly fast. Today I got up early to meet another teacher at the orphanage where I’m planning to volunteer for an hour every Monday morning after TET. Then later Tony, Kaidian, and I went to a bike shop. We’ve been looking for motorbikes for both Ellyn and I. Actually, Tony’s been doing most of the leg work (Thank You!). He’s been encouraging me to get a classic Honda Cub and the more he’s talked about it the better and more practical it sounds to get. So I finally found one that I liked. It has a 70 engine (even though it says 50), which gives it more power and it’s that classic Vietnamese green. I bought it for pretty cheap and will get it revamped and perhaps pimped out. We had some things fixed on it before we bought it, but there are still lots more that I have to do on it. I’m so excited, but it’ll take some getting used to. It’s different from my rented bike. First there isn’t an indicator to show you what gear you’re in, which I don’t like right now. It also has a kick start instead of an electric start. Plus it’s smaller and as of now sits a bit higher up than the handle bars.
But that’s not the end of the story. So as we were testing out and looking at the bike Kaidian was trying out my bike, because hers is automatic and mine is manual (manual is cheaper so she was thinking about getting that). We were looking at the bike and then all of a sudden I think Tony said something like “look out” and Kaidian crashes into me. I got burned pretty bad (again) and a little bruised, but I’m fine now. I’ve been burned before by my bike. The front panel was just smashed on the rented one. And somehow my indicator switches were knocked off my cub (we had just got those put on). I don’t know how they got knocked off of all things. Anyway, one of the guys at the bike shop came out with this strange milky/gooey concoction in a jam jar. It looked like it was milk/lotion with apricots and mold. I was a little apprehensive about him whatever it was on my wound, but I finally let him put some on my leg and it sort of soothed the burning. I swear my legs are going to be completely scared over by the time I leave Vietnam. Good stories to tell though. No worries, Kaidian! It’s fine and I still love you. Like I said I’ve done lots of dumb things on my motorbike as I’ve told everyone on this blog.
Oh! I didn’t mention that last night as we were leaving from a restaurant where we met some friends for a drink I discovered that the speedo wire on my bike was hanging out on the ground. We got one of the guys who worked there to fix it. I was going to offer him money, but he walked away right away, so I thought “Oh, that’s nice. It was out of the goodness of his heart.” But then one of the bar girls said I should pay him. I didn’t have small change and pulled out a 100,000 D. She said “Yes, that’s good.” Um, no. That’s waaay too much here. I only paid 20,000 D to have my speedometer fixed a couple weeks ago. Eventually he was paid 50,000 D. Don’t get me wrong there are many, many people here who are really kind and do things for you without asking for money, but then others look at us as rich Westerners…. Relatively we are. But it’s the fact that some people here try to scam us out of our money, because they think we’re gullible tourists and that bothers me.
Anyway, back to today. After I quickly got my bike and the registration card, we rushed home (my bike still works okay). Luckily I didn’t have to plan for my classes; still it was getting close to show time. The traffic is already turning into the insane TET traffic and I was getting frustrated with slow women taking up the entire lane, cars, trucks and taxis pushing their way through, people driving more recklessly than usual, and, in the midst of it all, dazed people walking in the middle of the road. Arrgh! I was thinking about everything and then one guy dressed in the traditional white paper funeral garment—which looks like a KKK outfit—sped by me looking absolutely ridiculous and I couldn’t help burst out laughing. I thought to myself: “Oh, life…what the hell?” And that’s the theme of this blog and my life here in Vietnam lately….
More stories to come I’m sure as we embark on our next exciting journey into another strange foreign land.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Ladies Night in Vung Tau! That's an oxi moron...
Elsbeth writing…
Okay, I’m starting to get better at this. So this last week and weekend was somewhat uneventful. The week went by fast as usual. We played tennis two mornings, I had Vietnamese lessons on Tuesday and Thursday, and then a new female teacher who’s my age arrived on Friday. We had been talking with her and giving her advice via e-mail for the last month so it was great to finally meet her. She’s really nice and I think she’ll fit in well. She reminds me so much of you Ashley B. So we took her out to the same seafood restaurant I went to for my birthday. It was good.
On Friday night, Ellyn, Kaidian, and I went to this little pub in town where they had a good live band. Unfortunately we only caught the last song, but it looked like it would have been a lot of fun. They were these old Westerners and the bass player, I believe, was this classic old-school rocker. He looked like he had just stepped out of the Back to the Future car straight from the 80s. Apparently he was 62, but he was tan, had a bleach-blond Flock of Seagulls haircut, clothes that were two sizes too small, skinny and drunk as. It would have been awesome to see them in action.
Then on Saturday the guys were gone on trips or to HCMC, so we had the house to ourselves and took the opportunity to have a ladies night. We invited the other girls from work. There’s only…let’s see…ten women who work at ILA out of almost thirty teachers now. Five of us younger ones got together that night. We made a delicious dinner of (real) mashed potatoes, steak, salad, bread, wine and wine coolers. The other girls also brought cheese and crackers and wine. It was so nice to just eat and have a good, real conversation for once. We all agreed that we have to make this a more regular occurrence.
On Sunday, I got a call early to cover for a teacher, so I went in that afternoon and taught two classes. They weren’t that difficult to plan for, but my voice was going and the second class was the low-level senior kid who had failed other classes. They were sweet, but jeez sometimes you need more patience with them than with Jummies (3-6 year olds).
So, here’s the start of a new week. Not much planned, although we may go into HCMC next weekend to get our Cambodia trip sorted out. TET is coming up so quickly here….only two weeks!
Okay, I’m starting to get better at this. So this last week and weekend was somewhat uneventful. The week went by fast as usual. We played tennis two mornings, I had Vietnamese lessons on Tuesday and Thursday, and then a new female teacher who’s my age arrived on Friday. We had been talking with her and giving her advice via e-mail for the last month so it was great to finally meet her. She’s really nice and I think she’ll fit in well. She reminds me so much of you Ashley B. So we took her out to the same seafood restaurant I went to for my birthday. It was good.
On Friday night, Ellyn, Kaidian, and I went to this little pub in town where they had a good live band. Unfortunately we only caught the last song, but it looked like it would have been a lot of fun. They were these old Westerners and the bass player, I believe, was this classic old-school rocker. He looked like he had just stepped out of the Back to the Future car straight from the 80s. Apparently he was 62, but he was tan, had a bleach-blond Flock of Seagulls haircut, clothes that were two sizes too small, skinny and drunk as. It would have been awesome to see them in action.
Then on Saturday the guys were gone on trips or to HCMC, so we had the house to ourselves and took the opportunity to have a ladies night. We invited the other girls from work. There’s only…let’s see…ten women who work at ILA out of almost thirty teachers now. Five of us younger ones got together that night. We made a delicious dinner of (real) mashed potatoes, steak, salad, bread, wine and wine coolers. The other girls also brought cheese and crackers and wine. It was so nice to just eat and have a good, real conversation for once. We all agreed that we have to make this a more regular occurrence.
On Sunday, I got a call early to cover for a teacher, so I went in that afternoon and taught two classes. They weren’t that difficult to plan for, but my voice was going and the second class was the low-level senior kid who had failed other classes. They were sweet, but jeez sometimes you need more patience with them than with Jummies (3-6 year olds).
So, here’s the start of a new week. Not much planned, although we may go into HCMC next weekend to get our Cambodia trip sorted out. TET is coming up so quickly here….only two weeks!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Ringing in the New Year, Vietnamese Style
Elsbeth writing…
Jeez, it’s been a month since I last updated the blog. I’m becoming worse at this than better…. New Year’s resolution: Update more frequently (especially so I don’t have a ton to write at once).
Let’s see, I left off at our little trip to HCMC. What exciting things have happened since then? Well, one weekend Ellyn’s Vietnamese friend, Tho, and his Australian friend took us down the coast to this resort they have invested in. It was a very peaceful, beautiful place near the ocean. There was a little tidal lake surrounded by sandbars there. Tho took us in a boat across the shallow lake to the beach. We walked along there for a bit and bought some freshly caught fish from a fisherwoman which we took back to the resort to be cooked up. Dang, every time I don’t have my camera is when I really need it. They gave us a delicious lunch with lots of fried food. We were so full by the end. It was nice to get out of town and see the countryside a little with our own Vietnamese guide.
The next weekend, one of our friends from the CELTA course visited us for the weekend. We had a good time. The first day we did a motorbike trip up the coast. We ended up getting lost trying to find a resort area to stay at for the night, so we decided to just drive back home. We discovered that we basically went in a big circle. That’s okay, it was good to see the countryside and the little towns, plus I love driving my motorbike. I thought I was getting pretty good and confident at driving my bike until I crashed it not once but twice that night after we had returned home and were going out for dinner and whatnot—both while being basically parked. The first time I didn’t realize that my bike wasn’t in neutral and the second time I was trying to get my bike over a rocky path and crashed into another parked motorbike. I got bruised and cut up from that second one, but I didn’t realize it until later. So that was a fantastic end to the night….
The next day we hung around Vung Tau and went to the Lang Run resort. It’s this beautiful, fancy resort beside the ocean. You can swim at the beach there for only 40,000 D (about $2.50). If anyone comes to visit me, I will take them there. It’s just so peaceful. There weren’t many other people on the beach or anywhere at the resort so we could really relax and have some space. The beach is clean and shallow. I swam for a bit, picked my way around the big rocks along the shore finding seashells for my Christmas tree, and then sprawled out on a rock for a couple hours to read. Afterwards we got drinks and then saw our friend off on the ferry.
Then last week was of course Christmas! Although, I have to admit, it did not feel like Christmas here at all. I talked with my family for a bit over Skype early that week and opened their package and Grandma and Grandpa’s Christmas ornament. I loved it all! Thank you! The ornament is beautiful and everything in the package is just what I wanted. It’s so nice to get Christmas presents so far from home. Plus, they opened their presents then too, so it felt more like I was actually home for Christmas. Again, Skype is AMAZING!
We weren’t in town for Christmas. Ellyn, Kaidian, Tony, and I went mainly to Hoi An for Christmas. On Christmas Eve we took the ferry into HCMC where we spent the day. Some work friends joined us and we went around the city. We first found a hotel along Bui Vien and then had some brunch. Afterwards, we took a taxi to the Zoo and botanical gardens where we stayed for a bit. Then we decided to wander back and find a café to get drinks; however, we didn’t have much luck for a long time and ended up going to this fancy basement restaurant. After that we went to the Ben Thanh market and around there. After freshening up at the hotel we walked to Dong Khoi and had ate at a German restaurant. They had these complimentary bags of Christmas things on the tables (e.g. Santa hats, whistles, masks, etc.), so we had fun with those. It was also great to eat some real German food again. The bread was sooo good and fresh.
The lights in the city were like nothing I had ever seen before. There were so many. I love the city at Christmas and they really went all out. Everyone was in the streets walking around and looking at them. We joined them and made our way to the same ice cream place we went to on our last visit. Kaidian and I bought devil horns. Is that a bit blasphemous to buy blue light up devil horns on Christmas Eve? Well, it was all in good fun with the festivities. On our way back the streets were five times more crowded and we got stuck in a massive motorbike traffic jam. Apparently, Vietnam had just won one of their Championship games in football. Everyone was carrying flags, honking their horns, banging on pans, and cheering. The noise was deafening at times. We slowly but eventually picked our way through the crowd and made our way back through the madness. It was definitely an experience.
Then on Christmas morning we flew to Danang (in central Vietnam) and immediately took a taxi to Hoi An, which is about 20 minutes away. Hoi An is this beautiful, little traditional Vietnamese town with lots of old Vietnamese and French-style buildings. If I could give only one word to describe the town I’d say it’s very colorful. The town is based on tourism (there are so many Westerners there) and subsequently there are heaps of shops selling brightly colored cloth lanterns, linens, cheap souvenirs, and whatnot. The main industry there, however, is tailoring. Tailor shops line all the streets and you can have anything made in 24 hours from dresses and suits to shoes. The choice is overwhelming. We just walked around for the first day and a half saying “oh, that’s nice,” “I want that,” “how would that look on me?” Needless to say, we all added to our wardrobes. I had some bronze strap sandals, a gray peacoat, a purple embroidered skirt, and a blue dress made. I love the coat and shoes, but the skirt didn’t have a lining and I thought at the time I wouldn’t need it. As for the dress it’s hideous. It looks like a cafeteria lady’s or nurse’s dress. Good for Halloween, I guess. I wanted something for work, but it didn’t come out how I thought it would. I should have also had it altered at the time, but I didn’t because I thought it would be okay…. I brought those two things and a few more of my clothes into a tailor here today. Hopefully they’ll come out somewhat more wearable. We’ll see…. I’m taking you to Hoi An, mom. You’d love it there and by then I’ll have a better idea of what I want to have tailored.
Other than shopping we bought Old Town Tickets and visited many of the historical places in the town. It was interesting to see some of the old houses, temples, museums, etc. We went to one old traditional wooden house and had a little tour. Apparently the house floods every year from the river right across the road, but it’s amazing how sturdy it is. The river runs through the town and when we were there it was raining and cold the whole time. The river even started flooding at one point while we were eating at a riverside restaurant. In a sense it was a nice change from the hot, dry climate back home, but it got to me after a bit. My legs were constantly splattered with dirt, I was sick of wearing my tattered cheap poncho, and I developed some uncomfortable rashes and blisters on my feet from my constantly wet sandals. To top things off we stayed Christmas night in a terrible hotel. There was a fuzzy mass of mold growing on the wall, a cockroach, and everything was dirty and damp. What a way to spend Christmas night? The next day we moved to a nicer, spendier hotel, which was well worth the extra splurge. Our room was great, with a balcony that had French wooden doors, and the beds were so comfy. We also got massages there one day.
Anyway, one day we took a tour to these ruins about an hour outside town. They were Angkor Wat style, I thought, and surrounded by mountains. It was really cool to see them, but again it was pouring and our tour guide, who we nicknamed Moley, because he kept popping up and disappearing again like a mole in one of those pound the mole games. We got lost and eventually found our way back. Then we took the bus to a boat which we took back into Hoi An. We had a good Vegetarian meal on the boat and stopped at a small island town that’s known for its wood-making.
Let’s see, what else did we do in Hoi An? We mainly just bummed around and relaxed. We ate some good Hoianian food, including White Rose (kind of like wontons) and Cau Lau which is a noodle dish that has to be made with water from the town well. Oh, you can take cooking lessons and learn how to make Cau Lau at almost any restaurant there, mom, so we’ll have to do that, too.
Then on Sunday, our last day, we went to Danang and spent the day bumming around there. I didn’t care for the city too much. It was ugly, spaced out, and too ominously quiet, but that’s how I felt when I first came to Vung Tau (aside from the ugly part). For a bit we were thinking of going to Danang, but I think I’d much rather go to Hanoi when our six months is up in April. That’s what we pretty much decided on from the start of our contract anyway. We went to the beach and sat on some chairs for awhile. After a bit I decided to walk down the beach and discovered that they were dumping sewage into the sea! So that turned me off to even thinking about swimming at the beach.
That night we watched the final championship football game on TV. Vietnam was playing Thailand and in the last minute they scored a goal and won the game. We were in our hotel room at the time and a massive uproar echoed through the halls. After spending nearly 20 minutes trying to find the keys we went outside to watch everyone waving their flags and riding their motorbikes through the streets. They were making a big circle around the town. It was a crazy sight to see.
The next morning we went to catch our plane and discovered that the time had been misread and we missed our flight. So we waited at the airport until noon, caught the next flight, went immediately to catch the next ferry, made it back to Vung Tau, and raced into work. Luckily I had all my lessons planned and ready to go. So that was the hecktic end to our Christmas break. I have definitely never had a Christmas like it. Although I missed being at home, it was a good change.
A few days later we had two days off for New Years, so a big group of us teachers decided to go to Binh Chau, which is about three hours up the coast (same direction we went the last two times). We met for breakfast in the morning and drove our motorbikes up. We found a hotel not far from the beach and spent an hour there. Then we drove to Binh Chau, which is a hot springs place with crocodiles and little pools to boil eggs in (a.k.a. a Vietnamese tourist attraction). We saw the crocs who weren’t doing much…mainly sleeping. Kaidian, however, tried to wake them up by throwing rocks at them :-). Then we got shriveled up in the warm pools for a couple hours. Later I ate crocodile meat at the restaurant there, which had terrible service. The waiters could not have been more absent minded and illogical. The croc meat, however, was actually really good. Would it surprise anyone if I said it tasted like chicken? Then we drove home in the dark, went out to the beach one more time, and brought in the New Year with our hotel owners and the other guests. It was very nice. They had good Vietnamese food and played a New Year’s DVD with Vietnamese New Year’s songs, it was great. We also shared a bottle of Champagne with everyone. Again, we celebrated the New Year’s in a way I had never done before. It was a nice change, but I still miss the good old times at home.
This weekend we just wanted to chill after traveling during our free time for the last several weeks. I ran a bunch of errands and today we experienced our first Vietnamese wedding reception. Wow, let me reiterate that they really go all out for celebrations (however, we were told that they only last for two hours). There were decorations galore to the point of sheer tackiness. It was a cross between Western weddings and Asian traditions. They had a little show where the wedding couple and their parents came onto the stage and were presented to the crowd while firecrackers of confetti were shot off. We all exchanged questioning looks when the parents walked on stage to the tune of “I come from Alabama with a banjo in my hand.” A group of male and female attendants dressed in Renaissance attire followed the wedding couple. The male attendants carried cakes and bottles of champagne. The wedding couple lit the candles on the cakes, cut them, and then poured champagne on a stack of glasses. They also had a Chinese dragon show and invited the kids to come up and receive lucky money or something similar. Then we ate a five course lunch and like clockwork everyone suddenly cleared out of the ballroom in two hours. No dancing or mingling outside of their separate tables, aside from the men constantly cheering to “Mot, hei, ba, yo!” (one, two, three, yo!). I had a good time and it’s great to have had that experience. Very different from our all-night wedding receptions at home.
So, it’s back to work tomorrow. Fortunately, we’ll have another break in a few weeks with the Tet Holiday. Ellyn’s parents are coming and I’m hoping to get out of the country and go somewhere different. Perhaps Cambodia. We’ll see.
Jeez, it’s been a month since I last updated the blog. I’m becoming worse at this than better…. New Year’s resolution: Update more frequently (especially so I don’t have a ton to write at once).
Let’s see, I left off at our little trip to HCMC. What exciting things have happened since then? Well, one weekend Ellyn’s Vietnamese friend, Tho, and his Australian friend took us down the coast to this resort they have invested in. It was a very peaceful, beautiful place near the ocean. There was a little tidal lake surrounded by sandbars there. Tho took us in a boat across the shallow lake to the beach. We walked along there for a bit and bought some freshly caught fish from a fisherwoman which we took back to the resort to be cooked up. Dang, every time I don’t have my camera is when I really need it. They gave us a delicious lunch with lots of fried food. We were so full by the end. It was nice to get out of town and see the countryside a little with our own Vietnamese guide.
The next weekend, one of our friends from the CELTA course visited us for the weekend. We had a good time. The first day we did a motorbike trip up the coast. We ended up getting lost trying to find a resort area to stay at for the night, so we decided to just drive back home. We discovered that we basically went in a big circle. That’s okay, it was good to see the countryside and the little towns, plus I love driving my motorbike. I thought I was getting pretty good and confident at driving my bike until I crashed it not once but twice that night after we had returned home and were going out for dinner and whatnot—both while being basically parked. The first time I didn’t realize that my bike wasn’t in neutral and the second time I was trying to get my bike over a rocky path and crashed into another parked motorbike. I got bruised and cut up from that second one, but I didn’t realize it until later. So that was a fantastic end to the night….
The next day we hung around Vung Tau and went to the Lang Run resort. It’s this beautiful, fancy resort beside the ocean. You can swim at the beach there for only 40,000 D (about $2.50). If anyone comes to visit me, I will take them there. It’s just so peaceful. There weren’t many other people on the beach or anywhere at the resort so we could really relax and have some space. The beach is clean and shallow. I swam for a bit, picked my way around the big rocks along the shore finding seashells for my Christmas tree, and then sprawled out on a rock for a couple hours to read. Afterwards we got drinks and then saw our friend off on the ferry.
Then last week was of course Christmas! Although, I have to admit, it did not feel like Christmas here at all. I talked with my family for a bit over Skype early that week and opened their package and Grandma and Grandpa’s Christmas ornament. I loved it all! Thank you! The ornament is beautiful and everything in the package is just what I wanted. It’s so nice to get Christmas presents so far from home. Plus, they opened their presents then too, so it felt more like I was actually home for Christmas. Again, Skype is AMAZING!
We weren’t in town for Christmas. Ellyn, Kaidian, Tony, and I went mainly to Hoi An for Christmas. On Christmas Eve we took the ferry into HCMC where we spent the day. Some work friends joined us and we went around the city. We first found a hotel along Bui Vien and then had some brunch. Afterwards, we took a taxi to the Zoo and botanical gardens where we stayed for a bit. Then we decided to wander back and find a café to get drinks; however, we didn’t have much luck for a long time and ended up going to this fancy basement restaurant. After that we went to the Ben Thanh market and around there. After freshening up at the hotel we walked to Dong Khoi and had ate at a German restaurant. They had these complimentary bags of Christmas things on the tables (e.g. Santa hats, whistles, masks, etc.), so we had fun with those. It was also great to eat some real German food again. The bread was sooo good and fresh.
The lights in the city were like nothing I had ever seen before. There were so many. I love the city at Christmas and they really went all out. Everyone was in the streets walking around and looking at them. We joined them and made our way to the same ice cream place we went to on our last visit. Kaidian and I bought devil horns. Is that a bit blasphemous to buy blue light up devil horns on Christmas Eve? Well, it was all in good fun with the festivities. On our way back the streets were five times more crowded and we got stuck in a massive motorbike traffic jam. Apparently, Vietnam had just won one of their Championship games in football. Everyone was carrying flags, honking their horns, banging on pans, and cheering. The noise was deafening at times. We slowly but eventually picked our way through the crowd and made our way back through the madness. It was definitely an experience.
Then on Christmas morning we flew to Danang (in central Vietnam) and immediately took a taxi to Hoi An, which is about 20 minutes away. Hoi An is this beautiful, little traditional Vietnamese town with lots of old Vietnamese and French-style buildings. If I could give only one word to describe the town I’d say it’s very colorful. The town is based on tourism (there are so many Westerners there) and subsequently there are heaps of shops selling brightly colored cloth lanterns, linens, cheap souvenirs, and whatnot. The main industry there, however, is tailoring. Tailor shops line all the streets and you can have anything made in 24 hours from dresses and suits to shoes. The choice is overwhelming. We just walked around for the first day and a half saying “oh, that’s nice,” “I want that,” “how would that look on me?” Needless to say, we all added to our wardrobes. I had some bronze strap sandals, a gray peacoat, a purple embroidered skirt, and a blue dress made. I love the coat and shoes, but the skirt didn’t have a lining and I thought at the time I wouldn’t need it. As for the dress it’s hideous. It looks like a cafeteria lady’s or nurse’s dress. Good for Halloween, I guess. I wanted something for work, but it didn’t come out how I thought it would. I should have also had it altered at the time, but I didn’t because I thought it would be okay…. I brought those two things and a few more of my clothes into a tailor here today. Hopefully they’ll come out somewhat more wearable. We’ll see…. I’m taking you to Hoi An, mom. You’d love it there and by then I’ll have a better idea of what I want to have tailored.
Other than shopping we bought Old Town Tickets and visited many of the historical places in the town. It was interesting to see some of the old houses, temples, museums, etc. We went to one old traditional wooden house and had a little tour. Apparently the house floods every year from the river right across the road, but it’s amazing how sturdy it is. The river runs through the town and when we were there it was raining and cold the whole time. The river even started flooding at one point while we were eating at a riverside restaurant. In a sense it was a nice change from the hot, dry climate back home, but it got to me after a bit. My legs were constantly splattered with dirt, I was sick of wearing my tattered cheap poncho, and I developed some uncomfortable rashes and blisters on my feet from my constantly wet sandals. To top things off we stayed Christmas night in a terrible hotel. There was a fuzzy mass of mold growing on the wall, a cockroach, and everything was dirty and damp. What a way to spend Christmas night? The next day we moved to a nicer, spendier hotel, which was well worth the extra splurge. Our room was great, with a balcony that had French wooden doors, and the beds were so comfy. We also got massages there one day.
Anyway, one day we took a tour to these ruins about an hour outside town. They were Angkor Wat style, I thought, and surrounded by mountains. It was really cool to see them, but again it was pouring and our tour guide, who we nicknamed Moley, because he kept popping up and disappearing again like a mole in one of those pound the mole games. We got lost and eventually found our way back. Then we took the bus to a boat which we took back into Hoi An. We had a good Vegetarian meal on the boat and stopped at a small island town that’s known for its wood-making.
Let’s see, what else did we do in Hoi An? We mainly just bummed around and relaxed. We ate some good Hoianian food, including White Rose (kind of like wontons) and Cau Lau which is a noodle dish that has to be made with water from the town well. Oh, you can take cooking lessons and learn how to make Cau Lau at almost any restaurant there, mom, so we’ll have to do that, too.
Then on Sunday, our last day, we went to Danang and spent the day bumming around there. I didn’t care for the city too much. It was ugly, spaced out, and too ominously quiet, but that’s how I felt when I first came to Vung Tau (aside from the ugly part). For a bit we were thinking of going to Danang, but I think I’d much rather go to Hanoi when our six months is up in April. That’s what we pretty much decided on from the start of our contract anyway. We went to the beach and sat on some chairs for awhile. After a bit I decided to walk down the beach and discovered that they were dumping sewage into the sea! So that turned me off to even thinking about swimming at the beach.
That night we watched the final championship football game on TV. Vietnam was playing Thailand and in the last minute they scored a goal and won the game. We were in our hotel room at the time and a massive uproar echoed through the halls. After spending nearly 20 minutes trying to find the keys we went outside to watch everyone waving their flags and riding their motorbikes through the streets. They were making a big circle around the town. It was a crazy sight to see.
The next morning we went to catch our plane and discovered that the time had been misread and we missed our flight. So we waited at the airport until noon, caught the next flight, went immediately to catch the next ferry, made it back to Vung Tau, and raced into work. Luckily I had all my lessons planned and ready to go. So that was the hecktic end to our Christmas break. I have definitely never had a Christmas like it. Although I missed being at home, it was a good change.
A few days later we had two days off for New Years, so a big group of us teachers decided to go to Binh Chau, which is about three hours up the coast (same direction we went the last two times). We met for breakfast in the morning and drove our motorbikes up. We found a hotel not far from the beach and spent an hour there. Then we drove to Binh Chau, which is a hot springs place with crocodiles and little pools to boil eggs in (a.k.a. a Vietnamese tourist attraction). We saw the crocs who weren’t doing much…mainly sleeping. Kaidian, however, tried to wake them up by throwing rocks at them :-). Then we got shriveled up in the warm pools for a couple hours. Later I ate crocodile meat at the restaurant there, which had terrible service. The waiters could not have been more absent minded and illogical. The croc meat, however, was actually really good. Would it surprise anyone if I said it tasted like chicken? Then we drove home in the dark, went out to the beach one more time, and brought in the New Year with our hotel owners and the other guests. It was very nice. They had good Vietnamese food and played a New Year’s DVD with Vietnamese New Year’s songs, it was great. We also shared a bottle of Champagne with everyone. Again, we celebrated the New Year’s in a way I had never done before. It was a nice change, but I still miss the good old times at home.
This weekend we just wanted to chill after traveling during our free time for the last several weeks. I ran a bunch of errands and today we experienced our first Vietnamese wedding reception. Wow, let me reiterate that they really go all out for celebrations (however, we were told that they only last for two hours). There were decorations galore to the point of sheer tackiness. It was a cross between Western weddings and Asian traditions. They had a little show where the wedding couple and their parents came onto the stage and were presented to the crowd while firecrackers of confetti were shot off. We all exchanged questioning looks when the parents walked on stage to the tune of “I come from Alabama with a banjo in my hand.” A group of male and female attendants dressed in Renaissance attire followed the wedding couple. The male attendants carried cakes and bottles of champagne. The wedding couple lit the candles on the cakes, cut them, and then poured champagne on a stack of glasses. They also had a Chinese dragon show and invited the kids to come up and receive lucky money or something similar. Then we ate a five course lunch and like clockwork everyone suddenly cleared out of the ballroom in two hours. No dancing or mingling outside of their separate tables, aside from the men constantly cheering to “Mot, hei, ba, yo!” (one, two, three, yo!). I had a good time and it’s great to have had that experience. Very different from our all-night wedding receptions at home.
So, it’s back to work tomorrow. Fortunately, we’ll have another break in a few weeks with the Tet Holiday. Ellyn’s parents are coming and I’m hoping to get out of the country and go somewhere different. Perhaps Cambodia. We’ll see.
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