TravelStream™ news feed for member mrcwoodsman on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/mrcwoodsman en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:40:21 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1260367702/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1260367702/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1260367702/tpod.html Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:40:21 -0500 Good Morning Vietnam

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Hanoi, Vietnam

When I first arrived here in Hanoi I discovered a farm that grows all organic vegetables (free from artificial chemicals and genetic modification). I emailed the woman in charge and found out that Thanh Xuan Organics is a community-based initiative where poor farmers from the rural outskirts of Hanoi, are growing organic vegetables in a bid to improve their quality of life and tackle environmental problems resulting from conventional farming practices. The farmers sell their organic produce directly to the consumer without the use of a 'middle man' and at a very reasonable cost. I asked the teachers here, who was interested and 8 teachers signed on and are getting from 1-3 kgs weekly. Every Tuesday, I get 3 kgs of mixed veggies for 180,000dng ($9), depending on what’s in season. It’s been a challenge some weeks since I’ve been introduced to vegetables I’d never seen or had before. But being vegetarian it widened my horizons in cooking and preparation. I’ve received everything from well known vegetables like lettuce, radishes, carrots and tomatoes to lesser known Winter melon (which I’ve discovered that about the only thing that can be made from it is soup), Chrysanthemum greens and Vietnamese spinach.

Since I am in contact regularly with the woman that runs the program I was invited to experience a new program they are trying – a field trip to the farm to learn how farming works. Actually I was invited to bring our students. I emailed all the classes here and two responded almost immediately – 1 second grade and 1 fifth grade. It was a perfect combination since the older kids could help the younger ones. Since I have 5-6 classes every day I didn’t think I would be able to go. Fortunately the teachers in charge had the foresight to schedule it on a Wednesday when I have just 4 classes, two of which are their class. Narrowing it down to two classes with the same teacher for both simplified it greatly. Brian the 4th grade teacher said it was cool, especially when I said I’d bring back veggies for him. So off we went…

The farm had everything well planned. Upon arrival they allowed the kids to check out, chase and in some cases torment the chickens, ducks and dogs in the yard. That was followed by snack, one of which is one of the most common snacks here, corn on the cob. Then we had something I’d never had but found unbelievably tasty – hot corn "tea".

This will sound weird but unless you try it you can’t knock it. Corn ‘tea”, is basically taking the water that the corn is boiled in and putting it into a glass, to drink. Depending on the sweetness of the corn will dictate how sweet the drink is. No one had had it before but everyone liked it, especially the kids. *Try it next summer, you will find it kinda strange at first but after a few sips its pretty good. It was good enough for me to go back for seconds (and thirds).

When snack was finished we broke up into our pre-assigned groups to see the gardens and do some work. The kids grabbed watering cans, buckets, scoops, small shovels and small bags. We went out pretty much all together with at least one farmer leading us. We walked along a tall natural growing fence of bamboo and some kind of tall grass that grew very densely. Once we turned the corner into the garden the farmers began to talk to the kids about how everything was grown and where to walk. They told them how and what to water and what to pick. They got water from the well and watered plants first and then the farmer showed the kids which plants were in season and let the kids loose. I was surprised how good the kids were. They stayed on the paths, watered without water fights and loved picking the vegetables. As their bags got heavier the little second grade girls in my group were asking if I’d carry their bags, to which I replied “no”. There was no whining or bag dropping, they just went about their business of picking and proceeded to pick the smaller vegetables – quick learners those three. I even saw them trading off some bigger veggies for smaller ones. My group was so fun - I had three second grade girls (Shineha, Thu An and Lam Ha) and two 5th grade girls. The fifth grade girls were very quiet but the second grade girls were very active, but not obnoxiously so. At first they wouldn’t let go of my hand and for awhile I thought the four us, forming a human chain, would struggle to get through the narrow beds together. Fortunately after I told them it was ok to venture out without me they warily did just that. It wasn’t long before they were three little girls working independently but within eye sight of each other, and me.

After the bags were as full as they could get and before busting thru the bottom, we walked back to the farmhouse. The three little second grade girls immediately latched back on to me for the walk back. One of them told me there was dog poo near the farmhouse entrance and she’d let me know so I wouldn’t step into it.

The kids put all their bags in a designated place together and sat down for lunch. As we all sat together on the grass rug and waited for lunch to be passed out it was interesting watching the Vietnamese teachers and assistants dividing up job duties. The oldest one assumed the role in the center of serving up the food while the younger ones passed the portioned plates out and got drinks. I tried to help but was given a look like I was crazy. So I stood in the back by the teapot with the male farmers and drank really strong green tea.

The kids ate slowly and talked quietly amongst themselves. I joined the group, had some lunch and then attempted to keep the 2 ADD kids from wandering off the grounds.

Once lunch was finished the farmers had pots for the kids to paint and plants for them to plant. While the kids were painting, the farmers divided up all the bags evenly, and just before leaving handed everyone a bag with all the picked vegetables including the teachers.

The three 2nd grade girls in my group demanded I sit next to them in the van and we weren't 10 minutes on the road and all 3 were fast asleep.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1260249077/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1260249077/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1260249077/tpod.html Tue, 08 Dec 2009 07:50:44 -0500 Good Morning Vietnam

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Sunday I got up early and did some meditation and yoga. I felt very relaxed and calm when I climbed on my friend's motorbike for our trip to the silk village. I had heard it was even more commercialised than the pottery village. I had my mind set for whatever would come but I knew that the silk products would be inexpensive and it would be a day of bargaining. Since I've started taking some Vn language lessons I felt a little more confident about being able to haggle with the merchants.
My friend wasn't sure how to get there so we asked directions several times along the way and then feeling confident with where we were going we proceeded to pass our turnoff. We both felt we were going the wrong way so I asked for directions, basically saying in Vietnamese "where is the silk village". We got the directions that we had just missed our turn by about 2-3 kms. We carefully turned around, which is a bit of a task since you do a u-turn in the midst of traffic. Safely making our u-turn and finding the correct street for the village we proceeded to ride thru most of the village, eyeing everything along the way. We were approximately at the halfway point and then found a place to park down a small alley.
As we came out of the alley a funeral procession was passing by. I tried to be discreet when taking photos because it seemed a little disrespectful to be taking pictures of a funeral.

After the funeral had passed I walked into every shop, up to every table, thru every booth and found all the styles and colors I wanted. Then I went back and proceeded to bargain. Since I am now fairly proficient with asking the cost of things and most importantly, knowing the numbers. I was able to get some incredible deals on everything I wanted. As we were walking around I saw a woman selling something wrapped in banana leaves. I found out what it was called (Banh Mat & Banh Gio) so I had to give it a try. The gelatinous look of it made me a bit wary but once I put a slice in my mouth my wariness subsided into a feeling of sweet and tasty delight. I'm not totally certain what is in it but I liked it enough to buy a few to take home.

While shopping we stopped for some green tea to reenergize since there are green tea stands everywhere, literally every 100 yards or less. These are basically a small table, a teapot sitting on a fire, several glasses and teacups, usually some bottled tea and some snacks, mostly sweet. There's a few short plastic stools and a tarp covering it all. The tea reenergized me so I walked over to a nearby pagoda for some photos and then went back in for a few more deals. I had intended to do only shopping for others but with a plethora of silk products selling for a fraction of the cost back home I bought a few things for myself including a silk tie and long sleeve shirt. I added three 100% raw silk scarves. Before bargaining, my total would've come to about $25 for everything which is still much less than what it would cost for just one item back home. After bargaining, my total was $11 for the lot, with my shirt costing about half of the total. All in all I'd say it was a good day of shopping.
Leaving with a small backpack full of silky bargains I was now hungry. Lo and behold there was a Pho stand across the street. I walked over, pulled up a stool, was eyeballed by the regulars and then I ordered a bowl of Pho. This was nowhere near as good as the Pho that I get from the lady near my apartment but it filled the hole. Actually after I put in some small chili's, hot sauce, sliced garlic and squeezed in a few limes, it was not so bad. Those are the usual condiments on every table in street stands here. We went back for the bike and headed home.

Later that day, about 6pm, after a mid afternoon siesta, another friend came by and we went to a vegan restaurant for dinner. Jan is a British guy I met thru my friends from Dubai that were in last weekend. Some of you may remember them from my Nepal blog - two Lebanese women I met on the trek. They came in last weekend and one had her boyfriend in tow. Her bf has a friend, Jan who is a teacher here and we found out thru conversation that he lives about a kilometer from me. He told me about a vegan restaurant close to where I teach. He gave me directions to which I found to be very confusing. This isn't all that tough since there are so many tiny alleys with thriving communities going on inside them, that to not understand the directions isnt all that uncommon. Plus he said it took him two months to find it himself and he's lived here for 4 years.
So he picked me up and we snaked our way through this tiny maze of alleys and then pulled into the Ha Thanh Com Chay parking area, which is unusual in and of itself because parking is at a premium here and to have an area set aside for parking, well that is rich. We ordered a community of plates of food to share. I quickly found that we had over-ordered not expecting such large portions of food to arrive.
So once again I had a day of incredible (and some even new to me) foods, great shopping and new experiences. Of course I had school the next day and planning still to do but after such a great weekend, seeing and taking in local fare, a little planning seemed ok.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1260118227/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1260118227/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1260118227/tpod.html Sun, 06 Dec 2009 10:26:51 -0500 Good Morning Vietnam

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This was an active weekend for me, full of wonderful surprises.

I purchased my first work of art – it is the drawing shown on the Ca Tru Theater logo. I found myself drawn to this piece of art each time I’ve gone to see the Ca Tru performances and so commissioned the artist to do a piece for me. It is painted on pressed leaves and nicely framed – the cost was probably 1/5th the cost it would be in the US especially since it is done in a very old Vietnamese art form. It looks great in my apartment and it really helps make my place look more homey and so much less sterile.

Then Saturday after yoga and lunch I went to Giong Temple. It’s located in the village where he was born. I learned that there are two temples honoring him and this is the smaller of the two. Saint Giong is a legendary hero, who defeated An invaders. To demonstrate their gratitude to the hero of Giong Village, who sacrificed his life to fight the invaders, people proclaimed him
Saint Giong. The Giong festival is celebrated here every year in April of the lunar new year.
Located here is the well that people take water to make rice to feed the people of Giong.

While walking around inside the temple I saw a group of men playing a card game and they invited me to play to which I could only chuckle because though I would’ve loved to have sat down, drank green tea and played cards with these older men, I think the language barrier would’ve prevented me from learning the game. They looked to be having a good time while I was watching but it definitely was a competitive group based on the serious look on some of their faces.

I then walked to the back of the temple to see the pagoda and learned from my friend the difference between a temple and a pagoda. A pagoda worships Buddha while the temple honors real or unreal historic heroes who rendered services to the country. People set up temples to commemorate their services.

On the ride back my xeom driver took it upon himself to give me an unplanned gastronomy tour. We first stopped near Hoan Kiem lake in a small area of street restaurants frequented by mostly Vietnamese people. It was here that I ate and enjoyed Xoi Xeo (sweet sticky rice with mung bean paste, fried shallots, fried egg and shredded and stewed chicken). On occasion I will break my vegetarian rule in the name of exploration. This was the first time today I broke this rule. Xoi Xeo was absolutely delicious and this will be my new favorite food with Pho a very close second.

From here we went to Hoan Kiem lake where he parked and we walked to the Jade Temple. He
asked if I’d been here and I replied yes. But as we walked in I noticed an iron gate was open at the far end. Looking thru the gate I noticed a short red bridge leading to an island behind it. I hadn’t seen that part of the temple when I came last time but then it was late at night and it must’ve been closed and locked. Through the gate and across the short bridge was an island with a small temple that honors Tran Hung Dao. By reading the scrolls hanging inside the temple I learned that Hung Dao was a Vietnamese military Grand Commander of Thang Long
(early Hanoi) during the Tran Dynasty. Born as Tran Quoc Tuan. He commanded the Dai Viet
armies that repelled two major Mongol invasions in the 13th century. His multiple victories over the mighty Mongol Yuan Dynasty under Kublai Khan are considered among the greatest military feats in world history. General Tran Hung Dao's military brilliance and prowess is reflected in his many treatises on warfare and he is considered one of the most accomplished generals in world history. Being a member of the royal family, Tran Hung Dao was a man of intellect and was an accomplished poet. From a young age, he was very fond of classical Chinese literature and was very well-versed in "The Art of War" by the famous Sun Tzu. Poetry was his first and true passion and would have pursued that course had not for the multiple Yuan Mongol invasion attempts into Dai Viet that spanned over sixty years. Military became his recourse and it turned out that his military works proved to be his most successful accomplishments.

It is noted in these scrolls that Tran Hung Dao achieved his military success with an army largely made up of poorly equipped volunteers and peasant conscripts against the mighty hordes of the Mongols who were at the apex of their power after conquering most of Asia. His strategic brilliance had contributed much to this success. He is famous for pioneering the "hit and run" warfare. Hung Dao was a master of strategic geographical war fighting, applying
advantageous landscapes to stage battles in places such as dense forests or on waterfronts where enemy cavalry were mostly ineffective.

He is revered by the Vietnamese people as a national hero. Most major cities in Vietnam have streets named after him.

From here we ventured into my nest gastronomic experience – Banh Cuon Cha. This is steamed rice crepes stuffed with minced pork or chicken (I had chicken), wood ear mushrooms, and several finely chopped veggies with a side of sliced pork sausage and bean sprout. Basically you take the crepes and dip it into a broth of sliced shallots, bean sprout and the pork sausage. On a separate plate is mint and parsley stalks which you put into the broth whole, stem and all. Grasping the crepes with my chopsticks I dipped them into the broth grasping a stalk or two of the parsely/mint stalks and began eating, Everything was so tender and tasty I had a hard time eating slowly. Mr Zung, my xeom, obviously felt the same way as his food arrived after mine and he was done before me.

We finished the day at a street café with a delicious cup of ‘ca phe sua dar’ which as you now know is coffee with thick sweet condensed cream over ice.

Saturday’s adventure put a great new twist on the old adage “the best laid plans….”. What
I thought was going to be simple out and back trip to a temple turned into a great surprise of a day filled many new experiences.

*My next entry will cover Sunday's trip to the silk village.




]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1259996071/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1259996071/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1259996071/tpod.html Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:08:44 -0500 Good Morning Vietnam

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Hanoi, Vietnam

I received this email yesterday and interestingly enough I received a few requests prior to it for one of the objects in the photo.

mrcwoodsman,

Congratulations! One of your TravelPod photos ( piggy-bank-anyone.jpg ) has been selected to be featured and has been added to our queue. Please keep in mind that we typically have several months worth of photos queued to be featured and it may take some time before yours is featured. You will be notified when your photo is featured on our main page.

Below is a link to the photo which has been queued:
http://www.travelpod.com/cgi-bin/view_image.pl?tweb_UID=mrcwoodsman&tweb_tripID=2&tweb_entryID=1259854620&tweb_img_filename=piggy-bank-anyone.jpg

Cheers!
The TravelPod Team

*Coming this week photos and story from the Silk Village and a temple in Phu Dong village that is steeped in history - so lots of historical info for those of you that have said that's the part you enjoy the most. If all goes well I may be able to send a story about a field trip I took this past week with the second and fifth graders to an organic farm.

Have a great weekend friends and family - if you have a few minutes drop me an email, I love hearing about your lives in America.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1259854620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1259854620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1259854620/tpod.html Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:50:58 -0500 Good Morning Vietnam

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Last weekend I finally made it to the much talked about Bat Trang Pottery Village. This is the oldest and most famous pottery village in Vietnam. Many temples and pagodas still preserve lamps and incense burners, with dragons and phoenix, clouds and flowers decorated in blue, with the name, address and date of production in Bat Trang from as far back as the 16th century. They are well known for various kinds of pottery - jade enamel (under the Ly-Tran Dynasties), brown flower or brown enamel (under the late Tran to early Le Dynasties), cracked enamel (under the late Le Dynasty) and royal blue enameled items (under the late Le to Nguyen Dynasties).

I had been looking forward to going here for several months.
We took the fairly long motorbike trip (45 mins) to Bat Trang and along the way saw some interesting sights. The road thru the village before BatTrang was a bit harrowing as the road was narrow, broken and filled with all manner of vehicles. When the road was broken we had to swerve around usually at the same time a truck was coming from the opposite direction or a slew of motorbikes, which made the trip extra exciting. Once we arrived I was happy to get off the bike not only because the village looked like it would be fun to nose around in but also because my arse was sore from the bumpy ride. Once off I immediately got a cold drink because the road was also quite dusty. We were told the "market" was further down the road so we left the bike and went on foot to the market area. I poked my head into nearly every little shop excited to finally be here and quickly realized that Bat Trang was much like Hanoi - many shops but much of the same as the shop next to it. Occasionally I saw some variety but mostly the same stuff. After a few wrong turns, which made for some fun nosing around, we made it to the market area - a fairly large area of ceramic shops/stalls squeezed together. I took about 30 mins to look around and only found a few pieces of interest most of which were too big to bring back on the motorbike. I left the market area rather disappointed by the lack of variety and stopped for some hot green tea and just people watched for awhile. Finally we walked back to the bike and I was rather disappointed by the amount of commercialism that had seeped into what once was probably a very quaint village.

On the ride back we had a flat tire and fortunately we were near one of the many service shops along the road, had the puncture repaired and discussed dinner. We settled on a little shop I'd been to before that had good Bun Trang (pronounced boon chang) a bowl of rice noodle soup with vegetables and different choices for meat, or no meat in my case. It was filling and a nice finish for the day.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1259207617/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1259207617/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1259207617/tpod.html Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:57:32 -0500 Good Morning Vietnam

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I received some good news today. This blog that I send these postings out on, TravelPod, selected my posting as one of the best for the month of September giving me a "TravelPod Award." They put an excerpt of one of my postings on the company blog. The Community Manager said this, “…I highlight some of the best blogs on the site, and I chose yours in September.” And I received some sort of badge, that I have instructions on how to post on my blog page, Facebook and similar sites. Interestingly enough the excerpt really isn't one of my better ones in my opinion. Different strokes for different folks, I say.

Here is the link to go see: http://blog.travelpod.com/2009/09/24/happiest-countries-in-the-world/. And to a borrow a friend’s comment, “…you were the only male selected as well and you did not even have to wear your bikini!” Whew, thank god for that.

On a different note, I have received numerous requests to see “The Leg” now that it’s healed…I guess there are some doubters out there. Here it is for you lovers of blood and gore…sorry to disappoint you, it really is healed. (For those of you that came late to this blog you can refer to posting #37 'Hole in the Leg’ to get a better understanding of what “The Leg” is.)

In fact it was healed enough for me to go hashing this past Saturday and run, too. Thank goodness because I don’t think I could’ve taken another week of walking trail. Hats off to walking hashers, I found it to carry more mental stress in telling myself not to start running than I realized.

I guess its time to start thinking about getting back up on that horse, I mean bike, to ride again.

Today it’s Thanksgiving back home but here it’s just another day at the office. A few teachers found a local restaurant that is having a Thanksgiving dinner so a few of us will be heading over there tonight to indulge in a turkey dinner, Vietnamese style.

Facebook, I recently discovered is now blocked in Vietnam. I’m sure it was all the weird goings on in the Animal Farm app. Yes the Vn government saw you sneaking into the barn late at night with Mary’s little lamb, you sick puppies. There is some way to get around the block I just haven’t figured out what it is yet.

I just wanted to put up a short posting to let you know I’m alive and doing well.

By the way, hello to the Cors-Bassett people that are joining our program, already in progress.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, in the U.S.!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1258387251/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1258387251/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1258387251/tpod.html Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:33:05 -0500 Good Morning Vietnam

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Before I tell you about the rest of my day as a tourist on Saturday, let me tell you that the temps have dropped a bit here. While the Vietnamese are wearing coats and scarves and even a few are in gloves it feels just cool to me enough so that I've taken to wearing long sleeve shirts. Today I put on a jacket for the ride to work. I do have to admit that I was warm and toasty under the blanket I put on the bed last night and didn’t want to get up this morning. You know how that first morning under a blanket and the air is cool outside the bed, makes you feel like staying in bed? That was how I felt today.

On the ride to work I noticed how overnight the clothes being sold on the street went from warm weather clothing to cold weather clothes - literally overnight. Coats and scarves were in every storefront on every street. I guess winter has arrived in Hanoi. If you ask my xeom driver if its cold he says "very much".

After school today I went for my third session of acupuncture from a new Dr that I was referred to by one of our teachers. I have gone twice before to her and saw very little decrease in the pain in my shoulder that I’ve had for the last two years. The motorbike accident aggravated what had been a somewhat dormant or at most intermittent pain. Upon arrival the Dr asked how my shoulder felt and when she heard that I had no progress from last week’s session with her she decided it was time to step it up. So this week I was introduced to catgut implantation. At first I was hesitant because this isn't something I'd ever heard of but after all this is Asia and acupuncture was started here so.... She was very reassuring and one lift of my shoulder and the pain it brings had me convinced I was ready to have my treatment stepped up.
Dr. Huong said I’d feel some stiffness that night but each day I’d feel less pain until I would feel no pain at all, possibly forever. I guess time will tell. If this works I will be back to have her work on a nagging running injury (caused by over-training) and hopefully it will be equally as successful and then yoga will be fun again.
*It's the day after my catgut treatment and Dr Huong was right about last night being very sore and tight. Today it is less stiff and somewhat less painful, which is exactly how she said it would be.

Ok, now for the rest of my tourist Saturday.

After leaving the Temple of Literature and all the enlightenment that rests there I found my way down to the Hoa Lo prison or better known by American prisoners as the "Hanoi Hilton". The name Hoa Lo, translates as "fiery furnace", also means "stove". The name originated from the street name pho Hoa Lò, due to the concentration of stores selling wood stoves and coal-fire stoves along the street from pre-colonial times.

The prison was built by the French and was intended to hold Vietnamese prisoners, particularly political prisoners. It was originally built in 1901 to hold around 450 prisoners but by 1954 it was estimated to hold over 2000 Vietnamese prisoners.

During the Vietnam War, American prisoners were held here and sarcastically dubbed it the Hanoi Hilton, because of the poor treatment and facilities there. From the photos on the walls of the museum area, it seemed to hold almost entirely Air Force pilots.

From the prison I worked my way over to the Museum of Revolution. When I arrived I realized I had about 40 minutes to make my way thru one of the bigger museums in Hanoi. It wasn’t long that I realized it wouldn’t take long to go thru the museum because it houses mostly photos that document the country's various struggles for independence and the history of the Communist Party. It was established in 1959 and has more than 3000 documents, exhibits and photo's on the history of the Vietnamese nation from mid 19th century to the present. The museum is made up of 29 exhibition halls focusing on 3 topics: the Vietnamese nation's struggle for independence from1858 - 1945; the war against outside forces from 1945 - 1975; and Vietnam "on the road to building a rich nation,a strong country and a just, civilized society". One of the ladies that worked there, when I told her that it was an impressive amount of information, said there was still "over one hundred thousand historical photos and documents in storage areas in the museum dating back to 1858". Now that would be a guaranteed long term employment opportunity
I found it all very interesting and I learned a lot but between having been walking all day and now to be looking at mostly black and white photos I found myself getting tired.

I found me a xeom and headed home stopping along the way for a large bowl of Pho. Bed sounded good despite it only being 7 o'clock until I got a phone call stating that I was expected to attend Dave's (the guy who had the An Hoi last weekend) stag party at a nearby Japanese restaurant. It was second wind time.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1258259837/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1258259837/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1258259837/tpod.html Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:51:28 -0500 Good Morning Vietnam

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A Tourist Day, Part 1

Saturday gave us, here in Hanoi, Fall-like weather. Perfect for being a tourist and walking in and out of museums, which is exactly what I did. There are several museums and sites within the city that I've wanted to go to since I arrived. So on this day I took advantage of the great weather and took them ALL in - three sites in one day.

I started my day with an early morning yoga class that revived and refreshed me. Came home made lunch, showered and headed out for a day at the museum(s). The weather was perfect for a peaceful relaxing day of walking. Most Saturdays I usually hash but today felt like a tourist day. I was equipped with all the essentials: backpack with camera, map, money, comfortable shoes.

First stop, Temple Of Literature also known as Van Mieu or the "University" as the locals proudly call it. It was the first university in Vietnam and also is featured on the back of a 100,000 dong note. It was founded in 1070 as a Confucian Temple. Six years later it became the Imperial Academy to educate royalty and the elite. It is said that the doctor’s laureate exam was so difficult that very few passed. Those who did pass had their name engraved on stone steles - an upright stone with an inscribed surface, used as a commemorative monument- and then placed on top of stone tortoises. During the 700 years it functioned as a university only 2,313 names are engraved on the steles.

The temple’s design is modeled after Confucius’ birthplace. It consists of five courtyards with the entrance to the first courtyard done via the Van Mieu main gate, and then that leads to three pathways that run the length of the complex. The center path was reserved for the king. The one to left, for administrative Mandarins and the one to the right, for military Mandarins. The first two courtyards are designed to be peaceful havens of very old trees and well-trimmed lawns where scholars could relax, away from the noise and commotion of the city outside its thick stone walls.

This is one of the few remaining examples of later Ly Dynasty (1009-1225) architecture.

* In the next entry you'll need your 'Get out of Jail Free' card

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1257779775/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1257779775/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1257779775/tpod.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:50:46 -0500 Good Morning Vietnam

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Hanoi, Vietnam

Sunday was the day I got to experience some of how the whole marriage process goes down here. I was told in advance the actual ceremony is a bit of a letdown. For weeks before there are many activities like dressing in gowns and tuxes then having photos taken in several locations all thru the city. There are dinners and assorted gatherings.
Sunday was the day I had been invited to experience and attend the Le An Hoi (betrothal ceremony). Some time before the wedding, the groom and his family visit the bride and her family with round lacquered boxes known as betrothal presents composed of gifts of areca nuts and betel leaves, tea, cake, fruits, wines and other delicacies covered with red cloth and carried by unmarried women and men. So here we were in the parking of our school as several women were prepping the gifts for the Le An Hoi. When all was ready we all climbed into two vans with the gifts and took a ride into the country to the bride-to-be's family home. The info I got is that there are seven men in the wedding party and seven women carrying seven gifts. The women all wear red because red is considered a lucky color and the men are supposed to red ties. But David, the groom, is a bit of an off the wall Aussie so he changed the attire to rainbow bow ties. The symbolism of the number seven I am unsure of

First it's the bride and groom-to-be followed by the men who lead the procession in with the gifts on their shoulders and then the women join them and assist by putting the gifts on one of their shoulders also. They went into the house where they present the gifts to the brides parents. Then they all come out and sit at their special table. We all sit down at tables that are slowly being filled with mass quantities of homemade food, so much food that there is no room on the tables for all the food they are still bringing out and is waiting in the kitchen. Then someone brings a pitcher out of the homemade beer and the homemade rice wine is already sitting on the table. We all fill our glasses with the beer and toast Thah and David (the bride and groom). Then we begin digging into the food, most of which we have no idea what it is but it smells incredible. David is able to tell us what most everything is but we really don't care and basically try everything and find our favorites in the process.

Then when we are almost done eating, Tho's crazy uncle comes over and makes everyone at our table fill our glasses to the brim and then toasts and we must shoot the beer all the way down. My hashing experience comes in handy here. Everyone has at least one crazy uncle in their family. In my mom's family it would be Uncle Joe as the hands down winner and my dad's family...ooh I don't know - can you help Carle family on this one? You know it's the one that gets the party started and keeps it running at full tilt all night. Well Thah's uncle was the one as he filled all our glasses again, toasted and we slammed the beer down. As he appears to be walking away we all sigh a breath of relief esp. the women at our table. To not drink and toast is considered disrespectful to the bride, groom (and probably the crazy uncle). Alas he isn't finished with us yet, he was just walking around the table to get the rice wine. This rice wine has two problems with it - its both so smooth it almost has no taste and you can probably guess the second one - yep its Potent with a capital P. He fills our tea cups to the brim, of course, toasts and let the slamming begin. Now its a fairly warm day and several people at our table are starting to really break a sweat as hard liquor will do to you on a hot day. Our table was teachers and their girlfriends, five in all. In a crazed moment I asked "crazy uncle" if he wanted to go again. To say I got some mean glances by the women at our table would be silly. He smiles, fills our glasses, toasts and there it goes again. Now he's persuaded by one of the girls at our table to give some of his attention and "love" to a nearby table. I'm siting on the end of our table close enough to the table that "crazy uncle" has moved to so he includes me. I think he's taken me under his wing as an "apprentice crazy uncle". Fill with beer first, toast, slam - I think I got this memorized by now.
We're told the vans are loading up for the trip back. As we're walking out "crazy uncle" snags my arm and invites me to join the 'mens table' for one more. I certainly don't want to be disrespectful, so I oblige and then I propose one more which gets a great cheer from the table.

When the day was over our table went thru two bottles of rice wine and multiple pitchers of beer...oh yeah and lots of food too, I think.



]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1257639281/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1257639281/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrcwoodsman/2/1257639281/tpod.html Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:04:31 -0500 Good Morning Vietnam

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Hanoi, Vietnam

The weekend was rough and frustrating.
I started my day by going to yoga class. Just before class I wanted to take some money out of the ATM for groceries, I had 20 dng ($1) in my wallet. I was going to shop after class at a great market near the yoga studio. As I approached the ATM I noticed it didn't appear to be on and I was in fact correct. Damn, no money no shop at great little market. OK no problem, because there was a new instructor that was very good and I left class tired but very calm and relaxed. So life was good again.
I told my xeom I needed to find a ANZ bank ATM (my Vn bank acct). Aha! the one that was turned off was now on as someone was in it using it. I wait my turn, step in, pull out my card, slide it in and follow all the directions exactly as I read it. Everything is going smoothly I request the money it goes though its process then strangely it asks for my password again, I thought maybe this was something new so I do it... a few seconds pass and it says "password incorrect the bank was going to retain my card". Whaaaat! No f***ing way! Now I have no money and no way to get money and its a Saturday with the whole weekend ahead. Fortunately my xeom driver is an understanding man and said I could pay him on Monday after I went to the bank to sort it all out. He takes me home.
I had planned to go hashing although I was going to walk the trail because I haven't been given the thumbs up to run yet by my doc... but now no money no hash. I got home and went through my wallet to get my US bank card figuring I could use it to withdraw cash from my home bank acct. As I'm sorting thru my various cards what do i see...my ANZ debit card. Then it dawns on me, in my excitement for an open ATM I had taken out my US debit card and IT was the one being held. Duh no wonder the password wouldn't work. Its kind of a good news bad news situation.

So I go to an ATM and finally get money out so I can hash and partake in other weekend activities and it works - woo hoo!
Now I'm pumped up about going hashing and I'm riding the hash bus to the country for a nice day in the Vietnam green space. Well yes it was green but unfortunately it was in one of the only places we've hashed where the scenery is kinda blah. But nonetheless i got a few nice pics.
After a day of hashing I get back into the city about 7pm just in time to meet some friends near Hoan Kiem Lake for dinner. We go to one of the few asian menu restaurants (Japanese, Chinese, Korean & Vietnamese food) that I like because its authentic. Most of the time if you want good Vn food you have to get it on the street. Even the travel books tell you the best food is at the street vendors.

So if the ATM was a mistake, here comes the misunderstanding. Or maybe just a case of not understanding.
I am going thru a stage here that I hate. For some reason the language barrier is really coming to a head for me right now. I don't know why it didn't seem to be a problem before but this weekend it seemed like what was coming out of my mouth was totally unrecognizable by anyone of the Vietnamese persuasion. I had to repeat everything I said at least 3 times and even then sometimes i wasn't being understood. The same was happening on my side too. When people I know would talk to me I could usually figure out what they were saying but I wasn't understanding anything either.
So on my ride home from the hash and dinner I am talking to my driver and telling him I need to be picked up in the morning at 7:30 for one of our teachers An Hoi which is a pre- wedding ceremony involving gifts and words of wisdom and the mass quantities of food consumption and the drinking of copious amounts of homemade beer and rice wine. I'll talk more about that in the next entry and show some photos of the food and drink, too.
So anyway I tell him what I'm doing and priding myself on the pronunciation of this word...ha ha or so I think. So he says ok I'll pick you up at the restaurant give me the address. I say no it's not a restaurant its a ceremony, which brings out from him the Vn version of "huh?" So for the next 10 minutes we go back and forth with me telling him in every manner of words that I can think of and continuing to repeat the word An Hoi. Finally I phone a friend and have her tell him about the An Hoi but of course since we are riding a motorbike its kind of noisy and she doesn't completely understand what I want her to tell him. They talk by phone for a few minutes and I say to him do you understand and he says"yes'. A few moments pass and then he says "what's the address of the restaurant". I almost threw myself off the bike. I call my friend back and try to stay calm - then go over what I want her to explain to him again but slowly, succinctly and clearly. When I'm sure she understands my request I hand the phone back to my driver and cross my fingers. I hear him listening and then repeating "vung" (yes) several times and then hands the phone back to me and say's "oh you mean An Hoi", but he puts a slightly different barely perceptible inflection on the words.
Misunderstanding or lack of understanding it doesn't matter, I get off the bike, pay him and walk up my 5 flights home. I was exhausted from our conversation and went straight to bed.

Not knowing the language has pushed the envelope and I've begun pursuing a tutor.



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