Virtual-Doug

One Building’s Construction

Though it was grey and dreary, it was first day in many when it wasn’t raining, so it was a good day to pour concrete.  The same methods were used as on October 29,  though I could not tell what the concrete was poured for.

Of special interest was a temporary altar set up on two tables inside the building.  I have no idea what the altar was for – possibly one of our Vietnamese readers can help.  It disappeared after the concrete work was finished.

Thanksgiving in Huê

Who needs turkey?

We had it all for Thanksgiving.  This singularly American holiday found us extremely thankful for being called to work in Việt Nam, for new friends and old friends, for sharing, and for the wonders of His gifts.  Yeah – Thanksgiving was all of that and more.

Of course, we had to wait a few days.  Being teachers, and being in Việt Nam where there is no holiday, we had to wait until Saturday to celebrate.

We were joined by other American teachers who traveled to Huê from as far away as Dà Lat and Thai Nguyên.  Lacking a  kitchen, the Mystery Guest Blogger and our teammate, Miss July, did all the planning and some cooking, but the main meal had to be at a restaurant.  To answer the primary question – no, we don’t have turkeys in Việt Nam.  What with trying to control bird flu, there aren’t even any chickens, so we had to settle for pasta at our local “Italian” restaurant.

Be sure to click on the pictures to see a larger version.

The restaurant staff had a little trouble figuring out this whole Thanksgiving thing, but they also know this is a family gathering in America.  If the Vietnamese understand anything, they understand family.  Of course, the table decorations were a complete mystery, but they also enjoyed learning more about our traditions.  Thanx for the paper turkey, Cilla.

But we had some good old ‘Merican food.  Potatoes are available here, and some friends with Medrix  brought packages of turkey gravy.  Though a bit puzzling to the Vietnamese cook, the MBG and MJ made mashed potatoes – even if they had to reheat the potatoes because they were a bit difficult to mash stone cold.  The Boss served up some cranberry sauce.

Laughter was the main course.  Yes, we had pasta and veggies and even some mashed potatoes, but what we enjoyed the most was being with other like-minded folks enjoying each other.  The café was as noisy as a Vietnamese karaoke bar as we caught up on the latest happenings.

Dessert?  Of course we had dessert. Just like Mom used to make.  The MGB slaved all morning in a hot kitchen to make some apple pie.  Yes – you can get apples in Việt Nam, so this was the real thing.  She tells me it is quite a trick to bake a pie in an electric oven the size of a good-sized microwave.

Of course, its not Thanksgiving unless the men crowd around the television watching football.  But, it wasn’t the Broncos and Cowboys - it was Vietnamese football (what Americans call soccer), and Việt Nam lost to Indonesia 1-0 in the Southeast Asia Games.

The evening was spent around the fireplace singing songs.  Okay – there wasn’t a fireplace, but hearts were warmed anyway.  MJ is an accomplished guitarist, and the MGB printed out some song booklets.  We spent a little time talking about what we are thankful for – including being here in this wonderful country.

And - we're thankful to a great bunch of Vision Tour folks back in North America for making the day memorable.

Celebrity Doug

One of the other American teachers was taking two of her students around our guest house when I came out of my room.  Introductions were made – and the two girls got wide-eyed at my name.  “Not the Mr. Doug?”

I was a little dumb founded.  How did these kids know me?  Why did they think I was famous?

It seems they heard my name on local television.  That’s right.  On Vietnamese television.

A few weeks ago, I lost my Palm Pilot.  Those of you who know me realize I cannot survive long without my Palm.  Age is picking away at the ragged edges of memory, and I need help remembering all my busy-ness.   A student told me the local television channel had a service whereby they announced lost and found items during prime time.  So, I ponied up the 200,000 dông (about $12.50), and the announcement went on the air.

My Palm Pilot was returned - - and I have my new-found notoriety.

More Homesick for Huê

There are no Seven-Eleven Stores in Huê.  Instead, there are lots of small Mom & Pop stores.  Modern marketing techniques have not arrived yet, nor do they try to tell you they buy in quantity and therefore lower the prices.  Most of the stores are like this one in the Citadel area of the city.  They carry what the owner thinks you need.  If they don’t have it, they don’t mind if you walk a few stores away to get what you need.

As always, be sure to click on the photos to see a larger version.

This is not a tourist building, but I’ll bet most tourists walk right by it on their way to see the Imperial City in the Citadel.  This building is on Trân Hung Đao, the main street on the north side of the river.  For want of a better term, it is the municipal auditorium.  It is used mostly for concerts.

If you were a backpacker when you visited Huê, you know this place - the train station.  If you are running around Huê on your môto or bicycle, then you came across this railroad track crossing on Điên Biên Phu Street not far from the train station.

These are Dragon Boats - - they are 100% pure tourist.  Any travel desk in the city can book you a trip, or you can walk down on the riverfront and pick your own boat.   What do you do on a Dragon Boat?  Mostly, the boats take tourists to the Thiên  Mụ Pagoda up the river, and to the spectacular tombs of the emperors that are outside Huê.  Some of the boats have a special “dinner and music” trip in the evening.  The music is classic Vietnamese music – the kind that was played only for the Emperor.  The musicians are classically trained and dressed in traditional costumes.

Noon time is not only lunch time in Huê, it is also nap time.  This hard working cyclo driver has probably been up since 4:30 AM, and will work until 6 or 7 at night, so his hour of sleep is well deserved.

Five major streets come together at the traffic circle.  National Route 1A is seen straight ahead, and the public library is the building you see.  Its hard to capture the frenetic nature of the traffic around this circle – I admit I avoid the place if I can.   If you’ve been to Huê, you have been here – you probably just didn’t take a picture of anything as ordinary as a traffic circle.

On the north side of the Perfume River is The Citadel, the walled city that is a thriving residential area today.  Like a modern gated community, there are only a few ways to get into the area.  The walls and gates were built in the 1820s and 30s.  Some have been restored, and some are still in bad shape.  This one has been restored, but they did not get rid of the patina of age.  Pretty, isn’t it?

When you go shopping in Huê, you need to know where to find it.  You find out where you can find what you need by word of mouth.  Yes, there is advertising, but most of that is devoted to major brand names, not individual stores.  The vast majority of stores are small family places, though large general merchandise stores are coming into Hà Nội and Sài Gòn.  There are no such large stores in Huê (yet).   Each store carries a narrowly focused kind of merchandise, and merchants don’t always make it easy for you to know if they carry what you need.  In this case, the shop carries electrical goods such as lights, fans, and a few small appliances.  No TV sets here – no stereos, nor fuse boxes nor voltage stabilizers.  What you see is what you get.

One Building’s Construction

There isn’t much visible progress this week, except for the huge mounds of gravel and sand out side the building. (The big pile of rock is on the other side of the site.)  There are a lot of bags of cement stored inside too.  We can expect some more concrete work soon.

Did you notice the television antenna jury-rigged to the side of the building?  There are watchmen inside all night, and they have to have something to do besides play cards all the time.

Antidote to Burnout has some wonderful pictures of the architecture in both Hà Nội  and Sài Gòn.   He can add the sort of details to the descriptions I cannot as he is an architect.  I will comment on his story about the Vietnamese not wanting to live in high rise apartments.  I have some American friends of Asian descent who live in Hà Nội and they live in a high rise – and they have commented on how uncomfortable the Vietnamese are with living in tall buildings.

Bird Flu

Okay – I said it.

Bird flu.

We are not sticking our head in the sand and hoping it will go away.  The English language media in Việt Nam covers bird flu, and the country is trying to handle the situation.

We were in Hà Nội last week when a Hanoian died of bird flu.  Worse, he lived in the section of the city we were in.  On Tuesday, I intended to have eggs for breakfast – but that was the day all eggs, chickens, and ducks were banned. 

I try to pick up a copy of the English language daily paper, the Việt Nam News,  whenever I can.  I also read the web site of Thanh Niên in English.  The cover story in the latest edition of Outlook was about bird flu.  (Outlook is a slick magazine put out by the Việt Nam News Agency.)  Wander around the web sites – bird flu is covered.

I drove through some of Huê’s markets the other day – and I saw no chickens, ducks, or eggs.  None.  Zip.  Zero.  Zilch.

I asked my students – are you worried about bird flu?  All told me they know about bird flu, and are concerned, but not worried.  I like their attitude.

The fact remains that there has yet to be a documented case of human-to-human transmission.  If that happens, we have something scary to worry about.   In the meantime, we feel safe as long as we do not go out and play in chicken doo doo, or drink raw duck blood.  We cannot eat chicken or eggs now, so that is further insurance.  In short, we are probably as safe here as we would be back in America.

And – I truly hope the pandemic does not hit Việt Nam.  It would be devastating  in so many ways.  The most obvious is the trauma of lost lives and grieving families.  But the impact is here already.  Duck and chicken flocks are being “culled” – a nice word meaning they are killing all the birds to prevent the spread of the disease.  The government currently compensates each farmer 15,000 Vietnamese dông – less than a dollar – for each bird.  That will put most farmers out of business as they normally get between 30,000 and 40,000 VND per bird.  There are no sophisticated subsidies available to these people as there is in the European Union or the United States.  The loss of their flocks means poverty to the small farmers.

A pandemic would also mean the vast majority of the foreigners would leave.  There are large numbers of Taiwanese, Japanese, French, Brits, and other nationalities working in international businesses in Việt Nam.  Non-profit organizations would pull their people out.  The tourism industry would die, and that is a huge income generator for Việt Nam.

We are safe – but I am not so sure about Việt Nam itself.

One Building’s Construction

The third floor is now on – and noticing the insertion of even more reinforcing rods, I’m gonna guess there will be a fourth floor.  The construction crew is so used to seeing me now, they just wave when they see me taking pictures.  The first few times, they seemed a bit nervous that a foreigner was photographing them, but now they yell at me when I go by.

Assumptions

We recently spent a few days in Hà Nội.  While watching traffic one evening, I realized I have not been writing about two-wheeling in Việt Nam – I have been writing about two-wheeling in Huê.

There is a difference.

Hà Nội is a major city – the political capital of the country with a population exceeding two million.  It is well developed and booming.  The traffic in Hà Nội is crazy, but it is also much more orderly than in Huê.  You do not see five giggly girls pedaling down the street talking.  People do not walk in the streets of Hà Nội, primarily because they can walk on the sidewalks – the sidewalks of Huê are too crowded with other “stuff” to use for walking.  In Huê, it is common for people to make left-hand turns by hugging the curb in the wrong direction.  That is done in Hà Nội, but to a far lesser extent.

There are a lot of cyclos in Huê – they are used for more than carting tourists around, they are a prime means of making local deliveries of goods.  There are very few cyclos in Hà Nội, and they are exclusively for tourists.  It is actually unusual to see a cyclo in Hà Noi.

There are a lot more cars in Hà Nội - many more, and that changes the dynamics of riding.  And, there are more traffic lights.  But everything ties together to make Hà Nội traffic a bit more well-mannered than Huê traffic.

Before some Hanoians get all over me and point out errors in my observations, let me say that I know many of the side streets have sidewalks too crowded for walking – that the residential streets are chaotic, and that traffic is different in the Old Quarter.  I know that.  Frankly, I wouldn’t ride a môto from the airport into the city unless I had a death wish.  But, I also know most people coming to Việt Nam will not be going to Huê – they will be going to either Hồ Chí Minh City or Hà Nội.  Keep in mind that my previous postings are about Huê and take my advice with a grain of salt if you are going to the two big cities..

Just remember Huê is not HCMC or Hà Nội – just as Des Moines is not New York City.

Veteran's Day and Freddy Gonzalez

Today is Veteran's Day in the United States.  Every country has a similar day - a time when we remember the young men and women who served their country, whether in war or peace.

The Mystery Guest Blogger and I currently call deep south Texas our home.  Near our home is Edinburg – and in fact, I used to work in Edinburg.  Like most towns in south Texas, it is intensely patriotic.  One of Edinburg’s heroes is Sergeant Alfredo “Freddy” Gonzalez, United States Marine Corps.  Sergeant Gonzalez was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for extraordinary bravery in combat.  There is an elementary school named after him, as well as a main street.  A city park has a bronze plaque dedicated to him.  The U.S.S. Freddy Gonzalez is a naval warship named in his honor.

Sergeant Gonzalez met his death while assaulting North Vietnamese troops inside the St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church compound in Huê on February 4, 1968 during the famous Tet Offensive.  The building does not exist anymore.  The area has been developed, but it is remembered by some of the “old timers”.  It is in the tourist area of town where the Mandarin Café sits today.

I find it incredibly ironic that as an old soldier who served as a grunt in Việt Nam a long time ago, I am on the holy ground where a genuine hero from my home town met his fate.

There is a tradition that applies to holders of the Medal of Honor.  That tradition says that the Medal of Honor winner is saluted by any other soldier regardless of rank.  That means a General salutes a Private if the Private won the Medal of Honor.

I was an Army Infantry Captain, and Freddy was a Marine Sergeant.  Sergeant Gonzalez:  consider yourself honored by the sharpest salute you have ever seen.  I salute you from Huê.

Riding in the Rain

Việt Nam’s climate is monsoonal.  That’s techie talk meaning that everywhere you go in Việt Nam, there is a rainy season.  The time of the rainy season is different in different parts of the country, but sooner or later, it will rain on you when you’re riding.

Count on it!

Besides having to learn how to ride in the rain, you must also learn that you cannot avoid getting wet.  The best you can do is keep most of your body dry - - but you are going to get wet.

Deal with it!

The well-dressed môto rider carries a poncho all the time, folded neatly under the seat, ready for use whenever the skies get dark.  Note that there is a transparent panel in the front of the poncho. That lets you drape the poncho over the handlebars (and therefore keep your hands and arms dry) yet let your headlight shine through.

The well-dressed môto passenger has a poncho too – though it is best she bring her own as there is no room for two ponchos under the seat.  It is not uncommon for a passenger to just slip under the coattails of the driver and try to stay dry that way, but you’ll do better with your own poncho.

Its best to wear some sort of rubber sandals (not flip-flops) in the rain.  Wearing regular leather shoes will just ruin them and keep your feet wet longer.  Boots are too much of a hassle.  Don’t worry if your feet get wet – they get wet whenever you take a shower, so let ‘em get wet when you ride in the rain.

Of course, you could wear a rain suit.  The comment often heard from those who have tried it is that they get almost as wet from the sweat as they would from the rain.  We have suits, though – just in case.

But, as you can imagine, there are dangers to riding in the rain.  Some are obvious – you will have less traction, and you want to be careful of hydroplaning – though that is hard to do at slow môto speeds around town.  Your chief danger comes from having your rear view mirrors being blocked by the poncho (see picture) and the crazy kids who don’t have a poncho.  They seem to think that if they just go faster, they will not get wet.  They will zoom by you, weaving in and out of traffic, and usually scare the hell out of you.  Generally speaking, slow down, and use side streets as much as possible when its raining.

Even more fun happens when you ride in the rain - - and at night.

Cheap thrills.