Fashionable, NOT !!!

No one's ever accused me of being a "sharp dressed man". And I readily admit my limited sense of what's fashionable. I didn't realize until I was already out and about how poorly I chose on this day.

Huong and I asked a passerby to photograph us while strolling around to look at Tet decorations and sales items. Unlike most who are handed a camera and asked to take a shot you can see this woman framed us very well. And made a record of my fashion choice for the day that is now available for all the world to see.

Maybe better next time?

...and more stuff moves through the streets

Back to the topic of carrying loads around Saigon. This time its carrying big or unwieldy loads on motorbikes and bicycles. When my fiancée visited me in the US over Thanksgiving she gave me the book "Bikes of Burden" packed with photos of overloaded motorbikes. It inspired me to try and get some similar photos and videos for myself. This video is a montage of several overloaded motorbikes and bicycles. Kind of a "flavor" of the typical sights seen while riding around the city.

Many motorbikes at the end of the video are carrying various sorts of plants. Those shots were taken in the days before Tet holiday. It seemed everyone was getting some type of tree, shrub or flower to celebrate Tet. There's also a clip of a family of four on a motorbike. Not a commercial load but still an overloaded bike. And I'm sure there's more motorbikes in the background of the other clips overloaded with people.

Also note the way people dress. Many are fully covered with long sleeves, hoods, gloves and long pants. The daily temperature is about 90°F±! The Vietnamese are protecting themselves from the sun but why they don't get heat stroke in the bargain I can't understand.

Perhaps these clips are not as awe inspiring as the bicycle rider/delivery guy. However this activity goes on morning to night. Like busy ants working tirelessly to support the colony. At some point I might not take notice but for now it continually intrigues me to see all these oversize loads carried on small vehicles crisscrossing the city throughout the day. The motorbikes are typically 105cc I'm told. And of course it's just legs when its a bicycle!

Update: Apparently the typical delivery motorbike is only about 70cc and a decade or two old. The 105cc bikes belong to people better off than the delivery drivers.

More Tet

One of the things that happens during Tet is lots of people head back home to visit family and friends for about a week. For most home isn't Ho Chi Minh City. So the city gets a bit empty and quiet compared to the rest of the time. Nearly all shops and restaurants are closed. Crossing the street is no where near the thrill it is on a regular day. You can even be out on the street for 30 seconds or a minute without seeing a taxi.

It's an enjoyable calm that settles over the city.

The people left in HCM  spend their time visiting, eating and gifting each other with lucky money. The visiting and eating remind me a lot of the Thanksgiving to New Year's holiday season back in the US. Lots of visiting and way too much eating. Here's a little evidence of the visiting and eating.

On two successive days Huong had visitors in her apartment and served everyone dinner. Since there were more people than could fit at the table we all sat on the floor. Lucky for me I'm still flexible enough to be able to sit on the floor with legs crossed in front of me. It was a bit of a stretch but the company and the food made it all worthwhile. It was clear to me everyone was enjoying themselves.


The lucky money gifting is a bit like Christmas because of the gift giving. Different though because the gift is always the same. A red envelope with some small amount of money in it. The emphasis in giving the gift is to wish the person well for the new year and not the amount of money in the envelope. From what I saw the lucky money is usually given only to children and the family patriarch or matriarch. Though there is also some lucky money exchanged between friends.

Ice Skating in Ho Chi Minh

Turns out not really. The link I found said it closed. My fiancee called and found that it is open. So we headed out with her two girls to give it a try.

The linked article says the rink is kept at "180C". Since that's well over boiling I figured it's a error and really the place is kept at 18°C. That's a much more comfortable 64°F. The thought of spending some time indoors at that temperature after nearly a month mostly above 90°F really was appealing to me.

We got there and it didn't seem to me to be air conditioned at all, bummer. The last few days have been really comfortable though, mid 80's, so I wasn't roasting on the rink.

Turns out it isn't an ice rink at all. That's a disappointment. I was looking forward to skating on some real ice. This is some kind of synthetic material almost like a nylon cutting board.

We rented skates for the four of us and had a good time. Huong and her girls tried to glide around. They all started by holding onto the barrier along the side. Eventually they all let go and were going around on their own, more like walking than gliding though.


For myself I was able to skate with some difficulty. The surface friction seemed to change a bit from place to place on the "ice" and the different parts of the skates' blades grabbed the surface differently. So I was able to skate but it was a kind of herky jerky motion.

That's okay though. We all had fun. Though I've never before perspired so much when skating!

Chúc Mừng Năm Mới 2012

It's now the end of the first day of the new year. Need a lunar calendar to see things that way. Năm Mới is a big celebration in Vietnam.

Last night, starting at midnight, there was a fireworks show that lasted for 15 minutes to celebrate the beginning of the year. After that there were dragons in the streets preceded and followed by folks with drums and cymbals.

There were still a few dragons around this morning. As I left the hotel this is the sight that greeted me at the door way.

The big round red face is meant to represent the earth. Should always be a fat guy or someone with padding who takes this role. The earth is full and abundant and someone who's fat or padded represents this. The dragon is because this is the year of the dragon. Haven't asked if a goat, tiger, snake, etc is used in other years.

Everywhere I walked people wished me "Happy New Year" and were really delighted when I gave my reply as "Chúc Mừng Năm Mới". Got quite a few people to stop, smile and shake my hand at that.

Things I've seen the last few days... The new year is a time of renewal and everybody has been preparing by cleaning house. The activity has been visible from the street for the last week with everyone brooming out the house, hosing down the floors (the water is in the street and since the doorways are about full with of the home, 5 meters, what's being done inside is visible from the street), washing motorbikes and painting. I'm told the tradition is to have everything done by the end of new year's eve because no cleanup work is supposed to happen new year's day. That's because everything is supposed to be fresh and ready for the new year.

Most businesses are closed. Some began closing two days ago and will stay closed as long as a week.

Visiting family and friends happens new year's eve and day. The visits are short, 1/2 hour to an hour. It's meant as a time to give best wishes for the new year, give "lucky money" in colorful envelopes and head to the next stop on the visit list.

Nice custom. It doesn't emphasize the gift but rather the idea behind it, wishing health and prosperity for the new year.

A little taste of home

I wanted coffee. I do like Vietnamese coffee, especially cà phê sữa nóng. When I saw Starbucks I decided to try it and see if or how it changed for Vietnam.

Look at the picture and you'll see, it changed by not being Starbucks any more! And there are some other differences too. First there's only one size of coffee and second the price is reasonable. As for similarities the coffee is good perhaps even better. Told you I like Vietnamese coffee.

Oh yes we are walking across THAT street!!!

Stopped to do some shopping at a Coop Mart. Needed some things like another tooth brush. Stores in Vietnam don't carry the same selections of goods that are found in US stores. So even though the Coop Mart is somewhat comparable to a Walmart there are certain things that just are not there and must be purchased elsewhere. Example goods that aren't stocked are cards, pens, stationery of any kind. I needed a card and across the street from the Coop Mart was a book and stationery store. So across the street we went.

The stationery store didn't have much of a selection. Only two subjects on the cards, "Happy New Year" (Vietnamese New Year) and "Happy Birthday".

Crossing to get to the book/stationery store was mind blowing. Standing on the curb looking at the street it's hard to imagine crossing. Crossing back to return to the motorbike I decided right away to record the trek. Watch and you'll see why.

To cross was not just embarking on some foolhardy tourist adventure. You'll see plenty of other people crossing too, when they're not obscured by traffic that is.

Listen closely at the beginning and you'll hear the nickname for buses and why they are called that.

We don't need no OSHA!!

This goes under the heading of "you're not in Kansas anymore". Being a born and breed American you get used to looking at things certain ways. And one of those ways is OSHA and another would be the Consumer Product Safety Commission. I think we're all aware of them and that awareness colors our perception of how things should be done. We may decry excesses like, "caution hot coffee can cause burns", but in general I think they've contributed to our well being and safety. And I think having that undercurrent of safety makes it even more amazing when our standard everyday cautions are thrown to the wind. How can it be done? Aren't people getting hurt? Etc.

Here's an example of getting it done in Vietnam or being suicidal in the US. Things to note: no traffic control not even warning cones or a flagger up the street, two guys and a ladder where's the cherry picker?, and best or worst of all moving to a new spot to work.

Green means go

...and red doesn't necessarily mean stop! I'll beat the traffic horse for a while. Saigon traffic still fascinates me. Below is a video taken at a red light. We're stopped. The light changes to green. We go. The intersection isn't clear, the other traffic hasn't stopped and this is how Saigon traffic is. Watch the progress through the intersection. Just amazing.

Don't miss the traffic's composition. Buses, cars, motorbikes a bicycle and 3 pedestrians!! In Hochiminh kids are taught how to play in the street, it's a life skill.

How about working in traffic?

Hochiminh is a bustling city. There's life and activity on every corner and along every block. And there's plenty of traffic to and fro to bring activity to every block. Traffic is a feature of the city. It's written about in papers and magazines. And its talked about on television. So it really wasn't a surprise to see this photo/video shoot going on down the centerline of a four lane road entering/exiting a busy traffic circle. It wasn't a surprise but it was still worthwhile to stop, watch and shoot the action, from the safety of the curb.

Getting stuff from one place to another!

One of the things you'll see in Vietnam is there aren't many large trucks. At least not in the city. So things are transported in small quantities using all manner of vehicle. There's the ubiquitous motorbike that carries everything and is loaded down like the Grinch's sleigh, there's motorized and pedal powered 3 wheeled carts, very small trucks (think smaller than a light duty pickup truck) and bicycles. And the wondrous thing is all this traffic mixes together.

Here's a short example of a guy on a bicycle delivering a load somewhere. Watch it and wonder. And watch for the loaded motorbikes going by too.

Siem Reap Angkor National Museum and Angkor

Saturday and Sunday I was in Cambodia. My plan was to see Angkor and the temples there.

By lucky coincidence my hotel was across the street from the Angkor National Museum. So I spent Saturday afternoon looking through the exhibits there. This is an excellent museum! It has a guided floor plan that introduces Buddhism and Hinduism, the "historical periods" that Angkor's temples, their architecture, statues and engravings span and the distinctive characteristics of each period. Then it leads you through exhibits illustrating each of these things.


It also has very good multimedia presentations that all worked. And all could be played in a number of languages including English, Khmer, Japanese and Chinese. I'm certain there were additional options on the language menu I just didn't recognize what languages they were.

On Sunday it was off to Angkor. Our guide made clear that Angkor Wat is a specific temple site within the city of Angkor. So... off to Angkor.

Ta Prom temple detail

One piece of trivia our guide passed on, one of the Ta Prom temples was featured when filming Raiders of the Lost Ark. I'll let the pictures do the talking from here.

You can find a map of Angkor here. Or see Google Maps satellite view here.

Leaving Cambodia

Sieam Reap is a quiet airport. For some reason there are three international flights leaving at nearly the same time. So it's gone from empty to capacity in a few minutes. Will be nice to get out of here. Boarding should be starting in a few minutes I hope.

On the way to Cambodia

Last visit to Vietnam I didn't start planning travel right at the beginning so I missed some sights I hoped to see. This time around I started scratching things onto the calendar from almost the first day. And so this morning I'm sitting in Than Son Nhat International Airport waiting to board a flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Once there I'll visit the national museum across the street from my hotel. Then Sunday I take a day trip to Angkor Wat. Then back to the hotel for a ride back to the airport and a flight back to Hochiminh City tomorrow evening.

Snow ball's chance in hell...

Around town businesses are busily taking down Christmas decorations and putting up Tet decorations.

Even so there's still plenty of Christmas stuff up. I have to say they really do put effort into putting up a good display and it looks nice. 

I do find it amusing to see all the snow, snowmen and winter time motifs in the displays though. There's not a snowball's chance in hell to see such a thing for real here. December/January is the coolest part of the year. So far the lowest temperature I've been aware of is 80°F.

Ain't gonna be no snowmen here!

air quality -- the pictures

An update to my previous post. Two pictures looking at the BITEXCO Financial Tower taken from locations about a block apart. The one where the tower is barely visible reflects conditions that prevailed for about four days this week.

In the clearer one the air is visibly better. Even so it isn't as clear as when I was here in September.

The bad air - the tower is barely visible

...and the "good air" - different camera at about 1/3 the resolution too!

Air quality...

Sucks!

When I was here before I noticed the air was bad. In the morning it started out okay and through the day it got worse and worse. Some days I could "feel" the air on my skin.

Well that was then, the end of the rainy season, with rain at the end of every day or in the night.

This is the dry season. The temperatures are much more tolerable for me so that's a relief. However without the daily rains, not a drop since I landed a week ago, the air quality is worse.

My own explanation for this is more dust and dirt is kicked up by traffic because it isn't stuck to the ground from being wet. The really fine particles stay in the air longer because there's no rain coming down to wash them out and back onto the ground. And then there's the traffic which is continuing to make its same contribution, wet season or dry.

We talk about alternate fuels in the US. If reliable reasonably priced electric vehicles could be introduced in Vietnam I have no doubt there'd be health benefits realized in short order.

It's the same... only different

Being in Vietnam continues to be a stimulating experience. Everything is familiar and yet everything is a little different.

There's a variety of stores, grocery, electronics, pharmacy, clothing, etc., with all the products that are expected. Take a closer look and the differences start showing in the details.

It dawned on me yesterday as I was getting a splash of Listerene, bought here, for my attack on morning breath that there is no need to squeeze the sides of the cap to get the bottle top off! Apparently there's not much concern for safety or the ability to easily open common health products doesn't create liability for the producer.

Soda and juice cans seem the same size and shape but they're not. Instead of 12 oz, 354.9 ml, they're 320 ml. That is just 1.2 oz shy of normal size in the US. Not enough to be immediately apparent when you're holding the can in your hand.

Escalators go up on the left and down on the right. Something I didn't even realize in the US until a couple of attempts at getting on the wrong escalator here.

Saying "thank you" or in local speak "cảm ơn" isn't expected. As a matter of fact saying it routinely gets odd looks from people its directed at. In the US we'll say thanks when wait staff takes our order, then when they leave drinks, then the starters then the main course and then when the table is cleared. Here it isn't the habit and the wait staff start giving odd looks about the 3rd "cảm ơn". Same holds true for getting some help from the desk clerk or asking assistance in the grocery store.

It feels odd for me not to say it but then it obviously feels odd to hear for those its directed at.

I'm sure there's other things I haven't put my finger on yet. What it all amounts to is everything is the same with just a little different wrinkle to make it feel not quite exactly what you already know.

More food - duck embryo anyone?

My former father-in-law ate fertilized duck eggs. I've forgotten what the believed value of eating the fertilized egg is. However the egg simply being fertilized didn't necessarily make the egg desirable. The more desirable egg had a well defined duck embryo inside!

I can remember seeing him relish eating eggs with a clearly identifiable duckling, head, eyes, bill, webbed feet etc. all clearly visible. The eggs are eaten hard boiled.

Well, I never ate one and neither did any of his other sons in law.

Yesterday Huong took me to a hot pot restaurant. Never seen anything like it before except in a video game my kids had. You order a hot pot with broth which goes into a recess in the counter at your seat. There's a conveyor just beyond that which goes past all the seats in the restaurant, like an airport baggage carousel. On the conveyor are dishes with various ingredients that you pick off and dump into your hot pot to make your own meal. This conveyor had the fertilized duck eggs on it.

I was at the restaurant with my Huong and her oldest daughter. She asked me if I wanted one of the duck eggs and said it is one of her girls' favorites. Before I could think about it there it was in my hot pot. So I ate it. As it turned out mine didn't have a really well formed embryo so there was no visual of a little duckie being eaten. There were lots of veins in the egg and plenty of downy feather filaments though.

Now that I've overcome my reluctance to eat a fertilized egg I may need to try again, and again, until I get an egg with duckling inside. Then I'll know what it's like to eat one of the really desirable eggs.

More Food

I like to try all kinds of food. George Carlin set me off on a quest for the "blue food" ages ago. Like him I still haven't found it but I've come across plenty of mighty tasty things in the search.

Last night I went to a food festival in Hochiminh with my fiancee and her daughters.

Huong broght back to our table some grilled meat on skewers. Turns out one was deer and the other crocodile.

I've had deer before in the US. It's usually a bit gamey and tough. This deer was much the same.

On the other hand the crocodile was tasty. I would definitely enjoy having more. "It tastes like chicken" is often used to describe unfamiliar meats. In the case of crocodile it actually does taste something like chicken. The meat has a texture like beef though. It makes for an enjoyable combination of flavor and texture. I'll be having me some more of that!

And now that I'm back in Vietnam I need to get back on track sampling the unusual meats I didn't get to sample last visit. So still to come cat, rat, snake, cricket (bugs are meat, aren't they?), horse and I'm probably forgetting some.