Snake wine

Saturday was a great day. We got up early and headed over to Koto for breakfast. Great coffee and food, although the kids there giggle at us every time we try to order anything in Vietnamese. We sat upstairs looking over the Well of Clarity in the Temple of Literature. Not a bad way to wake up.

Then over Long Bien bridge to spend the day with a coworker of Bill's. Huang grew up in a village outside of Hanoi but now lives with her uncle, aunt, and two cousins. She wanted to fix us a traditional Vietnamese dinner. It was wonderful. I helped until her 16-year-old niece Tam kicked me (nicely) out of the kitchen.




Bill helped grill the pork for the bun cha. He can't quite squat forever like Huang, but he did pretty well for an American.


Huang's uncle and aunt built their lovely house five years ago. They have a business selling chicken in the market. It seems like almost everyone in Hanoi is an entrepeneur.




The meal was wonderful -- grilled pork, rice noodles, steamed rice, fresh cucumbers. We ate on the floor (Huang said that was traditional).
Huang's uncle broke out the snake wine for us. He made it ten years ago himself -- ricewine with a number of snakes stewing in the bottle. Duan, Huang's friend, said that it is much better than the stuff you can buy in the stores because they reuse the snakes. It is supposed to be good for your health, especially by men on their wedding night. And it's usually drunk by men, but the uncle insisted I try a little too. mmmmmmmm....


Then we hopped on a local bus to Bat Trang, a ceramics village. Huang says it is one of the wealthier villages because they are starting to export some of their work.


Like we've seen everywhere, people were working hard.







Huang's nephews in one of the workshops.

The kids decided they wanted to make ceramics. The rest of us (that's Huang's friend Duan with us) just sat and relaxed.



The workshop was in this woman's house. She had quite a conversation with me. It seemed friendly.

Silk Village

Saturday morning, we got up and took a long bike ride to the silk villge south of Hanoi. It was a great ride with room on the road for bikes and a little less honking than normal. On the way there, we passed Hanoi University.





This is the student union.







And we had lunch at this great little place in the silk village, Van Phuc. Some of these fish kept trying to leap out of this tank.




On the way home, we saw that the Viet Nam Builders convention was in town.

Sunday, off again for more exploring, this time to the Army Museum, which worked its way through numerous revolutions. They said that this tank was one of those that drove through the gates of the presidential palace during the revolution in 1945.

Lenin statue

There is the statue of Lenin close to where we live. During day, it looks like this.


But at night, there seems to be a lot going on, so last night we took a taxi over there. In one corner is about 30 women doing aerobics. There are a ton of young guys break dancing, doing bike tricks, and skateboarding. Lots of wool caps and baggy pants, just like home.



And then there are the kids in cars. Some entrepeneur has brought in all of these little battery-operated cars and the kids go nuts over them. Some of them are remote controlled by the parent.

We then walked across the street for dinner at a place where you can get just about anything that has walked (turtle, or swam for dinner. While we were eating, somebody brought in a bag with a live porcupine and took it into the kitchen. These guys were in cages at the front, waiting to be dinner. Bill and I stuck with the seafood.

Busy weekend

We got up and biked over Long Bien bridge, which crosses the Red River, to get out of town on Saturday morning. It was bombed heavily during the war and now is only used for trains, pedestrians, bikes and motorbikes. Many of the bikes were taking produce (rice, flowers, fish, and live chickens!) to the market.





Sunday, we took a tour to Hoa Lu, the first capital of Viet Nam. There are two temples, which are dedicated to two of the original kings (I learned that pagodas are dedicated to Buddhism; temples are dedicated to ancestor worship and deities). The story we were told was that the second king was a general who led a revolution against the first, who was executed. They both were married to the same woman.

We then took boats on Tam Coc. The limestone mountains and rice fields were beautiful. It was a two hour trip and many of the rowers were tiny Vietnamese women. A lot of them rowed with their feet!

Early morning bike ride

We got up at 6 this morning to beat some of the traffic and heat and rode our bikes to Hoan Keim Lake and the old quarter. People of all ages in parks were practicing tai chi or playing badmitton.



In the old quarter, there are these speakers from which the government makes announcements. Last night, we were out to dinner with a coworker of Bill’s who said that they were telling people to wash their vegetables with good water because there’s a cholera epidemic going on.



Yesterday I learned that I need to practice my bargaining skills. I overpaid an elderly lady on the street for a bunch of bananas. She gave me a hug. A young woman who was watching sold me postcards, which I really didn’t need. She said she could tell that I was a teacher and that she needed money for her kids. Then, I took a motorbike home and – either I misunderstood or he deliberately saw me coming – ended up paying 10 times what I thought it would be. Which was still a pretty good deal. Today Bill getting an even worse deal for some oranges and bananas from this lady at the same location.

Random events in my wonderful life with my wonderful wife

Linda and I ordered beef yesterday. I am not sure it was beef, but I hope mine won its last race.

The other day I stopped by a "Salon" to see if they would cut my hair. There were 4 hair cutters and 4 customers, all lined up in the chairs. One of the women came over and I did the international old guy symbol for haircut (using my first two fingers like scissors on my head). She went back in front of the 4 chairs and quite a discussion ensued with all 8 woman participating. After what seemed to be an in-depth debate, the woman came back, shook her head no and pointed to the street.

Buying bikes was a bit like going to an Amway meeting. There was a lot of passion and maybe just a bit of misinformation shared. Linda got the "best selling bike in the world" while I was placed on "this years model". After a short test ride where we were sucked into the vortex of passing motor bikes we said yes. So far, everyone is happy. Linda saw a number of bikes with made in the USA stickers. Which of course were on top of a number of other stickers. I have no idea where anything is made.

Linda and I were at a temple on Saturday when a petite Vietnamese woman whispered to Linda "where did you get your treatment". Ah, a question I have frequently pondered as well. After more discussion, it turns out her boyfriends mother (from Germany) broke her foot a few days earlier. We quickly spotted her as she was the only one enviously eyeing Linda's fiberglass boot. Very nice people, Linda delivered the boot to them 2 days later. So while I go off to work on Trachoma, Linda is servicing the orthopedic needs of Vietnam.

Construction pictures

Bill and I bought bikes yesterday and are looking forward to the day that we do not seem like such a spectacle. Today, Bill took a break from work and I just too another in a series of breaks and rode around West Lake (Tay Ho), about 13 km.



I had to take some of these pictures for dad and Greg. We thought we might be able to get you some of the hats like this guy is wearing for Housel Construction.


The following pictures are from a construction site for a house. These women were in charge of getting this huge pile of rocks down to the workers. They seemed amazingly cheerful for someone carrying big baskets of rocks on their heads.

My first day on my own

Bill went into the office today. I think he’s had enough togetherness. I did the wash, which runs for two hours and has to be hung to get dry. After working with the Rosetta Stone for a while, I heard from David, a German man who lives here whose mom broke her ankle her first day visiting. Because I am finished with my boot, I took a cab over to her hotel to take it to her. She was thrilled and was excited about walking around in it. I, on the other hand, was thrilled to pass it off.

I then decided to explore the area. I ended up walkig south instead of north and was completely lost for a while, but ran into some bike shops so I guess it was meant to be. I’m going to take Bill back tonight or tomorrow so we can really start exploring. After about two hours of wandering, I decided to take up one of the guys offering rides on motor bikes on every corner.

He seemed to be pretty new at it, because when I asked how much, he said it would be 5,000 dong (about 35 cents). An old guy corrected him and said it would be 15,000 dong. So, I strapped on my helmet and hopped on. I don’t know if he was particularly cautious because he had a rookie on the back, but the ride was smooth and a lot of fun. When I gave him a 20,000 dong note at the end, he said it was too much. I guess he really was new at it.

Field trip to the Temple of Literature

Bill took me to some of his favorite places today. We had breakfast at KOTO, a restaurant started by an Australian-Vietnamese man to train street and disadvantaged youth to work in the food industry. We then visited the Temple of Literature, the oldest university in Hanoi, which Bill wrote about earlier. It must have been field trip day for the school children because there were hundreds and they all wanted to say “hello.”




Each graduate of the university had one of these stella carved in his honor. Much nicer than a diploma.





This woman was working there with a broom made using a large palm leaf.


We met a couple from Germany who had come this week to visit their son. The wife tripped and broke her ankle her first day here and was very envious of my boot. We traded email addresses and I’m hoping I will be getting around well enough by next week that I can pass it on to her. I will miss it though when I am crossing the street because it seems like the motorbike riders realize that running into it would do a lot of damage to their bike.

We then walked halfway around Hoan Keim Lake, visited a pagoda, and had pizza, beer, and ice cream (James, we’ll bring you here). On our walk, we ran across a huge disturbance. It appeared that a foreigner angered a young Vietnamese man for some reason. The young guy kept chasing the older guy back and forth across this busy street, which backed up the traffic and attracted quite a crowd. After about ten minutes, the paddy wagon showed up and both guys were thrown in the back, which caused us to discuss what we would do if the same thing happened to us. Bill seems to think that I should jump in the back of the truck with him. I think maybe one of us should stay out in order to contact a lawyer.

I arrived

Thanks to Susan, who got me to the airport on Monday, I and my two huge suitcases (one with clothes, one with yarn and books) arrived at Hanoi's Noi Bai Airport Wednesday morning still on crutches, which I used to my advantage to get bulkhead seats and one trip in a wheelchair in Seattle. The wheelchair guy in Tapei looked at me and decided I was getting around well enough on my own so I got some exercise. The flights went fine, the food was amazingly good (China Airlines), and James would have loved the cute flight attendants. I had plenty of time to start and finish "The Unwanted," a fascinating autobiography by an Amerasian boy in Nha Trang after the war (thanks for recommending it Kathy!). He was one of the people on the roof of the Saigon embassy in 1975 trying to get on one of the last helicopters out. He didn't make it to America for years.

It was good to get here and see Bill. Hanoi agrees with him. I got my introduction to Hanoi traffic (everything Bill said it was) on our way to the apartment -- a very tiny but nice place overlooking West Lake and across from a lot of little shops with everything you need. If what you need is interesting looking fruit, noodles, beer made that morning, and fish. That night we want to a wonderful restaurant in an old French house, and then to Hoan Keim Lake for ice cream.

Every morning we go downstairs for breakfast. There are a lot of American families staying here while they finalize their adoptions of some beautiful babies, so there is a lot of noise out on the playground all day. Yesterday we met an American ex-marine who was here in the 60s. He now lives in Bangkok with his wife (from the Phillipines) and has started a software company that hires Vietnamese developers. He has spent a lot of time all over Asia and it was interesting to hear his perspective on doing business in the different countries.

Thursday, Bill went to a meeting at the Press Club so I tagged along and explored the area a little. Mostly, I sat at bench across from the Opera House. It was built by the French in 1911and is supposed to be beautiful on the inside. Ho Chi Minh declared the August Revolution on its front steps in 1945. While I was sitting, I was offered opportunities to purchase many things, but being new to town spent all the dong Bill had given me within the first five minutes with a bookseller. I already had the first three books he showed me (a travel guide, phrase book, and a history book), but he finally showed me one I hadn't packed that he said I had to have. So I figured he must be right and bought it. It was a copy of a copy of a copy and I'm hoping it has all of the pages. Then I figured out that I had spent all of my lunch money, so it was a long wait for Bill.

Friday, we went to lunch with Dr. Mai (on the right) and Ms. Duc.
Dr. Mai runs ITI-Vietnam and Ms. Duc is on her staff. We went to a wonderful restaurant, Quan An Ngon, and sat outside under a huge tree. The dining area is surrounded by booths of the best (formerly) street vendors in Hanoi.

We had food from all over the country --spring rolls, thin pancakes with grilled pork, grilled shrimp. I forgot about the cholera epidemic going on now in Hanoi while we dug into the greens. Oh well. I still feel great.

Dr Mai and Ms Duc are really appreciative of the work that Bill's doing for them. And they seem to be enjoying his high level of enthusiasm. It was great for me to sit and watch him work. He said that I am going to be his assistant, although now we are haggling over a title, salary, and business cards.