Lac Ba be - jour 1 suite

Hier, après avoir parcouru le village en long et en large, nous sommes tombés sur trois autres touristes, à l’air intéressant. Il se trouve qu’ils étaient espagnols et que j’ai bien pratiqué ma langue, que je croyais perdue apres 10 ans de manque de pratique, mais pas du tout, mes grands parents Catalans auraient été fiers de moi ! Les trois jotas, Juan Julian et Jose, étaient vraiment, mais vraiment sympa et on a bien rigolé ensemble : tellement qu’on a fini chez l’habitant – ni le notre, ni le leur, mais dans une maison à coté ou on a joyeusement partagé alcool de riz et fumoir avec une famille Vietnamienne jusqu’a l’heure du diner. Le fumoir en question est assez difficile à gérer – je parle en tant que témoin et non pas par expérience – c’est le même principe qu’un bong mais sans hashish : quelques secondes apres l’inhalation vient le tournis, et quand le tournis vient les Vietnamiens qui eux ont l’habitude sont morts de rire.


Vers 18h30 on est rentré diner dans notre maison d’hôte, et avons partagé riz legumes et diverses viandes séchées avec la famille, à la lueur d’une petite lampe. Anh Son a une petite fille de quatre ans, Yen, jolie comme tout, qui nous a chanté des chansons folkloriques pendant le diner. Apres manger on s’est installé sur la terrasse et nos copains espagnols nous y ont rejoint pour passer un moment avec nous, Anh Son et Mr Toan. Je me suis couchée à 22h30, et quand Dan a éteint la petite lampe près du lit on s’est retrouvé dans le noir complet, au milieu des sons de natures et du chant des grenouilles : on était bien à l’abri dans notre cabane tout en ayant l’impression de dormir à la belle étoile. Je me suis endormie en me sentant en harmonie avec la nature, sentiment agréable chassant tout souci ou angoisse nocture. J’ai dormi d’un trait jusqu’au chant du coq.





After walking around the village we met the only other tourists there, three really cool spanish guys with a great sense of humour. I practised my Spanish which I thought at that point was long gone, but as it happens no it’s not. Spanish is like a bike and I can still ride that bike well enough to make my grandparents proud! We seeked a place to sit for a beer with our new found friends and ended up in a shop/living room of the Vietnamese family living there, drinking rice wine and smoking the local bong – marijuana free, but still gives you a massive head spin – with the locals. It was great fun, which we interrupted to head back home for dinner, only to take it up again after dinner when our Spanish friends came to our house to spend a nice moment with us and our family on our terrace. And by our terrace I mean Mr Toan’s terrace.
Dinner was amazing, we ate rice, vegetables and all sorts of nice meats (mainly pork, which made sense as we had heard like… five pigs getting killed earlier in the day, I can still hear them scream…), we all ate around a small table, sitting on tiny benches on the floor, each bench big enough for one of my bum cheeks, in the dim light of a small lamp, talking Vietnamese - or trying, and laughing. Anh Son has a four years old little girl who sang folk songs for us, she was adorable.
I went to bed after sharing a few more drinks with our family and our new Spanish friends, feeling at peace and feeling like a part of the surrounding nature. After Dan turned off the light in our little wooden bedroom, we were plunged in complete darkness, with the sounds of the frogs and the river all around us. It felt like sleeping in the fields, right in the middle of nature, while safely tucked in our beds. I fell asleep free of any worry I might usually have at that time of the day, and slept through the night without stirring until morning, where about 15 singing roosters found me waking up well rested and happy.

Wedding at Ba Be Lake

The piercing squeal of the pig sparked my interest so I went to investigate. The next house along from our guesthouse had the attention of many of the local villagers, as well as mine, as a group of young men were at the initial stage of preparing a feast. That feast was to celebrate a wedding the following day and pork was on the menu.

As I approached the men had the pig upside down with his legs tied balancing on a long chair. One man cut the pigs throat while another caught the blood in a large bowl. The blood would be left to congeal and eaten as part of the celebration. The pig was then taken down to the nearby river to clean. That was not the only pig that we heard killed over our four days in Ba Be Lake which is normal considering many live off their own produce. There is a market nearby where many of the villagers travel too as well.

None of the animals are confined to cages or tied with chains. As we walk around the village pigs, dogs, cats, chickens, ducks, goats and even buffalo’s wander around freely, most quite oblivious to our presence. It is a peaceful and welcoming environment and you can’t help feeling relaxed almost at once………………..that is only of course, if you are not the pig.

Lac Ba be - 1

Nous revenons de quatre jours au Lac Ba bê. 4 jours dont deux demi journées de transport, quand même, puisque le trajet hanoi – Ba bê, c’est un taxi, deux bus et un moto-taxi, soit plus de 7 heures (aller). On avait decidé de prendre quelques jours de vacances, après plusieurs mois non-stop, et Phuong et Ly – nos copines qui tiennent un agence de voyage - nous on recommendé Ba Bê, alors sans trop se renseigner on s’est lancés. On fait confiance à Phuong et Ly, c’est elles qui nous avaient branché sur Mme Linh à Mai Chau.

Le premier bus, Hanoi – Bak Can, partait d’une gare routiere d’Hanoi super loin de la maison à 6h00 du mat ! On s’est levés à 4h45 du matin, autant vous dire que j’ai passé tout le trajet à dormir. Arrives à Ba Bê, on est allé prendre un café en bord de route à Bak can, en attendant notre deuxième bus une heure plus tard. Mon café m’a un peu reveillée et j’ai fait la connaissance de Toat, un jeune homme à la table voisine qui se rendait aussi au lac Ba Bê et avait envie de s’entrainer en Anglais. Son anglais était très sommaire mais entre son Anglais et mon Vietnamien on a pu discuter un moment. Toat nous a appris à ne pas aller chercher le bus à la gare routière mais plutot à l’attendre ici même au café et le héler quand il passe. C’etait une experience sympa, qui nous a valu de nous retrouver esquichés à l’arrière du bus entre douze personnes puisqu’il ne restait plus de place quand le bus est passé à toute vitesse devant le café et qu’on lui a cavalé aprés en panique (un bus toutes les trois heures, ca ne donne pas envie de le rater). Le bus Bak can – Ba Bê prend une route de montagne très très virageuse et les vietnamiens ont facilement le mal de mer en voiture. Deux personnes ont vomi dans leur sac plastique. Dans un mini bus, c’est pas la joie. Surtout quand je suis à l’arrière et que je ne vois pas la route : moi même j’ai le mal de mer facile... Mais j’ai reussi à garder mon petit dej (sandwich au paté vendu à la gare routière) et mon dej (oranges bananes et café) et une fois à Ba bê, deux heures plus tard, je me sentais relativement bien. De l’abri bus paumé ou nous a déposé le bus, nous avons trouvé deux motos taxi qui nous ont conduit de l’autre cote de la montagne, dans la vallée ou se trouve le village ou nous avions décidé de passer nos nuits, Pag Gnoi. Pendant qu’on attendait les motos taxis, on a discuté avec quelques habitants qui se trouvaient la, et une jeune maman m’a mis dans les bras son bébé de trois mois. Les bébés Vietnamiens sont adorables, vraiment jolis, et calmes : ils nous regardent avec des grands yeux, sans faire de bruit, l’air sérieux. (a part une fois ou un bébé a vu Dan et éclaté en sanglots, mdr).
Dans le village de Pag Gnoi, on dort chez l’habitant : toutes les petites maisons ou presque affichent un grand signe de « Nha Nghi » : Guest house. Ly et Phuong sont en business avec une guest house en particulier, à Pag Ngoi, c’est la maison de Mr Toan. Nos conducteurs de motos connaissaient Mr Toan et ils nous ont deposé juste devant sa maison. On était attendus ! Le fils de Mr Toan, Ahn Son, parle Anglais, et il nous a fait visiter toute la maison, une grande construction en bois, sur pilotis, avec un superbe balcon, sur le flanc de la montagne devant une vue parfaite. On s’est senti à l’aise tout de suite dans cette maison... plus qu’a l’aise même, peaceful. Comment on dit peaceful ? Paisibles. Pas de soucis, tous les bruits s’arretent, et il ne restent que les sons des grenouilles, des crickets, et du feu qui crépite dans la pièce ou les femmes de la maison font cuire le dinner. De toutes les vacances du monde celles ci furent pour moi les plus... paisibles, mais pas dans le sens « qu’est ce qu’on s’emmerde »... plutot dans le sens « la vérité absolue se trouve ici. Et cette vérite, c’est que je me prends trop la tête ».



Sur la balcon de la maison de Mr Toan.

Donc on a visité toute la maison, dont notre petite maison sur pilotis rien que pour nous devant la rivière, et on a rencontré toute la famille : Ahn Son et sa femme, Mr Toan et sa femme, leur fille, la jeune soeur d’Ahn Son et la mamie toute vieille. Tout le monde est adorable, bien sur, comme toujours, tout le monde éclate de rire à nos tentatives en Vietnamien et nous traite comme des membres de la famille.
Aprs avoir deposé nos affaires, Ahn Son, notre hote et guide local, nous a fait à manger et nous avons organisé avec lui nos deux prochaines journées, assis sur le balcon avec un bol de nouilles aux oeufs et une carte de la région depliée sur la table. On a decidé de passer le journée du lendemain en bateau sur le lac et du surlendemain en rando dans les montagnes. Ceci organisé, on est partis se ballader dans le village. Je pourrai vous décrire sans fin le village de Pac Ngoi, ses maisons sur pilotis construites sur le flanc de la montagne avec vue extraordinaire sur la vallée, ses champs et sa rivière, ses petits enfants tous en bonnet qui courent partout, ses poules et ses cochons qui se promènent en liberté avec leur portées en file indienne, mais finalement... je vais laisser parler les photos.













We are just back from 4 days in the Ba Be lake region – or two and half days really, as it takes two taxis, two buses and a grand total of eight hours to get there. We had decided to take a few days off after these last full on five months, and our friends Phuong and Ly – who own a travel agency – advised us to go to Ba be. Having learnt to trust them after our amazing Mai Chau experience, well, we trusted them!
We had to wake up at 4.45 am on Wednesday as the first bus of our journey was leaving from a far away Hanoi bus station at 6 in the morning. Ridicoulously early, yes, but the upside was that we slept the whole way to our next stop, Bak Can. In this small mountain town we had a coffee on the side of the road, which woke us up, and waited an hour for our next bus. While sipping our coffee we got to know the guy at the next table, a nice vietnamese man who wanted to practise his somewhat basic English, and who gave us quite a few nice tips on what to do in the region. One of his tips was not to go inside the bus station to get the bus to Ba be, but just stay here relaxing at the café until the bus drove past and then just wave at it to stop for us. Well, we decided to oblige and you know, as in Rome. It worked though! We did get the bus, admitedly in a bit of a panic, running after it (you don’t want to miss that bus, the next one is perhaps three hours later) and ended up squashed in the back between people as the bus was quite full by the time it reached the café!... hmm… That bus drive was not as nice as the first one. The view was fantastic but the road was a bendy mountain road which was too much too handle for quite a few passengers who started vomiting in their designated plasic bag: in a tiny minibus with closed windows, cheers.
The minibus eventually dropped us off in the middle of nowhere, where we quite happily asked locals for two moto taxis to Ba Be, and while waiting for the said moto taxis, we chatted with people and a young mum gave me her three months old baby to carry. Dan looked at me a bit worriedly I thought, while I cooed. Vietnamese babies are so adorable: they are beautiful, and they just look at you quietly with a serious face. I have fallen in love with quite a few of them already.
The moto taxis drove us to the other side of the mountain, to the valley where the small village of Pag Gnoi is; a village where we had decided to spend our 4 days – thanks again to Ly and Phuong. The drivers knew the guest house where we were going and they took us to the front door, where Anh Son the owner – and our local guide, was waiting for us with his wife. We loved the family and the house as soon as we set foot in it. It would be difficult not too. The large wooden stilt house is built on the flanc of the mountain, and it has a huge balcony overlooking the valley, its fields and its river. It was amazing. In Pag Gnoi there are no worries in the world, and as soon as I sat on that balcony I felt overcome with a sense of peacefulness. There are no noises but the sound of the frogs and the crickets and the fire crackling in the next room where the woman are cooking the dinner. In this wonderful house we even have our own little stilt house in front of the river.
Ahn Son made us some noodles with eggs and we planned our next couple of days with him: a boat ride on the lake the following day and a mountain trek the day after that. Planning this, sat on the balcony with our noodles and a map of the area laid in front of us was a nice moment indeed, once that will stay in my mind.
After this we explored the village, and I think the pictures above descibe better than words this cute village built above a valley and its wooded stilts houses, its beautiful people, its many children in woolen beenies and its animals roaming freely with their young ones.

8 Things I DON'T do in Hanoi

That I used to do back home...........

Shave my own head: Gone are the days hunched over my bath, shaving the last remaining strands that make up the hair on my head. That pleasure now goes to a nice guy giving haircuts on the side of the road near my house. With the assistance of an old mirror and a dodgy electrical connection I sit down, relax and let the little master do his job. After getting my head and beard (I use that word loosely) shaved I part with 20,000 VND or about $1.50. I walk away happy at a job well done.

Cooking at home: Celine and I rarely eat at home. It is easier and often cheaper to eat out. Hanoi really puts America's Fast Food culture to shame with quick, delicious and in many cases quite healthy options on every corner. Celine and I have a kitchen to use if we want to but find exploring the streets a much more enjoyable option. I don't really like cooking and I definitely hate washing up so while I am living here I have no issue taking full advantage of the food in Hanoi and leaving my kitchen alone.

Cleaning: Celine may have you believe that I didn't do too much of this back home but that discussion is for another day :) We have now hired a maid who comes twice a week, taking care of all those cleaning chores. She is awesome. Our house is actually clean, not just tidy, which is very nice to come home too after a long day at work. This job was usually reserved for Sunday morning back home, a time dreaded nearly as much as the Monday morning alarm.

Work 9-5: My working life has changed dramatically since arriving in Hanoi. I no longer cringe from that 6.30am alarm as most of my classes are in the evening. This is not the case on the weekend which are my busiest days but that is part and parcel of being an ESL teacher. Monday to Friday are free up until 5pm but I am still working 27 hours in the week which is more than enough to live and even save. This gives me the time to take courses in French and soon photography and pretty much allows me to do what I want. Having a job that allows you to be outside when the sun is shining (or in the case of the last few days: pissing down) is pretty cool.

Catch public transport: Anyone that knows me well will understand my joy and not having to catch public transport. The institution is my arch nemisis, after all it was the Sydney Rail Corporation, the root of all evil, that forced me to invent an alter ego and more than once threatened me with court action. Taxi drivers from Sydney to Madrid have been causing me trouble for years, all without reason I might add. Here I rarely grab a taxi as my little Honda Wave gets me everywhere I want to go. Gone are the days of grabbing a weekly ticket and living in fear guessing when "those" inspectors would strike next.

Iron my shirts: Man did I hate ironing my shirt. It was usually a morning ritual which I tried to get out of the way when I was still half asleep. My brain at full capacity struggles to do such tasks so when waking up and operating on early morning mode the results were nothing shorts of shocking; which meant I had to do it again or wear a jumper. I went for the jumper. Here I lay out what I need ironed and when I come home it is miraculously done. I am a adult and I know that the maid is the one doing the job but each time it feels like such a welcome surprise to see them all neat and tidy and actually properly ironed. If I haven't mentioned it.....I love our maid.

Worry about bills: I must admit I never really worried about bills but they were a pain in the arse. I would often forget to pay them on time resulting in a fine. Australian's love to give our fines. You only realise things like this when you travel abroad. Celine's father pointed this out to me when visiting in Sydney showing me all the different kinds of signs throughout the city saying "FINES APPLY". Sorry, getting a bit off topic. Here in Hanoi they don't send you a bill in the mail but have ladies come to your house and give it to you. You then give them the money and everything is sorted. How easy is that! If you are not hear then they come back another day or present you with two bills the next month. We don't have to think about anything which for me is a big plus.

Cleaning my shoes: I also wasn't too fond on the whole polish your shoes business which meant I often went to work with dirty shoes. I don't have to worry about that here because there are countless young guys offering the service for about 50 cents. You don't have to find then either as they will come to you. Hanoi is a city of services where people are waiting to help you get things done. It is comforting to know that for once in my life those services are actually affordable.

Pluie pluie pluie

Voilà trois jours que la pluie ne s’arrête pas. Il pleut toute la nuit. Il pleut le matin, quand on se réveille, et on ne peut pas sortir pour le petit déjeuner, puis il pleut le midi, toute l’après midi, et toute la soirée. On ne sort pas beaucoup, à part quand il faut aller au boulot les cours sont chiants parce qu’il n’y a que quelques élèves. Les vietnamiens n’aiment pas la pluis non plus, et ils n’aiement pas bien sortir de chez eux pendant l’averse non plus.
Dès qu’il commence à pleuvoir à Hanoi, toutes les motos s’arrêtent au bord de la route, et on peut voir tous les conducteurs sortir de sous leur siège un imper de couleur vive style gros sac plastique avec capuche, puis tout le monde repart, et les rues deviennent de grandes palettes de couleurs fluos.
Nous aussi nous avions notre imper (mauve) mais depuis le déluge de cette semaine, il a fallu investir... Nous avons donc acheté deux nouveaux impers et dans le processus avons decouvert une panoplie impressionante d’options. Il existe :
- le sac plastique de base
- le sac plastique version materriel plus résistant, et plus long.
- L’imper qui couvre le devant de la moto

- L’imper pour deux personnes : un grand poncho et deux capuches l’une derrière l’autre !
- L’imper haut et pantalon, pour les businessmen qui ne veulent pas mouiller leurs gambettes de costard.
Nous avons opté our les options deux et trois, mais j’ai bien envie d’investir dans l’imper pour deux, aussi. Il nous sera utile quand nous irons parcourir le pays en moto ; en Mai.

J’en ai un peu marre de la pluie. Toutes nos fringues sont mouillées, et Hanoi est gadoueux. Em khong thit mua !
Vivement le printemps...

Mariages et amoureux

Je trie mes photos en ce moment: et comme j’en ai beaucoup ca prends longtemps. Je suis tombée sur plein de jolies photos que je vous mettrai ici, à l’occasion.
Aujourd’hui, rubrique mariages et amoureux...

Lazy, Unorganised and Stupid

Today it rained. It rained all last night, all day today and it is still raining now. At 10am this morning as I watched a movie with Celine I expected the rain to subside: the only rain we had experienced in the 6 months we have lived here had been quick and powerful downpours - usually over within minutes. As the time to leave approached however it appeared today’s treck on the bike would be rain a inclusive affair.

I put on my suit, made myself look pretty and headed for the door with around 20 minutes to get to work. I put on my cheap raincoat and wiped the water off the seat of my bike. My bike wouldn’t start. This is not new to me and has been an ongoing issue whenever it is cold. The bike wouldn’t turn over using the starter button. The bike wouldn’t turn over when I tried to start it manually. When my suit pants got caught and ripped I started to get a bit angry. After a few minutes of my anger building up, it had become the kind that turns into a tight ball lodged somewhere between lungs. I was getting late and the, I quote “piece of shit fucking bike” was not going to start anytime soon. Celine came down, attracted by the sound of the vain attempts to get the motor to star and with sympathy watched my tantrum unfold. Showing compassion, bless her, she offered me her bike meaning she would take a xeom later on (motorbike taxi). But this was my problem and one I should have sorted earlier. I have said countless times I was going to replace my bike but I never have. I had simply wished the problem would disappear. Well it hadn’t and I only had my laziness to blame.

I stormed off to find a xeom to take me to school. I found one quickly and barked where I needed to go. The driver obviously took me for a tourist taking in the sites as he was without a doubt the slowest driver Hanoi has to offer. Numerous attempts to make him go faster were futile as pushbikes seemed to cruise past us. My raincoat is an inexpensive, thin bit of plastic bagsold for around a $1. This raincoat struggles to cover a small Vietnamese body so mine had no chance. The bottom stopped at my knees so my nice suit pants were open to the incoming rain. They got drenched and by the time I was half way to work my pants and the skin on my leg were connected as one. I have known for a while that I needed to buy a better raincoat but sheer lack of organisation thrown in with a touch of laziness put me in today’s situation. It was only when a passing bus (man I hate buses) splashed a puddle all across the left side of the bike sending water all down my leg, into my shoes and throughout my socks that I sat back from the situation and shared a smile with it.

I arrived at work a little late as all the kids were arriving from class. I jumped off the xeom and tried to put on a happy smile for the kids who thought my appearance was nothing short of humorous. It was funny after all and I did look rather stupid but really it was stupid to get angry in the first place. In hindsight it was an interesting afternoon.

Bloody Beeping Buses

I am sure I am not the only Hanoian who is in serious disagreement with Hanoi buses and in particular their over enthusiastic use of the horn. The constant “beep beep” from the motorbikes I can accept and tolerate, in fact I appreciate the symbolic relevance to the culture of the city, but the buses give me the shits and scare me half to death.

If I am in front of a bus I soon know it because the sound from the horn sends shocks throughout my body and when my heart decides to restart I have a few seconds to bridge the gap with the earsplitting monster before the deafening pain continues. In extreme circumstances the horn can and should be used but in Hanoi it seems the driver has the horn on auto with the traffic in front of the bus having no relevance to its use. This is a blatant misuse of power and something needs to be done. Eardrums, weak hearts and our general level of sanity are calling for action. Evil stares in the driver’s direction only results in a kind yet slightly mischievous smile.

Driving behind a bus is equally damaging to your health; this time sucking down the dirty fumes the bus spits out at an alarming rate. When I find myself in this situation I hold my breath as I frantically try and get round the beast of a machine. When my attempts are fruitless my lungs are engulfed with a black death and I can feel the days trimmed from my life. I usually stop to the side of the road until my coughing fit subsides. This can’t continue and I am demanding a complete ban of all buses in this city.

I am yet to take a bus in this city and it seems my deep threaded hatred of public transport is continuing in Asia. So I ask the government nicely; can you please take the buses off the roads. I would be ever so grateful.

Otherwise extremely happy expat!

Kung-fu fighting

Depuis que j’ai commencé à prendre des cours de kung-fu, j’ai des courbatures en permanence. Je vais au cours deux midis par semaine – le lundi et le mercredi, à deux pas de chez moi – j’essaye de marcher jusqu’au kung-fu mais psychologiquement c’est dur, j’ai pris l’habitude de prendre ma moto pour aller partout, moi. Mais la route de chez moi au local ou se donnent les cours est jolie et passe en bord de lac, donc c’est agréable.
Le prof, Jo, est Québecois, et ses deux assistants aussi. L’ambiance est super sympa parce qu’il n’y a qu’une dizaine d’éleves, de tous niveaux, et que pour la plupart on se connait tous. Moi je connais surtout Brett et Amalia qui sont tous les deux profs à Language Link. Brett est super bon et Amalia est une brêle comme moi, on est releguées en fond de classe ou on apprends les déplacements de base pendant que les autres se battent avec style :)
L’échauffement est plutot violent : 40 minutes de positions insoutenables à tenir pendant un temps completement déraisonnable et de grands écarts – pour certains ; pour moi c’est plutot une immitation comique. Mais au final je bouge et j’apprends des mouvements gracieux, et quand je vois le résultat de seulement un an de training sur des éleves dans ma classe, c’est motivant : parfois les deux assistants s’entrainent ensemble pendant notre échauffement, et c’est merveilleux : même avec les yeux bandés ils parent tous les coups. C’est impressionant.
Après le cours on va tous manger ensemble, c’est bonne ambiance.

Penfriend in Vietnam

I received a text message from some random yesterday. I have know idea how she got my number but I appreciate the interest nonetheless. The message was exactly as follows however, I decided not to put the number of her address just in case anyone of our thousands of followers is some weird arse stalker. I definitely don't wish my penfriend any wrong doing;

"Who are you? I am sorry but I........dear you. My name is js thuan. I ljve at %^phuc tan. Hanoj.vjetnam. I want to have penfriend so I am wrjting thjs letter to you. I am jntroducjing to you an dyou wjll do the same when you recejve thjs letter from me. Wjll that be ok? I am 20year old. I am student in unjversjty. I speak Vjetnamese of course because jt js my mother tounge and I can speak a ljttle English. My Engljsh is stjll poor because I started learnjing jt only a year ago. Can you speak Vjetnamese? jf you can? you should speak wjth me by Vjetnamese. What js your name? What is your jog? How old are you? Where do you come from? Where do you ljve at the moment. Please wrjte to me soon. I would ljke to make frjends with you very much. :) :) best wjishes.

If not for anything else this message gets the award for; "longest text I have every received". I feel slightly guilty as all her efforts are in vain. I just don't have time for a penfriend right now. I do feel it is my duty as an ESL teacher to explain the difference between "i" and "j" within English words. Still, not bad if she has only been learning for a year.

Deep-fried banana

On Yen Phu, the street I ride every day, there are a bunch of ladies selling deep-fried bananas. There are deep fried corn and deep fried sweet potato options but I normally opt for the banana. This is a usual stop for me these days as it seems Vietnam has reignited a long dormant sweet tooth. The ladies sit there every day from early morning to late afternoon cooking away. They are dead set delicious and for only 4,000 VND I make it a regular.

I go to the same stand every time and the lady knows me well. Not only are they a great bite but they are healthy too!

Marvelous Monday

I am now sitting in an adorable cafe (I know that sounds kind of gay) feeling quite content with this mornings proceedings. It started with a bowl of crab soup at a street food stall not far from my house which was positively delicious. From there I went to my French lesson which went well. I can actually construct full sentences now and apart from a few grammatical errors, in today's exercise, my teacher was happy with what I wrote.

I left my lesson to go and find out the verdict on our computer. On Friday it decided to die on us so I took it to a computer store to see what could be done. This was a comical situation as the staff and I were both challenged in the others language. I called a Vietnamese friend who translated over the phone. The operating system needed to be re-installed but they were unsure if they could copy all our old data. As all our pictures and files for work were on the computer it was paramount that we got the data. The guys at the store worked on it over the weekend but I wasn't ultra confident.

On arrival the new operating system was installed with all my data as well. Awesome! They also installed Microsoft Office and Photoshop. I really wasn't sure the cost by when they said 250,000 VND I was surprised (in a good way!) I was really impressed with their service and for less than $20 who can complain.

I crossed the street to this adorable (yep, I said that again) cafe called Chillout to have a closer look at the computer. Firstly it turned on in about 20 seconds. That is unheard of for this computer which often takes 5 minutes. I was jumping with joy so ordered a coffee and a piece of chocolate cake to celebrate. The menu at this cafe is great and the ambiance is homely and welcoming. There are four floors, some with comfy couches and games, others with chill out areas and a piano to play. At the moment someone is busting out some cool tunes on the piano while I contemplate another piece of cake; I don't usually have a sweet tooth?

All in all it has been a great start to what I am calling marvelous Monday.

Chillout! cafe
89A Ly Nam De

Dexter season 4 finale

OH MY GOD

Reflexions sur le cout des choses dans un monde a l'envers...

Aujourd’hui levée a dix heures, j’ai trouve Dan sur le canapé, se remettant de son hebdomadaire soirée Bia hoi-et-bouffe-immangeable (cette fois : chien a la sauce crevettes pourries) en train de regarder un film. Je l’ai regardé avec lui en mangeant mon petit dej : salade de fruits, yaourt et céréales. Tous ces aliments sont importés et donc franchement pas donnés. A part le yaourt. Et encore, il faut bien être sur d’acheter le yaourt Vietnamien, parce que j’ai essaye d’acheter un gros pot de yaourt français ce matin : 280 000 VND ! C’est impensable, un prix pareil. C’ est 10 euros le yaourt ! Un tiers du salaire mensuel d’un ouvrier. Si vous prenez le SMIC, ca donne quoi ? 370 euros le pot de yaourt !?

Je vous dis ca parce que oui le Vietnam c’est pas cher, et parfois même ridiculement pas cher, mais seulement les produits Vietnamien. Mais apres 6 mois de nourriture Vietnamienne, parfois on a envie de muesli et de confiture ! La ou j’ai de la chance, c’est qu’il y a pas mal de choses d’influence française produites au Vietnam, comme la baguette, les croissants, le pate…

Ce que j’adore, c’est l’énormité des différences de prix et leur manque de logique pour nous qui avons l’habitude d’une certaine échelle de cout depuis notre naissance : par exemple un sandwich baguette – pate - concombre dans un café, servis avec un the et des fruits, coute moitie moins cher qu’une plaque de beurre. Ou… Un plein d’essence coute moins cher qu’un pot de confiture, un shampoing + brushing coute deux fois moins cher qu’un kilo de pommes. Ca donne l’équivalent de 40 euros le kilo de pommes… ou de 2 euros le shampoing brushing J C’est moins cher de porter sa lessive au pressing au lieu d’acheter un paquet d’Ariel. C’est moins cher de manger au restau que chez soi. C’est aussi cher de manger au McDo que dans un restau 3 étoiles. C’est 5 fois plus cher de boire un coca qu’une bière. Une manucure coute la moitie du prix d’un cappuccino, etc etc.

Ca me plait de comparer. Avant de partir au Vietnam, je disais que j’aimais l’idée de faire valser toutes les règles que je connais depuis toujours. En effet ici les règles sont différentes : les flics filent des PVs pour un phare qui marche mal mais s’en foutent complètement de savoir si le conducteur a bu ou pas, et même si ils essayent de balancer un PV, tout est négociable avec un petit pot de vin. C’est impensable au Vietnam de s’installer avec son mec (ou sa copine) avant d’être mariés, par contre avoir des maitresses c’est sujet de conversation pas tabou. C’est insultant de croiser les doigts devant quelqu’un, mais se curer le nez a table c’est pas de souci. Cet été, en petit débardeur sans manche ou en sarouel j’attirai tous les regards curieux, par contre je suis invisible si je sors de chez moi en pyjama. Se balader en pyj, c’est une institution, ici. Il y a plus de pyjamas en ville que de jeans !

J’adore. Tout la donne a été changé, transformé, renversé. Maintenant, je me cure le nez en pyjama dans la rue en plaisantant sur toutes les maitresses de Dan :)
Par contre promis, je ne conduis pas après avoir bu, ca c’est imprimé trop profondément.

English or Francais ou Viet!

I had my French class this morning and I have found that Elementary 1 is moving at a much faster pace than Beginners. I am going to have to pull my finger out if I want to keep up. I am enjoying it though and it is definitely a challenge. The main problem is that I am pretty rubbish at languages in general, English included, and my life these days seems to be revolved around nothing but languages.

On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I am learning French. On Saturday and when out and about in Hanoi I am speaking Vietnamese and every other day I am teaching English. I am now starting to mix up the languages which is confusing everyone; me included.

I asked Celine a question this morning half in Vietnamese and the rest in French. When I realised what I was saying my reply was in English..........."SHIT!" or was it "MERDE!". I just don't know anymore......Arrrrhhh.

I got a taxi the other night to go and eat some dog on the last day of the lunar calender with a mate. I was chatting away and the poor driver had no idea what I was going on about. I was asking questions in broken Vietnamese, responding in French and changing to English when I knew he was as lost as I was.

Regardless of all the confusion I think I am gradually making progress in all three languages. I came to Hanoi still trying to work out the difference between a verb and an adjective in English and now I not only know the difference but I can name a bunch in all three languages. How awesome is that?

I am lost in the languages at the momentbut it does make for an interesting day.

In no particular order......

Goodbye
Au revoir
Tam Biet

Catching up!

Voila quelques temps que je n’ai pas écrit… c’est mal, je retombe dans mes vieilles habitudes de journaux que je commencais au début de l’année et que j’abandonnais le 15 janvier.
Mais non ce n’est pas si terrible que ca. Me revoici.
Ces derniers temps les choses se sont pas mal calmées. J’ai beaucoup moins d’heures à l’école, et je passe plus de temps à me reposer et à regarder des DVDs. J’ai acheté un lecteur ainsi qu’une vingtaine de films, dont pas mal qui étaient à l’affiche il y a un mois seulement… miraculeusement, les DVDs sont déjà sortis en asie… c’est magique. Donc mes nouveaux films comprennent Avatar, New Moon, 2012, 4 Christmas, Julie/Julia, the time traveller’s wife (j’ai lu le livre à Syndey c’est vraiment mieux que le film, lisez le !). J’ai aussi acheté la saison 4 de Dexter, 1 2 3 4 5 et 6 de Grey’s anatomy, 3 de Brothers and Sisters et les saisons 7 et 8 de scrubs. Ah, et la saison 6 de House. à moins de deux euros la saison, on peut se faire plaisir :) Les films coutent 50 centimes d’euros. Maman, Christ, tatie… je vous enverrai bien toutes les saisons de tout ce que vous voulez… mais tout est en Anglais sans sous-titres… Enfin, si on ne compte pas le malaysien ou le chinois.
Vous comprenez bien, donc, que depuis quelques jours je sois un peu scotchée à ma tele. Ca faisait tellement longtemps que je n’étais au courant de rien sur la vie de mes séries… Tout d’un coup maintenant que je m’y remets il y a des nouvelles saisons partout, pratiquement gratuites. Dans quelques mois, j’aurai acheté le magasin entier, c’est sûr….
Je conduis ma moto plus souvent et plus longtemps maintenant, puisqu’on habite un plus loin du centre ville et du boulot. Ca me plait. C’est le meilleur moyen de transport. On se faufile entre les voitures pendant les embouts, on passe partout, on se gare n’importe où. Trop bien.
On a une dame maintenant (Hien) qui vient nous aider à tenir l’appartement propret une fois par semaine, parfois deux, quatre heures à chaque fois. Elle m’a tout réorganisé (ou devrais-je dire organisé ? C’était pas brilliant, avant Hien…) et elle nous achète des trucs, des étagères, des crochets pour pendre les casserolles, des tatanes en plastiques pour la salle de bain, elle a introduit un coin « pain » un coin « thé » et elle range tout à sa facon, j’adore. Elle repasse et mets sur des ceintres tout bien rangé même quand je n’avais pas prévu de repassage, elle jette les aliments du frigo qui ont passé leur date, elle lave même les cendriers ! ils brillent ! bref, je l’aime. Je l’aime tellement qu’après deux semaines j’angoisse déjà à l’idée de devoir vivre sans elle, un jour, quand je reviens en europe et reprends contact avec me realité financière…
Coté santé et bien-être : après trois semaines de lachage total je me reprends et mange sainement. J’ai commencé un cours de Kung-fu, merci de ne pas rire, deux fois par semaine à midi. Au premier cours je ne savais même pas comment saluer et il s’agit d’un processus compliqué et hierarchique, impliquant tout le monde dans la salle. J’ai tout foiré et du coup ca a tanqué le salut de tout le monde. Bon début ! Les exercises sont précis quant il s'agit de deplacements et maboules lorsqu'il s'agit d'echauffement, j’ai encore les cuisses et les bras qui flambent, deux jours apres. Je vais aussi m’inscrire au Yoga, et y aller deux fois par semaine le matin.
Côté dents rien de bien gai avec un dentiste qui ne me parle plus et toujours pas mal de travail à faire…
Quant au boulot, je dois dire que je suis de plus en plus à l’aise dans mon role d’enseignante, mes worksheets on maintenant été téléchargées plus de 1000 fois par des profs du monde entier, donc je suis contente et ai moi-même accès à des lecons et worksheets venant du monde entier, ce qui rends mon mécanisme de preparation de cours plus simple et efficace. Je vais toujours au boulot contente et ca se passe toujours bien : les cours passent à la vitesse de la lumière, ce qui est aussi bon signe.
Voila, j’ai à peu près rattrapé le temps perdu, ainsi je pourrai à partir de maintenant développer sur des points plus précis, au jour le jour.

Friends in Hanoi

Recently I have crossed paths with an old friend, Sal, who i met through my ex girlfriend. She is working for Contiki taking tours through Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos. It has been many years since we last saw each other so it has been great to catch up here in Hanoi. We enjoyed a few drinks on Christmas Eve and have since caught up for a hot pot lunch on Truc Bach Lake which is not far from my house. It is really nice to have someone you know around to chat about old times. We try and catch up for dinner whenever she is in town.

My good friend Hana aka "Spangas" visited Vietnam last year with her father and his friend. They toured the north of Vietnam on motorbikes and when back in Hanoi we had a chance to enjoy a few dinners. It was great catching up with her and her old man even though her partying efforts were woeful and have declined considerably since our Sydney days.

My step brother James aka "Skinny Bum" and his missus Damaris joined me for a drink and dinner in Hanoi after they drove from HCMC to Hanoi on motorbikes. A few communication problems meant we didn't have much time to hang out but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Their parting gift were two very nice helmets that Celine and I both wear.

On Christmas Eve I ran into a guy a went to uni with. It is fair to say we have both changed a lot since those days but it was again good to share some stories of the past while partying away in Vietnam.

That has been my brush from home to date.

Who will be next??????

A Day in the life of Ding

Usually my posts are related to something specific that stood out in my day. I thought it about time (actually it was Celine's suggestion) to describe exactly what I do on an ordinary day, a day like today, where nothing amazing happened.

My alarm blared at 6.30am which is a painful concept for a Sunday morning but is the reality of a being an ESL teacher. Usually at this time I am arriving home after a night out but the tides have changed since moving to Asia. My classes on Sunday morning start at 8am and my boss needs (don't know why) all teachers at the school 20 minutes before classes start. That means I have to be out the door no later that 7.20am which is why I have to set my alarm on a Saturday night to the ungodly hour of 6.30am. I shake my head now even thinking about the idea.

Anyway, after hitting the snooze at least once I jumped out of bed to shivers. Yep, it is bloody cold at the moment. I leave the house in a scarf that one of Celine's students made her and a jacket. Half the time my motorbike doesn't start because it is too cold so I spent my usual few minutes swearing at the bike as I tried to start it manually.

Once on my way I left my village (Nghi Tam) passing between the Sheraton and Inter Continental Hotels. I drove along a street called Yen Phu which is a constant stopping place for Celine and I in the evenings. I turned onto a main road with two different lakes on either side. This is my favourite part of the bike ride as the morning views of the lake are so tranquil. Men are up early fishing while women are doing their exercise; meanwhile the traffic is acceptable which is as good as you can hope for before 11pm at night.

After driving through the lake I soon passed the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum which again makes my trip pleasurable. The massive Vietnamese flag flaps in the wind as guards man all corners of the area. About 10 minutes later I arrived at school where I taught two classes of one and half hours each. They are both teenager classes. The first class I taught about identity using personality adjectives as the main lesson point. I borrowed one of Celine's ideas by taking pictures of the kids while they hold up a name card.......It's the only way I can remember their names. The second class I taught a lesson on music styles, mainly because i know so much about the topic.......ha ha.

On my way home I stopped at a street restaurant for lunch. It is buffet style where I picked a few dishes from about 10-15 options. With a massive serve of rice I had some pork, beef, beans and tofu. You can take it away which I did and it all came to all a whopping $1.80. I mean seriously, how good is that? The guy spoke French so I practiced with him and was happy to know that I understood a lot of what he was saying.

I enjoyed my lunch at home in front of the TV, watching the replay of the latest Arsenal game, while preparing my afternoon lesson. I left the house at 1.30pm for a 2pm start tutoring one of my students. Today I helped him with his Physics in English (yes I am tutoring Physics) which was as educational for him as it was for me. I lent him a book, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, that is a summarised version of the classic (5,000 words) with some questions to answer. After a discussion on family in the home and the different roles we have we ended the lesson with a game of scrabble. Before you ask, yes he won and yes i was trying..............Shit!

I drove home and arrived at close to 5pm. I cleaned the house a little and checked my emails. I am hoping to find a few more classes for January to save a bit more money for our travels, so I looked at a few options. I then procrastinated about writing my latest article and decided to write this post instead. I am waiting for Celine to get home from her busy Sunday at work. We will go and eat somewhere (most probably street food) and then relax watching a movie. I have my first class of my second level of French tomorrow morning - Elementary 1 - J'adore le Francais....I should go and practice......

So there you have it.........A normal day in the life of Ding......

DVD Anyone?

We recently bought a DVD player for $35. How awesome is that! The whole DVD thing was Celine's idea and I must admit I was against it at first. I was afraid we would hang out at home too much, instead of enjoying all the cool things to do in Hanoi. Turns out I was wrong (happens often) and it was a cracking idea.

Why?

Well firstly DVD's are so damn cheap here and at about $1-2 a go you can get any kind of film you want. What I love is that as soon as a film hits the cinemas ladies will be selling copies on the side of the street. The copies, from our experience so far, are of great quality and at the moment Avatar is one of the recent films you can find on the streets and and in DVD stores. There are no films like Pulp Fiction 4 or Titanic 2 which I have seen in other countries so you can be quite confident you will get what you think you are getting.

Celine is in series heaven in Hanoi as full box sets are also available. Long running series such as Grays Anatomy and Scrubs can be bought for about $20. That had Celine jumping with joy and you can understand why when these shows that around 10 seasons and at home they would cost in the hundreds.

With our DVD player in hand we bought a bunch of movies and a few box sets. After a day at work and a dinner out somewhere we like come back and put on a film. Its an ideal way to finish off the day and at these prices Celine has every intention of buying the whole store.

Good times!

Snails, goats blood and pigeon embryo

Goats blood pudding (not as as presentable as the one I had)

On Wednesday I went out with my old landlord for dinner and a few beers. He is well aware of my interest to try anything unusual but I had thought the evenings festivities were going to be quite mild. I travelled over the Long Bien Bridge and met Anh who took me to a small restaurant with a few of his friends. With the exception of Anh everyone else had little to know English which makes night out with a few drinks quite funny. I was greeted with the usual happy hellos, given a beer and soon after raised my glass for a round table cheers.

What arrived next was what I thought was a raspberry sorbet or something similar; turns out I was way off. I was presented with a healthy bowl of congealed goats blood. The dish is served with crushed nuts (peanuts!) and lemon and I took my first bite with a degree of hesitation. It had a yogurt texture but it didn't taste bloody and it really wasn't too bad at all. The blood pudding (Tiet Canh) is supposedly good for your manhood so I went for a second dish :)

The goat rice wine we had is specially made and buried in the ground for two months before drinking. I couldn't get a logical answer from anyone on why they bury the wine but it tasted good so that was enough for me.

After everyone left Anh and I went and visited his mother and their coffee shop, the same house where Anh was born 41 years ago. We left from there and found a street food restaurant serving snails and pigeon embryos which were really good. The pigeon embryos are much smaller than the duck embryo and much easier on the stomach.

The night started to get a bit fuzzy soon after that but the trusty xeom (motorbike taxi) got me home in one piece. The longer I live in Hanoi the more these type of foods seem normal and less shocking to try. I look forward to taking you all for a tasty bowl of goats blood soon........

Cafe Pho Co

The Lonely Planet has Cafe Pho Co marked as the best kept secret in Hanoi so we thought it warranted a visit. The cafe is hidden at the back of a souvenir store with a cute, secluded setting. When I asked where to park my bike I thought I misunderstood when the lady pointed through the store. After asking a second time I found that indeed I had to park my bike at the back of the store. A bit surprised I drove the bike into the store next to stands of Vietnamese souvenirs and past the shoppers.

Once through the store there was a little lane way and then the cafe opened into a small courtyard. It was quiet and peaceful, a definite contrast to the busy streets outside. After climbing a few stairs you find a small sitting area with various paintings on the wall. Either side of the cafe were residential houses and as we enjoyed a drink we waved and said a few hellos to the locals enjoying their lunch.

It was a pleasant little cafe and a great place to enjoy a coffee but I am not sure if I agree it is the best kept secret in Hanoi. We will continue to explore the cafes of this city and let you know our favourites along the way.

Cafe Pho Co

11 Hang Gai Street

I love you teacher!

Hier matin, à la fin de mon cours, une petite élève de 7 ans est venue me voir et m’a dit « I love you teacher ».
Trop mignonne.
Ma première déclaration d’élève!

A 7 year old little girl came to see me at the end of my class the other day and said « I love you teacher ».
Too cute.
My first declaration from a student! First of many, I hope. I mean with my kids classes, not the adults.

Yum!

On New Years Day we were hungry so we decided on meat; lots of it. We went to a place called Al Fresco's in West Lake and opted for the Jumbo BBQ plate. The food was delicious and we weren't spoiled for choice. It cost us about $20 which while being quite expensive for Hanoi is pretty good considering the quality and quantity. It was not a healthy start to the year but healthy wasn't on my resolution list. Good times.

Bonne année!

Le soir du 31, j’ai travaillé jusqu’a 21h30: l’avantage c’est que les autres profs aussi. On est donc tous allé boire un verre apres le boulot, dans la vieille ville. Tout d’abord à Avalon bar, qui a une vue merveilleuse sur le lac, puis juste avant minuit on a bougé vers Roots, un bar Raggae sympa. Dan a bu quelques bieres de trop et s’est mis à danser sa danse sexy en nous flashant ses abdos d’acier (sa bedaine de biere ?? Non… ses abdos d’acier !) Bonne ambiance. On est rentrés se coucher (en taxi, pas de moto apres quelques verres, rassurez vous) à 3h00.
Mes bonnes résolutions pour la nouvelle année :
- Faire plus de choses de mes journées. Je commence le boulot à 16h00 et trop souvent, passe la matinée à radasser sur mon canap.
- Faire plus de sport : je courais tous les jours l’année derniere à cette époque. Maintenant je prends ma moto pour aller à l’épicerie du coin… dans la rubrique faire du sport, j’hésite entre yoga, Kung-fu, ou les deux.
- Perdre les deux kilos que je viens de prendre de facon inexplicable… je ne mange qu’un seul paquet de cookies double chocolat par jour apres tout, merde alors.
- Découvrir un nouvel endoit à Hanoi au moins toutes les semaines, si pas deux ou trois fois par semaine… one ne sait pas combien de temps on va rester, autant voir le plus possible le plus souvent possible
- M’intéresser de plus pres à la medecine traditionelle asiatique, aux massages, aux herbes, au Feng-shui etc…
- Continuer à fumer moins de 10 cigarettes par jour, et peut être même réduire un peu, soyons fous.