Crosstown Traffic (Click me to go to movie)

We took a ride around the madness that is the day before TET. Click the link above to see a short movie. Also, leave a comment on the blog below and tell me what you think of the dog issue.
-E

Crosstown Traffic

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In Vietnam, Man's best friend is best fried....and then smothered in onions.

This is a call to all people still reading up on us from time to time. I am running a poll to find out whether or not I should eat Dog while I am in Vietnam. Karen has simply refused to even entertain the idea of dawg eatin, but I am still on the fence. I want to experience different cultural things while I am here, however, I have been licked in the face by dogs and have had dogs excited to see me come home from work/school. I know meat is meat and all that, and it is just a western hangup, but it is one that is deeply rooted psychologically. I fear that at the time, if or when I decide to take that step and sit down at a table in a dog restaurant and the plate is put before me, with a sizzling shelty, el dante doberman, baked lassie, steamed beagle, spicey sheppard or marinated mutt. I may just spear a piece with my fork and embark on a battle with my own conscience, mouth gaping awaiting the morsel, but unable to deliver the cargo to it's destination.
So I leave it up to you fine people, our family, friends or even the complete strangers who have taken to reading our blog from time to time. Leave a comment and say your piece.... To eat dog or not to eat dog....that is the question.

Show us your TET!! The Vietnam Show part 2

As we are heading into TET, there are many changes taking place in the city that we are observing. The first and most noticeable is traffic. It is like Charlie is all hopped up on caffeine pills and Ritalin. They are riding around banging in to each other, oblivious to all time and space, most of them hanging on to small orange trees or some other kind of plant life obscuring their vision. It is truly amazing to watch a Hanoi Sandwich( three people on a scooter) driving down the street with the person in the middle cradling a six foot tree in his arms. Unfortunately there are no pictures of this just yet.
The streets have turned in to one large market with every single person selling the same things. They are all selling pots,carvings and orange trees. I am sure there is some significance to this that I am both unaware of, and uninterested in.
TET is like Christmas, New Years, Easter and Thanksgiving all rolled in to one two week holiday. Charlie spends a week hammered drunk and celebrating the new year. We were told it is best to stay off the streets during this time of the year, if at all possible. One good aspect is that the city dwellers, for the most part, all come from rural areas and leave to go back to those rural areas for a few days, essentially turning Hanoi in to a ghost town. We are eagerly anticipating the peace and quiet such a mass departure will bring.
I mentioned the "Lifters" in an earlier blog, and now I have some more to introduce. The "Squatter" is a person who can squat on the side of the road for hours at a time, seemingly unaffected by discomfort or cramping. Squatting is done alone or in groups and can take place anywhere and at anytime. There is also no age or gender discrimination with squatters as I have seen squatting by infants as well as men and woman older than dirt. The position is the same for all squatters. It is like sitting only the bottom or bum, if you will, is not actually touching the ground it merely hovers a few inches above. The thighs and knees are pressed against the chest and the arms are wrapped around the legs. If it is at all possible, it is even more uncomfortable looking than it sounds. Many activities are enjoyed by the "squatters" while in this position, such as smoking, playing board games, eating or drinking tea.
Another humorous discover is, as mentioned above, the "Hanoi Sandwich" and the "Hanoi Clubhouse". These I have named specifically for the amount of dangly little bastards able to fit on to one scooter seat. The sandwich is three and the clubhouse is four. Only full grown adults count for the sandwich and the clubhouse,as children are generally stuffed in any available free space. I have seen as many as six people on a single scooter, but that included three children clinging to the sandwich. I refer to them as fries. It is my new mission to acquire photos of this phenomenon for those of you still reading this from time to time, as it should be seen to be believed.
Signing off,
-E

Were an American/Canadian/Vietnamese Band!!

After a hiatus of almost two years, I am back behind a bass again, playing in a band called Jerry Garcia. It is an interesting mix of two Americans, three Vietnamese and little ol’ me. I was a little rusty starting out, but after our second practice I am feeling more comfortable. The singer owns a bar called R&R bar ( here is his website http://www.oregoncoast.com/willy/r&r.htm ) and it is our second home here in Hanoi. Great greasy western food and lots of character. There is a Friday night jam at the bar on Fridays (obviously) and an open mic on Saturday that allows anyone to come up and play a tune. It isn’t Raddie Dave or Scary Larry, but any port in a storm, as they say.
For the tunes it is originals and old 70’s rock covers. Quite fun to play.
In other news, the massive holiday of TET is coming up and we have a week off of work to do with what we will. We are considering Na Trang to sit on the beach for a week. If we do not do that we have also received some nice offers from some students to eat with them at their homes in celebration of the mighty TET holiday.
Sorry for the long time between posts, but we are kind of settling in to a routine now and until we do something new, there is not a whole lot to write about.
Until next time,
-E

Last days in Taiwan and first New Year in Nam

This is a goofy little film we put together of pics of our last days in Taiwan and our first Christmas and New Years Eve in Vietnam. It is only 4 minutes long. Just click on the "New Movie on Myspace" title to get there.
-Ed
Nam Years Eve

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Santa Gets Mobbed at Cleaverlearn in Hanoi

I played Santa Claus at Cleverlearn for the children. It turned in to a riot as the kids swarmed me and began to trample each other to get at the presents in my bag. We attempted to take video, but it was too dark. Click the link above to view a movie of the sordid ordeal.
Merry Christmas,
Ed & Karen
Christmas Mayhem

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Wintertime Blues

As we are nearing the end of December, the idea of another Christmas away from home is looming ever larger. It is odd how you grow to miss even the things you hated most about home. The more I start missing Halifax, the more I try and remember icy winter days, scraping snow off of the windshield with numb hands, the seemingly endless night that is January and February. The funny thing is I actually miss the crunching of snow beneath my boots and the cool crisp feeling in my lungs of a deep morning breath. It has been an endless summer for these past twenty months, and as much as I enjoy that, there is really nothing like warming up in a cozy home after a battle with the elements.
There is also the tradition of Christmas that I have grown to enjoy. Christmas eve at Bob and Noreen's or Doug and Helen's and then Christmas day and early evening at my parents house and then the Christmas evening party at Kelly's (before) and Kelly and Joe's (now). Always followed by a trip to Karen's parents house immediately after. We will miss that again this year, but we will be thinking of everyone.
We have met some folks here who have invited us to a Christmas dinner, turkey and all the trimmings, and we have graciously accepted. At least we will have a proper Christmas dinner this year, unlike our Steak and Potatoes of last year.
So, again, as we said last year, when you are all together enjoying this yuletide season, have a drink for us, and the other displaced family members and friends who would all rather be with you, than wherever it is they are.
Merry Christmas everyone, and Happy New Year! We love you.
Ed & Karen

Welcome to the Jungle

It hadn't occurred to me until someone at work brought it up. Vietnam will ruin me for all other places. I obviously need to explain this in more detail, and I will try to do it without sounding all "Do I look fat in this dress "
Everything is very cheap here, as I mentioned before, and that was exciting for the first little while. Now, at the three month mark, I am beginning to get worried about this lifestyle. Absolutely anything you want is available at almost no cost. That is the kind of thing that is dangerous to get used to. I don't think I mentioned this before, but we do not cook at home. It is pointlessly messy and more expensive than eating out. This means I have been eating at restaurants for three months. I am not talking about Mickey D's and Subway here, I am talking about good restaurants. It costs me, generally, less than 5 US dollars to eat wonderful meals, containing multiple courses. Great, right? yeah, for the first little while. Now I am more like, I wish I had a can of Chef Boy-R-Dee Beefaroni, as I am dining on a Fred Flintstone sized rack of Baby back ribs, potato wedges and salad.
The question is, How does one come back from something like this? How do I return to North America and resume the 9-5 lifestyle, where eating at a nice restaurant is a special evening you do once an a while, as it will cost you 100.00 or more, if you decide to have drinks and desert. There is no tipping or tax here. So if you have a 50.00 food bill in a restaurant in Canada. You are looking at 7.50$ in tax and 7.50$ for a tip, if you do the 15%. 15 dollars on a 50 dollar bill.
Here, not so much. If we spend 20.00 US on a meal here. I assure you, we will be leaving food on the table and we will be intoxicated. And that's 20 dollars total, no tip, no tax, for both of us.
My point is, we will be here for another year, possibly longer. We were psyched by the cheapness of food in Taiwan after Canada, and Vietnam makes Taiwan look expensive. I am starting to worry about spending "too long in the Jungle"!
I heard that figure of speech a couple of months ago from a Kiwi expat who had been in SE Asia for over seven years. He, at the time, was complaining about the lack of Vietnamese girls in Hanoi that were interested in dating foreigners. This is quite the opposite from most other places in Asia. I asked him, quite simply, why he didn't just date one of the many foreign girls populating Hanoi? He looked me dead in my eyes, and spoke in a startlingly somber manner. "Oh no, Ed, I can't do that, I have been in the jungle for far too long mate." I laughed at that, at the time, but in retrospect, he meant exactly that. With Asian women, I am told, there is no effort in a relationship. There is almost always a language barrier that makes small talk and conversation almost pointless. Unlike with Western woman, who expect much more from a partner than just being there. He could no more go back to dating western girls after dating Asians than I will be able to go back to the way of life I traded in to come to Asia. It is not the girls for me, obviously, but it is everything else.
I am starting to feel like we have been in the jungle for too long, and we still have quite a way to go. I can imagine some of you reading this, shaking your heads and muttering..." I can't believe this jackass has the nerve to complain about being able to eat at nice restaurants every night!" It is the bigger picture that I am, not complaining about, but just worried about.
If Christmas came everyday, it would no longer be special. Fine dining has already reached a point with us where it is no longer special, and I am worried about the point where it will become expected, almost necessary. We simply can not live like this in North America. Not, unless we were wealthy, and I mean lotto 649 wealthy.
French, Italian, Asian, Brazilian, Greek, Mexican, Indian etc. Every evening we ask ourselves, "What are we going to eat tonight?" You wouldn't believe how many of the selections illicit the rolling of eyes. What do you get for the person who has everything? Well, I ask, What do you eat, when you can eat anything?
Welcome to the jungle baby!
-Ed

A little love people....

I know that some people are still checking in on our misadventures from time to time as our hit counter shows over 5, ooo hits. That is incredible. Remember, anyone who is still with us, that there are comment buttons at the bottom of every blog. Please leave a comment, as it is great hearing from you, even if it is just to say hi. This blog is one of the only connections we have with our world back home so anything is better than nothing.
Keep warm, keep safe and keep on truckin',
-Ed

PS: It is actually a blue "Shout Out" button, just click on that and you can leave us a message.

Tiles and Tribulations

I just stepped out of the shower and proceeded to hang my towel up on the railing, I put all of my weight on one foot as I lean in to pin the top of the towel with a clothes pin, when my foot crashes through the tile, thanks to a hollow pit beneath it. A jagged piece of tile decides to almost sever my baby toe with a gaping, five inch circular gash that goes right to the bone. "Ouch" right? yeah, and then some. Karen hears the small explosion and comes to see what all the commotion is. It is at this moment that the blood starts to gush. Karen demands to take a look at the wound. I am actually unable to see it due to it's location at the bottom of my foot, but from the alarming amount of blood, I am assuming the worst. Karen takes one look at the wound and states immediately that I must go to the hospital. It was just after midnight and I was getting ready for bed, when the accident happened. I am sitting on the stairs holding my foot together with a maxi pad soaking up the blood, while Karen attempts to reach our landlord. She explained there was an accident and we must go to the hospital right away. They walk over and arrange for a taxi. I tape up my foot with some surgical tape and the maxi pad as a bandage and hobble out to meet the taxi, leaving behind enough blood and gore to double for a slaughter house floor.
We arrive at the hospital and my landlord then runs in to wake up the staff. I am led in to a small room with saloon like swinging doors. The doctor and nurse motion for me to lie down on a metal gurney. The gurney is about five and a half feet long and my feet hang off the end. They unwrap my ingenious bandage and proceed to gasp in horror at what they find beneath. I was doing a fairly heroic job of keeping it together up until the collective gasp from the medical staff.
"Oh, werry deepy" I get from my doctor, as the nurse just nods solemnly.
For the next half-hour they meticulously poke, prod and clean the wound, while I am torn between ticklish and terrorizing pain. They bathe the wound in various liquids that burn like fire and then wipe it with gauze.
After that, it was time for the stitches. Now, I have gotten stitches on many occasions. My ankle, head, face, and hand, just to name a few, but never before on the bottom of my foot. The pain was almost a religious experience. I feel born again after going through it. They attempted to freeze the area around the cut, but they said the skin was far too thick and hard for the needle. I retorted the fact that the floor tile had no problem breaking the skin. Once again, my humour is lost in translation. The next twenty minutes or so are kind of blurry. I remember having a hard time holding my foot still while they were operating, and just watching the gekko's scurry about on the walls and trying to think of anything else but the intense pain. Once they were done torturing me they decided I needed a tetanus shot. They gave me one of those and then I was free to go. The taxi driver waited around through all of this and drove us home.
All and all, I would have to say my Vietnamese hospital experience was decidedly more intimate than any hospital experience I have ever had elsewhere.
I had to take the weekend off of work, but I shall return on Monday, a little slower, but not too bad off. The stitches come out in a week.
-Ed

Nov 7th (click for Movie) working finally!

Karen and I had the day off today and we decided to get out in the city and do some stuff. We started off at 8am and had a great breakfast at Culi Cafe, an Australian restaurant with great food. After breakfast we decided to take a swan paddle boat out on Westlake, where we live. After an hour of mad paddlin, we went to a cafe in the city to enjoy some ice tea and a great view. We spent the rest of the afternoon driving around and checking the place out. Click the title above to get to MySpace and see a short video we took of our day.

Ed

Nov 7th

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The Vietnam Show.

I have to say that we are absolutely appalled by the behavior of the Vietnamese. I, of course, am not speaking of all Vietnamese, just some of them. This particular rant is going to fly a little south of politically correct, so I warn you now.
It now seems to us, that we are in the middle of a large, seemingly endless nature programme, where we are the explorers observing the native Vietnamese in their natural habitat. We are in awe of their unique and wondrous behavior. We have had the glorious opportunity to see grown men urinating in to the street, facing traffic, with absolutely no shame in their actions. We have stood by, observing as both men and woman go, knuckle deep, in to a nostril and root to satisfaction with a complete lack of embarrassment.
We have spent enough time around these wondrous folk that they have grown comfortable in our presence. On many occasion I will have a Vietnamese adult male walk up to me on the street, and without so much as a word start to rub my belly or squeeze my arms and shoulders. I take this to be an acceptance of some kind, and although it is unwanted and quite off-putting I have grown to tolerate it.
The truly exciting find is the "lifters". I believe them to be a discovery otherwise unknown to the western world, and we are racking our brains to come up with a more suitable name for these interesting little variety of Vietnamese males. I have experienced the actions of a "lifter" on four separate occasions. In every example it was a full grown male, Whom I had no previous interaction with. In each case this male would walk around me, scrutinizing me to their fullest extent. Once satisfied with his observations he leaps behind me and attempts to lift me off the ground. In every experience the lifter has failed miserable, yet there is little to no impact on the "Lifters" mood, as they seem relatively happy with the simple act of trying, and success seems unimportant.
Another puzzling aspect of their nature, both male and female, is the constant need for attention. They obtain that attention by being the loudest, most obnoxious voice in any given place. You have to imagine that a restaurant full of people like this can make quite a racket. This behaviour also takes itself to the streets where Vietnamese people try to outdo each other in both volume and duration of horn blasting. We have yet to figure out if this action is based on aggression or if it is possibly some kind of mating performance. We have not been in country long enough to make determinations like that.
Well, this is it for this installment of The Nature of Things in Vietnam, We will keep you posted on further finding of these curious creatures.
Until next time,
Ed,

Halong Bay ( Click for the movie) Working now!

We left our jobs at Vietnam News. Unfortunately, the pay was just not enough to accomplish our goals in Vietnam, so we had to move on. We began new jobs as English teachers at a school called Clever Learn. The money and the hours are better. Anyway, we recieved some tickets for a Halong Bay tour and we jumped at the opportunity to experience one of the best eco-tours available in Vietnam. It was two nights and three days of pure asthetic bliss. The bay itself is too beautiful to sully with mere words, and the Junk that we stayed on was a blast. The days started early and therefore the evenings were not long, we found ourselves in bed by midnight both Friday and Saturday. We got to take a tour of one of the biggest caverns on the planet, and do some sightseeing on Cat Bah Island. All in all it was a great way to relax and enjoy our last weekend before hitting the classroom hard and working long hours. We took many pictures, and made a little movie that I am currently attempting to put on MySpace, but the internet connections here are so bad they usually time out. There was supposed to be a movie from our day around town on Nov 7th, but we are experiencing some technical difficulties posting movies. Stay tuned, all issues will be worked out and you will be able to enjoy some of the sights we have seen. Here are a few pics from our trip.... Ed
The Bay

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Click me to view a small movie of our new house!!!

Click the title above to see the new house, and click the title below to see my second restaurant review.
-Ed

Click this for Edwardo's 2nd restaurant review

http://vietnamnews.vnanet.vn/showarticle.php?num=01RES291006

Finally, A house to call our own

Sunday, October 15th, 2006, we move in to our house by the lake. It is a modest three storey affair, with two bedrooms a large kitchen and three, yes that's right, three patios. One balcony off of our bedroom, one patio off of the kitchen and the third and biggest balcony, on the roof, and a little courtyard in the front. There are two bathrooms and cathedral ceilings. Today will be our last evening in the hotel. We are both very excited to move into our place and put an end to this vagrant hotel living. We will take some pictures and maybe a video of our new home to put on myspace, which you can access by clicking the link at the bottom of every blog. " find me on myspace, and be my friend" We will post any videos on that site as I still havn't figured out how to post videos here. So stay tuned and take a peak at our new diggs.
-Ed
PS.
Now, we extend an open invitation to any and all, friends and family to come and visit us. We have a comfortable, air-conditioned spare bedroom for you to use, and Vietnam offers many enjoyable activities for you tourist types. Give us a shout.
-E

My first published restaurant review

Check out my first story here... For a limited time

http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/index.php?subcat=69

copy and paste in to web browser or just click on the title above!

(Below are two examples of the kinds of scenery found here....)

Spider sandwiches, and the cockroach tub!!

As most of you already know, I am not a huge fan of the crawlies. There are no shortage of the 6-8 legged devils in this filthy country. Two particular tales I would like to share are of the Spider sandwich and the Cockroach bathtub.
Karen and I strolled in to a cafe to have a coffee before work. It was a fair size and there were many people in there, which is normally a good sign. We found an empty table and had a seat, only to discover the menu was completely in Vietnames, and there were no english menu's available.
After some time we managed to get our request for coffee and a sandwich across to our waitress. We got our coffee first and Karen waited for her sandwich.
The sandwich arrived moments later and while it was unremarkable, it looked like a standard ham sandwich. Karen took a bite, and then opened the sandwich to inspect the meat and found a spider stuck to the mayonaise on the bottom side of the bread.
We, of course, returned the uneaten sandwich and Karen passed on a replacement. We finished our coffee and made to leave. We walked up to the counter to pay our bill and noticed a charge for the sandwich. Assuming it was a mistake we pointed it out to our waitress who was standing beside us smiling like a lunatic.
" You charged us for the sandwich we sent back." I said,"remember,...it had a spider in it!"
" Yes, spider!" still smiling like a half-wit.
" You can't be serious!" Stated Karen.
" Your charging us for the spider sandwich?" I asked again bewildered.
" We didn't eat it. It had a spider in it for christ sake!" Karen
" Let me get this straight... You want us to pay for the spider sandwich?"
" Yes, you pay for the spider sandwich." She stated.
With that I was satisfied. It was worth the doller just to hear her call it the spider sandwich. I can see some of you shaking your head in disbelief, that we would pay for the sandwich, but trust me, sometime the principle isn't even worth the trouble.
Now, for the cockroach. After living for over a year in Asia, you get used to the cockroaches that are everywhere you look. They simply become part of the scenery. The puzzleing thing about cockroaches is that even though they can fly, they choose not to, most of the time.
For example, we have a bathtub in our hotel room that seems to be Alkatraz for cockroaches. They get in but they never get out. Everyday, there is a single cockroach desperately trying to escape our bathtub, however, it's prickly little feet just can't find purchase. They never think to simply fly out and I find myself killing an extremely exhausted cockroach everyday, when I get back from work. Puzzlin, No?
Talk to you soon,
Ed

The Two Week Mark

We have been citizens of Hanoi, Vietnam for two weeks now. Our search for an apartment has been fruitless thus far. Hotel living, while having it's advantages, encourages a lifestyle that we are growing tired of. While we have some leads for a new home, we find ourselves being taken advantage of. The idea in Vietnam, is a white face represents wealth, and by their standards, I suppose that is true for the most part. We have found modest apartments asking up to 600 USD, that is just ridiculous considering the same apartment would be rented to a Vietnamese person for less than 200 USD.
There is hope, however, as we are making friends with our Vietnamese co-workers, and they will help us to find a place at a more reasonable price. We have also tossed around the idea of shared accommodation. Living with two or three other people in a huge French villa. I guess we will see how that turns out.
As for work, it is great. This is probably the best job I have ever had. It's fun, creative, and fulfilling. I know I would never have been able to get a job like this in Canada, so I will enjoy it while I can. It doesn't pay as well as teaching English, but it is a much better stepping stone in to something better. Teaching English is like treading water. No future employers will look at it with any real appreciation. It is financially rewarding, I suppose, but you come away from it no further ahead, in terms of hireability. Many people at the Vietnam News, with no journalistic experience, have used this job as a means to move on to Bangkok News, Taipei Times and then Japan News, all of which are more financially rewarding than the last. I am told you can make up to 80,000 US working for Japan News. So we will bide our time, gain some experience and hopefully make the best of it, as so many others have done before us. Mr Johnny Shaw included.
We are afraid to do any traveling right now, as we are concerned with leaving our luggage in a hotel room, unchecked for days at a time. We will have much more to blog about once we get settled here and start to visit all of the interesting places that Vietnam has to offer. So stay tuned, eventually there will be many pictures and new stories of our new experiences.
Talk to you soon,
Ed

It happened again, but better this time!

Karen and I decide to go for a drink with some colleagues from the Vietnam News, and the place we ended up was the very same Red Mask bar where the lights went out during our last visit. We had been there for a little while this time when it happened again. Lights out! The steel gate slides closed and we get the " Shhhhhhhhhhh, police!" from the staff.
This time it was a little more exciting. A police truck pulls up out front with the lights flashing. Five or six uniformed, Vietnamese police officers milling about out front. They stand at the door, hands cupped to their face, trying to see in through the treated glass of the front doors. Then to our surprise a batton shoots through the gate and hits the latch of the gate. The metal door slides open and the police burst through the door with flashlights in hand blowing whistles. There were about two dozen foreigners in the joint that night, and the police herded us out in to the street. Of course, nothing happened to us. We were free to travel half a block down the street to a bar that had done their civic duty and bribed the police. There, we were able to finish the bottles of beer from the Red Mask in peace and lumination.
The moral of this story..... ALWAYS BRIBE YOUR LOCAL AUTHORITIES!!

PS.
The absolute best part was when the police tried to leave and their truck wouldn't start. They had to get local street people to push their truck away. Totally emasculating, eh?