I was trapped trying to come back from Sapa when this happened. I was in both Lao Cai and Yen Bai. I need to post more soon before I forget too much. http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=79779

churches and temples

Apparently the communists in Vietnam are very tolerant of religion since there are buddhist temples and churches everywhere. This one was in Hanoi, but my favorite was up in Sapa. It was nice to hear the church bells echoing around the town at night. The temple is the one pillar pagoda, built to resemble a lotus blossom. It was destroyed by the french (out of spite) when they were driven out in 1954 The church is St. Joseph's cathedral, built by the french in 1886.

Hanoi Street video

I hope the sound works on this to give an idea of the honking horns, but even if not, you get some idea of the streets. no lights or signs, just people driving from all directions, often on both the right and left side of the road on all sides. total driving anarchy. It's amazing I only saw 2 or 3 accidents. crossing involves looking all directions, moving slowly so people can try to avoid you, and possibly prayer.

Vietnam post #1

So I'm back from Vietnam. The trip to the usa isn't going to happen because I missed my flight and couldn't reschedule this month. And I'll be tied down to Chinese classes for the next few months, oh well. It's so expensive and difficult to fly - it really is a bad time to travel.

For the record, I should mention that I finally got the Typhoon day I was bitching about on the last week at my job.

So, on to my trip. I flew into Hanoi, which is an interesting but tiring city. So much noise and chaos. It reminded me of many other cities mixed together. The streets felt like Calcutta, in some disrepair, but lively and filled with interesting smells and street stands. But also like Taipei, with ghost money smoke and masses of scooters and a certain east asian energy. And certain stretches had trees and buildings that reminded me of Tours, but maybe not Paris. And there was something about the strange tall, thin, long buildings that reminded me of Oman. And certain industrial stretches reminded me of the Bangkok Charlie and I visited in the early 90's. But actually, the chaos and noise were unique to Hanoi.

I stayed in the old quarter, which is located to the north of a large lake. It's interesting, but again, swarming with people grabbing at you, stepping in front of you, trying to sell you all types of things. The most common are the motorbike guys who greet you with "Hello motorbike!"on every corner or every time you step out of a hotel or restaurant. I met a dutch guy named Jan who would try to reply "Hello motorbike! How are you, Motorbike?" which kind of underlines how often you hear this phrase in Hanoi. There are also ubiquitous ladies with the conical hats and the balance scale carryalls who sell everything, but usually the tiny bananas and pineapples that seem to be all over Vietnam. I heard many foreigners talking about how great the fruit is in Vietnam, but I'm spoiled in Taiwan, which, I swear, has the most delicious tropical fruit in the world. Then there are guys selling rides on their cyclo (a bicycle rickshaw, basically) which I wasn't interested in but I heard was very expensive. Also, I felt there was something horrible about seeing a 120 lb. Vietnamese guy peddling a 250+ lb. white woman around the street. I decided I didn't want to be that 250+ lb. white woman. Occasionally, some guy would jump off the back of a scooter and follow you around trying to sell you photocopied books, that still weren't at much of a discount, actually. I burned through the one book I brought quickly (excellent) and was curious, but who wants to pay $10 us for a photocopy of a crap book? And finally, occasionally one of these different types of hawkers would try to sell me drugs or women. Not for me, but even if I was interested in that, I get the feeling that time spent in a Vietnamese prison would not be fun.

soccer 2

oh i saw a soccer game on saturday. russia v holland. i was tired and the game was boring. without england, i just don't care that much. it certainly isn't worth staying up until 5am and eating crap bar food just to make the minimum charge.

i shouldn't complain...

...because the past couple of days there was no rain. Although it was around 100 degrees and humid and standing in the sun felt like standing in fire. But the stupid typhoon which killed lots of people in the philipines is missing taiwan, we just get some rain and lightning but no day off. I should be happy - I'm not looking for massive devastation or anything. I just can't help remembering all the typhoon days i had when i got paid by the hour and needed the money, and the more i needed it, the more they came. and now that i'm on salary, not one. and most of the holidays have fallen on weekends. that just sucks. i have a lot of stress at work right now, with a performance for my kindergarten approaching, and other things approaching, and i could really have used a day to relax. but no.

soccer

I still haven't been able to see a damn European game. And unless I stay up late tonight (unlikely) I won't get a chance until the final. I was hoping to call in sick, but because of the kindergarten graduation ceremony we are preparing for, I really can't call in sick without screwing myself over (I need the practice). My only hope is a typhoon comes and they cancel school on monday. Come on Typhoon!!!

every day it rains

I used to blame keelung for the never ending rain. But all of north taiwan is unbelievable. There hasn't been a completely dry week this year. I'm almost positive about that. It always rains here.

This past weekend I smoked cigars and drank scotch with some friends and tried unsuccessfully to
see the spain/sweden game.

Here is a picture of me being silly at the aquarium in Kenting. Note the Doraemon T shirt and ugly red sweat pants.

puppet show

Here's a recent picture of me in front of a puppet show at the top of the mao kong gondola.

Someone offered to buy my blog for $50 this week. I guess that's what happens when you don't update for 7 months. Of course I'm tempted. But I'm also unsure why he thinks there is value in the blog. Where is the value? In the name? In the content? I don't get much traffic, of course, since I update so infrequently. But the very fact that he offered me money makes me unsure about selling. There must be some way to make money with this, I guess. Interesting.

In other news, I'm learning some basic vietnamese f0r my trip. Makes taiwanese seem easy.

no promises

well, i'm leaving my ymca job in the end of july and hoping to start full time studenting this fall. In between i'm hoping to sneak over to vietnam to see and then back to the east coast of the usa to see the family. Lots of stuff needs doing between now and then, yay. maybe i can post a bit more.

t's

One of the most popular tshirts here has a red apple on it and says "Algebra is for lovers"

Nian gao

So here is my nian gao. I hope you can see the shape, which I enjoy. It's a little bit noodle like, but more solid and chewy from the sticky rice. The mushu at this place is fresh and delicious. You can see in the front that I got some taiwanese style pickled cucumbers on the side prepared with chili, garlic, and sesame oil alongside some sweet vinegar. It's crunchy and a nice counterpoint to the chewy nian gao.

Fried beef noodles

And here are the fried noodles with beef. On this day, my boss ate this but kindly allowed me to take a photo. You can see cabbage and onions and carrots which give it a nice flavor along with the beef.

fresh noodles.

They make their own noodles at this place. Basically that means that they keep this big hunk of dough under a towel until they need it (no pun intended). After kneading it, they cut it into a big pot of boiling water to cook briefly before they whisk it away to the back to be fried. You can see a flying piece of noodle near this guys curved blade if you look closely. The noodles are slightly uneven, which gives a texture i quite like.

Here are the small plates of side dishes that are available at this place. I usually get a kale type thing that has been sauted with garlic and chili and something sweet. They always have a variety of green things along with some tofu, noodles, and maybe a few pig's blood related items.

Food near my new job

So, I have a new job now and a few new places to choose from for dinner. The job provides free lunch for me, but it's pretty simple stuff. Maybe I will get some photos up of that soon. But today we are looking at one of the two places I like that I have discovered. This one has excellent, homemade noodles and Nian Gao. Nian Gao is made from sticky rice flour which is steamed into cakes and cut into oblong shapes. It is famous in a Korean style, but I get it here with mushu (mushrooms and pork).

Merry me!

i can't resist. someone was asking his girlfriend to merry him by dancing with cheerleaders and mascots during the break. it was a little embarassing to see him dance, but his future wife probably thought it was sweet for him to humiliate himself for her. hope you can see the sign clearly.

Coors girls

One of the joys of Taiwanese baseball is cheap beer brought to you by pretty girls. Here, Michael and I pose with our beer girls, one of whom seems to have a halo. I abhor coors generally, but what the hell.