Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Monday, December 28, 2009
Friday, December 25, 2009
Chúc Giáng Sinh Vui Vẻ
Chúc Giáng Sinh Vui Vẻ 
Well. Christmas in Vietnam! I have to admit I chickened out and did not go into District 1 to see the lights on Christmas Eve. From what I understand, people have to get there before six and then stay until midnight at least, in order to find a spot for people-watching, let alone get transportation to go home. So I had a quiet evening in Phu My Hung. It was a festive day of sorts nonetheless. When I rounded the corner on the third floor to go to my 7:30 a.m. class, I could hear a LOT of suspicious noise, sounding altogether too jolly. And, my lovely PET class had organized a Christmas party! There was a special CD, balloons, streamers, Santa hats, and a beautiful cake. 
And cans of fake snow! 
It was just the loveliest party ... and I had absolutely nothing to do with it! We took pictures and chatted and laughed ... and after a while they all decided it was time to get to work, so the tables were moved back into place and we took up Reading homework! With great cheer.
They are a wonderful class and work so well together. Our Brazilian student, Beatriz, had gone home for two weeks at Christmas, and so we missed her, but know she will be having a great time where she is. Still no facebook, so will have to hope friends read this and know that I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! Chúc Giáng Sinh Vui Vẻ và Chúc Năm Mới Tốt Lành.
And cans of fake snow! It was just the loveliest party ... and I had absolutely nothing to do with it! We took pictures and chatted and laughed ... and after a while they all decided it was time to get to work, so the tables were moved back into place and we took up Reading homework! With great cheer.They are a wonderful class and work so well together. Our Brazilian student, Beatriz, had gone home for two weeks at Christmas, and so we missed her, but know she will be having a great time where she is. Still no facebook, so will have to hope friends read this and know that I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! Chúc Giáng Sinh Vui Vẻ và Chúc Năm Mới Tốt Lành.Lots more pictures on http://www.flickr.com/photos/raven_chick/
Saturday, December 19, 2009
The Social Calendar
All of a sudden my dance card is filling up! Yay!
After a while we had the bánh cuốn, which had been made by Hoa's father and which were delicious. We had a general discussion about whether or not Vietnamese men commonly cooked and Hoa said we could see her father cooking ... we went through to the cooking kitchen at the back of the house. Hoa's mother and father were making the rice flour pancakes, which are called bánh cuon (I think) ... the pronunciation is different. I mean, they have a commercial enterprise in their kitchen and they make 30 kg of bánh cuon every day to sell at the Cho Thủ Đức. They worked remarkably well together and made dozens of the pancakes while we were in the kitchen chatting to them. Miss Hoa said she didn't know how to make them. She makes a great latte, though!
After a little walk around the neighbourhood (where there were two Catholic churches (the entrance to one is pictured above) and two Buddhist temples within two blocks) Thuy and I said our thank yous and departed. What a lovely afternoon. Thuy and I looked at some of the Christmas displays in D1 on our way home. So many children dressed in their finery getting their pics taken at the various displays. She insisted on driving me home, although I know how to do it. Very protective!
Today I went with Miss Thanh, from my office to see some sights in District 5 and 6. I am so fortunate to have these opportunities. I didn't get to see any baby Santas, but I did see a lot of Santa merchandise. 
We saw a few pagodas, including an absolutely stunning one called Chua Hue Nghiem, which was so different in appearance and style from pagodas I have visited while here. Thanh said it was a Vietnamese-style pagoda, as opposed to a Chinese-style one. Toi khong biet ... I dunno. It is quite serene and very little decoration is evident. The statues in the main pagoda are all made of wood and there is quite a bit of land around it. In fact there seems to be a building boom, with a new stupa and several other buildings under construction. It was really interesting because we saw a lot of lay women who were dressed all in grey come for a ceremony. There was a lot of chanting and then walking in the main chapel as well. I saw many young laywomen; Thanh says they come to the pagoda very regularly and then they also have several days a month when they are more active. 
At another pagoda, one where businessmen often go, we saw a man unpack several boxes of statues of Quan Am and several other Buddhist saints/luminaries/bigwigs. I thought someone was making a donation, but Thanh told me that people bring their statues to have their eyes opened. We stayed a while and when the owner of the statues had said his prayers, a man (He wasn't wearing robes, but he might have been a monk.) said some prayers and chanted and blessed the statues. It looked like he was painting the figurines, but I think it was with water. Thanh said he was praying for them to have open eyes, open ears, an open heart, open hands, and so on. Thanh got into a conversation with the gentleman who was the owner of the figurines, and he is a very prominent businessman. He said he always brings his statues to open their eyes or to pray for success when he starts a new project or opens a new store or company.
We ended our journey with lunch at Hung Vuong Plaza. Omigoodness, it is getting very crowded. Thanh was great company and I appreciated her company, her translating, explaining, and her very comfortable motorbike. She is a very good driver! You can see more pics on flickr in a day or two if you like.
It seems so strange to teach up to and including the 24th ... so I am really not in a Christmas frame of mind at all. However, all the best to you who are in chillier climes and who are looking forward to a Christmas celebration and/or break. Best wishes for a truly meaningful Christmas filled with many blessings ... gastronomical, material, physical, emotional, and spiritual!
First of all, (well, not first of all, since it will be in the future, but first in my list of social engagements) I am having Christmas lunch with some of the ladies from RMIT at the Caravelle Hotel in D1. It is a lovely 5-star hotel right across from the Opera House. It is a bit pricey, but it is all you can consume of whatever you'd like, and so we are hoping to have a very nice time. Three or four of my colleagues are moving in to the hotel for the Christmas weekend, but I will just join them for lunch. Maybe take my suit and join them in lounging by the pool in the afternoon. I may go to Thuy's parents garden for the weekend. Thuy has two unexpected months off and is raring to travel ... too bad our schedules don't coincide. But I would love to see her hometown, so I hope it works out. I may go to Dalat for New Year's ... not sure about accommodation yet, though. Apparently there is a massive flower festival beginning New Year's Day and so I am not sure if there is room at the inn. I took these pics today.
Saturday after my Vietnamese lesson, I went to the home of Miss Hoa. She is one of the young servers who works at Bobby Brewer's, the Starbuck's sort of place on the 5th floor of RMIT. She and Mis Be and Miss Thi are just the sweetest young people. At any rate, I was taken aback when she said that her parents were going to make bánh cuốn which are like crepes made from a thin, wide rice flour pancake filled with ground pork, minced wood ear mushrooms and served with the dipping sauce called nước chấm ... and would I like to come. But I remember Michelle's voice telling me to take every opportunity that passed my way ... so I said that would be lovely. She was a bit confused by my reply (language is an issue) but I gave her my phone number and she said she would call me. Thank goodness I had my Vietnamese lesson at 9 a.m. because when Hoa called me at 8:45, we had a hard time understanding each other. She invited me for breakfast, but I told her I had my lesson and it would take two hours. So, unfortunately, she thought I was asking to come at 2. But Thuy called her and got it all sorted out. It turns out Hoa lives very far from Phu My Hung, in a district called Thủ Đức, which is in the northwestern part of HCMC, while Phu My Hung is Saigon South. Thuy insisted on driving me on her motorbike and it took over an hour to get there. Wow. Thuy then stayed for lunch, which was just as well, because language really is an issue!
Hoa's house, which is on a pretty quiet narrow street, is a long and narrow place. When we went in, her mother was off at church, praying. There were several little children asleep on the living room floor ... her aunt runs a little kindergarten/day care for neighbourhood working families. We watched them for a while and then they got up and were fed. I was struck by the fact that Hoa's aunt and her cousins fed all the children, even the 5 or 6-year-olds!
They were having rice vermicelli and chicken, which, granted, could have been messy, but Thuy said that Vietnamese parents preferred to feed their children rather than let them feed themselves. I hate to admit it, but some of the children started to cry when they saw me ...very scary western face ... so sad! This little guy was quite the performer and didn't seem to have issues with me (#^_^#)
Hoa's house, which is on a pretty quiet narrow street, is a long and narrow place. When we went in, her mother was off at church, praying. There were several little children asleep on the living room floor ... her aunt runs a little kindergarten/day care for neighbourhood working families. We watched them for a while and then they got up and were fed. I was struck by the fact that Hoa's aunt and her cousins fed all the children, even the 5 or 6-year-olds!They were having rice vermicelli and chicken, which, granted, could have been messy, but Thuy said that Vietnamese parents preferred to feed their children rather than let them feed themselves. I hate to admit it, but some of the children started to cry when they saw me ...very scary western face ... so sad! This little guy was quite the performer and didn't seem to have issues with me (#^_^#)After a while we had the bánh cuốn, which had been made by Hoa's father and which were delicious. We had a general discussion about whether or not Vietnamese men commonly cooked and Hoa said we could see her father cooking ... we went through to the cooking kitchen at the back of the house. Hoa's mother and father were making the rice flour pancakes, which are called bánh cuon (I think) ... the pronunciation is different. I mean, they have a commercial enterprise in their kitchen and they make 30 kg of bánh cuon every day to sell at the Cho Thủ Đức. They worked remarkably well together and made dozens of the pancakes while we were in the kitchen chatting to them. Miss Hoa said she didn't know how to make them. She makes a great latte, though!After a little walk around the neighbourhood (where there were two Catholic churches (the entrance to one is pictured above) and two Buddhist temples within two blocks) Thuy and I said our thank yous and departed. What a lovely afternoon. Thuy and I looked at some of the Christmas displays in D1 on our way home. So many children dressed in their finery getting their pics taken at the various displays. She insisted on driving me home, although I know how to do it. Very protective!Today I went with Miss Thanh, from my office to see some sights in District 5 and 6. I am so fortunate to have these opportunities. I didn't get to see any baby Santas, but I did see a lot of Santa merchandise. We saw a few pagodas, including an absolutely stunning one called Chua Hue Nghiem, which was so different in appearance and style from pagodas I have visited while here. Thanh said it was a Vietnamese-style pagoda, as opposed to a Chinese-style one. Toi khong biet ... I dunno. It is quite serene and very little decoration is evident. The statues in the main pagoda are all made of wood and there is quite a bit of land around it. In fact there seems to be a building boom, with a new stupa and several other buildings under construction. It was really interesting because we saw a lot of lay women who were dressed all in grey come for a ceremony. There was a lot of chanting and then walking in the main chapel as well. I saw many young laywomen; Thanh says they come to the pagoda very regularly and then they also have several days a month when they are more active. At another pagoda, one where businessmen often go, we saw a man unpack several boxes of statues of Quan Am and several other Buddhist saints/luminaries/bigwigs. I thought someone was making a donation, but Thanh told me that people bring their statues to have their eyes opened. We stayed a while and when the owner of the statues had said his prayers, a man (He wasn't wearing robes, but he might have been a monk.) said some prayers and chanted and blessed the statues. It looked like he was painting the figurines, but I think it was with water. Thanh said he was praying for them to have open eyes, open ears, an open heart, open hands, and so on. Thanh got into a conversation with the gentleman who was the owner of the figurines, and he is a very prominent businessman. He said he always brings his statues to open their eyes or to pray for success when he starts a new project or opens a new store or company.We ended our journey with lunch at Hung Vuong Plaza. Omigoodness, it is getting very crowded. Thanh was great company and I appreciated her company, her translating, explaining, and her very comfortable motorbike. She is a very good driver! You can see more pics on flickr in a day or two if you like.It seems so strange to teach up to and including the 24th ... so I am really not in a Christmas frame of mind at all. However, all the best to you who are in chillier climes and who are looking forward to a Christmas celebration and/or break. Best wishes for a truly meaningful Christmas filled with many blessings ... gastronomical, material, physical, emotional, and spiritual!Sunday, December 13, 2009
Party Central
Ho Chi Minh City seems like quite the festive place right now. There are lots and lots of Christmas decorations going up and we can see more and more day by day. The last sentence was very typical of what I see in essays I mark, so I can clearly see it is time for me to quit teaching writing if reverse osmosis is setting in. However, I will go on a night tour soon and take some pics. Last night I went by one hotel and there was the most beautiful Cinderella’s carriage all lit up ... I think people take tours and have their pictures taken at all the best spots.
So, of course, the season bears little to no resemblance to Christmas in Canada ... lots of glitz and LED lights and decorations, but the weather is ALL wrong and people don’t seem to be in a buying frenzy. It is not an official holiday and so I do wonder what the average Vietnamese person makes of it all. I see lots of little kids dressed up as Santa (and I hope I can take a couple of photos of the child Santas) and Christmas trees are everywhere, but I am not sure what other aspects of Christmas are important. Sometimes I glimpse sights that seem more like I would expect to see .... but it's always good not to have too many hard and fast ideas about what Vietnam is or what constitutes the authentic Vietnam.
So, of course, the season bears little to no resemblance to Christmas in Canada ... lots of glitz and LED lights and decorations, but the weather is ALL wrong and people don’t seem to be in a buying frenzy. It is not an official holiday and so I do wonder what the average Vietnamese person makes of it all. I see lots of little kids dressed up as Santa (and I hope I can take a couple of photos of the child Santas) and Christmas trees are everywhere, but I am not sure what other aspects of Christmas are important. Sometimes I glimpse sights that seem more like I would expect to see .... but it's always good not to have too many hard and fast ideas about what Vietnam is or what constitutes the authentic Vietnam.
So ... several of us went to a Christmas Carol Concert a week or so ago. It featured the International Choir and Orchestra of Ho Chi Minh City. It was held in St Paul’s Convent Chapel, which is in District 1, close to where lots of expats live and shop. The concert was fairly ambitious, with Vivaldi’s Magnificat as the centrepiece of the program. Overall, it was a lovely performance, although the acoustics were not very balanced and as we were off to the side, we couldn’t hear very clearly. As an aside, I was talking to my friend, Lily, yesterday and she said the Doha Community Orchestra and Doha Singers’ concerts were yesterday and they went really well. I have a sense that perhaps the choir in Qatar is slightly more pulled together. I think several people in the audience were rather expecting Jingle Bells and Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer, but for those of us who had read the program and knew what to expect, it was very lovely. As for the others, I saw quite a bit of texting going on, so I guess they were occupied well enough. Quiet, anyway.
Chapel is really a misnomer, as the church seems to be cathedral-sized. It is fairly simple in design and decoration and is immaculate. I really hope I can return again in the daytime, as the grounds look amazing. The whole complex seems to take up most of a large city block. I am not sure how many nuns live at the convent or what they do there, but there seem to be lots of buildings. Someone mentioned an orphanage, but they may have been speculating. To get to the chapel entrance, we had to go down a couple of very narrow streets. How narrow? You could drive a motorbike, but a car could definitely not go down these streets ... almost like hu tongs in China, I would suppose. People’s houses opened right onto the street and I felt quite voyeuristic as we walked down the lanes, as people were sleeping and eating and watching TV and drinking tea and chatting. Some people still had little stands set up to sell things. Everyone seemed very friendly and courteous as several hundred primarily foreign concert-goers scurried along their laneways; the children were especially cute as they waved and said, “Hello, Hello!”.
Then we had the RMIT Christmas Party on Friday. It was held in the food court area. Lots and lots of food and an open bar with beer and wine. Small presents for all. It was all very cheery and it was nice to finally lay eyes on the President, Professor Merilyn Liddell, who has been out of the country for much of the time I have been at RMIT Vietnam.
There was homegrown entertainment in the form of some singing, dancing, and even a fashion show. All the entertainment was provided by our Vietnamese staff ... the foreign staff must wither be untalented or stick-in-the-muds .. or would that be sticks-in-the mud? No fun, anyway. I am sure it took a long time to organize this party and it was very nice to have an opportunity to socialize with people from all parts of the university.
Then last night, social butterfly that I am, I went to a wedding party. My Vietnamese teacher, Thuy, had invited her boss and a few of her students to the celebration. That was so nice ... and although we didn’t know the bride and groom personally, we had certainly heard about her family, and it was nice to meet everyone and see what a Vietnamese wedding party is like. 
The event was held in a large venue that seems to cater just to wedding and big parties. Thuy said 400 guests were invited to her brother’s wedding and there must have been 40 or 50 wedding parties at the facility last night. You'd never know there were thousands of people celebrating weddings at the location. Everything was extremely smooth and coordinated. Some of the restaurant personnel wore headsets and so there was really quite discreet communication going on at all times. Quite high-tech. Many wedding photographs are taken well in advance of the party, so there was a pre-wedding video that was being played in between live video of the goings-on for folks who were out of the line of vision. I meant to look at the video more closely, as I have noticed a large number of wedding photos being taken on bridges, especially the red bridge near RMIT and I am wondering the significance of that. At any rate, once in the Nha Hang Ky Hoa, I just got involved in people watching and forgot to look for the bridge.
So, once I made it to the restaurant, I was greeted briefly by the bride and groom.
Thuy’s brother is an engineer in a Japanese company and his English is pretty good. I was then escorted to the table where I signed a long scroll of names. This is where and when I was supposed to deposit my envelope (they don’t give crystal, silver, teapots, or figurines for presents here ... just money). This makes perfect sense when you think about it because the newlyweds will live in Thuy’s family home (with assorted sisters, brothers, in-laws, nieces ... and sometimes their parents, although they tend to spend more time in the country). I am not sure at what point, if at all, the newlyweds will live independently. At any rate, when I got the scoop, I tiptoed down to place my envelope accordingly.
After all the guests were seated, there was a bit of a procession with onto the stage by some dancers wearing traditional costume. These were restaurant employees, I was informed, but it was certainly colourful and very exciting to watch.
They ushered the bride and groom up on stage eventually and then brought up the parents shortly after. There are no equivalents to bridesmaids/best men/ etc, so these folks served the ushering role. There were a couple of short speeches, by Thuy’s father and the emcee. Then there was some toasting and drinking of wine by the families and champagne by the bride and groom. Then wedding couple filled a champagne fountain (which was just for show, as I don’t think anyone had any of it) and cut the cake (ditto) and then the meal started.
While people ate, the wedding party went from table to table thanking the guests ... I don’t think any of them got to sit down and eat. I felt very sorry for the parents, as they all looked tired! Additionally, as the meal was ongoing, there was a wedding singer and then a band. Thuy’s younger brother sang a couple of songs with the band and then some of the groom’s workmates came up and sang. The bride (now changed into another gown) and groom (in a different suit)went up on stage with them. Very good humoured.
The meal was delicious ... how many courses ... first was a crab bisque, followed by a platter of shrimp and pork stir-fried with bamboo shoots. After that there was a beef stew with slices of baguettes and then the final course was a traditional Vietnamese hot pot with fish, crab, shrimp, veggies, and noodles. And big bowls of grapes to finish it off.
The most surprising thing I noted was after the meal, people just started leaving. There wasn’t a dance or visiting ... but when I looked at the exhausted faces of the wedding party, I joined in the diaspora/getaway.
All in all, it was a lovely party. I enjoyed meeting Thuy’s other students who included Norwegian, Danish, British, and Singaporean businessmen (two accompanied by spouses) as well as her boss, Steve, a South African businessman, and his lovely wife, Jenny. 
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Chúng Ta Đi Part 2
So, once off the bus, I followed Thuy and Diep who were following The Four Ladies. It was a bit disconcerting when one of the ladies asked me what I was doing (following along with them). I explained that I was with Thuy … I guess I had not been mentioned in Thuy’s original discussion with The Four Ladies. However, I was quickly embraced by them and they all had fun trying to say my name … Sheeee-laaaa. It turns out that Mimi (the one with English) lives in Santa Ana and comes back to visit her home town and relatives in Vietnam only every three or four years since her parents passed away. I got a chance to ask her about the confiscation of goods and she said as far as she knew, the people weren’t doing anything illegal and she thought it was very mean to take away goods from poor family people who had only enough money to buy one or two cases of things. Howard, my colleague, told me today he had read that there was going to be a crackdown on illegal imports, but again, the question remains why officials wouldn’t go after the store instead of poor individuals. Someone else said something about tax-free goods. Dunno.
So, I had hopes that we might make the 12 o’clock service at the Cao Dai Temple, but Thuy said it was already past 12 and The Four Ladies were inclined to get some lunch. But first a taxi for 7. No problem. One was quickly dispatched and the driver agreed to basically be at our beck and call for the rest of the afternoon. We went to Cho Long Hoa (big flower market?) and found a stand that could serve us all … I had ban cuong, which is like rice noodles cut up with vegetables and stuff on top and then it has some fish sauce and condiments on it. Yum. A sweet drink, called chè sam bô luong to top it off (more yum) and then we went in search of more treats for The Four Ladies to buy. I can’t begin to tell you how hard it is to describe the types of foodstuff that is available in these markets. I literally don’t know what 90% of it is. However the ladies knew and buy they did. Then it was off to find our taxi driver who was catching 40-winks in the shade but quickly hopped to when he heard us coming. Off we went to the mountain, called Black Lady Mountain in English and Nui Ba Den in Vietnamese.
I didn’t realize it, but Nui Ba Den is a very famous place with a long history. It is a conical mountain just jutting out of a very flat area … rice fields and the like. It’s about 850-900 metres high – a dormant volcano, I read. The legend is that a young wife, Hương, leapt off the mountain to her death rather than be raped by three abductors. She later appeared in a vision to a Buddhist monk and her legend was born. Thuy told me that prayers offered here are very powerful. Apparently it was a US military outpost during the Vietnam War and before that a location fought over in the war with the French. There are some interesting blogs written by American ex-servicemen who have returned to Nui Ba Den. Now it is a Buddhist tourist/pilgrimage destination with a bit of amusement park tossed into the mix. Apparently not many foreigners go there; I was the only one I was aware of while we were there.
We arrived at the park surrounding Nui Ba Den and were greeted by several men negotiating many things .... entrance fee, tram ride, cable car, toboggan run, and so on. I was aware that the object of attention was really Mimi, the Vietnamese American woman, and one or two of her friends who were buying various things for the monastery up the mountain. There were commercial enterprises all about selling souvenirs, as well as incense, flowers, candles, and all kinds of foodstuffs. I think The Four Ladies bought things at every shop. Various touts just wouldn’t leave Mimi alone. They kept imploring her to buy rice, and cases of fish sauce, soya sauce, noodles, and the like. And she did … I hope she hadn’t been intending to meditate because she didn’t have a minute’s peace. Except maybe when we were going up the mountain.
The mountain has a path going up that takes an hour or more to climb, but we opted to take the cable car up to the pagodas. We could see a long way as we went up … all the way to Cambodia, in fact!
As Mimi and The Four Ladies prayed at various altars, the things they had purchased were brought to the various places to be blessed. I can well-imagine that the chua needs to have these touts, as the monastery is quite remote and must depend on charity, but it was disarmingly transactional, from what I could discern. 
We stayed at Nui Ba Den for quite a while … many, many altars and more things to buy, birds to release, monkeys to look at, another level to climb to, and temple people, dogs, and cats to watch. Poor Thuy was feeling quite badly at one point because she knew that I had had my heart set on going to the Cao Dai temple and it was getting later and later. I told her not to worry … that I would come another time to see the noon service … khong sau … no problem. But eventually almost all the money was gone and we enjoyed a simple meal of soup and rice and pumpkin before heading out. Just one more stop at the bottom of the mountain to buy rice wrappers and snacks and spicy chili salt that people dip fruit (apples, mangoes, and cherries) into and a couple of drinks and more snacks and, and, and … no wonder people were happy to see The Four Ladies and sad to see us go.
We did stop at the Thanh That Cao Dai long enough to walk through the temple and to get an idea of how large the grounds are. I will have to do more investigating, but the place was very interesting and the people we met were very quiet and respectful. No commerce visible. The women all wear white ao dais and the men wear white robes and black turbanish head gear … like Omani turbans, if you know what I mean. But black. Everyone invited us to come at 5 p.m. the following day, because it was an important festival, but alas, we had to work.
Our taxi picked us up after 20 minutes or so and whisked us to the bus station where various people clamoured for our business. I thought we were all set to take a non-stop bus to HCMC, when The Four Ladies decided the price was too high … apparently a difference between 25,000 and 40,000 VND … a difference of about 50 cents. My heart sank when I thought we were going to have to take a slow bus, but eventually it all got negotiated and we hopped on the soft seat direct bus.
We almost made it too … except we blew a tire just as we entered Saigon. Oy, such a sound. We all just piled off the bus and another city bus came along within 20 seconds and we paid a nominal fee and piled on it. The seating was very limited, and Mimi insisted I share a seat with her … however, I sat on a step in front of her and was very comfortable. One of The Four Ladies nattered at a vulnerable-looking guy until he got up and gave me his seat. He was wearing nice pants and I was ultra-grubby after a day of touring about, so was fine where I was, but he would have none of it. The mood on the bus was cheery and strangers and friends all chattered away in the growing darkness and it all felt quite cosy … me not having a clue what was going on. Eventually we got to the bus station … not at all where I thought we would be. Thuy and Diep lived near there and they handed me over to Mimi’s friend. Co Tam lives in District 7 and we agreed we would share a taxi … but would a woman who was prepared to walk away from a direct bus over 50 cents REALLY take a taxi? Apparently not. But I was entrusted to her care in spite of having no common words … so two more looooong city bus rides and a very short taxi ride and an hour and a half later, I was home! A very memorable day.
Lots more pics on flickr ... http://www.flickr.com/photos/raven_chick
So, I had hopes that we might make the 12 o’clock service at the Cao Dai Temple, but Thuy said it was already past 12 and The Four Ladies were inclined to get some lunch. But first a taxi for 7. No problem. One was quickly dispatched and the driver agreed to basically be at our beck and call for the rest of the afternoon. We went to Cho Long Hoa (big flower market?) and found a stand that could serve us all … I had ban cuong, which is like rice noodles cut up with vegetables and stuff on top and then it has some fish sauce and condiments on it. Yum. A sweet drink, called chè sam bô luong to top it off (more yum) and then we went in search of more treats for The Four Ladies to buy. I can’t begin to tell you how hard it is to describe the types of foodstuff that is available in these markets. I literally don’t know what 90% of it is. However the ladies knew and buy they did. Then it was off to find our taxi driver who was catching 40-winks in the shade but quickly hopped to when he heard us coming. Off we went to the mountain, called Black Lady Mountain in English and Nui Ba Den in Vietnamese.
I didn’t realize it, but Nui Ba Den is a very famous place with a long history. It is a conical mountain just jutting out of a very flat area … rice fields and the like. It’s about 850-900 metres high – a dormant volcano, I read. The legend is that a young wife, Hương, leapt off the mountain to her death rather than be raped by three abductors. She later appeared in a vision to a Buddhist monk and her legend was born. Thuy told me that prayers offered here are very powerful. Apparently it was a US military outpost during the Vietnam War and before that a location fought over in the war with the French. There are some interesting blogs written by American ex-servicemen who have returned to Nui Ba Den. Now it is a Buddhist tourist/pilgrimage destination with a bit of amusement park tossed into the mix. Apparently not many foreigners go there; I was the only one I was aware of while we were there.
We arrived at the park surrounding Nui Ba Den and were greeted by several men negotiating many things .... entrance fee, tram ride, cable car, toboggan run, and so on. I was aware that the object of attention was really Mimi, the Vietnamese American woman, and one or two of her friends who were buying various things for the monastery up the mountain. There were commercial enterprises all about selling souvenirs, as well as incense, flowers, candles, and all kinds of foodstuffs. I think The Four Ladies bought things at every shop. Various touts just wouldn’t leave Mimi alone. They kept imploring her to buy rice, and cases of fish sauce, soya sauce, noodles, and the like. And she did … I hope she hadn’t been intending to meditate because she didn’t have a minute’s peace. Except maybe when we were going up the mountain.
The mountain has a path going up that takes an hour or more to climb, but we opted to take the cable car up to the pagodas. We could see a long way as we went up … all the way to Cambodia, in fact!
As Mimi and The Four Ladies prayed at various altars, the things they had purchased were brought to the various places to be blessed. I can well-imagine that the chua needs to have these touts, as the monastery is quite remote and must depend on charity, but it was disarmingly transactional, from what I could discern. We stayed at Nui Ba Den for quite a while … many, many altars and more things to buy, birds to release, monkeys to look at, another level to climb to, and temple people, dogs, and cats to watch. Poor Thuy was feeling quite badly at one point because she knew that I had had my heart set on going to the Cao Dai temple and it was getting later and later. I told her not to worry … that I would come another time to see the noon service … khong sau … no problem. But eventually almost all the money was gone and we enjoyed a simple meal of soup and rice and pumpkin before heading out. Just one more stop at the bottom of the mountain to buy rice wrappers and snacks and spicy chili salt that people dip fruit (apples, mangoes, and cherries) into and a couple of drinks and more snacks and, and, and … no wonder people were happy to see The Four Ladies and sad to see us go. We did stop at the Thanh That Cao Dai long enough to walk through the temple and to get an idea of how large the grounds are. I will have to do more investigating, but the place was very interesting and the people we met were very quiet and respectful. No commerce visible. The women all wear white ao dais and the men wear white robes and black turbanish head gear … like Omani turbans, if you know what I mean. But black. Everyone invited us to come at 5 p.m. the following day, because it was an important festival, but alas, we had to work.
Our taxi picked us up after 20 minutes or so and whisked us to the bus station where various people clamoured for our business. I thought we were all set to take a non-stop bus to HCMC, when The Four Ladies decided the price was too high … apparently a difference between 25,000 and 40,000 VND … a difference of about 50 cents. My heart sank when I thought we were going to have to take a slow bus, but eventually it all got negotiated and we hopped on the soft seat direct bus.We almost made it too … except we blew a tire just as we entered Saigon. Oy, such a sound. We all just piled off the bus and another city bus came along within 20 seconds and we paid a nominal fee and piled on it. The seating was very limited, and Mimi insisted I share a seat with her … however, I sat on a step in front of her and was very comfortable. One of The Four Ladies nattered at a vulnerable-looking guy until he got up and gave me his seat. He was wearing nice pants and I was ultra-grubby after a day of touring about, so was fine where I was, but he would have none of it. The mood on the bus was cheery and strangers and friends all chattered away in the growing darkness and it all felt quite cosy … me not having a clue what was going on. Eventually we got to the bus station … not at all where I thought we would be. Thuy and Diep lived near there and they handed me over to Mimi’s friend. Co Tam lives in District 7 and we agreed we would share a taxi … but would a woman who was prepared to walk away from a direct bus over 50 cents REALLY take a taxi? Apparently not. But I was entrusted to her care in spite of having no common words … so two more looooong city bus rides and a very short taxi ride and an hour and a half later, I was home! A very memorable day.Lots more pics on flickr ... http://www.flickr.com/photos/raven_chick
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Chúng Ta Đi Part 1
OK … weekly update time … let’s go!
I mentioned last week that Thuy, my Vietnamese teacher, and I were planning to go to Tay Ninh, about a couple of hours outside of HCMC to see the Cao Dai Holy See (don’t you love the alliteration there? I am so self-indulgent when it comes to alliteration … especially of the homonym sort). She also mentioned going to a famous mountain, but I explained that I really wanted to go to the Cao Dai temple to see the noon service. So, we decided to meet at the Ben Thanh bus station at 7 a.m., which we did. Thuy’s 11-year-old niece, Diep, came with us. We waited about half an hour for the bus, just at the regular bus station. Thuy did all the talking so I just followed along and did what she told me to do. We started off with about 6 or 8 passengers on the bus, but by the time we left the city, it was packed. I assumed everyone was going to the Cao Dai temple, but I was wrong …
After driving through a lot of urban sprawl and by the Cu Chi tunnels, we passed some rice fields and lots of water buffalo. The land was very flat and we could see lots of tarps out with brown rice drying in the sunshine, while some fields were still being harvested and others burned and others flooded and planted. It reminded me a bit of Yunnan province in China, where I saw the same sequence of activities … and we are not so far away from there, when you think of it. Eventually we came to a bus depot and it was absolute pandemonium as we got off the bus. I thought there was a particularly irreverent tone to the discourse, with all sorts of xe om drivers vying for our business … most of them were waving fistfuls of coupons of one sort or another. Shouting and gesticulating. It turns out the majority of people were either crossing the border to Cambodia to the casino (gambling is illegal in Vietnam) or going to a large Costco–style supermarket advertising wholesale prices. I just followed Thuy.
It turned out Thuy didn’t know what to do either, but she started talking to four ladies, who were also going to the mountain and the Holy See, so we trailed along with them. We eventually found another bus to get onto. We waited a few minutes before pulling out of the depot. So many people buying Heineken … cases and cases of it, along with bags, and boxes, and cartons of other goods, but really, a lot of Heineken.
Off we started on the next leg of the journey. We soon left the main road and travelled quite some way on a secondary road, which was also primarily rice fields, with lots of coconut, banana, papaya, and mango trees along the road. It reminded me a lot of rural Mexico, with houses and stores being so close to the road and hammocks strung up and people and traffic and dogs and roosters all coexisting. Soon, however, it became evident that the bus driver was upset about something. He started shouting from the front and people called back to him in a fairly good-humoured fashion. He kept shouting and people kept replying and then I noticed that people were looking out the windows, behind us. I looked too, but couldn’t see anything untoward … as if I even knew what to look for^_^.
Anyway, it all became evident when we got to the next little village and a checkpoint stopped us. Everybody got off the bus … well, we started to (The Four Ladies plus Thuy, Diep, and me) but we were told to sit down. So we did. Then everyone piled back on the bus and took their purchases from the wholesale store off the bus. Then they came back on and took more purchases. Then the patrol people inspected the bus … and confiscated all the Heineken, noodles, fish sauce, and all the other groceries that the passengers had with them. The passengers and the bus driver and fare collector were most upset and hurled insults at the checkpoint people (as well as at some of the townspeople who just loaded their newly-confiscated Heineken onto their motorbikes and drove off). The patrol men just went utterly impassive and let the diatribe roll right off their backs. I thought that in Canada, people would open the beer and just pour it out onto the dirt. The folks here probably did the right thing … most of them just got back on the bus and continued their journey. Well, the next section was short. We had just gone down the road a kilometer or so, when the bus stopped at a little restaurant, and the fare collector and a couple of passengers started hauling boxes of tomato sauce and Lord knows what else off the bus and into the store. Where had they hidden it all in plain sight? The guards had come on and inspected the bus! Another kilometer or so, they stopped the bus again and the driver and fare collector and a couple of passengers got off and unloaded the luggage compartment underneath the bus… more Heineken, and more boxes of food. This was all very smart, because another kilometer or so, there was another checkpoint and this time they checked the bus more thoroughly, including the luggage compartment. I just took pics of the ducks in the stream across the road and the rice fields and tried not to make eye contact with anyone. I was still minding my own business a few kilometers down the road when we came to the town of Tay Ninh and it was time to get off our eventful bus.
I mentioned last week that Thuy, my Vietnamese teacher, and I were planning to go to Tay Ninh, about a couple of hours outside of HCMC to see the Cao Dai Holy See (don’t you love the alliteration there? I am so self-indulgent when it comes to alliteration … especially of the homonym sort). She also mentioned going to a famous mountain, but I explained that I really wanted to go to the Cao Dai temple to see the noon service. So, we decided to meet at the Ben Thanh bus station at 7 a.m., which we did. Thuy’s 11-year-old niece, Diep, came with us. We waited about half an hour for the bus, just at the regular bus station. Thuy did all the talking so I just followed along and did what she told me to do. We started off with about 6 or 8 passengers on the bus, but by the time we left the city, it was packed. I assumed everyone was going to the Cao Dai temple, but I was wrong …
After driving through a lot of urban sprawl and by the Cu Chi tunnels, we passed some rice fields and lots of water buffalo. The land was very flat and we could see lots of tarps out with brown rice drying in the sunshine, while some fields were still being harvested and others burned and others flooded and planted. It reminded me a bit of Yunnan province in China, where I saw the same sequence of activities … and we are not so far away from there, when you think of it. Eventually we came to a bus depot and it was absolute pandemonium as we got off the bus. I thought there was a particularly irreverent tone to the discourse, with all sorts of xe om drivers vying for our business … most of them were waving fistfuls of coupons of one sort or another. Shouting and gesticulating. It turns out the majority of people were either crossing the border to Cambodia to the casino (gambling is illegal in Vietnam) or going to a large Costco–style supermarket advertising wholesale prices. I just followed Thuy.
It turned out Thuy didn’t know what to do either, but she started talking to four ladies, who were also going to the mountain and the Holy See, so we trailed along with them. We eventually found another bus to get onto. We waited a few minutes before pulling out of the depot. So many people buying Heineken … cases and cases of it, along with bags, and boxes, and cartons of other goods, but really, a lot of Heineken.
Off we started on the next leg of the journey. We soon left the main road and travelled quite some way on a secondary road, which was also primarily rice fields, with lots of coconut, banana, papaya, and mango trees along the road. It reminded me a lot of rural Mexico, with houses and stores being so close to the road and hammocks strung up and people and traffic and dogs and roosters all coexisting. Soon, however, it became evident that the bus driver was upset about something. He started shouting from the front and people called back to him in a fairly good-humoured fashion. He kept shouting and people kept replying and then I noticed that people were looking out the windows, behind us. I looked too, but couldn’t see anything untoward … as if I even knew what to look for^_^.Anyway, it all became evident when we got to the next little village and a checkpoint stopped us. Everybody got off the bus … well, we started to (The Four Ladies plus Thuy, Diep, and me) but we were told to sit down. So we did. Then everyone piled back on the bus and took their purchases from the wholesale store off the bus. Then they came back on and took more purchases. Then the patrol people inspected the bus … and confiscated all the Heineken, noodles, fish sauce, and all the other groceries that the passengers had with them. The passengers and the bus driver and fare collector were most upset and hurled insults at the checkpoint people (as well as at some of the townspeople who just loaded their newly-confiscated Heineken onto their motorbikes and drove off). The patrol men just went utterly impassive and let the diatribe roll right off their backs. I thought that in Canada, people would open the beer and just pour it out onto the dirt. The folks here probably did the right thing … most of them just got back on the bus and continued their journey. Well, the next section was short. We had just gone down the road a kilometer or so, when the bus stopped at a little restaurant, and the fare collector and a couple of passengers started hauling boxes of tomato sauce and Lord knows what else off the bus and into the store. Where had they hidden it all in plain sight? The guards had come on and inspected the bus! Another kilometer or so, they stopped the bus again and the driver and fare collector and a couple of passengers got off and unloaded the luggage compartment underneath the bus… more Heineken, and more boxes of food. This was all very smart, because another kilometer or so, there was another checkpoint and this time they checked the bus more thoroughly, including the luggage compartment. I just took pics of the ducks in the stream across the road and the rice fields and tried not to make eye contact with anyone. I was still minding my own business a few kilometers down the road when we came to the town of Tay Ninh and it was time to get off our eventful bus.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Teachers' Day in Vietnam
I would be remiss if I didn't post something about Teachers' Day, which is celebrated on November 20, in Vietnam.The day began with seeing this beautiful butterfly. Such a symbolic beginning to a day honouring the transformational relationships that can exist between teachers and students.
Flowers are actually far more common than butterflies on Teachers' Day. Flowers are everywhere and students are very gleeful and sincere in wishing all teachers (even strangers in the hall) all the best and Happy Teachers' Day. Even Floor 5's ca phe establishment had a bouquet in honour ... I think I counted 10 kinds of orchids in this arrangement! Gorgeous.
So much excitement in the halls! My class festooned our class with balloons and gave me a very thoughtful gift ... a keychain with a little chick on it. They had asked me about my unusual name when we first met last week, and so we had laughed at its uniqueness. Their gift made me laugh out loud. They gave Jeff, their other L6.1 teacher, a keychain with flip flops on it ... they had remembered that he said that most people in Vietnam drop the final consonants when saying his name, and the resulting word is the Vietnamese for sandals! We felt our class had really thought about our gifts and we were pleased that they had paid so much attention in class. In addition to the students' best wishes, our department put on a very nice spread catered by a top restaurant, and the president sent out a lovely message. All in all, it was a very interesting day and the tradition should probably be adopted in Canada. It is clear that euducation of young people is extremely valued here and teachers are very much respected in this culture. You may note that I have a non-Asian student in my class... Beatriz is from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. She is a lawyer and is a wonderful addition to this class. There is also a Taiwanese student, Jui, ... can you spot him? 
He's the guy in the hoodie. He drives his motorbike for 2 hours every day to get to school (and class starts at 7:30) and then he has a 2-hour drive home where he puts in a full day of work as a manager of a company. Such dedication! Unfortunately a couple of students were missing that day. OK, have to go and make like a teacher and mark some compare/contrast essays!
Flowers are actually far more common than butterflies on Teachers' Day. Flowers are everywhere and students are very gleeful and sincere in wishing all teachers (even strangers in the hall) all the best and Happy Teachers' Day. Even Floor 5's ca phe establishment had a bouquet in honour ... I think I counted 10 kinds of orchids in this arrangement! Gorgeous.So much excitement in the halls! My class festooned our class with balloons and gave me a very thoughtful gift ... a keychain with a little chick on it. They had asked me about my unusual name when we first met last week, and so we had laughed at its uniqueness. Their gift made me laugh out loud. They gave Jeff, their other L6.1 teacher, a keychain with flip flops on it ... they had remembered that he said that most people in Vietnam drop the final consonants when saying his name, and the resulting word is the Vietnamese for sandals! We felt our class had really thought about our gifts and we were pleased that they had paid so much attention in class. In addition to the students' best wishes, our department put on a very nice spread catered by a top restaurant, and the president sent out a lovely message. All in all, it was a very interesting day and the tradition should probably be adopted in Canada. It is clear that euducation of young people is extremely valued here and teachers are very much respected in this culture. You may note that I have a non-Asian student in my class... Beatriz is from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. She is a lawyer and is a wonderful addition to this class. There is also a Taiwanese student, Jui, ... can you spot him? He's the guy in the hoodie. He drives his motorbike for 2 hours every day to get to school (and class starts at 7:30) and then he has a 2-hour drive home where he puts in a full day of work as a manager of a company. Such dedication! Unfortunately a couple of students were missing that day. OK, have to go and make like a teacher and mark some compare/contrast essays!
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