there is nothing better than being in the swimming pool. I'm pretty sure of this, I've been spending the last few weeks trying to find better ways to sweat out my afternoons. Though yesterday was really cool and so I decided to walk from school to Ben Thanh Market, forgetting that cool weather = rainstorm. Oops! I found shelter under a tree in the park and ended up talking for a few minutes with a Canadian who has lived in Vietnam for 5 years. That's the cool thing about being in this area, you meet people from all over the world doing interesting things.
I've about 1 more month here, which is a bit sad. =( I want to be in Vietnam slash on vacation for just a few more weeks!!! No but definitely am glad that I made the decision to come here and just wish I would have done it after college or something so I could get more time out here. My xe om driver today told me that my Vietnamese was a lot better, haha that's what one month of forced language learning will do!
Also just want to mention that it's really nice to be in a city/country where everyone is the same size as you. Or even smaller. Besides the way I dress, which is a dead give-away that I am a tourist, I fit in quite well.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
video: 5.17.09 and 5.19.09
Clearly cannot talk, walk, and film at the same time, as I make many mistakes in the vids! And sorry for the bumpiness, I am recording while walking...
Sunday night:
After the tour of the Palace, I met up with Chi Cindy to have dinner and play tennis. This is a video of:
- Dong Khoi street, where the Opera House is and some really nice shops and hotels
- then a clip of riding on Sunday night, around 7 pm. I tried to capture the essence of the city at night, still busy and bustling with many people out and about.
- Ky Hoa 2 Tennis and Swimming club
The club is called Ky Hoa 2 (Ky Hao Hai, not “ba” like I say in the film, which means 3…oops!) and is located a few minutes from the house in district 10. It has covered and uncovered tennis courts, swimming pool, exercise room, sauna, food bar, and sports shop. Pretty cool. Pricing is like I say on the video, about $17 per hour, which can be expensive if you’re by yourself but if you split with another friend or maybe don’t need a coach, then I think it would be okay. There are cheaper places to play around the city, but this has a great facility and so Chu Dung pays a bit more for it.
Tuesday 5.19.09
I made this video going to Ben Thanh Market on Tuesday night, before meeting Chi Linh for dinner.
Video of Chợ Bến Thành:
I recorded crossing my street Trần Hưng Đạo (named after a military hero) to take the bus to the market. Then I film some of the market - at night, many stalls go up on the 2 streets surrounding Ben Thanh, but the actual indoor market is closed. You can still buy many thing at night, but it's only a fraction of the offerings inside...
I also go into a smaller street that has more stalls with other goods, so you can see just how much is offered and how crowded and crazy it can get...
Bloopers:
Title page should read "Chợ Bến Thành" - I mixed up the accent marks on the 'o'.
I talk about buying lacquered painted plates as souvenirs:
The larger painted plates, 1 foot in diameter, were priced at 250,000 D = $13
Smaller plates, maybe about 8 in in diameter, were priced at 200,000 D = around $11
Sunday night:
After the tour of the Palace, I met up with Chi Cindy to have dinner and play tennis. This is a video of:
- Dong Khoi street, where the Opera House is and some really nice shops and hotels
- then a clip of riding on Sunday night, around 7 pm. I tried to capture the essence of the city at night, still busy and bustling with many people out and about.
- Ky Hoa 2 Tennis and Swimming club
The club is called Ky Hoa 2 (Ky Hao Hai, not “ba” like I say in the film, which means 3…oops!) and is located a few minutes from the house in district 10. It has covered and uncovered tennis courts, swimming pool, exercise room, sauna, food bar, and sports shop. Pretty cool. Pricing is like I say on the video, about $17 per hour, which can be expensive if you’re by yourself but if you split with another friend or maybe don’t need a coach, then I think it would be okay. There are cheaper places to play around the city, but this has a great facility and so Chu Dung pays a bit more for it.
Tuesday 5.19.09
I made this video going to Ben Thanh Market on Tuesday night, before meeting Chi Linh for dinner.
Video of Chợ Bến Thành:
I recorded crossing my street Trần Hưng Đạo (named after a military hero) to take the bus to the market. Then I film some of the market - at night, many stalls go up on the 2 streets surrounding Ben Thanh, but the actual indoor market is closed. You can still buy many thing at night, but it's only a fraction of the offerings inside...
I also go into a smaller street that has more stalls with other goods, so you can see just how much is offered and how crowded and crazy it can get...
Bloopers:
Title page should read "Chợ Bến Thành" - I mixed up the accent marks on the 'o'.
I talk about buying lacquered painted plates as souvenirs:
The larger painted plates, 1 foot in diameter, were priced at 250,000 D = $13
Smaller plates, maybe about 8 in in diameter, were priced at 200,000 D = around $11
Food: 5.17 to 5.20
Sunday, 5.17.05
Lunch after the tour of Reunification Place was at a restaurant around the corner, Bún Bò Huế (meaning literally Noodle Beef Hue = Beef Noodle Soup, specialty of Hue in Central Vietnam, where my dad is from)
The menu offers two kinds of soup (yes they are both soups, there are about 10 different kinds of noodles each with their own name...it's quite hard to keep track of.) You can see on the menu:
- lớn = large for 25,000 D
- nhỏ = small for 15,000 D
- bánh Huế = flour cakes from Hue, four kinds of flour cakes: again each one has large size for 25,000 D and small for 15,000 D. The bottom is a listing of the drinks.
I'd already tried the noodle soups and sometimes for me, I cannot eat soup when it is so hot outside...so I ordered 1 of each bánh...(haha yeah maybe a bit much, but hey I gotta figure out which ones are which, and no food went to waste in this experiment...)
You eat these with nước mắm - popular Vietnamese fish sauce that makes all the difference in some dishes - and they all have beef in them, but are sometimes made with shrimp or pork. When we get these in the US, many times they come wrapped in banana or lotus leaves, which is how they can be cooked and steamed, and then it's also fun to open up!
Top - bánh lọc (had this in the US, the stickiest and probably my favorite)
Bottom - bánh nậm (also had this in US). Across them is spicy pork.
Top: bánh ít (small and round, stuffed with beans). Had not had this before, kind of too bland for me. Haha, also the only one that does not have meat...coincidence?!
Bottom: bánh bèo (had this a lot in US too).
Well glad I got that all figured out...haha great food experiment! Lunch for 10 people = 250,000 D. Fo realz, that's around $1.40 a person
**
Dinner on Sunday night was out with Chi Cindy on Dong Khoi Street, a fancy street with expensive shops, hotels, and the Opera House. Walking down the street is like walking down a really nice shopping street in the US, except sometimes the windows will show the traditional Vietnamese clothes, and women in ao dai are handing out leaflets for beauty and spa salons. (Manicure or Pedicure for $4 each! I paid half that at 30,000 D...but am in search of a spa pedicure which will probably be more expensive than $4).
In front of the Opera House (Nhà hát lớn Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh = literally "house singing large, City Ho Chi Minh") - in my next post I will have a video of Dong Khoi Street...!!
Chi Cindy wanted me to try Thai food: (R) Fried and fluffed fish with mango (L) Shrimp and tofu pad thai...mmmmm delicious!!
Dessert was like Vietnamese che with jelly, coconut milk, and fruit:
**
Tuesday 5.19.09
I had lunch after school with Anh Nam, Anh Keisuke, and Chi Ah-Kimmie, three of my classmates, at a Pho 24, chain restaurant, on nearby Le Tan Ton Street - urgh, I did not want to be at a chain restaurant but all the other local places were completely swamped with diners! One bowl of pho was 38,000 D and it was just okay, I have had better pho for breakfast from the housekeeper. So no pics because it just was uneventful, but afterwards I went with Anh Keisuke to Cho Ben Thanh (Ben Thanh Market) to walk around, browse the shops, and practice Vietnamese.
We stopped at TuttiFrutti (right next to the market and Pho 2000) for dessert to cool down from walking around. I think the other place I went to earlier in my trip had better toppings, and I don't know how the prices compare, but it was still good! 113,000 D for both (25,000 for 100 grams):
Later that night I met up with Chi Linh (met through a mutual friend), her cousin Dan, and Gina, one of their friends, at Sushi Bar - a great sushi place located on (again!) Le Than Ton Street.
Next post will have video of me going from my house to Cho Ben Thanh, where I walk around the outdoor night market. Then I paid 20,000 D for xe om driver to take me from the market to the restaurant.
Linh, Dan, and Gina are American citizens (considered here to be "expats" or "tay balo" in Vietnamese slang for "Western backpacker") and are all English teachers at different levels (high school, college, and elementary school, respectively) and so it was really great to talk with them about teaching English and basically how they are able to live here. Gina has lived here for 2 years and doesn't speak much Vietnamese - a testament to how much English is spoken in certain areas (read: in District 1, more expensive than local) of the city. Dan and I also made plans to watch the NBA basketball championships together - as long as it's not at 4 am local time. Go Cavs!! (But I digress...)
It had a level that had the traditional floor seating - a first for me! Super cute, and amazing, delicious food! We had miso soup, eel rolls, salmon sashimi, fatty tuna rolls, tempura, and 2 mixed sushi plates. The whole meal for 4 was 760,000 D = $42, so about $10 per person. Probably one of the more expensive meals that I've had on the trip, but definitely worth it!!
**
Wednesday 5.20.09
Dinner with Em Phuc and his sister Em Nhung, both lab assistants/students at the nearby University of Natural Sciences. I meet with them about once a week and speak Vietnamese with Em Phuc for about an hour and then we all go out to dinner. It's been really fun to get to know them and we're making plans to go visit the countryside one weekend. Excited but 45 minute ride (one way!) on the xe máy may kill me =/ haha
I told them that I wanted to eat gỏi cuốn (summer roll; rolls made from the white rice paper and not fried but served fresh and cold) and so they took me to a local restaurant in District 10 that I recognized to be near the tennis and swimming place...
Gỏi Cuốn - 1 for 3,000 D...so we got 10!
Gỏi đu đủ (papaya salad) with dried beef = 8000 D. You can see the little glass for tea and the yellow dessert menu (kem = ice cream)...so you can read in the pic that kem ly (ice cream in a glass) = 8000D See at the bottom? Fried ice cream for 5000D...guess what we then ordered...
Kem Chiên (fried orange icecream) = 5000D (yumyumyum) and the other plate is sticky rice with beef and peanuts
Fish meat balls! Total was 88000D for 3 people!!!
Lunch after the tour of Reunification Place was at a restaurant around the corner, Bún Bò Huế (meaning literally Noodle Beef Hue = Beef Noodle Soup, specialty of Hue in Central Vietnam, where my dad is from)
The menu offers two kinds of soup (yes they are both soups, there are about 10 different kinds of noodles each with their own name...it's quite hard to keep track of.) You can see on the menu:
- lớn = large for 25,000 D
- nhỏ = small for 15,000 D
- bánh Huế = flour cakes from Hue, four kinds of flour cakes: again each one has large size for 25,000 D and small for 15,000 D. The bottom is a listing of the drinks.
I'd already tried the noodle soups and sometimes for me, I cannot eat soup when it is so hot outside...so I ordered 1 of each bánh...(haha yeah maybe a bit much, but hey I gotta figure out which ones are which, and no food went to waste in this experiment...)
You eat these with nước mắm - popular Vietnamese fish sauce that makes all the difference in some dishes - and they all have beef in them, but are sometimes made with shrimp or pork. When we get these in the US, many times they come wrapped in banana or lotus leaves, which is how they can be cooked and steamed, and then it's also fun to open up!
Top - bánh lọc (had this in the US, the stickiest and probably my favorite)
Bottom - bánh nậm (also had this in US). Across them is spicy pork.
Top: bánh ít (small and round, stuffed with beans). Had not had this before, kind of too bland for me. Haha, also the only one that does not have meat...coincidence?!
Bottom: bánh bèo (had this a lot in US too).
Well glad I got that all figured out...haha great food experiment! Lunch for 10 people = 250,000 D. Fo realz, that's around $1.40 a person
**
Dinner on Sunday night was out with Chi Cindy on Dong Khoi Street, a fancy street with expensive shops, hotels, and the Opera House. Walking down the street is like walking down a really nice shopping street in the US, except sometimes the windows will show the traditional Vietnamese clothes, and women in ao dai are handing out leaflets for beauty and spa salons. (Manicure or Pedicure for $4 each! I paid half that at 30,000 D...but am in search of a spa pedicure which will probably be more expensive than $4).
In front of the Opera House (Nhà hát lớn Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh = literally "house singing large, City Ho Chi Minh") - in my next post I will have a video of Dong Khoi Street...!!
Chi Cindy wanted me to try Thai food: (R) Fried and fluffed fish with mango (L) Shrimp and tofu pad thai...mmmmm delicious!!
Dessert was like Vietnamese che with jelly, coconut milk, and fruit:
**
Tuesday 5.19.09
I had lunch after school with Anh Nam, Anh Keisuke, and Chi Ah-Kimmie, three of my classmates, at a Pho 24, chain restaurant, on nearby Le Tan Ton Street - urgh, I did not want to be at a chain restaurant but all the other local places were completely swamped with diners! One bowl of pho was 38,000 D and it was just okay, I have had better pho for breakfast from the housekeeper. So no pics because it just was uneventful, but afterwards I went with Anh Keisuke to Cho Ben Thanh (Ben Thanh Market) to walk around, browse the shops, and practice Vietnamese.
We stopped at TuttiFrutti (right next to the market and Pho 2000) for dessert to cool down from walking around. I think the other place I went to earlier in my trip had better toppings, and I don't know how the prices compare, but it was still good! 113,000 D for both (25,000 for 100 grams):
Later that night I met up with Chi Linh (met through a mutual friend), her cousin Dan, and Gina, one of their friends, at Sushi Bar - a great sushi place located on (again!) Le Than Ton Street.
Next post will have video of me going from my house to Cho Ben Thanh, where I walk around the outdoor night market. Then I paid 20,000 D for xe om driver to take me from the market to the restaurant.
Linh, Dan, and Gina are American citizens (considered here to be "expats" or "tay balo" in Vietnamese slang for "Western backpacker") and are all English teachers at different levels (high school, college, and elementary school, respectively) and so it was really great to talk with them about teaching English and basically how they are able to live here. Gina has lived here for 2 years and doesn't speak much Vietnamese - a testament to how much English is spoken in certain areas (read: in District 1, more expensive than local) of the city. Dan and I also made plans to watch the NBA basketball championships together - as long as it's not at 4 am local time. Go Cavs!! (But I digress...)
It had a level that had the traditional floor seating - a first for me! Super cute, and amazing, delicious food! We had miso soup, eel rolls, salmon sashimi, fatty tuna rolls, tempura, and 2 mixed sushi plates. The whole meal for 4 was 760,000 D = $42, so about $10 per person. Probably one of the more expensive meals that I've had on the trip, but definitely worth it!!
**
Wednesday 5.20.09
Dinner with Em Phuc and his sister Em Nhung, both lab assistants/students at the nearby University of Natural Sciences. I meet with them about once a week and speak Vietnamese with Em Phuc for about an hour and then we all go out to dinner. It's been really fun to get to know them and we're making plans to go visit the countryside one weekend. Excited but 45 minute ride (one way!) on the xe máy may kill me =/ haha
I told them that I wanted to eat gỏi cuốn (summer roll; rolls made from the white rice paper and not fried but served fresh and cold) and so they took me to a local restaurant in District 10 that I recognized to be near the tennis and swimming place...
Gỏi Cuốn - 1 for 3,000 D...so we got 10!
Gỏi đu đủ (papaya salad) with dried beef = 8000 D. You can see the little glass for tea and the yellow dessert menu (kem = ice cream)...so you can read in the pic that kem ly (ice cream in a glass) = 8000D See at the bottom? Fried ice cream for 5000D...guess what we then ordered...
Kem Chiên (fried orange icecream) = 5000D (yumyumyum) and the other plate is sticky rice with beef and peanuts
Fish meat balls! Total was 88000D for 3 people!!!
Sunday 5.17.09: Reunification Palace
What a fun filled day Sunday was! Em Hoang picked me up at 7:15 am and we met the students (all members of the English Club) in front of the Reunification Palace. As we waited for the rest of the group, there were probably about 5 bus-loads of people, not all foreigners - apparently it's a really popular Sunday morning field trip for both Vietnamese people and tourists....
Entrance fee = 15000 D
Guidebook (contains history written in English, Vietnamese and French) = 10000 D
Tour DVD = 20000 D
Em Khue, the organizer, had purchased tickets for the whole group through the funds of the English Club and also insisted on buying the a guidebook (great souvenir) and DVD.
The group in front of the Reunification Palace.
I already posted a lot about the history of this building for the Reunification Holiday at the end of April. So I already knew much of the history of the building, but seeing everything in person made it so real. The building, with much of the original artwork, furniture, lighting and carpeting, is like a time capsule of 1975 - really freaky and yet fascinating at the same time.
Posing with Em Binh in front of the model (there was only one real vehicle from that time period in the museum - everything else was a model) of the 390 tank that broke down the front gate of the Independence Palace, on April 30, 1975. 4 people were in each tank. There was also a tank that broke down the side gate (model on display) but this tank was the one capture in all the pictures of that iconic moment. Poor side tank, always a bridesmaid, never a bride.
Group shot in front of a model US F5E aircraft, the same one in which pilot Nguyen Thanh Trung bombed the Independence Palace on April 8, 1975. (Note that this date is still during the actual war time - may have contributed to the "Fall of Saigon" not like the tank breaking the gates.)
The building itself was more beautiful than I expected. This current palace was designed by Ngô Viết Thụ, who won the Roman Grand Prize for this building; he combined modern architecture and oriental traditional architecture, including many Chinese characters.
From my guidebook: "The overall outlay of the building is made to express CAT, a Chinese character meaning good future (seen in bird's eye view). Within the front facade of the building there are many other symbols:
KHAU = education and freedom,
TRUNG = center (for balance and peace of mind),
TAM = 3 aspects of democracy = humanity, wisdom, boldness,
VUONG = King,
CHU = sovereignty,
HUNG = prosperity...all aspects important to the future of the Vietnamese people.
(they draw it in my guidebook but the pictures of this don't turn out nice enough to see - so I will try to draw it out when there's more time because it's quite interesting)
Probably my most favorite aspect of the building, along with the beautiful views of the city from it: "The architectural beauty of the Palace is embodied in the flower stone curtain bearing shapes of bamboo joints surrounding the second floor. It not only increases the beauty of the Palace but also admits sunlight from the East." Also there were many stone carvings, displaying dragons and phoenix, under the smaller windows.
windows from the outside
windows from inside - on the 2nd floor. From this view you can see that they are actually floor to ceiling windows and so can let in all of the light from the rising Sun (symbolic: Palace is graced by the East's Rising Sun).
Beautiful view of the street! There is a street that runs across the front, parallel to the gate; and there is another street that runs actually from my school down and dead ends into the front gate (there is a park on both sides as it gets close to the Palace - this is what you see in the video at the top of this post).
Other front entrance photographs taken from different levels:
So I took way too many pictures and cannot post them all here. All pics can be accessed here and there are captions for things that I cannot write about here. Too many interesting things, too little picture space! So I am just posting the highlights...
Colors and lighting also have a great symbolic meaning within the Palace. The Cabinet Meeting room is green to create a calm, peaceful atmosphere. The Banquet Room, used for formal dinners, is yellow to depict South Vietnam's beauty and luxury. Otherwise, many of the other rooms use the strong red and yellow colors of the Vietnamese Flag, and various Chinese characters and symbols within the artwork and furniture. The lighting in each room is also unique and really goes well with the design and intended "mood" of each room - like in the First Lady's Dining Room, your eyes are drawn upwards to the lotus flower shaped lights, which somehow seem to create a more feminine, cozy atmosphere along with the furniture.
The President's International Reception Room - President's Chair is a bit more elevated than the other chairs, and has handles carved in a dragon's head. The guests' chairs have handles that are carved as phoenix. The lacquered wood behind the Presidents' chair has three stripes cut into it, to signify the South Vietnamese flag (yellow with three red stripes).
Side note: In Washington D.C.'s Little Saigon area, it is this flag that flies next to the American flag...still controversial as evidenced by Wiki:
"In the United States, at least 11 states and 113 cities have adopted resolutions recognizing the former South Vietnamese flag as the Vietnamese Heritage and Freedom Flag.[7] The Vietnamese Heritage and Freedom Flag is permanently displayed at memorial sites at Westminster, California and Cabramatta, Australia. The Vietnamese government opposes these efforts and complained to the United States federal government on the grounds that it is a sovereign country with diplomatic relations with the United States. This flag is de facto banned in Vietnam. In contrast, the current Vietnamese flag is considered offensive by many overseas Vietnamese."
(I try very hard to not say things like "Vietnam War" or "Fall of Saigon" because I do not want to sound presumptuous and want to remain as neutral as possible. It may be overreacting a bit but really do not want to offend anyone.)
View of the helicopter pad - The helicopter is a model of the one that the President would use to do an overhead tour of the city. The two circles represent where 2 bombs impacted under release by pilot Lieutenant Nguyen Thanh Trung, at 8:30 am on Aptil 8, 1975.
Group shot at the top of the Palace!
Something really interesting to see on my Picasa page is a description of the Vietnamese History:
Explaining the history of the Norodom Palace - the Reunification Palace sits on the site of the Norodom Palace which was built by the French in 1870s.
The Civil War: It's a reminder that history is exactly that, HIS STORY, and is subjective.
Consider that by the "Vietnam War's" end in 1975, the Vietnamese had been fighting foreign involvement or occupation (by the French, Chinese, Japanese, British, and American governments), for 116 years....
3 iconic image of April 30, 1975 - the day that marks the end of the War.
On Top: One of the most famous photos taken that day, people boarding a helicopter on the CIA rooftop. The photographer, Hugh Van Es, just passed away this week.
Middle: The tank breaks through the front gate of the then Independence Palace.
Bottom: The tanks and soldiers leave their mark on the front lawn of the Palace.
And so ended our tour of the Palace - it was really incredible and I'm so glad that I was able to tour with some friends from the medical school. We had a Vietnamese tour guide that liked to run from room to room, and so it was a bit hurried but a few students were happy to play translator and explain all of the details. Surely it is a must see when in HCMC, to fully understand the history of the city and the people here.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
this weekend
was really fun, minus the accident!
Friday was class then out and about in the evening with Em Hoang.
Saturday morning, I had breakfast with em Thao, the girl who took me to the supermarket earlier in the week.
Restaurant near the medical school with a great view of the street traffic below: Glass noodle soup with chicken + iced tea = 20,000 D
Then we went to Ao Dong, a market near the medical school. It's cheaper than Ben Thanh, and bigger with 3 levels. I was looking for some fabrics and clothes, but there are so many stalls, it quickly got very overwhelming. I'll go back next week again with em Thao and take some pics, but it's just crazy incredible how many stalls there are and how many things they have on display. I bought a new black messenger bag (fake Prada, whaaaat!) for 386,000 D = $20; probably overpriced but I really needed a new one. Okay, I am not going shopping again without someone else, because my bargaining skills are laughable. I just get nervous and sweaty and overwhelmed by the language barrier and the amount of math I have to do in my head and then I just get tired and really want the product and so just say OK. It really must be a learned art, because I am failing at bargaining 101 that's fo sho!
Saturday afternoon, I studied some Vietnamese with Cau Giang (Chu Dung's nephew), then was able to video chat with mom, and catch up on some tv shows.
Sunday morning I went with a group of the medical students to tour the Reunification/Independence Palace. For some reason, they like to do things really early in the morning, I was picked up at 7:15 am. The group got together a bit before 8 am, but there were already at least 5 bus loads of people in the Palace grounds.
It was a beautiful Palace, and much of the furniture, artwork, displays are the original from 1975 - basically like a time capsule of the 1970s, and full of history and culture.
I took a ton of pictures and spend the last hour labeling, editing, and uploading...so too tired to write up a post, so I'll put the pics here for now and write a big thing tomorrow.
New pictures posted
Friday was class then out and about in the evening with Em Hoang.
Saturday morning, I had breakfast with em Thao, the girl who took me to the supermarket earlier in the week.
Restaurant near the medical school with a great view of the street traffic below: Glass noodle soup with chicken + iced tea = 20,000 D
Then we went to Ao Dong, a market near the medical school. It's cheaper than Ben Thanh, and bigger with 3 levels. I was looking for some fabrics and clothes, but there are so many stalls, it quickly got very overwhelming. I'll go back next week again with em Thao and take some pics, but it's just crazy incredible how many stalls there are and how many things they have on display. I bought a new black messenger bag (fake Prada, whaaaat!) for 386,000 D = $20; probably overpriced but I really needed a new one. Okay, I am not going shopping again without someone else, because my bargaining skills are laughable. I just get nervous and sweaty and overwhelmed by the language barrier and the amount of math I have to do in my head and then I just get tired and really want the product and so just say OK. It really must be a learned art, because I am failing at bargaining 101 that's fo sho!
Saturday afternoon, I studied some Vietnamese with Cau Giang (Chu Dung's nephew), then was able to video chat with mom, and catch up on some tv shows.
Sunday morning I went with a group of the medical students to tour the Reunification/Independence Palace. For some reason, they like to do things really early in the morning, I was picked up at 7:15 am. The group got together a bit before 8 am, but there were already at least 5 bus loads of people in the Palace grounds.
It was a beautiful Palace, and much of the furniture, artwork, displays are the original from 1975 - basically like a time capsule of the 1970s, and full of history and culture.
I took a ton of pictures and spend the last hour labeling, editing, and uploading...so too tired to write up a post, so I'll put the pics here for now and write a big thing tomorrow.
New pictures posted
back where he belongs
Phelps is back in the pool!! (Thank goodness!)
May 15: Phelps wins two titles in first finals since Olympics
May 16:Phelps suffers first swim finals loss in a year
After a nine month hiatus, he's back and doing what he does best. Good job, Phelps, stay out of the party scene. Getting caught twice means either a) stop doing it or b) get smart and party alone. Clearly you should be doing the former because you are an ATHLETE whose lively hood depends on HEALTHY LUNGS, good eyesight, and a strong work ethic.
Piersol is gunning for his spot!!
May 15: Phelps wins two titles in first finals since Olympics
May 16:Phelps suffers first swim finals loss in a year
After a nine month hiatus, he's back and doing what he does best. Good job, Phelps, stay out of the party scene. Getting caught twice means either a) stop doing it or b) get smart and party alone. Clearly you should be doing the former because you are an ATHLETE whose lively hood depends on HEALTHY LUNGS, good eyesight, and a strong work ethic.
Piersol is gunning for his spot!!
Friday, May 15, 2009
Accident
Well, maybe writing the almost accident a few days ago jinxed me. Because tonight was a full-fledged "motorbike collides with car" accident.
Tonight I went around with Em Hoang, a third year medical student. He took me around the District 1 area, we walked around a bit, and then stopped at a coffee shop for awhile. On the way to my house we got into a small accident, really very minor, but shook me up.
Video of Em Hoang - I speak "Americanized Vietnamese", and he answers in English. Haha this is probably the only footage I will take of me speaking Vietnamese because I sound like a hillbilly. =/
Em Hoang was already driving very slowly to follow the house numbers and a taxi van that was to the left to us was slowing down and turned across our path into the gas station. It was seriously in slow motion - we got caught between the van and the curb of a sidewalk - the van hit the motorbike and the we fell onto the ground, motorbike landing on its side on top. Double prayers of thanks for helmets and brakes.
I am very lucky that I did not land harder than I did. Em Hoang was driving slowly and I landed on the sidewalk, not the ground. Soft landing, and I had a helmet. (yay safety laws!) But if either of us were driving faster, it would have been really bad.
So everything is okay, just kind of shaken up, but there is no damage to anyone or anything. People came over, reviewed the accident, asked if everyone was okay, checking out the vehicles - the driver definitely did not have his turn signal on but also we were in his blind spot. I don't know what would have happened if something more major had happened - I'm pretty sure that most people do not have insurance here - but I did purchase international medical insurance the day before I left, so I would have been covered.
4 weeks already in HCMC, every day on a motorbike and only 1 minor accident...sheesh let's hope that's as bad as it gets...
Tonight I went around with Em Hoang, a third year medical student. He took me around the District 1 area, we walked around a bit, and then stopped at a coffee shop for awhile. On the way to my house we got into a small accident, really very minor, but shook me up.
Video of Em Hoang - I speak "Americanized Vietnamese", and he answers in English. Haha this is probably the only footage I will take of me speaking Vietnamese because I sound like a hillbilly. =/
Em Hoang was already driving very slowly to follow the house numbers and a taxi van that was to the left to us was slowing down and turned across our path into the gas station. It was seriously in slow motion - we got caught between the van and the curb of a sidewalk - the van hit the motorbike and the we fell onto the ground, motorbike landing on its side on top. Double prayers of thanks for helmets and brakes.
I am very lucky that I did not land harder than I did. Em Hoang was driving slowly and I landed on the sidewalk, not the ground. Soft landing, and I had a helmet. (yay safety laws!) But if either of us were driving faster, it would have been really bad.
So everything is okay, just kind of shaken up, but there is no damage to anyone or anything. People came over, reviewed the accident, asked if everyone was okay, checking out the vehicles - the driver definitely did not have his turn signal on but also we were in his blind spot. I don't know what would have happened if something more major had happened - I'm pretty sure that most people do not have insurance here - but I did purchase international medical insurance the day before I left, so I would have been covered.
4 weeks already in HCMC, every day on a motorbike and only 1 minor accident...sheesh let's hope that's as bad as it gets...
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