Long Time No See

[Part 1]
[Edited since initial publication to include a couple new pics and better grammar and spelling]
Way, way, way overdue for a blog entry. So bear with me if it takes a few installments to cover everything that's transpired over the last month.

Christmas Eve Housewarming Party
To celebrate our new digs, and give our family-separated friends something to do, Daphne and I threw a housewarming party on Christmas Eve. At about the same time, Daphne got hired as a part time English teacher at ACET and was stuck working that night until 8. No big deal, it just meant a later start time and that the cooking and cleaning would rest solely on my shoulders.

[As usual, I wasn't done cooking yet when guests started to arrive]

[Notice the cleaning rag that guy's carrying? So many spills]

The best part about the party? Getting to sleep in the next day. Daphne and I have conflicting schedules now, so long gone are the lazy mornings. But alas, the repose was interrupted when we saw what a mess was laid outside the bedroom. Not having the foresight to have arranged for a maid to come for only 100,000VND[$6USD], we spent the afternoon cleaning up the apartment.
Meanwhile, somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, my parents were on their way to visit. They were going to spend three weeks here, but unfortunately I could only get time off for the latter two. So after a 26 hour flight and one night of rest in Saigon, I had arranged for them to fly to Hoi An the next day for a few nights until I was off from work. Daphne was kind enough to show them around town on Saturday before their flight while I was at work. By the time they left for Hoi An, she had spent more time with them than I had.

A New Motorbike
On Sunday, Daphne sends me a text while I'm at work celebrating her new purchase:a Yamaha automatic motorbike. She had gone with her friend, Yen, to pick it out and had gotten it for 7 mil VND[$390]. She had already payed the deposit on it and later that week we returned with the rest of the money to pick up the motorbike. When Daphne handed the money over, the owner counted and looked at us confused. He then wrote on a sheet of paper the number '17'. English, being Yen's second language, meant that when she had translated the price for Daphne she had made a common, though in this case expensive, pronunciation error.
Daphne was at first distraught by this turn of events, the deposit already being paid it was too late to negotiate on the price. After some careful consideration on the bike, we agreed that the original price was way too little considering that the bike was only three years old and in very good condition. So she paid the remainder and we drove home, each on our bike.
Whatever doubts Daphne had on her purchase melted away between the mechanic and our place. Initially, she had wanted us to take a taxi and have me drive the bike home since she was still inexperienced and the traffic in Saigon is a fright to the uninitiated. But I insisted that if she didn't start driving the bike immediately it would stay in the garage and rust. In just a few days, Daphne was driving the bike to work on her own.

New Years and Family Vacation
My parents arrived back on the 30th, delayed by Jetstar for the second time. Aside from a bit of food poisoning they seemed to have enjoyed their time. We took them to one of our favourite spots, Din Ky, a Chinese place that served anything from steak to shark fins soup, but that we always come to for the excellent crocodile. The next day, I have dim sum with Daphne and then go to meet my parents for a a day of touristing while she goes off to work. The problem with Saigon is that its more of a place to live in than to sight see, so planning what to do was a bit tricky. For a start, I took them to get cheap massages, then some VN iced coffee...and then I was stuck. For one thing, my parents were afraid to get on a motorbike which meant the only way to get around the city was by taxi which is way too slow. In fact, my mom was so stressed out by the traffic that even walking around the city was a problem. But after we consumed our coffees and I had flipped through the guide book, we settled on taking a taxi to a pagoda on the far side of the District. After that, a trip to our old neighbourhood in District 4 to have some baguette sandwiches at my favourite stand. Unfortunately, she was out of baguettes, so we went to a nearby bakery instead, picking a few treats up, and had a seat at another coffee spot to watch the sun fade.
That night, we had reservations at a nice, swanky place called the Temple Club to celebrate New Years Eve and for midnight we went out on the street and counted down with the rest of the town, in Vietnamese.

[Le Loi crowded by festivities]

Sleep? Only a couple of hours, because we had an early flight for Hanoi the next day. Our original flight had been canceled so I had to take the earliest time they had available in order to make it on the bus for Cat Ba Island in Ha Long Bay.

Dragon in the Mists
The short flight to Hanoi didn't leave enough time to make up for the sleepless night before. Nor did it help that it was cold and rainy on arrival. My heart sank. My parents had left the vacation in my hands and here I've sent them up north where its cold and wet for their holiday. I hope that it will be more clear in the Bay when we get there. Driving to the bus station in a taxi, I gaze out the window, noting how different the vibe is from my first visit back in June. Where there was life now it was in hiding.
A couple of bus trips later we were at the ferry to the island. It was still pretty cold but at least it had stopped raining. Seeing the rocky crags of Cat Ba changed all of our moods. A heavy mist hung over the islands in the bay, giving them a magical charm. It was different than my first visit, but still utterly beautiful. The island itself was comparatively empty without the summer beach goers.
We rented a boat out on the bay for the following day with Slo Pony, the climbing company I used last summer. It was still occasionally rainy and cold but it didn't stop us from enjoying the scenery and doing a bit of kayaking.



When I went out on the kayak with my dad, we were directed to steer towards a place called Paradise Cave. "Ten minutes that way, turn left." So paddle we did until we get to an opening in the rock face on our left hand side that opens to another body of water. It seemed like the place, though it wasn't a cave, and there was a sign in the cliff face that read: no entry. My dad insisted that we paddle on and that the entrance must be further down the wall. But after about twenty minutes we get to another similar opening with the same sign. I infer from this that 'Cave' is an incorrect VN translation and that both openings are for the same place. My dad isn't happy with this, especially because of the sign, but I convince him to paddle in for a look. The current at the opening is strong and against us, so we have to power our way in, noticing that the floor is quite shallow at the opening and a larger boat would not be able to pass here. When we finally muscle in, the site is truly paradise. The water, so still it reflects the green rocky cliffs perfectly. I was sad not to have my camera with me. The scene was like something out of a pirate novel or Robinson Crusoe. I wouldn't have been surprised if pirates had at one point used this cove.
At this time, my dad is still nervous about the sign and the fact that we only have thirty minutes left. But I convince him that if we circle the rock on the left we'll get to the opening we saw earlier and get back faster that way. So we paddle until we get to just such an opening that resembles the one we first passed. As we make our way through, the water gets so shallow that we strike ground and have to get out to push it through. On the other side we look around and notice that we are still not out of the cove! Further to the left we see another opening in the rock and some other kayakers paddling their way to it. Surely this was the opening we were looking for. As we paddled over we noticed that the counter stream was even stronger than the first one, with the addition of sharp coral that made it too shallow for passage in parts. But we succeeded in muscling our way through[note, my dad is 63] and made our way through a beautiful stalagmite[or stalactite?] roofed tunnel with colorful see plants below us only to come out into another cove. Although there were other places we could swim to to look for the exit, we only had five minutes until we were supposed to be back on the boat and way more than five minutes of paddling to cover. So we conceded to the cove and turned around, back through the tunnel maneuvered through the coral rapid[but not without getting stuck a couple times and cutting our feet on the coral trying to get out], and muscled our way back all the way through to the boat. We were only thirty minutes late and only ten second later than another group that we managed to catch up to through vigorous paddling[used this word too much, but I don't know any other synonym]. The next day, we got on the bus to go back to Hanoi. The sky was blue, the air was warm. What a tease. But no matter, everyone had a good time and I didn't feel bad anymore about taking my parents up north. Besides, after Hanoi there was still Thailand to look forward to.
[...]

Crocodile for Breakfast

Only a week to go. I'm told that the third week of CELTA is the hardest, they'd better be right. I had hardly a dollop of sleep all week. To illustrate my point, the sunrise:

[Too HDR?]

This was my Wednesday night/Thursday morning. I had a lesson plan to make for the next day and an assignment due. On top of that, one of my tailored shirts turned another two shirts pink in the wash and the ants got into my cereal. The day went by in a cloudy haze, teaching and classes until 6pm on zero sleep. I wasn't the only one suffering. After our 3pm break, there were ice coffees on desks from one end of the room to the other.
This weekend brought a much needed relief with some great dining and some expensive drinking. Somehow, the CELTAs and I managed to find the three most expensive bars in Saigon Friday night after class. La Habana was not only expensive but charged a sneaky service charge of 10%, a rude move considering that tipping doesn't exist in VietNam, or tax. We hauled out of there to another spot, Vasco's, where there was dancing and bad music. It was just around the corner, but not knowing this some of the CELTAs went into a taxi for a 30 second, 10,000VND ride. We weren't there long, thanks to the weak cover band, crowded dance floor and drink that topped La Habana. So we headed down to the backpacker's area to hit up Go2. On the way, one of my students rode up next to me on her motorbike and chatted me up for a bit. This city can really feel small at times.
Next day, Daphne and I took another trip to Ben Thanh Market. After some yummy soup and cane juice we dropped off her shoes to get fixed and went for a stroll. We found a flashy little Indian temple, not sure if it was truly Hindu, and wanted to have a look. Outside, a gentleman stopped us with an offer of incense. We told him we weren't interested in buying any, but he persisted and it seemed as though he was giving it to us for free, as an offering. When we went inside, he showed us how to light the incense and that two sticks had to go at each shrine. Another woman came over and gave us a bag each with a candle, lime and some kind of leaf inside to put at a shrine. After having a look around this gaudy painted temple and trying to make sense of what just happened we headed out the exit, where the man and woman were waiting for us, rubbing fingers. I anticipated this, but what I didn't anticipate was that they'd ask for 125,000VND[$8USD]. Each. That's fine, I don't think they anticipated getting only 20,000VND.
With that headache behind us, and Daphne's fixed shoes, we headed to do some shopping and get my horn fixed in my bike[always something with that bike]. On the roundabout in front of Ben Thanh, we laugh as we see a shiny yellow Lamborghini trying to navigate through a river of motorbike madness. What a waste of car in a place like this. We got our errands done, had a pot of Pu-er tea at my place, and then headed out to meet a Couchsurfer group at a really nice, decently priced restuarant called Quan An Ngon. Some of the Couchsurfers were actually taking the CELTA, too at another school called Apollo. They had only just finished their first week, with the worst of it still to come.
After dinner, most of the crew went out to Vasco's, but Daphne and I decided to join Steve, Charlie and a couple others for a game of pool and beer at a fourth the price. After a bad couple games of pool I gave up and danced to Abba and Johnny Cash, while Charlie threw down some sick moves to Thriller[A LOT of Michael Jackson is getting played here right now].
And this morning? I had crocodile for breakfast. Probably my new favorite thing ever. Even with the amazing variety, deliciousness and cost of food here, I can't help but start to feel a little greedy for some home-cooked food, especially some of those poppy seed pastries my mother rocks out on the weekends.
Sorry again for the infrequent posts, I'm afraid I won't improve on this until a couple weeks from now. Daphne and I are taking a plane to Danang and Hoi An and vanishing among the ocean waves for about a week, trying to forget CELTA ever happened to us. Then I'll be back in Saigon doing interviews, while she, sadly, goes off on the next leg of her adventure. I might be a little late on the posts, but I'll supplement with some wicked photos, as I'm told Hoi An and Danang are good places for it.
Wish me fun.

Disco 2000

Whoo. What a busy weekend! I just finished my first assignment and prepared my lesson plan for my second 40 minute teaching session tomorrow morning. Pretty much took up the whole day, but to be fair I did sleep in until 11 thanks to the excellent house warming party Anh and I threw. Yesterday we spent 3-4 hours in the supermarket getting stuff together[my former housemate, Kait, would shudder at the thought]. Plates, wine screw, towels, food, beer, ice, speakers... We had billed the party for 6 but didn't get back from shopping until 5:30, with cooking and cleaning still to do. Luckily, people didn't start showing up until 6:30, but I was still making food when the house was starting to get packed. Early comers were helping out, cutting fruit and such.
The security downstairs [who we bribed with food and beer to give our guests a hastle free time] were graciously 'accepting' beers from anyone they saw carrying a case upstairs. The guest list consisted of Anh's coworkers[mostly Vietnamese], my fellow CELTA victims and an open invite to the Couchsurfing community. It was a really good, diverse crowd of French, Polish, Viet, Americans, Welsh, Singaporean, etc. We had the world in our apartment, Natasha even brought a puppy that she had bought not four hours prior.
The neighbors were friendly and didn't give us a hard time, partially thanks to the fruit we brought over to them.[Highlight: me throwing a dragon fruit into the air and chopping it in half] We couldn't wait until the morning to clean, we had to race against the ants, but even so the place still looks hit. A maid is coming tomorrow to fix this since neither of us has time. Bourgeois I know.
Music played[Herbaliser, Deltron, Daft Punk, Girl Talk, Justice, Pulp, and wrapped it up with some Tom Waits]

[Outside my place]

I'm having a genuinely good time in CELTA. I like my tutors and I feel very strongly about the teaching methods I'm learning. You can really see how it works. Some of my former teachers could've used training like this. I do miss having time though, that's a luxury I'll more or less have to do without for now.
And I miss climbing. There's a wall in town but its too far and not open late enough to be practical. I'll try to go next weekend if I can.
Sneak previews: Getting clothes tailored, those before and after pics of Natasha's new school I promised, and maybe my bike will make it one week without having to get repaired.

Couchsurfers and Karaoke

Day six in Saigon. My days here have been fairly idle the last week but my nights, not so much. I've gone out with my Couchsurfing host, Natasha, and her friends to different bars, restaurants and other events. My third night here we went to Ben Thanh Market for a Couchsurfing meet-up dinner. About thirty or so people showed up, some were travelers from different parts of the world, some were expats that were active in the Couchsurfing community, and there were also a couple Vietnamese who took advantage of the opportunity to practise their English. The food was good and the atmosphere lively.
Afterwards, half of us went out to karaoke[my first]. I grabbed a ride with Steve, a Canadian, and the road we had to take was barricaded so Steve had to drive on the sidewalk dodging trees, and walls through spaces that I wouldn't even have walked through without shifting my shoulders. While there we were given a large room to ourselves, a case of Tigers and ice[the beer is too warm without it] and a remote to a big screen tv. I had the honor of butchering Video Killed the Radio Star, and a U2 song[I hate U2]. While the songs played the lyrics ran on the bottom of the screen, sometimes at the wrong speed[which ruined Sultans of Swing], and the video footage shown during all the songs were montage scenic views of rural VietNam.
When it was time to leave, a handful of us went up to Apocalypse Now, a brilliantly named but gaudy two-story night club. The first floor plays house dance music while the second, where we headed, had a bit more variety and taste. But the place was very crowded, half tourists and half prostitutes.
I also went to an 'International Beerfest' at the Windsor Plaza Hotel. An overpriced affair, that had lots of mediocre food[only the baked foods were worth a damn] and while certainly having a better beer variety than a typical bar in VietNam, it didn't even compare to what you'd expect at even the most average bar in America. If I end up staying here more than a year it'll be to open a real bar with real beers.
In other news, I move into my own place this afternoon, a two bedroom apartment that I will share with a Vietnamese-American named Anh from Seattle. He seems pretty cool and his Vietnamese will definitely be a helpful resource.
My bike broke already. I was so mad about it, thinking that it would cost as much to fix it as the bike cost to buy. But I had it towed and repairs only cost $10. This included the replacement of two parts as well as extra stuff the mechanic did like tidy up the wiring, which was in a sorry state. I'm happy to now have a bike that starts without the kick start[which is uncomfortable to do in flipflops] and whose gears actually change.
There's definitely more to write about, but as a general rule I'm gonna try to keep posts that don't have pictures shorter in length. I should have some pics of my new place up soon.

Saigon!

Aaaaand...we're in Saigon. Haha. Sorry for the delayed updates, let me start this by going back to my last days in Cat Ba, which were quite eventful. I had a falling out at my hotel over the motorbike we had rented to Butterfly Valley. We could tell on the way that the air was very low in the tire, but by the time we got back it was completely flat. I pointed it out to the girl that rented it to us and she said, 'awwwww, you pay?' To which I laughed and shook my head, explaining that the tire was bad in the first place. Her husband came shortly after and with a big smile on his face tried to get me to pay 200,000 VND[$11]. But I refused on principal that the tire was bad at the start and I didn't cause the damage. Eventually, I just had to turn my back on him and rejoin my friends. The whole episode quite upset me because I was in good standing with the people that worked at the hotel. But then the next day, big attitude shift. The guy smiled at me in the street and, said, 'no problem, bike okay,' and that was that. I was happy enough to here that, but then the hotel staff spent the morning giving me free food and drink to make sure that I was completely content. And I was! People here can be quite petty in matters of business, so I'm glad this had a positive resolution.
We rented again from them that day[checking the tire] and went out for another climbing trip to Butterfly Valley. On the way back we grabbed some beers and decided to drive to the west side of the island in search of a beautiful sunset. We couldn't find the perfect spot, but we settled on a spot overlooking a pond that had palm trees. Although to get there, we had to climb over a bamboo fence. And, it was right next to somebody's grave stone. Audhild looked at Cheung and asked, 'you're the resident Asian. is this a bad idea?' to which Cheung had no response.
But Dominic was already over the fence and had opened his beer so it was settled. We climbed over and as we got to the pond we heard a shout over on the other side. An old man was walking towards us from the left side of the pond. We weighed our options. We could play it off as though we didn't know we weren't supposed to be, we could apologize and run, or...we could pretend like we WERE supposed to be there. We decided to try the latter. We waved at the old man and pointed at the beer and the sunset. We could hear him laughing. Along the other side of the pond walked a girl about 20 and behind us, on the other side of the fence, we heard an older woman yell to them. Basically we were surrounded, waiting to see how it would play out. The man and girl arrived and they joined us to watch the sunset. The girl could speak some English, which was helpful. After the sun had set they invited us up to their house to spend the night. This was very tempting, as we were all quite sick of the loudness that was Cat Ba Town, but unfortunately we had to get return our bikes, climbing gear, and arrange our boat for the next day[more on that in a bit].
So instead we agreed to stop in so we could see their house.
The house:

[Cheung showing his shy side. On the left, Thuan and the right, Hua]

[Dominic chatting with the Vietnam vet, who doesn't know any English]

They were extremely hospitable, an older daughter arrived, who was studying to be a tour guide at university and could also speak some English. They served us tea and mango and lychees and were just extremely hospitable. The old man, it turned out, had served his country in the Vietnam War. But he was completely unfazed by me being an American. Before we left, his wife gave us a giant bag of lychees to take with us.

The next day was my last in Cat Ba. For about $22 each, a small group of us rented a boat for the day so that we could go deep water soloing. This basically means that were going to climb rocks in the bay and we got to the top, or fell, we would be falling into the water below. It was a fantastic trip, and included a amazing lunch that had the best squid I've ever tried. I don't think I'll ever be able to eat seafood some where it isn't fresh again. As we watched the sunset on our boat in the bay, drinking our Tigers, we all agreed that $22 was too cheap for the day we had.

[John spotting Cheung]

[Our shoes dry in the sun as we take lunch]

[Beautiful end to the day]

One busy day of traveling later, and I'm in Ho Chi Minh City. I've been staying with the Couchsurfing ambassador for Vietnam, Natasha, who is letting me stay at her place for two weeks. She's an Australian mother of two and teaches at the school across the street. That is, until the end of today. She's starting her own school for the musical arts for kids. From what I understand it should go well for her, she has so many interested parents that she is thinking about opening two studios at once. This appears to be a trend with many westerners here. I keep reading articles about people just opening businesses and restaurants left and right with ease. This is in part because we are rich in this country, and partly thanks to the booming economy here. The city is in a constant state of construction, and the main district looks a lot like Paris with its designer boutiques and tree lined boulevards.
Natasha helped me arrange the purchase of my first motorbike. That's right, like many Vietnamese I am now an unlicensed motorbike driver. The process of getting it was hectic and took two days. The guy brought the bike yesterday for me to examine. The light switch was broken, the seat didn't lock, and the gear lights didn't work. So he said he'd fix it and be back at 1pm. Four hours late, there's a knock on the door. Natasha and I go down to have a look, she notices that the front brake doesn't work, so away goes the bike. This morning, he brings the bike back for a look, and it gets sent away again because the gear shift doesn't work great. Soooo, finally about an hour ago I have my bike. Price: 4.8 mil VND[$266]. So, now that I have a bike I'm going to have some lunch and head downtown to find a cellphone. Tonight we're going to a Couchsurfer meet-up in Ben Thanh market which should be a good time.