My Birthday

On my actual birthday, I think Huyen sang "Happy Birthday" to me at least three dozen times. It was her goal that day to give me everything I wanted...which resulted in -- vegetarians stop reading now -- this :


Yes, that's a whole little pig laid out on a platter in front of me and my birthday candles. You see, the night before my birthday a group of students were having a bonfire party and roasting a small pig:



I commented to Huyen that it was like they were having a luau, something I've never partaken in. After explaining to Huyen what a luau was, I could see a light go on in her brain. The next day she asked the guest house if they could roast us a small pig. Later Huyen told me the woman said, "Just the two of you are gonna eat a pig?" The answer was yes...although it took us my birthday dinner and breakfast the following morning.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm filled with guilt over having to end the life of a pig to celebrate me turning one year older. However, it was by far the tastiest grilled pork I've ever eaten. Yes, Dad, ever!!!!

You'll notice in the picture a giant vase sitting next to me. Well, if you didn't notice, here it is on my head:



This vase was filled with fermented rice which makes a very sweet alcoholic beverage. Huyen and I bought the vase to celebrate my birthday. By celebrate, I mean drink half and pass out thirty minutes later. I didn't check the time that I fell asleep on my birthday but it was definitely no later than 9:30PM. Despite the early exit from consciousness, this was definitely one of my best birthdays ever. Thanks for the amazing weekend, Huyen!

Orchids

Whenever I've gone to mountainous countryside areas, I've always noticed the abundance of orchids. Seemingly everywhere in Mai Chau someone is selling orchids. Here's a shop on one of the islands near Ba Khan:

I've always been a nature lover; a trait I've inherited from my Grandpa Leo. I don't often think to myself in Vietnam, "Grandpa Leo would love this" but I'm pretty sure he would love the botanical aspects of the mountainous areas of this country.

I really wanted to buy some orchids for my apartment but driving 131 kilometers back to Hanoi with flowers didn't seem like the smartest idea.

Lots of Pictures...

(PICTURE: The hand gestures means someone is 31!)


This isn't a photo-blog but I took lots of pictures that I want to post. So enjoy:

(PICTURE: An awkward attempt to time a jump with a camera timer.)

(PICTURE: Huyen buying me a throw blanket from a White Thai woman.)

(PICTURE: Huyen attempting to make her own throw blanket.)

(PICTURE: The pristine ground of the pagoda. The God of recycling is on another island.)

(PICTURE: Nguyen Atlas Huyen.)

(PICTURE: I call this one, "Fodder for my friends to make fun of me.")

Ba Khan Islands

NOTE: Today is Huyen and my 2 year anniversary! We're away on a four day weekend to celebrate. Those blogs will be next week. Now back to our Mai Chau trip...

(PICTURE: On the boat to Ba Khan.)

The first time that I went to Mai Chau, I explored some small back roads with my cousin Justin. While we were driving about, we came to gigantic lake in the middle of the mountains. I took this picture then:


Justin and I then drove down to a dilapidated port but unfortunately couldn't ask the locals what the deal was with the lake. Well, it took more than a year, but I now know what the deal is...

On our second day in Mai Chau, Huyen and I woke up early and went to the port. We asked some questions and found at that this is a man-made lake that is used for hydro-electric power for Hanoi. One of the people at the dock told us that the locals use the water to raise fish and that there are fish as large as 40 kilograms swimming in the water. That's a pretty big fish.

I had done a little research about the area and had read that there was an island you could take a boat to. Supposedly on the island were members of the Dzao Tribe, another ethnic minority tribe in the area. Huyen negotiated a ride on a boat with a few fisherman. As he led us to the boat we noticed that the dock was covered by giant tree trunks. The fisherman told us that this dock used to be a way for people to travel to the area but it was now shut down by the government since the big Highway 6 had been built. The fisherman then told us to get inside of the boat since he wasn't allowed to give anyone a ride or he might be fined.

After a few minutes the fisherman told us that we could sit in front of the boat and told us that he was taking us to a pagoda in a cave. That afternoon we ended up seeing three different pagodas that were located on the lake. One of the pagodas is actually quite popular with Vietnamese tourists and the place was jam packed. Everyone was coming on tour boats from Hoa Binh, a city to the northeast, while we were the only people coming from the Mai Chau area. In the end, there was no tribal village to see. We did meet some Dzao people at the third pagoda though so that is now checked off the list.

Check out this video of the boat and some footage from the pagoda. My favorite moments include a man smoking a cigarrette while praying and a woman speed reading other people's prayers into her microphone head-set:

Mai Chau: Day 1

Mai Chau is a beautiful village 131 kilometers from Hanoi. The village has ethnic White Thai and Muong people living there and is surrounded by mountains on all sides. I consider Mai Chau one of my favorite places in Vietnam and was excited to be able to go there with Huyen, who had never been before.

Huyen and I set off at 6AM last Friday morning and didn't get too far before we realized that it was freezing out. We pulled over to the side of the road and put on some extra layers of clothes. I actually had to wrap a towel around my neck to stay warm...hence this sweet fashion statement:

Riding to Mai Chau was another reminder of how quickly Vietnam is developing. There was a new major road on the way that probably shaved off 15 kilometers of the drive. Even more obvious though was that the actual road to Mai Chau had been widened to probably double the width. When my cousin Justin and I had gone there over a year ago, the road was probably about eight feet wide; now large buses are traveling down the road. The town is still as peaceful as ever but there were definitely a larger number of tourists this time than during my previous two visits.

Huyen and I headed straight for House Number 20, my favorite guest house in Mai Chau:

After throwing our bags into our stilt house, I took a nap on the same hammock I've passed out in a couple of times before:


At night, Huyen and I enjoyed some traditional White Thai music and dancing:


After dinner we headed for the soccer field for the nightly bonfire:

It was great to be back in Mai Chau!

My 31 Birthdays...

Six days before my actual birthday, I was given a surprise party by the Level 1 students at Apex. The five girls in the class bought me 31 roses and a chocolate cake. Needless to say, I was quite surprised at the gesture since we had one more class before my actual real birthday.

My second 31st Surprise Birthday party came two days later during my Level 2 class at Apex. On this occasion I wasn't very surprised because, well, almost all of my students showed up on time which is a rarity. Generally people trickle in for about ten minutes once class time is scheduled to start. On this day most of the class was seated at their desks with mischievous grins on their faces. Huyen told me that she needed my help downstairs in dealing with the landlord for the school. Immediately I knew something strange was brewing because Huyen is a terrible liar. Eventually Huyen got me to go downstairs with her and then almost right away said we could go back upstairs. As we approached my classroom door I saw that the lights were out on the inside and made a joke to Huyen about the oddity of the power having gone off when we left the room. After teasing Huyen for another couple of seconds, I went inside and was greeted to my second surprise 31st birthday party.



This was a great way to spend my pre-birthday. However the icing on the cake was to be the motorbike trip over the next few days...

Dorms

Everyday before class at Apex, I grab a cup of coffee at a cafe. I always sit at a table on the sidewalk and read a book. The periphery of my vision always sees this:

That's a picture of the dormitory for the Vietnam Trade Union University. Seeing the dorm always reminds me of my freshman year in college at Syracuse University. From what I can tell, there are a few differences between my dorm (Day Hall on The Mount at Syracuse) and this typical Vietnamese dormitory. Here's a couple that come to mind:
1. I had a split double which meant there was just myself and my great frosh roommate Bill Bunting. These dorms have at least eight people per room.
2. We did our laundry in the basement of Day Hall. As you can see, they do their laundry in their room.
3. We had a food court in Day Hall and a cafeteria between our dorm and the one that housed future-Emmy-Award-winner Alex Bertsche next to it. Here, they do the cooking in the room and/or eat at cheap places on the street.
4. Our parents paid good money for us to live in dorms. From what I've been told, usually the poorer students in Vietnam live in dorms. The students have to prove they come from a poor family to live in the buildings.
5. Day Hall was coed on every floor. I'm pretty sure this dorm is all female.

I'm gonna end this post right now before I start to get depressed because of the fact that I lived in Day Hall 13 years ago!