Congratulations Van and Bien!

(PICTURE: The happy couple on stage with their MC.)

Congratulations to our friend Van and her husband Bien who got married this past weekend!

Technically this was their THIRD wedding since they each already had had a reception in their home towns. Their "Hanoi wedding" was located at a really nice restaurant next to Independence Park.

It was great to celebrate with Van especially because many of my old Vietnamese coworkers from Language Link were in attendance. Many of the girls who used to work at LL have now moved on to other jobs. Everyone is so busy these days that it takes a wedding for us all to get together. Actually, my friend Tam was in attendance too; she was the girl who got married back in January and was the last time the whole crew got together. In pure Vietnamese style, Tam was eating for two at this wedding as she's three months pregnant. The over/under in Vegas is that Van will be joining the motherhood sorority in the next year. You see, that's how things work here in Vietnam. I swear, this is a typical time table for many weddings I've been to:

Step 1: A couple dates for 6 months.
Step 2: A couple gets married.
Step 3: A couple says they'll wait a year to get pregnant...
Step 4: ...but is pregnant within a few months of tying the knot.

Huyen and I have known a lot of couples who have started to date wayyyyyy after us and already have children. Our nearly 2.5 years of dating is considered an anomaly out here.

Anyway, congrats to Van and Bien. Van is by far one of the best people I've met in Vietnam and I wish her nothing but a lifetime of happiness!


(PICTURE: The soon-t0-be married couple with the now-married couple.*)

* The irony of this statement is funny to me. Technically Huyen and I are legally married but haven't had our celebration yet which is in December. Van and Bien have had their celebration (three already) but most likely are not legally married yet as most Vietnamese don't take this step immediately.

My Costco

(PICTURE: I'm bananas!)

One of the tried and true facts of life is that when you go home to visit your parents, you always end up leaving with more than you came with. Whether it be a few bucks in your pockets (my dad always gives me $20 before I fly back to whichever city/country I'm leaving in), Tupperware full of sweets or a case of ____ that mom bought too much of at Costco.

Well, the same holds true for visiting parents in Vietnam. Every time we go back to Huyen's house in Ha Nam, we end up with motorbiking home with a lot of extra food. This past weekend we got a sack of local rice, a pumpkin, a bottle gourd and a heck of a lot of bananas. Getting the bananas was truly a Costco-esque experience because Huyen's parents had A LOT of bananas. They had chopped down a banana stalk from their "front yard" (really just a sliver of land across the road from their house) and told us to take some bananas back with us. In order to get the bananas, Huyen's father had to basically chip them off the stalk with a machete and a hammer:

(PICTURE: Huyen's dad chopping part of the banana stalk. The original stalk weighed probably 60 lbs.)

After all the chopping was done, we had ourselves a bunch of bunches of bananas:

Articles Sent By Jessica

Jessica sent me two great articles -- one from The New York Times and one from The Economist -- about the 1,000th anniversary of Hanoi.

In The New York Times article, I especially like this section about the development of the city:

“I very strongly believe that everything that has happened in the inner area has been good,” said Lawrie Wilson, an Australian urban planner who has worked in Vietnam since the early 1990s.

But it is a rule of thumb, he said, that for a city this size roads should cover 15 percent of land space. In Hanoi, the figure is just 5 percent, and traffic has begun to choke the city.

The buzz of motorbikes and the constant beep-beep-beeping of their horns are a jarring backdrop to life in Hanoi even if, after a while, they fade into white noise.

It is sometimes said that traffic patterns reflect the character of a nation, and on Hanoi’s chaotic streets, no one gives ground, no one compromises. Everyone single-mindedly pursues his or her own route. “The gridlock happens all the time, everywhere, all day and all night,” Mr. Wilson said.

“And if it rains, there is an unwritten law here that you totally ignore traffic laws,” he added. “You drive up on the footpath, you drive through public parks and you just do what you like.” In recent weeks, the gridlock has intensified, and complaints have multiplied during last-minute construction and cleanups for the anniversary.

The reason I like this part of the article is twofold. First, it really helps to explain why the traffic is so bad here at times. Secondly, this city planner got it totally wrong. People don't disobey the traffic laws when it rains -- people disobey the traffic laws all the time. In fact, after reading this article I went to the gym and watched as an Army officer blazed by me while riding on the sidewalk, trying to get his little kid to school on time. If anything, the best time to ride a motorbike in the city is when it rains because nobody is on the street and you actually have room to drive.

The Economist article talks about how Hanoi did a bad job of getting foreigners to come to the city for the big event. My favorite part of this article is about the Vietnam Airlines air promotion which only has discounts for people leaving Vietnam, not entering. I didn't realize this and excitedly sent the Vietnam Airlines promotion to many friends who are coming for the wedding. Here's the beginning of that article:

A BANNER on the back of an electric buggy trolling Hanoi’s old quarter reads “Thanh Long Hanoi International Tourism Festival”. It refers to the celebrations being held in Hanoi from October 1st to 10th, when the capital officially turns 1,000 years old. There are no more international tourists than usual though. Somehow no one got round to inviting them.

This despite the many officials who extol the importance of luring foreign tourists to the capital’s millennial celebrations. In 2007 a campaign with the questionable slogan of “Hidden Charm” ran around the world, airing on several international cable networks. Nothing special for Hanoi’s 1,000th though. The national flag carrier, Vietnam Airlines, did offer a promotion in honour of the occasion. Trouble is, the flights are all out of Vietnam, not into it.

And with that, I conclude this chapter of my blog on the 1,000th anniversary of Hanoi.

Food Festival

(PICTURE: Huyen and Su in front of the entrance to the water park/food festival.)

During the week of the 1,000th anniversary of Hanoi, there were different events all over the city. One event that Huyen really wanted to go to was the food festival oddly located at the Hanoi water park. On the night before the anniversary, we braved the traffic and checked-out the food festival.

The water park was packed with Vietnamese hoping to get a taste of different types of food from around Vietnam and the world. The festival was divided into three sections: northern Vietnamese food, southern Vietnamese food and International food. Strangely, the center of Vietnam's food wasn't represented; perhaps the Hanoi government was scared for people to realize the center of Vietnam's food is the most delicious.

We bought some tickets to sample the food and quickly realized that: A) the food wasn't as delicious as it usually is when you buy it on the street B) the prices were about quadrupled from their normal price.

After walking around the park for about an hour and sampling many small eats and drinks, we decided to get some real food and headed to a bia hoi.

Push Ups!

Soooooooo Huyen, Su and I were playing billiards the other night and made a bet. Basically the loser had to do push ups. Well, Huyen lost badly one game and had to do 18 push ups. To put it lightly, Huyen is not good at doing push ups which doesn't make sense to me since she's ridiculously strong (she can easily lift me up and I'm nearly 200 pounds). Well, watching Huyen do push ups is just really entertaining. So, if you're having a bad day enjoy this clip:

Mr. Han in the house!!!!

At 9:36 and 57 seconds I received the greatest text message ever: "Ben! U r on tv!!" The message was from my student Kieu Anh who was watching VTV3. Seconds later I was screaming at Su and Huyen to change the channel on the TV. I then quickly grabbed my camera and recorded my totally amazing Vietnam acting debut. Before you watch it, keep in mind:

1. I meant for my tie to be crooked. I'm a method actor and my character was stressed.
2. I meant for my hair to look mullet-ish.
3. I meant for my voice to sound like an Iraqi man. Oh, wait, that is an Iraqi man doing my voice over.
4. I meant for the director to constantly cut away from me while I was talking.
5. I meant for my buddy Nicky to totally out-act me. I mean, he left Vietnam this week so it was the least I could do.
6. I meant to be left out of the credits. I mean, you put yourself out there like that and you're liable to get obsessed fans.

After watching the video -- I'm on at 3:30 -- I'm sure everyone will agree that I just bought myself a one-way ticket back to Hollywood!!!!!

What Military Branch Is This?

(PICTURE: Overalls? I took this picture while watching the parade on TV.)

On the morning of the 1,000th anniversary of Hanoi, there was a huge parade through Hanoi. Marching in the parade were many different branches of the military and police. There was the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Border Guards, the Traffic Police, the super scary police who only come out at night and that I wrote a blog about last year, and even the Ethnic Army (women from every ethnic tribe in Vietnam wearing their traditional outfits while marching with machine guns). However, the most bizarre army group for me were the guys pictured above who were marching in overalls. Huyen and her uncle (who happens to be in the Army) tried explaining to me who these guys were. Her uncle said that we don't have this branch of the army in America but from the description they were giving, it sounded sort of like the national guard or state troopers.

I'm no fashion expert but these uniforms:
a) Are not intimidating at all.
B) Are not camouflaged at all.
C) Make me wonder why a farmer is carrying a gun and not, why a solider is dressed like a farmer.