Wash Me

People are the same everywhere. All the time I see dirty car windows on which someone has written something with their finger that I'm assuming must mean "Wash Me." Well, this dirty car stopped in front of me the other day and I definitely recognized one four letter word written on the window. Can any Vietnamese readers tell me what the other words mean?

Dog On A Ledge

Being a dog in Vietnam can definitely be stressful. However, I think this dog was just enjoying the view and not thinking of jumping:

North Korea

(PICTURE: North Korean food is spicy.)

Huyen works with a South Korean man who recently told her about a delicious North Korean restaurant. Yeah, who knew that a South Korean would think anything North Korean was good. For me, I was just excited to try a new cuisine. The idea of eating North Korean food had never before crossed my mind (outside of when Ryan and I saw a North Korean restaurant in Cambodia last year). In fact, when I usually think of food and North Korea, it's about how millions of people are supposedly starving in that country.

The restaurant's name was Pyongyang. Yup, it doesn't get more North Korean than naming a restaurant after the capital of the country. I mean, do you know of any burger restaurants called "Washington, D.C."

When Huyen and I got to the restaurant we were greeted by a few sweet waitresses. They escorted us upstairs to the nearly empty dining room. There were a couple of tables of patrons all enjoying their meals. The food was pricey but really really really good. We had a duck dish and dumplings that were absolutely fantastic. Overall though the food was just like South Korean food which I've had many times. This actually made me think of the Dr. Seuss book "The Sneetches & Other Stories."

To me though, the most interesting thing about the restaurant wasn't the food but the North Koreans working there. It struck me while eating, "These people are from North Korea and are in Hanoi? I thought nobody leaves that country." It also struck me right after that though that this was probably a pretty ignorant thought. I asked Huyen to ask our waitress a couple of questions. You know, like "Why are you in Hanoi?" The waitress -- who only spoke a little Vietnamese -- said that she was going to study in Hanoi. We tried to ask a follow up question but the waitress basically ignored us and wandered away. In fact, none of the girls working there wanted to answer any questions. They just seemed, well, nervous that we were asking them anything personal. I quickly got a vibe that I should shut up. There was something very strange about the environment there and I couldn't help but think that socializing with an American was probably something they were told by their government never to do.

The next day Huyen told her coworker that we ate at the restaurant. She asked the coworker a few questions about the restaurant and quickly learned that the restaurant is OWNED AND OPERATED by the North Korean embassy.

By no means am I going to claim to be an expert on North Korea. I read a lot in the news about North Korea but frankly my knowledge beyond that is minimal. However, this little brush with North Korea makes me feel that the things we read about that country and their human rights are probably as bad and probably worse than we're led to believe.

Book Review: Audacity To Win

Speaking of divisive politics, here's a great excerpt from the "Audacity To Win", a great book I just finished:

It concerns me-- and this is strictly a personal observation -- that some quarters of the Democratic Party seem to worry that the effort it will take to pass health insurance reform, and then energy reform, could do damage to the party, because some recent polls have shown a not insignificant amount of unease among voters. In my view, this is looking three yards downfield instead of thirty. In the long run , the economy will be healed, and growing; landmark health insurance reform has has languished in Washington for seventy years will have been passed; and we will have done the hard work required to make us the worldwide leader in new energy and green jobs for generations to come. But to make that happen, we need to lay the groundwork now.
I hope Republicans will assist with these efforts. Only a few helped to push through the stimulus package, which I believe will come to be seen as an important cornerstone in our economic recovery. When the smoke clears, the Democrats will have a remarkable record of leadership that moved the country forward and will consequently have great political appeal. Contrast that with Washington Republicans, who will likely have played little role, with the exception of a few principled individuals. And let's not forget that the economic politices they still embrace played a large role in creating this crisis.
When their fearmongering on health care proves to be just that -- when reform passes and voters still have their choice of doctors, care remains unrationed, and Sarah Palin's death panels have killed only her political prospects -- the Republicans in Washington will truly be exposed as the emperors with no clothes. They will have zero credibility. They are putting all their rotten eggs into one basket, using misinformation and outright lies to try to deny the president a victory.

If you got involved in the last election, you should definitely give David Plouffe's book a read. Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager, gives a no-holds-bar insider look at the campaign. I personally found it fascinating to learn about Obama's strategy to win the election. To me though, there are three reasons to read this book:

REASON 1: Obama comes across as an even great leader than I already believe him to be. If Plouffe is to be believed, Obama always took the high road throughout the campaign. Plouffe takes full credit for all the negative things the Obama campaign did when it came to "politics as usual". I often got frustrated during the election when I would read or hear about a negative ad released by the Obama camp. I understand fighting fire with fire but I remember thinking, "I thought Obama was above this." It's good to know that apparently he was.

REASON 2: It was really entertaining to read about how much Plouffe despised Hillary Clinton's Campaign and staff. It was a political book but it felt like you could have been reading about the Red Sox vs. Yankees or any great rivalry.

REASON 3: If you're still on a high from Obama winning, this is a great way to relive the moment. When I read the last words in the book, I had chills running down my spine. Just like on election day, I felt proud as hell to be an American.

Book Review: NIXONLAND

I recently read "NIXONLAND" by Rick Perlstein. If you like non-fiction you should definitely pick up this book.

The premise of the book is how Richard Nixon used a turbulent time in American history to his favor by making politics more divisive and thus helping himself rise politically. I actually don't agree with part of the thesis of the book -- I think American political parties have always been divisive since the formulation of parties; Nixon just appeared to have mastered the game.

The book though is a fantastic read. Perlstein's writing style is both informative and often hilarious. The guy can take a major moment in history and sum it up in a paragraph in a way few other writers can. As a lover of history, there were so many anecdotes in this book that made it a constant page turner.

Naturally Vietnam is a story line weaved throughout the book; you can't have a book about the era without Vietnam being a major part of it. It was really fascinating reading how Nixon used Vietnam for his political gain while actually having no concrete plan to end the war. As a reader, looking back on history, it is unbelievably frustrating to see how the game of politics was played out and how it cost America and Vietnam so much more than it had to.

Product Descriptions

I always love reading the back of products in Asia. Here's a fun one I read today on the back of a pack of lotus seeds:



In case you can't read the small writing it says: "The product is manufactured from the modern technology chain, assuring the foods hygiene safety and obtaining high crispness and sponginess, but always maintaining natural colour and flavour of fresh ripen fruits and especially the chemical substance is not used in the process of production."

Who knew something could be spongy and crispy!

Serenity Now

Hanoi is a busy city. There's tons of traffic. Incessant honking. Vendors screaming out the sale of their goods and a billion other noises that could give one a brain numbing migraine. However, the beauty of this city is that there are so many places that are quiet and serene. One of the things I love about my apartment is that the only noise during the day is from birds chirping and my neighbors praying.

Recently I started tutoring a girl that lives on the far side of West Lake. The girl's house is right near the lake which -- on this side of the lake -- is one of the quieter places in all of Hanoi. I've been showing up at the girl's house twenty or thirty minutes early every time so I can go to the lake and read a book and soak in the silence. Here's a video of one of my favorite spots in Hanoi: