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.

What's that on the side of the road?

(PICTURE: Cassava drying on the side of the road.)

During my famous Tet Road Bike Trip of '09, Long, Nicky and I came upon a street lined with a white chips. We tried to ask the farmers what they were laying on the road and they kept repeating "sun". Long, our translator, wasn't sure what "sun" was so I think we all just assumed he meant "The Sun" (as in "The Sun" is drying the chips). Chalking the moment up to a mutual lack of language skills, we just shrugged our shoulders and kept on riding.

A couple of weeks ago, while Huyen and I rode to the water park/hot springs in Hue, we found ourselves driving between two rows of white chips. Huyen explained to me that the chips were "sun for pigs." I asked her what sun was and she told me it was cassava. I must admit that although it was nice to know what the food was, it was nicer knowing that it wasn't for humans to eat. There's just something about food drying out on a highway that isn't appealing to me.

The Student Becomes The Master

I cracked. I broke down. I had a moment of weakness. Call it an out-of-body experience. Call it cold feet. Call it whatever you want. The fact is, I'm ashamed of myself ---- I littered.

Here was the situation: Huyen and I were on the street, outside of the most famous ice cream shop in Hanoi. The street was packed with people eating ice cream on a stick. I had just finished my bar and began to look around for a garbage. I didn't see one. But I did see in the corner of my eye, dozens of ice cream sticks at my feet. The ground was covered with them. All of a sudden I found myself throwing my stick on the ground. I watched the stick fall in seemingly slow motion to join its' comrades on the pavement. After the stick settled by my feet I looked up to see Huyen staring at me with a look of utter disbelief. She then said to me, "I can't believe you just did that?" I think I then said, "I don't know why I did that." Huyen then shook her head at me and said, "I'm really disappointed in you." Yeah, those words hurt. They hurt a lot. But as disappointed as she was in me, I was feeling even more disappointment in myself. I then looked at Huyen and said, "I'm gonna pick it up." I then reached down and picked up my ice cream stick and placed it in the plastic bag the ice cream had come in.

It's amazing to me, Huyen has truly become the master of anti-littering. When I first met her, she was prone to throwing garbage on the ground like the majority of her fellow countrymen. However, after a lecture or two from her Sierra Club boyfriend (that's me), Huyen never threw garbage on the ground again.

I'd like to publicly thank Huyen for correcting my moment of weakness/stupidity. I'd now like to declare that I'll never litter again.

Not All Cats Go To The Market

The day after I wrote yesterday's blog, I went to one of my favorite cafes and saw the biggest cat I've ever seen in my life. This cat had to weight at least 35 pounds:


Because I hate cats, I kept my distance from this small tiger. However, I couldn't help but to marvel at its sheer size. Not surprisingly, the cafe we were at has had more than its fair share of rodents in the past. On this occasion, I didn't see one mouse or rat. I'm assuming this cat has been helping to quell that problem.