800TH Post!

800! 800! 800! 800! I don't know why I keep typing 800 except to wrap my head around the fact that I've sat in front of my computer 800 times to write posts!!!

I'm doing the rough calculations in my head and it seems that my 1000th post will be pretty close to my wedding...which sort of makes this 800th post totally insignificant. That said, it at least deserves a video montage...

It sure has been a good ride...and it's only gonna get better!

Random Things I See In Traffic

I often find myself laughing at random things I see in traffic that I know nobody else in the vicinity gives two thoughts about. Today I was riding my motorbike and this guy blazed by me. On the back of his shirt in big letters it said, "NEW YORK." Underneath those words in slightly smaller letters was written, "GARDEN STATE."

I'm pretty sure this t-shirt falls under the category of: "Misprinted T-shirts Shipped Across The World."

Walking On Water

This may sound crazy, but I've seen a prophet in Hanoi. On more than one occasion I've seen a man walk on water...

...and apparently the guy now has some disciples:



It turns out that Hoy Tay (West Lake), the largest lake in the city of Hanoi, is very shallow even about 100 feet or so from shore. I've done more than my fair share of head turns as I've seen men seemingly walking on water...

Animal Noises

One thing that sort of blows my mind is that people around the world impersonate animal noises totally differently. If you try to teach a kid the word D-O-G by saying, "Roof Roof" he'll have no idea what you're talking about. Apparently our animals in America make different noises than animals here in Vietnam.

Sometimes when Huyen or I see an animal we'll do our own animal call. Huyen and I always laugh at each other's impersonations which sound ludicrous. Well, in Mai Chau we were walking along a rice paddy when we encountered a rooster. The rooster wouldn't shut up...until I took out my camera to film it. Well, loyal viewers, watch this video and tell us whose animal call is correct:

Long time reader...

(PICTURE: Putting a face with a name...)

Huyen and I recently had the pleasure of meeting a long time reader of Ahoy Hanoi -- Marcus!

Marcus has been a frequent commenter on the blog for quite a long time. A couple of weeks ago Marcus let me know he was gonna be in Hanoi so we made plans to meet up. Marcus, like me, is an expat. Marcus has been living in Europe for I think around a decade (correct me if I'm wrong Marcus). He has lived in both Paris and currently in Germany. Marcus has an unbelievable skill for language and speaks four languages fluently. He also is a jack-of-all-trades and besides his career in Germany, finds the time to run film festivals. He was actually running a German film festival in Hanoi the week we met up with him.

One of the cool things about meeting blog readers is that I can finally put a face with their name. When Huyen and I arrived at the bar to meet Marcus, I started to write him a text message letting him know we were there. Well, just as I hit send, a friendly voice beamed out, "Huyen!" Sure enough, Marcus recognized us (or at least Huyen)!

One interesting anecdote from that night: Marcus told Huyen and I that he is becoming a German citizen. In order to do this, he has to give up his Vietnamese passport. Upon hearing this, I could sense some anxiety in Huyen. Marcus quickly calmed her down though and said something to the affect that, "Even though I won't have a Vietnamese passport anymore, I'll always feel Vietnamese."

Of course Huyen and I have talked a hundred times about moving to America but the idea of her having to drop her Vietnamese citizenship never crossed our minds. I'm not 100% sure how this works with America. I'm assuming if you just have a green card then you never have to get rid of your country's passport. However, if and when Huyen becomes a citizen, I'm fairly certain she will have to declare herself to be only American. I can imagine that that is very tough psychologically.

Anyway, it was great to meet Marcus and hopefully we'll see him again in the not to distant future.

Eat your greens...

I've been working part time at a private school recently and was quite entertained when I saw this:


(PICTURE: That's water spinach in a urinal.)

I guess some kids everywhere in the world don't like to eat their veggies.

Quan Lan: Odds and Ends

Here's a bunch of odds and ends from Quan Lan Island:

The island had the oddest looking pineapples I've ever seen:


At the port to go to Quan Lan were dozens of fishermen and little raft-taxis bringing people to their boats:


Check out all the shrimp in the truck behind these two vendors:


This was my favorite "guest house" on Quan Lan. This place is called Robinson and only costs about $8 a night to rent this "three sided tent" right by the water:



On a very serious note, on the last day I saw a familiar site -- the local war memorial. The girl on the first day told us that Quan Lan had around 4,000 people living on it. Huyen and I drove the whole island and it seemed that 4,000 was a huge stretch. I'd say the real population was a fraction of that. Regardless, there are a lot of names on this memorial for such a small place. It was another reminder of how everyone in Vietnam -- even those on a remote island -- paid a terrible price in the war with America: