Hello everybody,
Sorry for the small delay in posting this week's blog, but due to a busy social life, and an equally frustrating battle with my computer (I lost the battle!), this has been the first chance where I have been able to sit down with time to spare and write about my week.
Sorry for the small delay in posting this week's blog, but due to a busy social life, and an equally frustrating battle with my computer (I lost the battle!), this has been the first chance where I have been able to sit down with time to spare and write about my week.
Week 14 has certainly been an eventful one, and perhaps a significant week for me personally. I have eaten pigs brains at my lovely neighbours, as well as going to the beach at 0530 most mornings with my them. I have also agreed to take part in a triathlon relay team, and am preparing to do a 40k bike ride in 3 weeks, and just like in Romania, I have a tale to tell about using local transport! On a personal level I have come to make some realisations about how difficult life can be in a culture where there are many barriers to actually becoming part of the local community.
Ok so to start with, I should talk about some of the activities with my neighbours first of all. As I have described, our house is surrounded by cafes, a cafe to the right, a cafe to the left, and one opposite! We need to take turns to eat at them all, so no one gets too jealous! As I described last week, I went to the beach with my neighbours from Laugh Cafe, and I have continued to do so for most of the week, I even managed to get up f
or sunrise (see picture). I am slowly growing used to the early nights and early mornings, just because this place comes to life from 0500... After spending more time with Hong and her family, they have begun to ask me to join them for a bite to eat, to time to time. One particular day they were eating lunch and called me to join them. Hong's boyfriend was really keen for me to try some warm white looking thing in the middle of the food... as I was being polite and wanting to eat this thing, a could see the others struggling not to laugh, increasing my suspicions of what the food might be... after taking some small bites I could gather form the gestures my hosts were making, that this was some kind of pig product, and I soon realised I was eating pigs brains... which were surprisingly good, and would have gone well with the pigs ear I ate in Romania! In another food related story, whilst going to eat with some of our staff from work, they asked us if we like to have chicken, as we usually leave the food ordering to them...which on occasion proves to be a mistake.. this was one of those occasions! After tucking into some very skinny chicken pieces, covered by salad, I found myself chewing on some very strange looking spring like pieces. The staff had ordered chicken, but not as we know it! They had ordered chicken bones! I quickly realised I was eating chicken feet... which explained the texture!!!! Not a pleasant moment!
My next mini-adventure came about when I unexpectedly got a day off last week, due to having no electricity in work, (which is not uncommon) here. So I decided that as the city of Da Nang is only an hour bus ride away I'd do things the local way. My neighbour offered to take me to the bus station, and did so with me sitting on the back of her bicycle, she also spoke with the bus driver to make sure I got charged the local price of 10,000 dong (33pence). So one hour later, I was stood outside the main supermarket in Da Nang, despite the bus travelling at an average speed of 5 miles an hour! I was pleased with my discovery of a bowling alley, and an English speaking cinema at the second supermarket 'Big C'. Having bought some food to finally stock up my fridge with, I headed to the supermarket entrance to find a way to the bus stop. No motorcycle drivers were either willing or able to understand that I didn't want them to take me all the way home. Having been able to find the bus stop with the use of a one dollar bill, and a guy with a bicycle, the bus rolled right up after just 2 minutes. Having jumped on the bus I was ready for a peaceful ride home, especially after seeing some rain clouds gathering above. I'd been on the bus all of a minute when the guy who comes round to collect the fares, approached, he looked at me for a few seconds and then showed me a 50,000 dong note (5 x the local 10,000 fare) I laughed and told him no, and that I would pay 10,00. he said no and returned 30 seconds later with another Vietnamese guy, who spoke a little English. 30,000 was this guys offer, to which I again laughed and said no, trying to explain that I had already done this journey today and was not going to pay more than 10,000. I even had a piece of paper with with an explanation (in Vietnamese) that said I was living volunteering here and please charge me local prices. This had no effect, and they guy's next trick was to pretend that new passenger (Vietnamese girl) had paid 50,000. So he again said 50,000 which just made me lose it a bit, and I began to shout, and bang my seat, telling the guy to go away, because I would not pay him. The other passengers began to watch was what going on, and knew what was happening, but refused to help. This annoyed me further, and when the guy returned with a tourist by his side, who he had overcharged, and tried to get the tourist to convince me to pay more, I really began to shout! I finally just shouted 'go away' very loudly and turned away. The guy finally returned, and tapped me on the shoulder without saying anything and just held his hand out.... I gave him 10,000, and was happy to say very loudly to the entire bus, that I had paid the local fare! I just hate blatant discrimination... it wasn't even done discreetly, that's what ticks me off!!! 1-0 for moral crusade!
Despite spending more time with my neighbours I want to talk a little about how I feel about the culture here, and how it does not really allow for non-Vietnamese people to fully integrate. I have to say that this is simply my personal experience, and may be very different in other parts of Vietnam. Here in Hoi An, there is a constant stream of tourists, and the main trade is the tourist trade. It is quite a rural town, and many people in the surrounding areas are relatively poor, with many people fishing, sewing for the tailor trade, working in cafes or working in the rice fields. Everybody I have met here, is very nice superficially, but as there are no places where both local people and non-local meet, then it is really very little opportunity to spend time with local people. Most locals here go to bed very early too, because they wake up and exercise from 0500 onwards, and the few local people who are awake late, are working in restaurants. It's difficult to know if the difference in costs of living... (many local people would find most of the places here expensive to eat), or the difference in the typical daily routine, or the lack of social opportunities for people to mix are the reasons for this feeling. There is also an element of control from the government that may play a part in this situation. There are government rules about Vietnamese and non Vietnamese people staying in the same room in hotels, or in even private houses. Then on a more local level, this is a very conservative town, and people have their own opinions and suspicions about 'westerners' and what they are doing here. This is a very brief insight into this idea, but one I hope will make you think about the non-local people who may be living in your own society.
Regards from Vietnam
Dan
Ok so to start with, I should talk about some of the activities with my neighbours first of all. As I have described, our house is surrounded by cafes, a cafe to the right, a cafe to the left, and one opposite! We need to take turns to eat at them all, so no one gets too jealous! As I described last week, I went to the beach with my neighbours from Laugh Cafe, and I have continued to do so for most of the week, I even managed to get up f
or sunrise (see picture). I am slowly growing used to the early nights and early mornings, just because this place comes to life from 0500... After spending more time with Hong and her family, they have begun to ask me to join them for a bite to eat, to time to time. One particular day they were eating lunch and called me to join them. Hong's boyfriend was really keen for me to try some warm white looking thing in the middle of the food... as I was being polite and wanting to eat this thing, a could see the others struggling not to laugh, increasing my suspicions of what the food might be... after taking some small bites I could gather form the gestures my hosts were making, that this was some kind of pig product, and I soon realised I was eating pigs brains... which were surprisingly good, and would have gone well with the pigs ear I ate in Romania! In another food related story, whilst going to eat with some of our staff from work, they asked us if we like to have chicken, as we usually leave the food ordering to them...which on occasion proves to be a mistake.. this was one of those occasions! After tucking into some very skinny chicken pieces, covered by salad, I found myself chewing on some very strange looking spring like pieces. The staff had ordered chicken, but not as we know it! They had ordered chicken bones! I quickly realised I was eating chicken feet... which explained the texture!!!! Not a pleasant moment!My next mini-adventure came about when I unexpectedly got a day off last week, due to having no electricity in work, (which is not uncommon) here. So I decided that as the city of Da Nang is only an hour bus ride away I'd do things the local way. My neighbour offered to take me to the bus station, and did so with me sitting on the back of her bicycle, she also spoke with the bus driver to make sure I got charged the local price of 10,000 dong (33pence). So one hour later, I was stood outside the main supermarket in Da Nang, despite the bus travelling at an average speed of 5 miles an hour! I was pleased with my discovery of a bowling alley, and an English speaking cinema at the second supermarket 'Big C'. Having bought some food to finally stock up my fridge with, I headed to the supermarket entrance to find a way to the bus stop. No motorcycle drivers were either willing or able to understand that I didn't want them to take me all the way home. Having been able to find the bus stop with the use of a one dollar bill, and a guy with a bicycle, the bus rolled right up after just 2 minutes. Having jumped on the bus I was ready for a peaceful ride home, especially after seeing some rain clouds gathering above. I'd been on the bus all of a minute when the guy who comes round to collect the fares, approached, he looked at me for a few seconds and then showed me a 50,000 dong note (5 x the local 10,000 fare) I laughed and told him no, and that I would pay 10,00. he said no and returned 30 seconds later with another Vietnamese guy, who spoke a little English. 30,000 was this guys offer, to which I again laughed and said no, trying to explain that I had already done this journey today and was not going to pay more than 10,000. I even had a piece of paper with with an explanation (in Vietnamese) that said I was living volunteering here and please charge me local prices. This had no effect, and they guy's next trick was to pretend that new passenger (Vietnamese girl) had paid 50,000. So he again said 50,000 which just made me lose it a bit, and I began to shout, and bang my seat, telling the guy to go away, because I would not pay him. The other passengers began to watch was what going on, and knew what was happening, but refused to help. This annoyed me further, and when the guy returned with a tourist by his side, who he had overcharged, and tried to get the tourist to convince me to pay more, I really began to shout! I finally just shouted 'go away' very loudly and turned away. The guy finally returned, and tapped me on the shoulder without saying anything and just held his hand out.... I gave him 10,000, and was happy to say very loudly to the entire bus, that I had paid the local fare! I just hate blatant discrimination... it wasn't even done discreetly, that's what ticks me off!!! 1-0 for moral crusade!
Despite spending more time with my neighbours I want to talk a little about how I feel about the culture here, and how it does not really allow for non-Vietnamese people to fully integrate. I have to say that this is simply my personal experience, and may be very different in other parts of Vietnam. Here in Hoi An, there is a constant stream of tourists, and the main trade is the tourist trade. It is quite a rural town, and many people in the surrounding areas are relatively poor, with many people fishing, sewing for the tailor trade, working in cafes or working in the rice fields. Everybody I have met here, is very nice superficially, but as there are no places where both local people and non-local meet, then it is really very little opportunity to spend time with local people. Most locals here go to bed very early too, because they wake up and exercise from 0500 onwards, and the few local people who are awake late, are working in restaurants. It's difficult to know if the difference in costs of living... (many local people would find most of the places here expensive to eat), or the difference in the typical daily routine, or the lack of social opportunities for people to mix are the reasons for this feeling. There is also an element of control from the government that may play a part in this situation. There are government rules about Vietnamese and non Vietnamese people staying in the same room in hotels, or in even private houses. Then on a more local level, this is a very conservative town, and people have their own opinions and suspicions about 'westerners' and what they are doing here. This is a very brief insight into this idea, but one I hope will make you think about the non-local people who may be living in your own society.
Regards from Vietnam
Dan
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