We're in HCMC

We came to Ho Chi Minh City Saturday, so we've only been here for about three days. Our first day here, we weren't thrilled with the city. We spent the first night in a cheap hotel near the HCMC University. It was very noisy and crowded, with no escapes -- no quiet restaurants or cafes. Now, we've found a nice guesthouse to stay at in District 1. It's in a quiet neighborhood a little ways from the main streets, but close to the heart of District 1. We've done a little sightseeing, and have been trying to figure out the bus system. We like travelling by bus -- the buses are air-conditioned and the safest way to travel in the city.

There a places in District 1 that are very much different from anything we saw in Vinh Long. We went to the Diamond Department store yesterday, which is very much like a high-end department store in the US -- it even has a bowing alley and modern movie theater.

We started our language class this morning. It took us a while to figure out how the classes are set up and what they cost, but eventually we figured out that they would open a class just for the two of us and charge us the group rate instead of the private instruction rate, which is a good deal. Our instructor this morning was great -- we started at the beginning, studying the alphabet and the tones. She forced us to be more exact in our pronunciation which we needed because we have trouble getting people to understand us when we attempt to speak Vietnamese. We're planning on going to class for 3 hours a day, 5 days a week. We'll probably continue this for 4-6 weeks, then travel.

Tom

Heading to Saigon

We've decided to go to Ho Chi Minh City, mainly because we think we'll get better language instruction there. We, or maybe just I, are a little concerned about living in such a big, polluted city. But, we've decided that if we don't like living there, or don't feel well because of the pollution there, we'll move on. Two of the universities offer Vietnamese language instruction to foreigners -- we're leaning toward Ho Chi Minh City University because it seems that they offer more hours of instruction per day, but we'll probably check out the University of Social Sciences and Humanities program as well. We're not quite sure where we're going to stay. We have a couple of contacts in the city who are looking for a place for us, but we may just find a cheap guesthouse to stay in until we find something more permanent.

Nothing new is going on here in Vinh Long. We had another family party -- went to a restaurant then on to karaoke, which seems to be the standard party for the family here in Vinh Long. It's fun. The food was great -- this time, I ate my first snails. I guess it was actually my first and second snails, because we had two different kinds -- one from the river and the other from the ocean. Still no dog, though. I asked one of Hoa's cousins if "thit cay" was dog after seeing a sign on a restaurant; she confirmed that it was and offered to cook some for us the next day. I just laughed, but Hoa made it clear to her cousin later that she didn't want dog.

The food is outstanding, and it agrees with me better than the food I usually eat back home.

I just posted a few photos on Flickr -- only a few because I've reached my limit of free uploads. I don't have a credit card with me right now, so I wasn't able to pay to post the rest.

Tom

What's new

Not much. We're continuing to study a lot. Hoa is understanding more and more spoken Vietnamese all the time. I'm not understanding nearly as much. As Hoa said in her last entry, we need to remember that we've been here only about a week and a half. But I'm concerned that although I'm studying hard, I may not be studying very effectively.

Last night, we met a young Australian who recently obtained his Ph.D. in Vietnamese history. He speaks Vietnamese fluently. I went out for dinner (pho) with him last night and went to the cafe with him this morning. He recommended the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in HCMC for Vietnamese language study, which is where he learned Vietnamese, and now Hoa and I are considering heading to HCMC sooner than we'd planned.

Last week we went to Hoa's second cousin, Van's seventh birthday party. We went to dinner, and I had my first frog legs and my first field rat -- both were good, although there's not much meat on a rat. Then we all rode to karaoke -- 10 of us on 3 scooters through the flooded (several inches) streets of Vinh Long. I thought it was hilarious. Karaoke was fun. We had a private room, and I sang "Hotel California." I don't sing nearly as well as the more experienced Vietnamese people.

The next night we went to another birthday party -- this time for Hoa's cousin Le, who turned 24. She also had her party at Karaoke, and we met a bunch of her friends, none of whom speak English. We played a game that required me to sing a song and Hoa to laugh in 5 different ways -- she was very silly and everyone laughed. Karaoke was followed by pho, and I had my first nuoc mia, fresh sugar cane juice, at the restaurant. There are street vendors all over selling the stuff, and I'm now addicted. I was feeling a little down earlier this afternoon, and didn't want to post anything today, but after two bags of nuoc mia, I'm feeling fine.

Yesterday, we took our bikes on the ferry and went across the river a few hundred yards to An Binh island. The island is beautiful -- covered with fruit trees. We had a good ride, despite rain off and on most of the morning.

Saturday, we went to Can Tho (more like "Gung tuh"). It was our first bus trip in Vietnam. We caught the bus here in Vinh Long. Hoa was suspicious that we were being charged more than the locals -- you pay on the bus, you don't buy tickets ahead of time -- and it turned out she was right. But we're not too concerned -- we paid two bucks for both of us instead of one buck for a 40 minute bus ride. The last leg of the trip to Can Tho was by ferry -- there's no bridge. It was a good experience, although we really didn't do anything very exciting in Can Tho. I was able to get pizza for lunch, which is not available in Vinh Long.

We met an Israeli couple this morning who've been in Vietnam for about a month. They speak no Vietnamese, but are travelling on their own. They were frustrated with what they thought were frequent miscommunications and rip-offs. Hearing this confirmed our belief that we're better off getting a little more Vietnamese under our belts before we begin travelling around the country.

Things are still going well, and we're glad we're here.

Tom

Studying Vietnamese

We have been studying Vietnamese day and night for the past week. We have private lessons with a Vietnamese tutor who teaches English for other students in his home. It has been an interesting experience. Our lessons usually occur during the times the students arrive for their English lesson. We always seem to have an audience while we are trying to clumsily pronounce Vietnamese words and phrases. They are so sweet and always give us praise and encouragement. My favorite part of the lesson is actually conversing with the Vietnamese students. We get to practice our Vietnamese and they practice their English skills. Sometimes it feels like we are making little progress, but we have to remember it has only been a week. Being completely immersed has actually helped speed up the progress a little more than if we were studying Vietnamese at a college in the United States.

I have been studying at the local cafe across the street from my cousin's guesthouse and have gotten to know the local vendors. There are a group of people and children who sell lottery tickets at the cafe daily. I have learned they are homeless and receive a portion of the proceeds from the sell of the tickets. They will stand by the table and watch me study. One particular woman has enjoyed helping me with my pronunciation and spelling. She has taken it upon herself to make sure the waiters are giving me good service and that customers know I am studying Vietnamese.

I have enjoyed the experience of being one of the locals. I thought I looked too Westernized that people would not recognize I was part Vietnamese. People automatically speak Vietnamese with me and are shocked when I have no idea what they are saying. I have learned to explain in Vietnamese why I do not speak Vietnamese (that was the first item to learn from my tutor).
I have really enjoyed being here and am excited to learn more about the Vietnamese culture. I definitely feel at home when I am riding my bike around town and just taking it all in. I am looking forward to seeing and experiencing more of Vietnam.

Hoa

View from our window in Vinh Long

Hoa and I just found an Internet cafe that has computers with USB and a recent version of Windows that allows us to use our camera memory card reader. We just opened an account with flickr.com and posted a bunch of photos. I was hoping I could post on this site a link to our photo site, but I don't think you can do that with Flickr. If you want to take a look, go to flickr.com, open an account, and then take a look at the links at the bottom of the page. Look for People Search under People. You can search by our e-mail, and I think by our first names as well. I may try a different photo site, I'll let you know.

Things are going very well. We started studying Vietnamese with a tutor last Friday. We've been studying pretty hard, but I feel like I need to organize my studies better. We're also working with Hoa's cousins Le and Bich Thuy on their English. We just went to a book store and bought Bich Thuy a beginning level English study book. We also got a couple of Vietnamese language children's books for Hoa and me to use to study. All three books cost us 20,700 Dong, the equivalent of about $1.25. The books probably would have been about $15 in the U.S. We went to a party last night at the home of Hoa's Aunt Phuong and Uncle Han. I had a great time, despite unable to communicate anything other than the toast "mot, hai, ba . . . dzo [yo]. But that, and "ngon qua" -- "delicious" when dish after dish was brought to the table, was all that was really necessary. Everyone was very friendly, and I'm looking forward to learning Vietnamese so I can actually talk to them.

I've gotten together a couple times with our guide from last week's river tour. He stopped by yesterday to see if I wanted to go fishing with him and a couple of his friends. We fished on the river at a place where there's a restaurant that will cook the fish you catch. I caught one small fish, and Nam and one of his friends each caught a bigger fish. There was more than enough fish for all three of us. I also had banh xeo for the first time, which is like a crepe made from eggs and rice that you wrap up with lettuce and mint like a spring roll and dip in fish sauce. It was excellent, as everything we've had here has been. I like the food even from street vendors better than just about anything I eat in America.

Hoa and I are trying to figure out how to get Bich Thuy and her husband Toan to accept any money for staying at their guesthouse. We've been eating a meal or two at their place every day, so we're hoping we can at least start paying for some food. Bich Thuy, like just about everyone here I suppose, goes shopping everyday for groceries. We are right in the middle of the market district, so you can find all kinds of fruits and vegetables within 30 feet of the guesthouse.

We're finding that there are very, very few English speakers here in Vinh Long, which is a great incentive to study Vietnamese. Our tutor is just about the only person we've met who comes even close to fluency. Most people here seem to know nothing more than "Hello," which a few people will call out with they see the white guy riding by on his borrowed bicycle.

The people here are great -- I was a little paranoid about getting ripped off in one way or another, but we haven't had a single bad experience with anyone.

We're going to be studying every weekday with our tutor for the next several weeks, so we don't have any immediate plans for a big trip. There's still more to see right around here anyway. We tried to visit a pagoda yesterday, but it was closed on Sundays. We'll have to try again, it's only about a mile away.

Hoa's visiting a class at an English school this evening. We stopped by the school a few days ago to see if she could volunteer a few hours a week to get some more experience teaching English. Instead they wanted to hire her on the spot. They have a hard time finding foreigners, the preferred English teachers, willing to come to Vinh Long. It's a small city, and we've met only one foreigner who's living here -- one of the teachers at this school. Hoa has told the people at the school that she only wants to work a few hours a week and that we're planning to leave Vinh Long in 4-6 weeks to travel and decide where we want to settle down. There so desperate for teachers that this is OK with them.

Better get going, it's about time to eat again even though I'm "no roi," full already.

We made it!

Finally, we're in Vietnam. It's our second day here. Everything so far has gone perfectly. China Airlines treated us great, and the flight to Taipei seemed much quicker than the nearly 12 hours it was. The flight to Saigon, I mean Ho Chi Minh City, was less then two hours. We flew through customs and immigration and Hoa's uncle and cousins were right there waiting for us. The ride through Ho Chi Minh City was a little scary but we survived. We're staying in Hoa's relatives' guest house in Vinh Long on the Mekong Delta. The house is right across the street from one of the forks of the Mekong. We have a great view of the river from our room. The room is very nice -- reliable electricity, flush toilet, hot water in the shower (not that I really want hot water), and even a refrigerator, which is more than I can say for the last place we stayed in the U.S. (just kidding, Jason). No cooking facilities in the room, but we could use the family's kitchen if we wanted to, which we probably won't. Eating out is too good and too cheap -- breakfast for three of us was about two bucks this morning. And that was for the best pho (noodle soup -- "phuh" is a good start) I ever had. Before breakfast we went to the Cafe Hoa Nang -- I don't know anyone there (yet) so the company wasn't as good as Prescott Coffee Roasters, but the coffee was much, much better, or at least stronger, which is pretty much the same thing to me.

We just got done going with one of Hoa's cousins on a boat tour of the Delta. We stopped at a couple of islands where they grow tons of strange fruit. It was beautiful. We rented bikes for a couple bucks and rode some gnarly singletrack along the river. Our guide ordered food for us while we for our ride. When we got back they servers brought us a whole large fish, three different kinds of pork dishes, prawns, vegetables, spring rolls, fresh fruit (pineapple was the only kind I'd seen before), rice, all kinds of stuff. I was getting a little nervous about the cost of this feast, but the bill came back under eight dollars. It probably would have been more, but our guide told the people at the restaurant that Hoa's cousin, Le, was another guide and they didn't charge for her.

I'm definitely in the early stage of living abroad where everything new is exciting. I'm sure the excitement will eventually wear out, but for now at least we're absolutely thrilled to be here. We're going to start studying Vietnamese with Hoa's cousin's English teacher tomorrow. We plan to study with him for a couple of hours a day for the next several weeks. We're not sure how long we're going to stay in Vinh Long. Our plan is to spend some time visiting family and studying the language here before heading up to Ban Me Thuot in the Central Highlands to visit more family and then exploring more of Vietnam. Then we'll decide where we want to settle down for a while.

I'll try to get some photos posted soon -- there's no USB port on this computer so I'll have to check out the computers at the post office and the internet cafes, which we're told exist here. Better get going, we're going to see some of Hoa's family we haven't seen yet here in Vinh Long.