Hiram to Hanoi

Friday, January 15, 2016

Modes of transportation

We've been brainstorming all the modes of transportation we took in Vietnam and Thailand:

airplane

taxi

bus

bike

motorbike

water taxi

cable car

pedalo

tuk tuk

SkyTrain

walking

school bus

paddle boat

car

private car

train

December 27

As we're getting ready to head back to America, several people have asked for us to come over, to get together somewhere, to travel to their home village, etc. And there are definitely people we want to say goodbye to.

One of the families that continues to be good to us is Libby's friend Trang and her parents, as well as her older sister who is home from boarding school in America. The Phan family treated us to an amazing Sunday Vietnamese brunch that left us full and satisfied.

Those are hot dogs in that sushi, by the way. Not my favorite:

Following brunch, Ellie, Noah and I met with Mai Ngo, the high school student we've gotten to know who is applying to Hiram and other schools. I'll miss our Sunday afternoon chats over coffee, so I'm hoping she enrolls at Hiram or someplace close:

And that night, we were invited to Yen Ngo's house -- Yen is the sister Libby's advisor Sac and her teacher for lacquer painting. While we were still stuffed from the massive buffet we had earlier in the day, the food and company at Yen's house were excellent.

Throughout the day and evening we a lot of good conversation, including the topic of the future of Vietnam. Everyone we've spoken with in Vietnam about the government says that change is coming someday, just not soon. And I sense that as well. People are disgruntled with the government, but it seems to be functioning well enough -- and allowing enough freedoms -- that people aren't ready to march in the streets. That day is coming, and I won't be surprised when it comes. I was surprised that the topic came up in each of the three places we went today and speaking with our Vietnamese friends.

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Riding around in traffic

Some would say that traffic in Hanoi is a nightmare, a sea of motorbikes that appear to operate without any rules. The reality though, is that mobility is pretty good because of the motorbikes, despite being such a densely populated city. And there are rules, they just seem to be informal and unwritten. But everyone seems to know them.

Libby and I went for a long bike ride this afternoon in the traffic. When we first moved here, we couldn't dream of riding bikes in the middle of traffic because it looked so scary to us, but now we almost look forward to riding on the streets. I was able to safely take a few videos this afternoon while we were riding to capture some of the mundane everyday life of riding in the traffic.

Here's a video of us riding in street traffic, and at the end a motorbike pulls out right in front of me. Very common:

This is what happens on a major road with lots of motorbikes and a slow bus -- minor traffic jam ensues, but despite the volume of vehicles, the traffic keeps moving:

Just a typical ride in traffic with Lib:

Here's a common event in Hanoi traffic -- needing to make a U-Turn instead of a left-hand turn. We also have to go across a few lanes of traffic to make our next turn:

And finally a quick video of us at a red light at a busy intersection with cross-traffic going:

Monday, December 28, 2015

Christmas in Hanoi

Getting into the true Christmas spirit can be a little difficult for Americans in Hanoi. Sure, there are holiday decorations everywhere, such as the two decorated Christmas trees in our apartment lobby, the "Merry Christmas" words painted on restaurant windows, and the Christmas street in the Old Quarter. But there is something missing, which I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe it is the fact that it is a Buddhist country, or that people still work and go to school on Christmas, or the warm weather, that there aren't a lot of Christmas traditions in Vietnam.

Someone described Christmas in Vietnam as like Valentine's Day in the U.S., and that feels about right. Or as an Australian blogger wrote, "The Vietnamese love Christmas. I mean, they love Christmas...[but] if you've ever wondered what Christmas looks like when it has been stripped of all tradition, all cultural and religious meaning, and all personal significance, and this is it: Christmas in Vietnam." Her blog entry is really good and deserves to be read in full: http://blogs.crikey.com.au/back-in-a-bit/2011/12/22/christmas-without-the-tradition-and-religion-welcome-to-vietnam/

But it was still really nice for all six of us to just take a break, relax, open some presents, and enjoy the Christmas Day.

The kids opening some presents. Christmas was light on the gifts this year since we're coming back to America in a few days and we only have so much room in our luggage for everything, but we still had fun:

Our Christmas lunch did not have any of our traditional foods for the holidays, but it did include food that we had been saving just for this occasion: