Comments Please....

Hey friends, you've been reading this blog. I hope you like it. But sometimes I don't know.
I don't see any comments at all. Who are you?
Am I writing rubbish or do you enjoy reading my blogs?
Any topics you'd like to know more about? More pictures?
I run into new things every day but I'm not sure if anyone would be interested.
It's also a forum for my friends to exchange ideas and opinions.
So, don't be shy. Say something. I'd like to hear from you.

Other future topics I have in mind:
Singapore (I'm going there next week on a business trip)
My Apartment or is it a hotel?
The lake where my apartment is, which has a surprising Arizona connection.
Tropical Fruits - durian, mangosteen, rambutan, longan, jackfruit, etc
What's for lunch? Where do I go eat and what do I eat?
My teammates - Tommy, Alan, Lenny, Henry, Victor, et al. Are they really Vietnamese?
Vietnamese Coffee
What's a xe om?

Catholic Churches in Hanoi

You would not expect it but there are quite a few catholic churches in Hanoi. The French missionaries must have done a great job of converting the locals when they were running the country.

On the top left-hand corner of this post is a picture of St. Joseph's Cathedral. It was built in 1886. It conducts mass in Vietnamese. I happened to walk by there one Sunday afternoon and the church was full. There was an overflow crowd outside the church sitting on plastic chairs. Loudspeakers broadcast the mass to those outside.

You can google "St Joseph's Cathedral Hanoi" and you will see quite a lot of information about the church and also more pictures.

The church sure needs some power washing on the outside. I've never been inside but I heard it's quite well kept. It's only about 1/4 mile from the Camellia Hotel where I was staying.

The top-right picture shows another Catholic church about 5 minutes from my current apartment.

The bottom-left picture is that of a student cafe, which is just on the left side of St. Joseph's church. I mentioned it in one of my earlier posts about young men and women sitting on foot-high stools drinking lemon tea and eating sunflower seeds. This is one of the popular spots and in the evening will be filled with these young people. They just ride their motorcycles there, have the valet park it for them and sit with a few friends and chat for hours.

This is one of my favorite spots when I was staying at the hotel. They serve these "milk drinks" for mostly 10,000 dongs, or about 50 cents. I always order the mango milk, which is like a mango smoothie. The last picture above is their menu. I should try the durian milk one of these days.

One of the waiters/valet always try to practice his Mandarin on me. By now, all of them know me quite well although I can't communicate with them.

Hanoi Intenational Fellowship

I was looking for a place for worship on Sunday so I thought I search the internet. I was surprised to find two churches close to where I live. After looking at both websites I decided I wanted to try the Hanoi International Fellowship (HIF).

I took a taxi on Sunday morning to the Hotel Intercontinental, about 10 minutes away from my apartment. The church rents the Grand Ballroom for their service. The congregation has a nice mix of international worshippers - 50% of the congregation are from Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, etc, and the rest from North America, Europe and Australia. I was surprised to meet quite a few Americans after the service. A couple of them I met are missionaries for other church organizations.

The HIF website said that the worshippers are mostly transient. Some are here for only a week or two, some a few months, and some a few years. The pastor is originally from Holland, who preached in the US for 20 years. He has been in Hanoi for about 10 years, I was told. You see a picture of Pastor Jacob Bloemberg preaching above. Below is a picture of the Worship Team, made up mostly of worshippers in their 20s'. There is also a band to the side, which I was not able to take a picture of.

After the service, I was invited to lunch with a few Australians. Pete, my new Australian friend, really made me feel at home. The big topic of discussion among the Australians was the election the previous day. Apparently, there is no clear winner between the Labor Party and the Conservatives. I'm glad they talk politics after church and not during church.

If you are interested in reading more about the Fellowship, here is their website:

http://hifvn.org/home/

Cambodia - Siem Reap

You have probably never heard of Siem Reap but hopefully, you've heard of Angkor Wat. Siem Reap is the town closest to the temples in the Angkor region. Angkor Wat is the most famous of all the temples here but it is one of many. In addition to Angkor Wat, I also visited Angkor Thom, Ta Prom and Phnom Bakheng

All the pictures in this blog were taken at one of those temples but I don't remember which. In one of them, you will also see a picture of my tour guide, Sean Mardy. Now, that sounds like an Irish name, but Sean is 100% native Cambodian, born and raised in Siem Reap. I was very fortunate to have him as my guide because not only he speaks good English but his knowledge of the temples, the history, stories behind the carvings, etc, are amazing.

If you are interested in knowing more Angkor Wat, please look it up in Wikipedia. If you want to know more about the Angkor temples, you should buy a book on it. However, the best part is visiting the temples and seeing them for yourself first-hand. I've been wanting to see Angkor Wat for years and was so happy that I finally have the opportunity to do so. If you are travelling in the area, I strongly encourage you not to miss this opportunity to see a world-famous historical site.

Siem Reap is a small town, built to cater to tourists coming to see the Angkor temples. It does not have the big city traffic and has many medium-priced hotels. I stayed at the Khemara Angkor Hotel. The staff was very friend and the breakfast they served was excellent. There are a lot of restaurants near the Central Market catering to tourists. You can get a very nice meal for $3.


More tourists started coming to this area after Angelina Jolie made the movie "Tomb Raider" in the Ta Prom Temple. She is like a Goddess here because she brings a lot of name-recognition to the area and also supports a local orphanage. I heard that the Prime Minister of Cambodia built a house specially for her when she comes and visit Siem Reap.

The people here are very poor and they appreciate any kind of tip that you give them. Even a $1 tip brings a big smile on their faces.

I also have the opportunity to take a river ride to see a floating village. Many families live and shop on boats along a river that leads to the Tonle Sap Lake. There are shops, schools, mechanic shops, etc, all on boats. Again, this is a very poor area and most of their lives revolve around fishing along the river and lake. In recent years fishing has gone down because of over-fishing in the lake.

Siem Reap is about a 6-hour bus ride from Phnom Penh but is only about a 50-minute plane ride. Needless to say, I flew from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. You can also travel by boat along the river but that also takes 6 hours.

Cambodia - Phnom Penh

I had a business trip to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, last week. I've always wanted to go to Cambodia because I've read and heard so much about it and I have many friends from there.

It's a fascinating country with a rich history.

It is most famous for its Angkor Wat ruins, which I will talk about in my next blog. Angkor Wat and Cambodia was put on the map in recent years by Angelina Jolie, in her movie Tomb Raider.

The blog before this one is about the Killing Fields, which I just posted. If you don't like horrific images and sad stories, please skip it. It was also another event that made Cambodia famous, for the wrong reason.

When I arrived at the Phnom Penh airport, I took a taxi to the hotel. The taxi driver asked me if I was Chinese. I said yes. He said he speaks Cantonese and I told him I do too. So, the rest of the way, we spoke Cantonese. He said he can take me to the Royal Palace and the Killing Fields that afternoon. We negotiated a rate and now I have someone I can communicate with to take me where I want to go. Great deal.

Phnom Penh has a large Chinese population. I have many Cambodian friends in the US who are Chinese. Most of them run businesses. As we drive around Phnom Penh, you see some of the biggest restaurants with Chinese characters, obviously owned by Chinese.

Cambodia is a developing country but still poor. After years of wars, it is settling down and trying to develop its economy. US dollars is the preferred currency here. But, for small change, you get Cambodial Riels in return. About 4,000 Riels equal $1.

The taxi driver dropped me off near the Central Market after my tours. I stopped in on a 6-story shopping center and it was crowded. I saw all kinds of stuff being sold very cheaply. I saw a famous brand dry-fit shirts for $4. They would normally sell for about $40 in the US. I saw popular software selling for $2.50 per CD and DVDs' for $1. You name it, they have it.

Above are some pictures of the Royal Palace that I visited. It's a vast complex of buildings with golden roofs.

Above you also see a picture of a tuk-tuk. They are motorcycles really, with an open cab and a roof attached to it. Locals and tourists ride in them because they are cheap and you can see all around you. They are not the cheapest however. You can get around cheaper by getting on a motorcycle taxi. That is, you ride as a passenger on a motorcycle. It's about half as cheap as a tuk-tuk, which is about half as cheap as a regular taxi. Motorcycle taxis are not for the faint-hearted. These guys weave around in heavy traffic and get very, very close to other vehicles. I rode one back to the hotel from the shopping center for $2. It was about a 20 minute ride.

Cambodia - The Killing Fields

This is the 3rd of a 3-blog series on Cambodia. Although I entered this first, it will appear last to you because I want to give you the option of skipping this blog.

You can read more about the Killing Fields in Cambodia in Wikipedia.

This is a heart-wrenching story, just like the concentration camps in Nazi Germany. You can't help thinking of the millions of people who suffered through this just because of a few crazy people. I will let the pictures tell the story.

Halong Bay

On Saturday, August 7, I took a 1-day trip to Halong Bay. I've been hearing all about Halong Bay since I came to Hanoi. Everyone told me how beautiful it is. It did not disappoint me. The preferred way would have been to do a two-day trip, spending the night on a boat.





Almost every hotel and travel agency in Hanoi offers tours to this place. It's about a 3 1/2 hour bus ride from Hanoi to Halong Bay. When we got there around noon, the place was packed with tourists. Everyone was waiting to get on the boats and cruise out to the bay.

I don't know how to describe the place other than if you have been to Monument Valley in Arizona, you see the rocks or mountains really, coming out of the desert. Here you see these mountains coming out of the water. I guess they were formed through some geological event that caused those limestone karsts. You can read more about it in wikipedia.

My one-day tour costs about US$35. I think the 2-day tours costs around US$70 to more, depending on how nice a boat you sleep on. I will try to do an overnight trip later to experience what it's like to sleep on one of those boats.

We also visited a cave in the area. It was nicely done, like any caves in the US.


I also had a chance to do some kayaking in the bay.

There are also fish farms in the bay. I don't know what kind of fish they raise but they seem pretty big. They also raise shrimps and some shell fish as well.

One of the pictures here show a boat selling fruits to vegetables. There were quite a few of those around.

It was a long ride back to Hanoi. We got back around 8:30 pm and had dinner at a restaurant called Little Hanoi. One of the people I had dinner with is a remarkable woman called Olga. Olga is from Sasketchawan, Canada. She's probably in her 60s' and travelling pretty much alone. She is with a group of 3 but on this trip she was by herself.

I said Olga is remarkable because most Americans or Canadians her age would not want to go to a place like Vietnam. They'd prefer to go to some place cozy like Europe. Vietnam is not an easy place to travel because of the language, culture, chaos, traffic, everything you can name to make an American tourist uneasy. Olga just took it in stride and enjoyed everything with a great spirit.

We had an excellent inexpensive dinner at Little Hanoi in the Old Quarter. I think this restaurant is popular with tourists because it was written in the Lonely Planet book on Vietnam.
By the way, I bought a Vietnamese Phrasebook at one of the rest stops. It costs 50,000 dongs, or about $2.50. I've been looking for this book. So now I can practice my Vietnamese on the street.

Pho'

Pho' (pronounced like fur, without the r curl) to the Vietnamese is what hamburger is to Americans. It's their national food.

It's beef noodle soup and it's sold just about everywhere. Vietnamese eat it at anytime of the day - breakfast, lunch and dinner. The beef can be rare, medium rare or well-cooked. You can also have chicken instead of beef.

Some people like to squeeze some lime into the soup to give a little tangy taste. I noticed that in south Vietnam, they give you bean sprouts to put in the soup but not in the north. You can get Pho' at almost any Vietnamese restaurant in the US.

Above is a picture of 2 bowls of Pho'. Also, you see President Clinton eating at the Pho 2000 restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). Another picture is that of Pho 10, which is around the corner from Camellia Hotel where I stayed in Hanoi. Notice all the motorcycles in front of the restaurant.

Anthony Bourdain raved about Pho' in Hanoi in his new book. The difference is in the broth. They put different parts of the cow and cook the broth for a long time. That's what makes the broth so tasty.

On the street, it costs 20,000 VND (Vietnamese dongs), about US$1. In a restaurant, it probably costs double that.

Motorcycles

One of the first things you notice about Vietnam is motorcycles. They are everywhere and they are noisy. It's the preferred way of transportation because they are affordable to most people. Cars are expensive here because of tariffs. There are buses but I see very few of them.


It costs only 3,000 dongs (about 20 cents) to take a bus anywhere but my colleagues in the office tell me that you have to watch out for pickpockets.

One of the things that shocked me is how they have entire families riding on one motorcycle.
In one of the pictures above you can see a family of four getting on a motorcycle. You see one kid sitting in front of the dad who is riding the motorcycle and another kid sandwiched between mom and dad. If that is not bad enough, the kids don't wear helmets! They said that since the helmets can't fit the kids' heads, they are exempt from wearing helmets.

They have a helmet law but the helmets that the motorcyclists and their passengers wear are a joke. Some of them are no more that baseball helmets. I don't think that's going to protect their heads in an accident. I hate to see an accident involving one with kids.

Fortunately, I see very few accidents in spite of the way Vietnamese drive or ride. They don't follow traffic rules or look out for other cars. At an intersection, whoever is braver and charges forward gets to move through. Many times in taxis, I thought the taxi-driver was going to hit someone but the car or motorcycle would just stop. Amazingly, they accept it and don't get angry at each other. I've never seen someone yelling at the other driver/rider or pointing the finger at them. That's how they all drive and they just accept it.

With so many motorcycles, where do they park? Interestingly, a lot of restaurants or cafes have motorcycle valets. It's a free service.

They also use motorcycles to carry everything. It's their delivery vehicle. I've seen some amazing loads carried by these motorcycles. I will try to take pictures of these delivery motorcycles when I get a chance.

I've been debating on renting a motorcycle to get around. Some friends say it's fun. Some say it's dangerous. I'm going to wait until I gather enough courage and maybe rent one for a weekend and see how I do. I'll probably get stuck in traffic for a long time for obeying the rules and being too courteous.