Ha Long Bay and then some

Well, turns out Luke was too lazy to write a blog entry when he was here, or even take any pictures for that matter; he made me carry the camera and snap the shots on our weekend trip out to Ha Long Bay. I consider him the laziest tourist ever, but I think he's kind of proud of it, so I'll let him hold on to that title for a bit. Anywho- the lazy tourist and myself met up with a bunch of friends, boarded a bus at 8AM on a Saturday, and began the 4 hour journey out to the city of Ha Long. Typhoon Megi (and yes, I know it sounds just like my name) was supposed to run smack dab into Ha Long Bay on the day of our arrival, but as luck would have it, the winds changed and blew it towards China. We faced a gorgeously sunny day with only a bit of haze that obstructed some of the views. We had a whole boat to ourselves, with 8 cabins that easily fit all 14 of us. We arrived to lunch on the boat, then sailed out to a pretty major cave that was quite the tourist trap, but interesting nonetheless. After the cave, we enjoyed some swimming, with ample opportunity to jump off the top of the boat into the water. Anneliese and myself boarded a kayak to get some pictures of the sunset (see below) and after some local Ha Long fish and squid for dinner, the weather cooled down to a perfect 75 degrees. The night flaunted a huge, orange moon, and we spent the evening enjoying the views and each other's company. I was glad that Luke got the chance to see the countryside, even if it was from the inside of a bus, and enjoy one of Viet Nam's most famous destinations.

Luke departed with the inspiration to return with friends, so I guess I did a pretty good job of selling him Ha Noi. It's been about 24 hours since he left, so I think he should be arriving back in Phili momentarily. My one relief at his departure is the fact that I don't have to blast my air conditioner anymore. The weather has really cooled down here with the arrival of fall, and the air conditioner is almost useless... to someone who is accustomed to the incredible Hanoian heat. So Luke and I had a bit of an air-con war going on; I would return home from work and instantly turn it off, he would switch it back on 5 minutes later, and so on and so forth. In exchange for his company I will be happy to pay my heavily inflated electric bill, which is usually a cool 25 dollars a month.

This evening, I joined Son and my new Art Club assistant Hong for some duck hot pot. It's the first time I got to enjoy some "street duck", and even though a lot of time was devoted to getting it off the bone, it was incredibly tasty. Half of the duck arrived already cooked and prepared in a honey/soy glaze, while the rest of the duck came in a pot full of bamboo shoots, sweet potatoes, tofu, and a bit of curry. I'm always on the lookout for my next Vietnamese food obsession (still can't seem to shake bit tet), and this is definitely up there. Sometimes as I'm sitting there eating this amazing food, I contemplate the best ways to get it back to the USA for those at home to enjoy. Sadly enough, I don't think any street food here can be recreated in an American kitchen, but at least I can bring home my traditional Vietnamese sauce recipe, so that's better than nothing.

Here's a few pictures that I managed to snap of Ha Long Bay when I played the tourist card in lieu of my brother...

Two Marchies in Ha Noi

So, my brother Luke arrived in Ha Noi late Wednesday night. I figured I would give him a proper Ha Noi welcome by picking him up from the airport on my motorbike. The airport is a bit removed from Ha Noi, so it takes about 45 minutes to get there from my house. The amount of little bugs attracted to my headlight was dreadful, and I found a good many in my shirt once I got home to shower. Riding a motorbike here can be a dirty business especially on construction roads, which happen to be most of them, but once again, it's all part of the experience. Luckily, all the lights from the 1,000 Year Celebrations are still up, so we were able to take Luke down some decorated streets. He got to meet a lot of my friends over the weekend, despite his jet-lag induced early evening naps (the term "nap" is a bit of an understatement here). But, I recall the intensity of my jet-lag upon arrival (Ha Noi and NYC have a 12 hour difference), and the body literally needs to reverse its sleep cycle, which is no easy feat.

This past Saturday, Luke, Son, and I all went to Hoa Lo prison, located a few blocks away from my house. It was a rainy afternoon, which made the experience all the more sombre. The American pilots who stayed here as P.O.W.s referred to the place as the Ha Noi Hilton Hotel (maybe some of you from home have heard of the prison in this regard). The treatment of Vietnamese prisoners was absolutely atrocious by the French, but once the Vietnamese took over they apparently did a better job of keeping the prisoners comfortable (if that can be possible). There are multiple images of the American pilots playing basketball, carving Christmas turkeys, putting up Christmas decorations, playing billiards, playing guitar, etc. It painted a very rosy picture of the whole ordeal, but given my ignorance concerning the actualities of their stay at "The Hilton", I wasn't sure what to believe. Either way, the preserved prison was very interesting, and despite all the hardships associated with the place, ironically beautiful. Constructed by the French at the time of their arrival to house political prisoners, it resembles a sprawling French mansion from the outside (but upon entering, the scene obviously turns a bit grisly).

In the evening a bunch of my friends all got together to go to snake street, since I wanted Luke to experience something tooootally different. I already posted about my snake village experience so I will spare giving the details yet again, but a very authentic experience was had by all. We left the village to go to my friend Nico's house, as he was having a bunch of people over. We were there until midnight, when the police showed up and tried to get everyone to leave. Given the midnight curfew, this happens all the time and at almost every venue, be it a bar, a house, or even the street. So for the most part, people headed outside, pretended to leave, and came right back in again once the police boarded their truck and were off. Sure enough, about an hour later, they were back again. This time they were serious, and would not depart until we were all dispersing on our motorbikes. I took this opportunity to drive Luke around and head to a local watering hole that tends to disregard police curfew (or pay them off...) and stays open late. Due to his jet lag, I was the more tired between the two Marchies, but it was fun nonetheless. Luke is getting to know a bunch of my Ha Noi crowd, which he agrees are pretty neat people. After hearing from all my friends the ridiculous amount of money people get paid to teach English, I think he is considering what it would be like to live here.

On Sunday, I insisted that Luke come with me to the market, despite the fact he was begging me to sleep off his jet lag. Instead of relenting, I forced him out of his makeshift bed and off we went into the Sunday market craziness. Although he was in a bit of a stupor, I was able to show him around one of the oldest and most famous markets in Ha Noi. We grabbed some spring roll supplies (no surprise here) and headed back to my house to cook them. Well, I cooked them... Luke got a bit bored after rolling his second spring roll. We met a couple friends for Bit Tet (which I know I constantly talk about but I have definitely developed a bit of an obsession) and got to bed around 8:30 PM, in the hopes that his jet lag would be cured by Monday.

Now that it's Monday, he seems a bit on the mend. Tonight I am taking him to another favorite cuisine of mine, seafood noodles. This is only a block away so we don't have to cope with any rush hour traffic since we can just walk it. Luke has been very lazy about using a camera, but I am forcing him not only to get out and take pictures, but to write a blog entry too, so everyone can hear about Viet Nam from his perspective. Expect something written by Luke in the next few days. :)

10/10/10, SIS 10 Year Anniversary

This weekend had a lot going on for me, and I only now have time to write about it-
Saturday night was the Singapore International 10 Year Anniversary. The snazzy event was held in the Melia Hotel Ballroom (a gigantic, vastly decorated venue) in the theme of "Oscar Night". Everyone showed up in gowns with glitzy shoes and styled hair, and it was definitely really fun to see my coworkers all done-up. I made the effort by getting a dress tailored (styled after a cute Alexander Wang dress) and paid an incredibly low amount for a really high-quality tailoring job. A lot of the foreigner teachers went out to get dresses made, and it was really interesting to see what everyone was wearing. Obviously, many pictures were snapped in the ballroom, which was covered in giant movie posters, red carpet backdrops, and ice sculptures. I had a great time bonding with coworkers that I, as of yet, hadn't had the time to get to know very well, since when we are at school, mostly everything we talk about is, well, shchool-related. The company handed out a large amount of raffle prizes (blenders, toasters, other household items), and considering what was being given out, I wasn't paying much attention to the names being called, as I was not too keen on winning a large collection of pots. But sure enough, someone nudged me on the arm asking, "Is your name Meghan McLane Marchie?" Completely shocked that someone knew my full name, I inquired to why they wanted to know. "They're calling your name on stage...". At this I jumped up and headed up onto the stage, in front of 400+ SIS employees (I believe about 7 schools were represented at the party). As it turns out, I was the only white person to win something, and it just so happened to be a brand new "Smart Phone" worth over 450 USD! I'm not much into cell phone technology, refusing to update from my flip phone from four years ago, so I was not too excited about the prize. By the time I got home and opened it up, I couldn't believe what these phones are capable of doing! I'm already addicted to LG's version of the iphone, and was not sure how I've been living without one. My mom had tried to get me to invest in an iphone in the past, but I kept saying how I never wanted to upgrade. Funny that it took a raffle win to get me hooked on smart phone technology. :)
Sunday rolled around, and with it, the culmination of the 10 days of the 1,000 Year Celebration. The city had been preparing for a massive parade all throughout the week, but at 8:30 AM after a big Saturday night, the closest I was willing to get was to my rooftop. The crowds of people lining the streets was unbelievable, and I regret not having my camera to snap a photo of all the heads from above. I went up to my roof in my pjs, expecting to take in thew view alone, but sure enough, my extremely Japanese neighbor was up there enjoying the spectacle as well. Since his English is extremely limited, our conversation suffered, but I managed to get some information out of Tando Nakimoto. He even left and returned 10 minutes later weilding a bunch of egg-salad finger sandwhiches for the two of us. It was incredibly cute, so I did my best to convey to him that I had in fact lived in Tokyo as a child and was now currently a teacher. As I've been told, my Japanese name was "Mechan". Tando got a kick out of the fact that I was technically "Mechan Teacher" which rhymes nicely with a heavy Japanese accent. A lot of laughing ensued, and I was really happy that I got to spend that moment getting to know someone from another country, and almost effectively getting to converse about the excitement of the parade.
Although fireworks had been planned in 29 locations throughout the city for the evening, and I had even made an attempt at throwing a roof party so my friends and I could watch them away from the throngs of people in the street, they were cancelled at the last moment. A freak firework explosion ended up killing 20+ people a couple days before (although the government only reported the death of 4 people) and the fireworks were all moved to one location, the one location impossible to see from my house! Everything about the fireworks cancellation was very fishy, with the government making claims that it needed to donate money to flood victims in central Viet Nam, or that the spirits of the dead wouldn't appreciate such a big show. None of it really made any sense, and all my Vietnamese friends claimed something else was going on, like maybe the government didn't want to admit that a majority of the fireworks had been destroyed. There were a few mentions of fireworks sabotage, but who knows. I was just upset that my roof party couldn't happen, and that I wouldn't get a chance to see the fireworks. But given how much fun I've had the past week with the celebrations, all was well. I spent the night at a Bia Hoi down the street, meeting some locals and some Veterans (who came over specifically for the 1,000 Year Parties). Overall, I am so happy that I was here to experience this important event, and surely won't be forgetting about it any time soon.

Celebrating the city

The streets were a bit less hectic on Sunday; armed with perfect weather and my camera, Son and I went out to photograph the city during this amazing time. We drove all around West Lake, which is the biggest (and most posh) area in Ha Noi. The houses are all very large, very beautiful, and (mostly) very old. We drove down a street lined with trees, bordering the lake. We stopped lakeside to get a few drinks, recline in some chairs, and take in the view. We sat underneath a tree behind a small plastic table, with our legs dangling precariously close to the lake edge. It gave me some time to reflect on what an incredible city I am living in, and how lucky I am to be experiencing it right now. Being able to sit in chairs along the lake and chill out is a very Vietnamese thing to do, and I was very satisfied that I was able to take part in such a seemingly simple, yet culturally significant past time. Granted, I was drinking a bottle of Bia Ha Noi rather than a coconut filled with jelly (which is a typical Vietnamese favorite), but the experience seemed authentic nonetheless. After spending an hour or two photographing some of my favorite streets, Son and I decided to end the day with our favorite Vietnamese street food, Bit Tet. By the time I got home, I did some laundry, hung my sheets up to dry, and eagerly loaded pictures onto my computer. Getting into bed with the scent of air-dried sheets and clean pillowcases was a wonderful way to top-off my own little version of the 1,000 Year Celebration.

The 1,000 Year Anniversary of Ha Noi begins

The city has been preparing for this celebration for years. When I was here during college, I used to look at this big sign counting down the days, thinking about how cool it would be if I could make it back to see that sign hit zero. After about 3 years, I'm here again, during one of the most important events in the modern history of Ha Noi.

I am currently living on what most Hanoians are calling the most beautiful street in Ha Noi, and I feel so lucky that I come home to such a view every night. The city has made an incredible effort to beautify the city streets, making this lovely city even more charming.

Last night we had tickets to go to a couple shows being held around Hoan Kiem Lake. By the time we got there, the crowds were so intense that we weren't able to move, let alone reach the seating area. I actually started getting a little scared when crowds of people all started pushing and heaving. I was convinced some child was going to get trampled. I high-tailed it out of there when things got too intense, and opted to hang around my usual place, Ta Hien Street. A lot of friends came out, so I was happy that I got to celebrate the first night with so many great people.

This evening, Son and I left my house to go to our favorite Bit Tet place for dinner. Unfortunately, they closed my street all the way up to the mausoleum, along with other streets closer to the lake. The city has been practicing for the parade, closing down numerous streets, all in my area. This obviously is making it very hard to get around. Son and I hit so much stand still traffic that after an hour of covering barely any distance, we gave up and got some noodles down the street. This upcoming week has even more road closures coming. School is cancelled on Thursday since the street will be closed. It's going to be really tough for me to get out of my area to get to work on Friday, and I have a looming suspicion that I will be sitting on a motorbike in steamy weather during an incredibly intense rush hour. But the incredible cultural outpour of this city right now makes up for all my gripes with the traffic. The streets are filled with people (even more so than before), everyone is celebrating, and the pride of being Hanoian can be seen everywhere. I feel rather proud to be living here, almost to the point where I'm considering myself a Hanoian of sorts. Most of the people flocking to Ha Noi to witness the celebrations are from the countryside, so a lot of Hanoians are getting kind of mad that their territory is being overrun. I definitely see the frustration, as people from the countryside usually get lost, and then drive bewildered around the streets, causing even more traffic jams. I'm getting to the point where I can pick out those from the countryside in seconds. A nice skill but probably won't prove so useful upon return to the states. Anyway, enjoy these ridiculous pictures taken at the top of Hoan Kiem Lake!

Full Moon Festival

Sorry this entry is coming a bit after the fact, it's been getting really busy over here. The city of Ha Noi spent a whole week preparing for the Full Moon Festival. This included decorations, thousands of stores opening up to sell mooncake, and the emergence of numerous Lunar Markets. The markets prove a bit troublesome since they literally shut down traffic in most areas of the Old Quarter, making my commute from work a bit more intense than normal. If I had written this during the actual week of the festival, it would have included a lot more complaining about absurd traffic jams, but at this point I can reflect on how interesting it all was. The Lunar Festival is basically an excuse to give mooncakes to people, and for children to dress up in costumes, carrying around crazy light-up toys. It's technically a holiday for the children, so my school had an entire day devoted to Full Moon celebrations. This means that all the students arrived in various costumes (ranging from Spider man and white fluffly fairy dresses, to bird masks and strange capes). It was very cute, despite the level of student craziness the festival was paired with. We had a very energetic dragon dancer, some Vietnamese clowns (who definitely weren't funny), some blind people singing traditional songs, and a midget Michael Jackson dancer. All in all, a slightly strange mix of performers, but the students had a great time. As fun as it was, the traffic on the actual night of the Full Moon Festival (this past Wednesday) was horrific. It was basically people standing still on motorbikes for about 15 minutes per intersection. You can imagine how long it took me to get home...

The night after was Parent-Teacher night. I had to work from 7:30 AM to 4 PM, then host Art Club until 5 PM, cram in some dinner, and begin getting my classroom ready by 6 PM. A very hectic day, but since most of the parents don't speak English, my entire presentation was through the interperter, making it very easy for me. I did a lot of standing around, nodding, and smiling, which suited me just fine after a long day of work. By the time I was finally able to go home (nearing 8PM) I couldn't imagine my day improving at all, but en route back to my house, I found that all the 1,000 Year Anniversary lights on my street had finally been lit! The lights have been hanging but not turned on for almost 2 months now, so I have been waiting patiently for the night they were finally switched on. Luckily, it was on a night when I needed cheering up the most, so it was a really welcome event in my evening. Hanging lights, lotus lanterns, and lighted dove banners span the street of Dien Bien Phu, crossing my house, and continuing down the street. In addition to the lights, flowers have been placed everywhere, making it currently one of the most beautiful streets in Ha Noi. Obviously this makes me very proud to live here, as I am bombarded with decorations on a daily basis. I think I will go out tonight with my camera to take some pictures so some of you back home can get an idea of just how crazy all these lights are. Ha Noi has really outdone itself decorating for the 1,000 Year party, I've never seen the city so lit up, so clean, or with so many flowers. Every day someting new appears in honor of the celebration, and I know that once it finally hits, the whole city is going to be in chaos. I plan on not taking my motorbike out if I can help it, since traffic is sure to be at a standstill, but I have to work the whole week. This fact leaves me a bit apprehensive about my daily commute, but Son told me that the government is making people from the countryside park their bikes outside Ha Noi and take a bus in, in an effort to curb traffic. Even with this system in place, I still think it's going to be insane, but I guess I will just have to wait to find out.

The Mouse

I had a very interesting run-in with a Vietnamese mouse last night (I say Vietnamese mouse because it has a very long tail and huge ears, it looks a bit more exotic than your typical New Jersey house mouse). After a hard day at work it felt so great to get into my bed, shut out the lights, and doze off. But right before I hit the wave of sleep, I heard this chewing scratching noise. I turned over in my bed, figuring it was my fan making weird noises, and tried to get back to sleep. Two minutes later, I hear a loud "plop!" and then the scratching noise ensued. Given my experiences with mice living in the walls of my bedroom in my first house in Berkeley Heights, this sound was all too familiar to ignore. With the intention of scaring the mouse away I noisily jumped out of bed and flicked on the lights. Sure enough, my bedroom was empty, my door to the living room was closed, and the only sign of life was two little mouse poops sitting directly on top of my bed side table. Obviously this fact was quite unsettling as I realized how close this creature had been to my head. I made a quick investigation of my room, found a couple more "mouse presents", then did all my best to get back into bed to sleep. By this point, I was getting nervous that it was not merely a mouse but a very large and scary Vietnamese rat, so I left my light on. I always close my bedroom door at night, so as I was laying, staring at the door, sure that some huge monster rat was going to walk through on his hind legs, I see this tiny little spot running from one side of my door to the other. I quickly grabbed my glasses to get a better view, and in doing so, scared it away. Relieved that it was such a tiny mouse (rather than a large rat) I relaxed a bit and tried to get back to sleep. Before this could happen, I heard the now familiar "plop!" and the chewing noise again. I slowly turned over, and reached for my glasses to see if I could make out the critter. With glasses on, I was able to see this tiny mouse climbing vertically up my wall, about 5 feet high until it "plop!", hit the ground and started frantically trying to nose its way under my door. It seemed quite focused on the area by the hinge, as it stuck it's head in, twisted it's body 360 degrees, flung its tail in circles, and starting chomping away in an effort to get through. I was quite impressed by the efforts of this tiny thing, and felt myself taking pity on it. Therefore, I got out of bed (but not before it ran into a corner), opened my door a crack, and laid back down to watch its escape. Minutes later, it was back out trying to climb up my wall, unaware that I had allowed it a means of exit. After falling back down yet again with a very unnerving smack, it ran along the door until it found the crack, happily slipping out. After its tail dissapeared, I slammed my door behind it; I was pleased to have the brave little mouse hanging out in my living room rather than with me by my bed, as I was quite content sleeping alone. The rest of the night, I was unbothered by any noises, and went to sleep quite satisfied with freeing the mouse from my bedroom.