Virtual-Doug

The Countryside

The cities of Việt Nam are booming – coming apart at the seams – but 70% of the population stills lives in rural areas.  This is a different Việt Nam than seen in the cities.  The nation is long past the time when people lived in deep poverty and were starving.  Today, most countryside folk live in concrete houses, have a motorbike and television set, and send their kids to school.  Nonetheless, the farmer’s life is a hard one.

To describe the Vietnamese countryside would fill a couple of encyclopedias.  I just want to give the Gentle Reader a small glimpse of it – nothing more.  This is the countryside of flat rice fields and rivers.  I’ll save the mountain areas for another day.

To no one’s surprise, rice is the staple food.  It is approaching harvest time in central Việt Nam, an area that normally has two harvests a year.  In another few weeks, the grains of rice will be golden and the stalks bent with the weight of new rice.

Wet rice agriculture is labor intensive and requires large amounts of water.   In order to move the water from the river to the fields, gasoline powered pumps move it around a system of irrigation ditches and canals.

Here and there in the fields are grave sites, most of them for entire families.  These are Christian (Catholic) tombs, but most are Buddhist.  Notice that the earth has been built up so the bodies are buried above the water line.

The cultivated flat lands are laced with small rivers and streams.  Of course, there are a lot of boats, but there are a lot of bridges too.  In the past, such rural bridges were made of bamboo (sometimes called monkey bridges), but those are all but gone now.  This bridge is due to be replaced soon by a newer one that will be better able to withstand flooding.

Small villages dot the countryside.  There are homes to fishermen and farmers as well as some small shops.  These two ladies show off a new grandson as if he were a trophy.  Traditional Vietnamese families include all the generations.  It is common for four generations to live in one house.  Just as the grandmothers care for the young children, the children will care for the grandparents in their old age.  Besides the small “corner store” where people can buy some soap or piece of pork, craftsmen often have small shops in the villages.  This gentleman builds front doors for new homes.  He has some power tools such as a table saw and power drill, but much of the tongue and groove construction is done by hand.

The area in and around Hûe has a higher proportion of Catholics than in the rest of the country.  Hûe had its first Vietnamese Catholic congregation in the late 1600s, and today about 10% of the population is considered Catholic.  Small churches like this one stand at the edge of many villages.

A river is always close by.  An older man, probably too old to work in the fields, squats on the river’s edge and watches over a flock of flightless ducks.  Close by is his son, and they are duck farmers.  After the rice is harvested, these two will herd their ducks into the rice farmer’s field where the ducks will prepare the fields for the next crop by eating any remaining kernels of rice and depositing some fertilizer as they do so.  The ducks are fattened in this way, then taken to market and sold.

If there is such a thing as “the real Việt Nam”, this is it.  You won’t find it by looking through the windows of a tour bus, but is a place worth seeking.

Bucket Ruffles (by The Mystery Guest Blogger)

(She has been absent from this blog for too long, but The MGB posts the following story for your enjoyment.)

There were rumors of it in November when we were here, and now it is official.  You must wear a helmet when riding a motorbike in Viet Nam.  Nearly everyone in Hûe is complying; we were surprised.  Known as ‘rice cookers,’ helmets in this heat are really uncomfortable, and not at all stylish.

Men’s ‘brain buckets’ vary from soldier camouflage to construction worker.  Yawn….  Our friend and Doug’s photography bud, Phan Cu, sports advertising on his, but it’s the same old helmet.

Chic Vietnamese women have given this ‘necessary evil’ their own stylish twist by adding a brim, or as  we have been calling it, a ‘bucket ruffle.’  A random, three minute survey the other night over ca phe sin to’s indicated 5 out of every 30 Hûe women prefer a bucket ruffle to a plain helmet.

Purchased separately from the helmet and in a coordinating color, these have caused a public flurry, including questions concerning adequate peripheral vision. 

Doug is concerned about the style which provides cloth in the hole of the ruffle which covers the entire  helmet dome.  Despite the wide, black rubber chin strap, he feels this style will lead the police to believe the disguised helmet is an ordinary hat, and   girls will be pulled over right and left.  Yeah, like cops detaining pretty girls for no reason ever happens! 

But I’m all for fashion and function, and I definitely think these lovely accessories civilize motoring in  Vi?t Nam.  What do you think??

Kids are Kids

The little preschool is on a dirt road, set in a field of rice near the Perfume River.  This is rural Vi?t Nam – out where almost everyone is a farmer.  Preschools are not run by the Ministry of Education and Training – they are run by the villagers who get together (with some help from the provincial government) to provide the same kind of experience as kindergarten.  There is a small kitchen for preparing a light meal for the kids, but there is only one classroom.

(Be sure to put your mouse over the photos and click – you’ll see a full sized picture that way.)

She is not a regular teacher trained at a su pham (teacher’s college), but rather a local lady who likes kids and has some background in early childhood pedagogy.  Her job is to bring some social skills to the kids and introduce them to the basic stuff like colors and the alphabet.  Gentle Readers may notice the poster behind the students and see there are three different triplets of Os and As and other vowels.  The Vietnamese alphabet is similar to ours in that it uses Roman characters, but many vowels have special markings on them which change the pronunciation of the letter.

As soon as the big westerner and his camera showed up, total chaos reigned.  The kids went wild trying to show off for the camera – in spite of my desires to get some shots of them in the classroom.  Nor did the teacher seem inclined to channel the madness, though she did put them into a nice class pose – the kind of shot I did not want.

I had to learn how to be sneaky in order to get the shots I wanted.  I noticed these three girls sharing a bag of snacks, but each time I aimed the lens at them, the pack quickly surrounded the three and I got nothing but multiple faces mugging for the camera and putting fingers on the lens.  Therefore, I devised a miss-direction play.  I pretended to be setting up a shot in one place, but really had my eye on the girls.  When I saw a good shot, I quickly swung around to get them – and the pack couldn’t respond quickly enough.

Gap-toothed smiles were everywhere.  The tooth fairy must have been very busy in this village recently.

But I also acquired a new photography assistant.  I had set my belt pack down so it would be easier for me to get up off the floor, but a few minutes later I noticed a very young lady slinging my  lenses and other do-dads over her shoulder.

She was cute, but not a very good assistant – she disappeared when the time came to clean the fingerprints and dust off the camera and lenses.

(I was on assignment when I took these photos for MEDRIX, a very fine non-profit organization based in Seattle.  One of their major projects is to provide safe water to rural clinics and schools.  MEDRIX has developed a very effective and inexpensive unit that kills bacteria in the water, is easy to maintain, and can be manufactured locally.  If you would like to help MEDRIX, visit their web site and make a contribution.)

Night Scenes of Hue, Part II

(You might want to read Part I first if you haven’t done so already.)

On a nearby residential street, a young girl – too young to ride a motorbike – glides homeward on her bicycle, mobile phone in hand while she texts a friend.  I wonder if she is texting the bored clerk at the fruit stand. When the girl is old enough her skills will carry over to texting on a motorbike.  Even in the chaotic traffic of Việt Nam, it is common to see people texting while riding their motorbike and chatting with a friend perched on the back.  Mobile phones are the norm here.  The service is excellent and much cheaper than in the U.S. 

Though texting is very popular, even between adults, there are still times when talk is necessary.  One day in the near future, the young bicyclist will be a mother like this one – talking on the mobile phone while bringing Junior home from an activity.  If car-borne cell phone chatterers bug you in America, think of what traffic is like in Việt Nam with only two wheels under the talker.  By the way – the wearing of helmets is now mandatory for motorbikers, but the law does not apply to kids yet as there is some concern that improperly fitting children’s helmets could cause more harm than good.

I wonder if this man got a call from his wife while he was on the way home from work –   the “On-the-way-home-get-a-quart-of-milk-and-a-loaf-of-bread” kind of call.  He seemed to know what he was doing as he was quite fussy and spent some time selecting exactly what he wanted.

Across the street, a young lady realizes she needs some cash and makes a quick stop at the ATM. When my wife and I arrived in Hûe in 2005, there was not an ATM in sight. Now these two-ton tellers are everywhere.

At many major intersections there are two bicycle tires tied together and set up as an informal sign telling the passers-by that bicycle repairs are available.  Want a tire inflated?  That will cost you 500 Vietnamese dong – about 3 cents.  The fixit man will have a few simple tools with him – some adjustable wrenches to tighten a nut, a couple of screw drivers, and a pan of water to help him find the leak in the inner tube.  As you can imagine, this is a hard way to make a living.

Finally, the night quiets down – at least in my part of town.  There are fewer motorbikes, the store signs switch off, and the beer drinkers have gone home to their domestic doom.  The street cleaner has finished her route and heads back to the pickup point with her cart of trash.

Good night, Hûe.

Night Scene of Hûe, Part I

The sun sets at 6:30 or so and it’s dark by 7 PM.  That gives me time to dawdle over a bowl of phỏ – the wonderful Vietnamese beef noodle soup.  (Say “phuh.”  That’s close enough for the locals to understand what you want.)  I am totally convinced phỏ will be on the tables of heaven.  One girl quickly dips some fresh bean sprouts in boiling water while another watches the rich broth poured into a bowl she will soon set in front of me.  Properly nourished, I’m ready to walk.

(Be sure to click on the pictures – you’ll see a larger version.)

I love to wander the streets of Hûe at night.  The people are outside because air conditioning has yet to keep everyone inside as happens in America.  Internet cafés are everywhere (the cost of buying their own computer is still too high for most people) and the cafés are not air conditioned.  Some “specialize” in games, and are full of noisy boys like this one.  Others have computers outfitted with web cams and all the IM services.  All of them are packed in the early evening – and the Internet often slows to a crawl.

It’s more than just safe to walk around at night – it is friendly.  People may wonder why you are taking pictures of their ordinary activities, but they consistently smile and wave.  If I were a drinking man, I wouldn’t have had to buy my own beer the entire night.  An evening meal with one’s buddies, washed down with some of the local brew while watching the world go by is a common sight on the streets.  These guys really wanted me to sit down with them, but laughed in male understanding when I told them my wife was waiting for me.

A nearby market area still had some businesses open.  Professional women who work in the daytime are  regular customers of this salon.  Get a shampoo and a cut in the evening and be ready for the office the next morning.  Again, the shop is not air conditioned, but on this night, there was a nice cool breeze coming in through the sliding glass front door.

The fruit stand next door was not busy.  In fact, the bored clerk had little else to do but text message her friends while she waited for closing time.  In the morning, the store will be teeming with women doing their daily shopping, but all is quiet for now.

To be continued.

Early Risers

The Vietnamese get up early in the morning.  An American friend once asked one of her Vietnamese students to join her for a morning run.  In making the arrangements, the student said she would come by the American’s apartment at 6:30 - - then quickly blurted “Oh my goodness!  Is that too late?”

And the Vietnamese like to spend their morning hours in different ways.  For the people of Hue (say whey), the central Viet Nam city where we are now, and where we used to lived and teach, the banks of beautiful Perfume River provide a peaceful place for the old folks to limber up with Tai Chi exercises.

(As always, be sure to click on the photos to see a full-sized image.)

The wearing of shorts is new to this conservative city – especially by older people.  When we first arrived in 2005, shorts were seen on only foreign tourists and the rare young rebel.  Most older people still prefer more traditional garb.  These two friends mix the two together well, but they are more concerned with the morning’s conversation than fashion.  And no – those are not really pajamas – they just look like pajamas to our western eyes.

Here is a man I understand – I am a morning newspaper kind of guy too, but he has his cup of morning coffee and reads his newspaper alongside the river.  The sidewalk café is far enough away from the noisy traffic on the bridge behind him to keep it peaceful.  Viet Nam has a very high literacy rate – in fact, it is higher than America’s – and the readers have a wide selection of newspapers to choose from.  Of course all of them are published by the government, but some are developing a reputation for independence.

On this morning’s stroll to the river, I went through a small park and saw something I had never seen before – someone sleeping on a park bench.  I lived here long enough to know there are people who live  on the streets (especially kids), but I had never seen a park used this way before.  I think the older gentleman was embarrassed for his country to see the big foreigner with the huge black camera and white lens sitting on a bench nearby, obviously taking pictures of the sleeper, so he sidled over and tried to nudge the lump awake, but with little success.  As I passed through the park on the way back from the river, the lump was a wake and looked very disheveled.  I hope this is not a harbinger of things to come.  I don’t know if the sleeper was a drug addict, and I know drugs are not yet a major problem in Viet Nam – but I would hate to see drugs in Hue.

Finally, there is the poor schmuck who has to get up early and doesn’t have the luxury of a stroll with friends, or a cup of coffee, or morning Tai Chi.  This is the guy who must deliver the morning’s good to restaurants and stores.  A xich lo (say sick low) driver makes about a dollar a day.  Life is hard – and mornings start very early indeed for him because he had to pedal his machine somewhere to pick up this load of coconuts, melons, and vegetables, deliver it, and then spend the rest of the day hoping to pick up a free-spending foreign tourist.

One thing I could count on as I roamed the city early in the morning was that I would not see a foreigner wearing a t-shirt with “Good Morning, Vietnam” emblazoned on the front.  The foreigners were all still in bed.

The Mysterious Orient

We’re in Ha Noi, staying with some teacher friends we used to work with.  I thought I’d give some insight into this mysterious Asian metropolis.

Ah – the exotic foods of Viet Nam.  We love to return here and taste the marvelous cuisine of the area.  As an example, the Pepperoni Lover’s large pizza at Pizza hut we had the other night was great – as was the large Supreme we ordered to make sure we had enough to eat.

Of course, the lunch we had at Pappa Joe’s was also excellent.  They had a special of 30% off if you ordered a pasta dish and a panini, so we ordered that along with a Coke.  (Yeah – we could have ordered a Diet Coke, but we thought we would splurge as long as we were in this Asian paradise.)

We keep passing by KFC restaurants too.  They are the real thing, not some rip-off.  No McDonald’s yet, but I’ve heard that it’s a legal matter about using local suppliers rather than shipping in the beef.

You know the old battle between Ford and Chevy pickup trucks?  The easy winner here is Ford – you see many more of them than Chevy.  Maybe its because of the assembly plant is located here in Viet Nam.

But, you’ll have to excuse me for now.  I have some reports to write, then I’ll send them out via the wireless network in the house that is connected to a DSL broadband Internet connection.

I think we’re having dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant tonight.  Do you suppose they will think it funny if I use chop sticks to eat my spaghetti?

On the Way to Việt Nam

As you read this, we are on the way back to our second home in Việt Nam.  We’ll spend a few days in Hà Nội seeing American friends, then on to Huê to see our many friends – Vietnamese and American alike.  We’ll be there for over three weeks.  The Mystery Guest Blogger will be teaching a course in English Medical Terminology to the physicians at the Huê hospital, and I will be doing photography for the safe water projects out in the villages.  Both of these endeavors will be under the auspices of MEDRIX,  the wonderful Seattle-based group we have worked with since we lived in Huê.  We’ll spend the last two days in Sài Gòn with Trang, then back home on the day our visa expries.

Yes – of course I’ll post stories and photos!  See you on the other side of the world.