First week in Vietnam

Wow! So much happens in a week! We are absolutely loving life here. The food is delicious, we've made some great friends, and there is so much exploring to do! This first week Nikki and I were both in one on one language class for 4 hours each day, followed by field trips or exploring on our own. The teachers are wonderful and I feel like we're learning a lot (though we (I) have a looong way to go). The other folks that work at the consulate are fun, and we've already found friends interested in travel, biking, tennis, rock climbing, a dinner club, billiards, etc. We're making local friends too – the soccer team I'm playing on is mostly local guards, and after practice this week we sat at a streetside vendor practicing our respective Vietnamese/English skills. I had this surreal feeling riding on the back of a scooter under the full moon to the place, then explaining the rules of baseball to my new friends. Plenty of interesting foreigners too – yesterday I met an expat who has been doing biodiesel/alternative fuel work in this part of the world.

This weekend has been super fun. On Saturday, Nikki and I went with the language immersion program to a Cao Dai temple and the Cu Chi tunnels, northwest of town a couple hours. We passed time on the long ride out singing Vietnamese songs and practicing listening while our guide explained the sights (I understood maybe 5%). What we learned is that Cao Dai is this interesting religion founded in 1926 in Vietnam which combines aspects of Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity and counts among its prophets Sun Yat-sen (leader of Chinese revolution), Victor Hugo and Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm (Vietnamese poet/official) (more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cao_dai) The temple was beautiful and we witnessed a very colorful service. I didn't take any pictures of the people themselves, as it didn't seem cultural appropriate, but the white, red, blue, and yellow colors were all very vivid. After a lunch with the class (I ate snake) we headed to the cu chi tunnels, which are a huge (hundreds of kilometers) network of underground tunnels that the Viet Cong used during the war. We followed some for a few hundred meters (they are maybe 4 feet tall, hot, and dark) and got to see how the Vietnamese lived while they fought in the war. They also had a display of all the different traps that the Viet Cong used during the war - they usually involved numerous spikes impaling the body via some king of hinged trap door – yikes.

On Sunday we explored the immediate city a bit more. We checked out the backpacker district, where there are funky stores selling old propaganda posters, interesting t-shirts, and interesting art. We bought guidebooks for Bali, Hong Kong, Singapore, only to get home and discover they were each photocopies of actual books! Live and learn! We also visited a market selling old army gear – helmets, fatigues, compasses, gas masks, dog tags, etc. When we had seen enough, we flagged down a unique form of Vietnamese transportation called a "cyclo" for a ride over to the Chinese part of town called Cholon (big market). A cyclo is pretty much a pedicab where the passenger sits in front of the bike rider. Nikki and I squeezed in one cyclo at first, which was piloted by a man who appeared to be over 100 years old and had only one tooth remaining. Since we've been eating so well (see below) and clearly represented a hefty load together, a second cylco appeared so that each of our voluptuous selves could have our own vehicle.  It was great fun tearing through the city on the front of the cyclos and luckily Saigon's daily torrential downpour didn't start until we reached our destination. We did a bit of shopping and came home in time for me to make it to my soccer game (which we won!).

No update from us would be complete without a description of the food situation. It's fantastic. Nikki and I have been eating out almost every night and this city has every cuisine imaginable. Vietnamese food itself is great – fresh ingredients, delicious soups, lots of veggies, and plenty of seafood – and on top of that it's super cheap. And no one has gotten sick…yet. Some highlights from the week include dinner on a posh rooftop near our apartment overlooking the whole city (restaurant Shri); lunch with our teacher Co Binh at an architect's sustainable-food driven restaurant which integrates old materials, local plants, and animals into the décor (restaurant Cục Gạch); lunch at a French colonial-style café, with delicious soups, salads, and coffee (the Refinery); and a gourmet all you can eat Vietnamese dinner where we had three desserts (restaurant We). We've also sampled local Indian, Italian, and Mexican(?) food (all good, though the Mexican food was a bit strange). Last night I had a different kind of dinner experience when I went with my soccer team to a restaurant owned by one of our sponsors. Sitting in a private room where our beer and chivas glasses (yes, both) never went unfilled, we were brought course after course of awesome food – whole prawns, fish cakes, some kind of baked invertebrate, hot pot, and my fave – durian (which thank goodness tastes waaay better than it smells!).

So life is good so far and we are just getting started. We are already planning trips regionally and within Vietnam. Our air freight is getting here Wednesday, though I think the bulk of our household effects are still a long way off. Our car also won't be arriving for some time, though I think we might buy a scooter in the meantime (we found out our US motorcycle licenses will transfer over – yay!). Looking forward to another action-packed week!

Welcome to Saigon!

We made it! From DC to San Francisco to Maui to Hong Kong and finally to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City. It took many months of preparation and two weeks of travel, but we have finally arrived at our new home in the southern part of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. We've only been here for a little over two days, but Nikki and I think we're going to like it here.

First or all, our apartment is amazing. Three bedrooms, a big kitchen, and a ton of windows. From our living room we can look out over a big park and a busy street with hundreds and hundreds of scooters. There's a pool and a rooftop where we can BBQ too. We are right downtown and there are a ton of really cool restaurants and shops. We've been exploring with the help of our fantastic sponsors – Robert and Kong – who have been making sure our transition goes smoothly. Yesterday (Saturday), they took us on a tour of the city, including Ben Thanh Market, which had everything you can imagine for sale. My favorite part was the seafood section. They had clams, squid, snails, eels, and a million kinds of fish. We've done a little exploring by ourselves too, and are slowly learning to cross the street. Here's the method: you wait until traffic lightens up a bit, and then just start walking slowly and steadily across the street while cars, scooters, and bicycles go around you. The city is an interesting mix of old and new, with both historical buildings and holdovers from the French, as well as new malls and skyscrapers. Looking forward to exploring further!

On Friday, I went with Nikki to the consulate for orientation. Everyone is sooo friendly and welcoming! There's this great sense of community, and people seem to hang out outside of work quite a bit – both locals and Americans. It sounds like the work will be challenging for Nikki at times, but that people are very supportive of one another (her supervisors also have great attitudes). I'm getting to know people too, and by our second day had joined the consulate soccer team. We had our first game yesterday (against the Indonesian consulate) and I didn't embarrass myself too much.

Tomorrow Nikki and I start a language immersion program, so we'll be back to improving our Vietnamese skills. We've got three weeks of that before Nikki starts her formal job. By then, I'm hoping to have a few more leads on environmental opportunities and I've already got some great contacts to follow up on. We will be sure to keep you all updated!

Hong Kong – City of the Future

Wow. Nikki and I had a 24 layover in Hong Kong and it has to be one of the coolest places in the world. There's this breathtaking quality about it – something having to do with the huge green mountains, huge steel buildings, water everywhere, and mix of traditional and modern. Too bad it's ridiculously expensive! Oh well, that's the price of the future I guess!

We got in late in the afternoon and took the nearly silent high speed train in to town for a quick bite and a view of the nighttime skyline from the IFC mall. We were wiped from the 13 hr flight though, so made it an early night and returned the next morning for more sight-seeing. We started with Dim Sum at Luk Yu Teahouse, where we more or less randomly ordered whatever went floating past. Result – total deliciousness, including a weird-looking black gelatinous mass which I discovered to be a yummy tapioca-like concoction. We attempted to burn a few calories walking to our next destination, but found that a huge moving walkway existed that would do the work for us! We took in every kind of interesting shop and restaurant you can imagine as we glided up into the hills behind the city center. After stepping off the meandering walkway and hoofing it (like a sucker) to the peak tram, we shot to the top of the highest mountain around for incredible views of the city, mountains, ocean, and surrounding islands. It kinda reminded me of Rio, but with bigger buildings, no hangliders, and the occasional coal-fired power plant or strip mine on the horizon. We made our way down the hill to the water and took the ferry across to Kowloon, which apparently has every chic store known to man amongst some crazy tall buildings. We had fun people watching and taking in the sights while making our way back to the train and eventually the airport.

We just got a taste of the city, but had a ton on fun. Definitely warrants a return visit – maybe for the Redbull Luftag in a few weeks?

Quick Trip to Maui

It's been a while since Nikki had a vacation, so we arranged for a couple days off in Maui before arriving to start work in Ho Chi Minh City. Man, I looove Maui and it was a very relaxing couple of days! Chuck and Jacqui arranged for us all to spend a night down at the Prince in Makena, and we took full advantage of the location with some beach time, lounging by the pool, and a wonderful dinner and brunch. One of the highlights for me was paddleboarding/kayaking – we saw turtles and dolphins during our two sessions and even Jacqui tried the standup – now I see where Nikki gets her coordination! On the way back up-country, we stopped for drinks/pupus at the country club, but not before Nikki/Jacqui did some shopping in Paia and I hit up Hookipa for a (much warmer than SF) surf session – I'm always amazed at the number of turtles in the water there and am sure I'm breaking some federal environmental protections just paddling around!

 

We took a quick trip to the Big Island to visit with Grams, since we weren't able to make her 90^th b-day party a couple weeks ago. It was a somber time, as her brother was not well and has since moved on, but we were glad to be there for support. It was good to catch up with Reg, Susan, Jonesy, Lisa, Naia, and everyone and we were sorry to miss the rest of the family that was out of town – Nadine and Gary – your house is beautiful!

 

After heading back to Maui on a tiny 9 seat plane, we got to work on final preparations for our departure. This included me getting a Hawaii driver's license after (barely) passing the driving and motorcycle tests. We spent our last day engaged in the entirely unexciting, yet necessary, process of canceling all our various contracts and changing addresses. For those interested – we are keeping our same email addresses and phone numbers (through Vonage). Finally, we packed up all our stuff – four 50 lb bags, 2 backpacks, a huge carryon, and beautiful Kirk Kurokawa original painting from Chuck and Jacqui (anniversary present) and headed to the Kahului airport. So – it's goodbye USA for 2 yrs and hello Vietnam!

Labor Day Weekend in San Francisco

Nikki and I had a few stops planned on our way to Vietnam. The first one was in San Francisco over Labor Day weekend. On the work side, Nikki had a few meetings and I had a conference to attend, but the main priority was catching up with all our friends in the Bay Area. Of course, good food was a key factor as well and we didn't hesitate to hit up Alice Waters' Chez Panisse on Saturday night with our friends Annie and Jason. The food was of course excellent, though I have to say that our friends Ken and Becky Wiseman may have topped Alice's cuisine with their homemade bruchetta and quiche (as well as fantastic CA north coast champagne!) when we joined them for brunch in their exquisite garden the next day – definitely have something to aspire to!

 

By Monday, Nikki had unfortunately developed a pretty nasty cold, but that didn't stop her (us) from taking advantage of a bright and sunny Labor Day morning to scale Mt Tam for one of the coolest views of the Bay Area that I've ever seen. We stopped into the city to try a famous/infamous sandwich shop in the Castro called Ike's (worth the hype) and briefly catch up with Madhu, Bendett, and Amanda in Dolores Park (and set up some Indonesian New Years' plans!). Madhu's new place is pretty sweet!

 

I got to hang out with Mahoney (and of course Jillian and Joceyln) a ton on this trip since his new gym was right by our hotel/SFO. I'm sold – cross-fit is the new sensation – run, lift, and eat like a caveman! We blasted Op Ivy and ran around the gym, BBQ'd, and of course went surfing. Despite the, um, "sub-optimal" conditions which necessitated a ½ mile walk when we got out of the water, we tore up south OB. As you might expect, I actually got two sessions in that day with a nostalgic trip to Linda Mar in the morning with my buddy Eric. I'll be sorry to leave these chilly-shark-infested waters! That evening, Ken organized (at great effort!) a very touching going-away dinner with the MLPA crew – thanks to everyone that came by and the kind words!

 

Of course, one going away party is never enough, so Nikki and I organized a happy hour on our last night where we could catch up with all our Bay Area friends. After Nikki's meetings and my conference (during which I got to see the president of Kiribati speak!), we posted up at a place called Maya for some delicious tacos and drinks – it's going to be a while until we get good Mexican food again! It was a huge success and I'm soooo glad that so many of our friends came out – including many that we haven't seen in a long time. You guys are so great and thanks for giving us a fantastic sendoff!!

Last Weekend In DC

We leave this coming Saturday for Vietnam, so last weekend was our last chance to squeeze in some fun before we take off. Of course we had to do a little packing, so Nikki and I spent the better part of Saturday at our storage facility organizing things that are coming with us (scuba and camp gear, swimsuits, various musical instruments and a ton of shoes) and things that are staying (sweaters, snowboards, Hina's chariot, etc.). Aside from our checked bags, we are allowed to take 450 lbs of air freight and send 7000 lbs via slow boat. I think we're way under that limit, but who really knows what those numbers mean?

After doing as much organizing as possible, we jumped in the car and headed an hour west to go to a restaurant called the Inn and Little Washington. This was by far the fanciest (and most expensive) meal that I have ever participated in, but Nikki and I both thought it was worth it. The service was excellent and the meal felt like a performance. Of course, the food was absolutely delicious with some highlights including: one of the best ceviche dishes we've ever had, "tuna pretending to be fillet mignon," artichoke pasta, and fois gras done two ways.  There were fun little extras too like an interesting amuse bouche before the meal, a watermelon bubble tea in between courses, and a box of treats to take with us. We were also treated to a tour of the kitchen which was remarkably spotless. Very cool! Next week we are eating at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, so we'll be able to compare all these ridiculously fancy meals before heading to the land of cheap food in southeast asia.

We finished our 3 hr meal late (11:30 or so) and had an hour drive to the hotel where we would be meeting the hot air balloon company. Of course, I had neglected to pay attention to little details like how much gas was in the tank, so had to take a detour and get some fuel (we barely made it over the Blue Ridge Mountains and coasted down the other side in neutral all the way to Luray).

We were up at 5:30 the next day for our balloon ride. Wow. One of the coolest things I have ever experienced!! It's an amazing feeling to silently float above houses and treetops, waving to people below. We got lucky and had warm weather and lots of sunshine. We just set up and landed in random fields and we were both impressed with how good the guys were that ran to operation - Richy (from KY) and Duane (from AL). We continued our spectacular Sunday with brunch, a stop of the outlets in Leesburg (Nikki was excited!), and a visit to Sunset Hills winery - we're getting into the Cab Francs and Viogniers that Virginia apparently does well. We enjoyed some "winearitas" along with brie/honey and some Amish cheddar on the back porch while listening to a great old guitarist rock out to a variety of classics.

It was a great way to say goodbye to DC - good food, wine, and a balloon ride in the country. This week we are wrapping everything up and preparing to leave Saturday. It's busy, but we are feeling like things are sort of under control....