Life in the fast lane

Photos: 1&3) Hoi An at night; 2) Me with my "niece" Ginger; 4) The view from our hotel (the Hoi An Pacific); 5) Our group at the beach; 6) Mai, Ginger and me;  7) A round fishing boat; 8) An Bang beach; 9) Our hotel pool; 10-13) our day at the beach with the kids from social support; 14-15) volunteers Brigette with Tam and Kaye with Khan at the beach

The photos below are from my trip two weekends ago to Hoi An, which is about 20 miles away from my house. I went with one of the other university volunteers, Rebecca, who works in New Zealand, has lived in Melbourne and Istanbul and grew up in England. We had a great time and were able to stay in a beautiful hotel for only $30 per night! My friends Mai and Jen arranged a special volunteer discount for us. It's usually $70-80 per night. The breakfast was amazing and so was the pool. We also received 50% off coupons for massages and I got a 90 minute massage for $15. You can't really
beat that! We had a great time visiting friends, including my friend Mai and her new baby Ginger, relaxing at the beach and exploring more of Hoi An. This is definitely my favorite place to spend my weekends!

I am leaving in two weeks and the reality is suddenly hitting me... hard. Vietnam has become my home and now I am leaving. I decided to postpone my last two weeks of volunteer work to either November or January, partially because I don't want to face the idea of not living here again and partially because I want something I can return to if I become too exhausted from constant travel.

Tonight I went out to look for dinner and realized that I'm finally feeling really comfortable here. For a while I was nervous about going to get food without a Vietnamese-speaking person because as an "an chay" (vegetarian), I was worried about conveying that I don't eat meat. Tonight I went out on my own and got a banh mi (Vietnamese sandwich), banh bao (Vietnamese dumpling), an orange and a mango, all from people who didn't speak a word of English, and all for under $1.00. I asked for an an chay banh mi and the woman put two spreads on it then started to wrap it up. I asked her to put some cucumber and herbs on it, but she protested in Vietnamese. I told her I did really want them so she added a little. I got home, added some cucumber and tomato and some chili sauce (my Vietnamese obsession) and bit into it. It turns out my an chay banh mi had peanut butter, sugar and jelly. She was trying to tell me that the vegetables wouldn't work with it. Amazingly, the combination was absolutely delicious (nam qua)! The sweetness of the jam combined with the veggies and chili sauce created a really tasty sandwich.

I've discovered more Vietnamese dishes that I love. Banh bao are amazing. They are steamed rice buns filled with either mung beans (sweet beans), pork and egg or just solid dough. I love taking them apart and giving my meat-eating friends the meat inside and then eating the dough. I have to be careful about the calories, but oh my god they are delicious. Ban kiep, or Vietnamese pancakes are also really tasty. Last night, I had some of my friend's fried aubergine (eggplant), which was seasoned with garlic and spices and pan-fried. I don't usually like eggplant, but this one was perfectly flavored. I think I could eat my way through Vietnam very easily. I love to try the Pho (pronounced fuh-uh), in each city, because they all have a different combination. They all have broth, rice noodles and meat (which I eat around), but some have lots of veggies, some have none, others are spicy and some are more mild in flavor. The regional differences in food can be quite marked.

I decided last week that I'm starting to get burned out from the amount of teaching I'm doing, so for the next two weeks, I'm splitting my time between the orphanage program and the teaching program. Last Wednesday, I took some of the orphan kids to the beach with several other volunteers. We got caught in a torrential rainstorm but it was still a lot of fun. The giggles and smiles of the children were so wonderful. I don't think I've ever seen children so happy from something so simple. They frolicked in the water and jumped off a little pier. On Friday, five other volunteers and I took
three of the disabled kids from "social support" to another beach. One of them has cerebral palsy, one has down syndrome and the third has another mental disability and he never speaks. They were all clearly enjoying the water and the opportunity to be out of their home for a while. I love teaching, but spending time with the orphanage program makes me feel like I'm really contributing to the happiness of other people.



This past weekend, I visited Hue with my friend/fellow volunteer Rebecca. I had traveled there once before, but went in a large group and mostly just did a tour of several tombs and temples and walked around the city a bit. This time we went for the biennial Hue festival. We took the train over and an open tour bus back. The train journey was spectacular, slowly winding along the coast and then through massive numbers of rice paddies. It started raining halfway through and the rain was torrential by the time we arrived. Having never lived in a tropical country, I'm not used to the sudden showers, lightening and thunder. They are pretty spectacular.

In Hue, we visited the Citadel and toured several exhibitions, watched some performances and an Ao Dai (traditional Vietnamese dress) fashion show. It was the perfect time to go because it was much cooler from 5-10, then during the day. On Saturday it was scorching hot, so after walking around the city in the morning, we went to a nearby hotel to use their swimming pool for a few hours. We saved money by staying in a hotel without a pool ($15 per night) and then paid a few dollars to use another hotel's swimming pool when we needed it. The nice hotels are wonderful, but they frequently cost 2-3 times more and if you're not using the amenities, then why bother? The previous weekend $30/night splurge was really nice.

Photos from Hue.
1) The train journey from DaNang to Hue is spectacular.
2) On the train journey you can buy just about anything, including your lunch of Pho (noodle soup) or rice!
3) The sunset from our room on Friday night (and no there isn't a fire)
4) The Hue Citadel at night
5) My own pet Gargoyle. 
6) One of the Citadel temples, decorated for the festival
7) The Hue fisherman's lifestyle
8) An exhibit with etchings from famous monuments in Vietnam
9) A beautiful tea house with lotus pond
10 & 12) A Vietnamese fashion show
11) Another beautiful sunset!