This week is my last week in HCMC and the going away meals have already begun. Yesterday I went out with a few of my colleagues to have “Bun Ca Ro” for the first time. This north Vietnamese dish consists of noodle, fish broth, fish balls and vegetables. It is incredibly tasty and a good vegetarian alternative to Pho.

Tonight I saw my friend Atsushi (Zeus) for the first time in 6 years. Zeus and I have known each other since San Francisco days, 10 years ago when we both worked together at a little shop in Sausalito. Back then, we used to talk about all the fun places around the world we’d like to live in or visit one day. In the last few years, we both managed to move around a lot and had no idea that the other person had switched continents. A few months ago, Kevin and I discovered that Zeus had moved out to Vietnam of all places and knows a lot of our friends there (here). Turns out he had relocated to HCMC a year ago and started his own business. It was great to reconnect and catch up on the last few years. It’s a small small world!

I just returned from a fabulous weekend in Singapore. I enjoyed every little street, dish, neighborhood, park, drink and mall (yes, I admit it).

I arrived late in the evening and went straight to my hostel “Hangout @Mt. Emily” which was perfect. The hostel is located in Little India at a top of a hill, right by a beautiful park. It has a great vibe and a gorgeous rooftop deck with beautiful view of the city. It has been a long time since I last stayed at a youth hostel but I was glad to see nothing has changed, not even the browser version on the public computers.
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Rau Ma Drink

Tonight, after a long day at work, I went with Philipp to a local Vietnamese restaurant to try some new food. We started with a cold drink called “Rau Ma” which doesn’t look very appetizing but is very good. Rau Ma is made of ground Pennywort with ice and sugar (lots of sugar).

Bot Chien

This great drink goes really well with “Bot Chien”. Originally a Chinese dish, Bot Chien is made of rice flour cubes with fried eggs and vegetables. This may not have been the best choice for dietary reasons but it was oh so yummy!

I think the Vietnamese equivalent of shaking your hand is the “ritual of 4 questions” (not to be confused with the Jewish 4 questions of Passover). Whenever I meet new people, be it random people on the street or curious co-workers at the office, the conversation starts with the obligatory four questions:

1. How old are you?
2. Are you married? (sometimes replaced with simply pointing to the ring finger and raising the eyebrows)
3. Do you have children?
4. Why not?
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Floating Market, Can Tho

This is my third visit to Vietnam, I have seen many of the wonderful sights all along the country but have never visited the Mekong Delta before. I have always wanted to go and see the southwest of Vietnam where the Mekong river ends its long journey from China through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia.

This past weekend I went to visit my friend Thi Bay in Can Tho, the largest city in the Mekong Delta. After a 5hr bus ride from HCMC through rice fields, villages and towns, I was finally at the campus where Thi Bay lives. Six months ago, Thi Bay left NY for a teaching position at Can Tho University and a chance to reconnect with her Vietnamese roots (her grandfather was Vietnamese, a fact she has to repeat 5 times a day on average). In a short time, Thi Bay has become somewhat of a local star in a city that has very few foreigners. From students walking by to the Xe Om drivers outside the gate, everybody knows her and wants to have a little chat.
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photo credit: rooymans2000

I couldn’t make up my mind whether I wanted to spend a weekend in Singapore or Hong Kong. I posted a question on my Facebook profile and almost everyone said I should go to Hong Kong. One friend, however, brought up the very good point of the weather being much nicer in Singapore (you don’t need to say “cold” twice to an Israeli girl to scare her off) and when you lump that with how much cheaper it would be – a decision was made – I am going to Singapore!

I feel that another good reason to go to Singapore is to learn for myself what this place is all about. If I hear one more person (who has never traveled there) tell me: “oh, Singapore, yes, you know you can’t spit on the sidewalk there and a few years ago some guy went to jail for chewing gum”, I will scream. How can that be the only thing we know about a country?? Here’s a slightly more interesting fact, the symbol of Singapore is the “Merlion”, half-fish and half-lion beast.

The food is said to be spectacular and I am very much looking forward to it.

Anyway, I booked my ticket and am going next weekend!

New Year's Celebration in Saigon

In preparing for work in Asia this winter, I knew there would be a lot of challenges. But truthfully, there was one thing that scared me the most about coming out to Vietnam. It wasn’t the fear of working in a foreign country or missing the comforts of home. It wasn’t the risk of getting sick or the difficulty of being away from Kevin and Cuggits. The biggest fear of all was…

KARAOKE

Standing in front of a group of people and singing is pretty much the sum of all fears for me. It took a substantial amount of alcohol last time I did it (which also happens to be the only time I ever did) and I swore to never do it again. I blame it on 10 years spent at the conservatory of music where we had to practice solfège weekly and sing while conducting. It was not fun.

That’s why when my company sent out an email yesterday saying we are all going to celebrate New Year’s in a Karaoke bar, I almost had a heart attack. Singing is a very big part of Asian culture and Vietnam is no exception. EVERYBODY loves Karaoke and feels very comfortable participating. We will be welcoming the new year tonight at a Karaoke venue where I will be downing lots of drinks in order to get up and join the celebration.

If this is any indication of what’s to come in 2009 then it is bound to be a very happy (musical) year.

Happy New Year!

More Than Just A Diagnosis

Philipp, a co-worker at MSS, had a motorcycle accident yesterday. This is quite common in Vietnam and is not really a big deal. This time, however, Philipp got pretty scratched up and decided to go to a hospital. Considering he wasn’t wearing a helmet during the time of accident, he was very lucky to only have a few scratches here and there. This morning he showed up in the office (after driving his motorcycle to work of course) bruised yet cheerful and we were talking about his accident. He showed me the doctor’s note he received at the hospital and it was just so funny I had to take a photo. Take a look at the last item under treatment!

My Friend Trang at Dinner

I met my friend, Trang, for dinner at one of the Banh Trang restaurants in the city. At a Banh Trang restaurant you order meat or fish and get a huge basket full of herbs (some are quite exotic), cucumber slices, bean sprouts, dry rice flour crepes, pickled carrots/shallots and fish sauce of course. The fun part is assembling your meal: you take a little of each ingredient using chopsticks, place it on the rice paper and transform it into a nice roll. Some do it a little more gracefully than others (mine kinda looked like a Vietnamese Burrito) but either way, it is super yummy.

A Vietnamese Wedding

I got up early this morning in order to squeeze in a few more hours by the pool. I took a morning walk and happened to stumble upon a real Vietnamese wedding. All women were wearing the traditional Vietnamese outfit, the Ao Yai and looked so elegant walking in the procession. Mui Ne is definitely the perfect place for a wedding.

Cafe Joe, Mui Ne

I got breakfast at the lovely “Cafe Joe” which I discovered yesterday. While enjoying my food, I got to meet a new member of the staff at “Joe” – a cute little kitty, a red and white tabby! Peter, the chef at the cafe, told me that she arrived last night and decided to adopt them as her new family. She is a very friendly little kitty with a short tail. The two of us enjoyed my breakfast a great deal!

Making Friends in Mui Ne

I took the bus back to HCMC and am getting ready for another week of work before going off to Mekong Delta.

Tien Dat Resort

I am in heaven, also known as Mui Ne beach. I arrived in Phan Thiet very late Wednesday night after a 4.5 hr bus ride from HCMC. Phan Thiet is located north east of HCMC, by the South China sea. It is a very popular beach retreat with Vietnamese and expats alike.

As soon as the bus pulled into Mui Ne, I noticed large fields of dragonfruit trees everywhere. The trees look like a psychedelic cactus and when it’s lit at night, it’s even more magical.

I wake up every morning in my beautiful sea view room at Tien Dat resort to the sound of the waves. My daily routine includes, tanning by the pool, tanning at the beach, lunching with friends at “Sailing Club”, exploring Mui Ne by foot and reading on my porch. It’s definitely exhausting.

All the resorts are located on one stretch lined with coconut trees and excellent seafood BBQ restaurants. In between the resorts, you can sometimes spot a couple of cows or a duck.

This is all so relaxing, I have completely lost sense of time. I think I am going to make this a Christmas tradition.

Merry Christmas!