take the long way home

My last week in Vietnam has been truly amazing. My meeting with the Forest Protection people in Quang Tri went very well (thanks to the help of a translator), and it seems that the researchers there were interested in a foreign social scientist like me coming and working on the corridor project. The provincial government in Quang Tri is fairly open to conservation programs, and I found out when I returned to Hanoi that the McArthur foundation helped to finance another project in that area. Seems like things are moving in a positive direction!

Back in Hanoi, I finally visited Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum! The most amazing part of the whole experience, besides the amazing 40 degree C heat, was the number of Vietnamese people waiting in line. Sure it was a Saturday, but we had to wait in a line (which was moving at a pretty consistant stroll) for over an hour. Besides the handfulls of tourists, there were thousands upon thousands of Vietnamese there to pay their respects. Nothing like that exists for George Washington! That night I went to one last dinner at Ngat's house, helping to cook and frightening a small child with my foreign-ness.

This week there was a threat of a typhoon coming to Halong Bay and Hanoi, but maybe it went to the Philippines instead...I don't know! My three-day trip to Halong Bay was amazing. Tons of sun, kayaking, and reading made for a perfect end to my crazy stay in Vietnam this summer.

I may have come to Vietnam by myself, but I was rarely alone. The people here are so welcoming and friendly. Since I spent so much time in Hanoi, I've become somewhat of a regular at various places in the city. In addition to my good friends like Ngat and Da, Hanoi is full of acquaintances. My morning run always includes waving and 'good morning's and smiles at familiar faces, the cleaning lady at my guesthouse has hugged me goodbye a few times already, and workers at various cafes have wished me good luck. I hope I can return next summer to see my frieds, meet new ones, and kick my Vietnamese language skills into second gear.

Tomorrow I'm off accorss the Pacific again. And I can't wait to rock Yosemite.

Food Storm!

What can I say about life in Hué? For one thing, I bought and read Alice in Wonderland while I've been here, so I'll try not to make that influence my blog writing too much. Hue is a wonderland in its own right - of cultural heritage and excellent food...like Asian Rome (motorbikes included)! At some point along the way, a king here had very particular culinary tastes, so we can all thank him for Hue's specialities: fried Bread filled with creamy egg and tofu, fresh springrolls with plenty of mint, and banana leaves filled with what I can only describe as a shrimp tamale - to name just a few.

When I was cycling around the citadel a few days ago I met a family (they were all on a motorbike). So, next thing I know I'm having dinner with the whole family, including gramma and grampa, and headed to the beach the following day. The beach was amazing, and the people we met there were hilarious, friendly, and very giving with their seafood picnic. After our swim break we all took turns singing. What a fun fourth of July!

Tomorrow I'm heading to Quang Tri for the day to meet someone from the Forest Protection department. He works at the field office for the BCI project, so hopefully I'll get all sorts of good info about conservation in Vietnam (or the lack there of). Meanwhile, I'll keep eating!

Road Ugly

For y'all that don't know, the Car Talk guys had a caller one time that discussed the phenomonon of "road ugliness". It occurs to women when they are travelling in a car (or bus) for four or more hours. Let me tell you this: taking an overnight bus will made me road ugly (see photo). Smelly? Check. Mossy mouth? Check. Shiny face? Check. Frizzy hair? Check. Hilarious experience? Absolutely! Since I was taking this overnight bus in the practical, and opportunistic country of Vietnam, the bus driver sold the spaces on the floor as well as all the sleeper compartments. Therefore, if one has to use the squat-toilet bathroom in the middle of the night...one must monkey around the sleeping bodies, shoes in one hand, toilet paper in the other hand, plastic bag in the pocket, and headlamp on the head. I think I deserve a glory point for not waking anyone up or falling over in the bathroom! Once dawn lighted some of the scenery out our windows, we all had awonderful view of the bright green rice paddies, meandering rivers, and distant moutnains. Its nice to be out of the big city!

I've taken several lengthy showers and now am spending the week in the ancient city of Hue. The biking here easy, flat and cheap. Just $1/day to rent...but quite sweaty!

"In America, dogs are your friends"

Chào quý vị,

Tôi nói và viết tiếng Việt...một chút thôi. Tôi đã đến Việt Nam khoảng một tháng rồi!

Well, I have only one more Vietnamese class left and less than one week to go before I head out to the city of Hue in Central Vietnam. I will still spend a week in Hanoi before I head back to the United States, so its not goodbye yet! It has been wonderful getting to know people and places in this city. Last night I went to the English class for the last time (no singing since this was a writing lesson), and some of the students and I planned a trip to Uncle Ho's mausoleum over a few glasses of cane juice. The mausoleum complex of Ho Chi Minh (which includes the grave, a museum, and his traditional-style stilt house) is probably the most important site in Hanoi for Vietnamese people. We'll hopefully go early next week!

I also spent a little time trying to explain why I have a pet cat, but that was a conversation on slippery ground since dogs and cats are seen as food here. Will I try thịt cho (dog)? Probably not...I hope that doesn't make me a bad anthropologist! I'll go for the crickets anyday.

I decided to go super luxurious-style and take the sleeper bus (rather than the sitting bus) for the 13 hour overnight trip to Hue. The seats acutally lay out flat like the first class seats on an international flight! (woah.) I'm sure the extra seven bucks will pay off in the end.

This past week has been foreigner-arama week. I've met so many other travellers with varied and interesting stories. There are expats living here for many years, solo tourists, teachers, exchange students, business people...it goes on and on. Of cours, there are the incredibly embarassing tourists out there too! How could grown men be totally wasted, angry, and yelling in the middle of the day in downtown Hanoi? Luckily those-types are relatively few and far between. Amazingly, I met some others of my own kind today: American PhD students. One was even from Emory! They were actually the first and only Americans that I have run into (besides Rich and Bert of course). It was pretty refreshing to meet people who know where I'm coming from.

some things I've noticed

Between traveler's sickness, bia hoi outings, and city wandering, its been a busy week! Last Monday night I went to Ngat's English class again. At one point during the class, I found myself being convinced by all fourty students and the teacher to lead the class in their weekly song - "Sealed with a Kiss" this week. Since that somewhat embarrassing moment, I've realized that there is a lot more random singing around here than in the United States. Sing when you take out the garbage, sing when you sweep the floor, sing in general, random, public places!


My Vietnamese teacher claims that there is a law prohibiting horn honking between 10pm and 5am. I register no difference when 10pm rolls around. But, I guess all that singing helps to balance out the motorbike horns.


Also, I've learned that it is never too early (in a social acceptance kind of way) to drink beer or eat ice cream. Since it's 1000 degrees by 6am, I'll take ice cream at all hours! In the past few days, whenever I've ordered things like food, beer, or ice cream, people have started understanding me (without laughing or correcting too much). In fact, I've even had some two or three sentence-long conversations. Those Vietnamese lessons must be doing something!

brain to mouth coordination

Let me begin by saying that Vietnamese is a challenging language to say the least. I had my first lesson yesterday, a good hour and a half one-on-one, and I barely got through the six tones and the alphabet. To my credit however, there are three different types of "a's", three "o's" and two "u's" to deal with. Luckily, my teacher is patient and good natured, and I have a very easy time laughing at myself! What have I gotten myself into anyway?

This week was filled with getting my feet on the ground in Hanoi, setting up language lessons, and meeting with people about my dissertation research. So, after all that, I was very happy to spend the day today taking in some of the sites of this wonderful city. In the morning I went with some of my Vietnamese friends to the museum of ethnology. This museum celebrates Vietnam's incredible ethnic diveristy - 54 distinct ethnic groups. After the museum, they took me to a delicious traditional Vietnamese lunch where I impressed them all with my super amazing chopstick skills (insert here my sarcasm and their ever-present alarm at my being left-handed).

Now listen up you pottery-loving craftoids! After lunch my friend Da took me to Bat Trang, ceramic village. This place is seriously FILLED with ceramics of all kinds. Just 10km outside of Hanoi, this village was founded in the same year as the thriving capital (1o10 AD). Pottery studios have been here forever and they now export their goods all over the world, though mostly to France. It was awesome. Also, I got the chance to make a (crappy) pot on a wheel for the first time!

Travelling alone has been awkward and awesome and always interesting. Hanoi is filled with people who are interested in what that lonely foreign girl is up to. Some want me to buy something, some want a chance to practice their english, and some, like my friends from the university, are genuinely interested in helping out a stranger in their city while making a friend along the way.

Somehow it was hotter today than yesterday. So, since the AC in my room started working last night, I might make it out alive after all!

the bus "stops" here

Well, I've been in Hanoi for about a 5 days, and things are starting to come together! I'm staying at a nice guesthouse where I think I'll park myself for the whole month of June. I'm rocking Vietnam solo this time, but I think it'll be just fine.

For those who are just basically wondering what I am up to, here is the general plan for my time in Vietnam:
I plan to be in Hanoi for the month of June, taking Vietnamese classes and getting the feel of living in Vietnam.
Also, I will be meeting with people at the Center for Natural Resources and Environmental Studies (CRES) at the National University here in Hanoi. Some of the reserchers at CRES are working on the Biodiversity Conservation Corridors Initiative (BCI). I am hoping to study landscape history in the corridor when I come back to do my dissertation fieldwork in a few years.
In July, until I leave on the 17th, I will visit the BCI pilot site ouside of Hue.


When I got here last Saturday, feeling completly steamrolled of course, I immediately got to work wandering around and eating lots of food. And now, 5 nights, three guesthouses, and countless Bahn Bao later, I've found my neighborhood of choice and a few friends.

One of the people who works at my guesthouse is a student and the National University. Her name is Ngat, and we've definitely hit it off. I went with her to one of he english classes a few days ago and met some of her classmates. They were all so welcoming! The teacher had me sit in the front of the class and answer their various questions for the first half hour ('where are you from, why are you in Vietnam, do you have a boyfriend'...et cetera)...then I helped them with pronunciation of various animals for the rest of class. It was awesome! Some of us are going to go together to the museum of Ethnology this Saturday!

Hanoi is amazing. Everytyhing is vibrant and intense. For example, public buses almost never stop. People literally have to run and jump onto a moving vehicle! I have done this...it is crazy. But all the craziness seems to be in the packaging. Conversations and the walking pace of the city has made me slow down and look around with greater care. Its actually quite meditative.

Today I'll be heading over to CRES to meet with some of the reserchers there and hopfully learning more about the BCI! Also, I'm planning to stat my language classes tomorrow...hopfully that all works out.

Wow, that is enough for one posting.
-Annie