Our Country Manager invited the Habitat crew to her place for Christmas celebrations and Mexican food; tacos and burritos.  Everyone enjoyed the food as for most of them it was the first time they had tried Mexican food so there were some lessons on how to make the food.  Because we all ride scooters, we drove in a pack and arrived (10 of us) at the security gate for the apartment building.  It reminded me of a group of BMX Bandits.

After the food and cocktails, we then had some speeches and one of my colleagues had spent time in Russia in the 70’s so he sang a love song in Russian.  We then had about 30 minutes of photos and laughs.

I joined a Sunday mountain bike group for a ride in Ho Chi Minh City, there were 10 of us from 6 different countries.  We had a short 30min ride on the highway and then we arrived at the park.  It was a 8km single track loop with sharp up and down hills.  Some of the track was quite over grown with weeds so it was difficult to see the ruts and rocks.  We had lots of laughs getting stuck and being bumped around.  My bike was a hard tail and I also discovered the suspension at the front was locked out so it was a very bumpy ride.

At one point I had to get off and push my bike up a small hill.  As I did this my back wheel fell off!! The nut from my skewer had fallen off, so I was stuck in the bush about 20km from where we started.  One of the riders got his driver (yes, very common here) to get the part from the bike shop and drive out to meet us.  Our leader then gave me his bike to ride and he got the nut from the front and put it on the back and then rode very gingerly to the café.  I got my bike fixed and we rode home, however one of the guys got a flat so he had to get a ride home.

We rode about 40 km and I think the highway riding is more dangerous than the actual park riding except when your wheel falls off!

I had my first Xmas party of the year.  My Vietnamese language teacher hosted the party.  It was a great night and we sang a few carols and ate some great food, a beef stew with bread and then a Xmas Cake (pineapple) for dessert.  It was a mixture of Vietnamese, Koreans, Philippines and Aussies so it made for some interesting discussions and there were a few language barriers.

On the way home I go through town, and a drunken Santa (aka a tourist dressed as Santa) decided to walk out in front of me on my scooter.  Tragedy was adverted through my skilful driving and Santa got a loud blast from my horn.  The lights here are amazing, so when Niels gets here we will do a tour and capture some of it.

Someone brought this fruit into work yesterday so I thought I would give it a try.

You peel it like a lychee, and it is sourer and has a stone in it.  If you rub the fruit before you peel it apparently it is less sour.

Rubbish collection here in HCMC is a bit different to home. There is a collection everyday and you put your rubbish from your house anywhere on the foot path in any type of plastic bag.  It is then collected by a person pushing a large orange cart.  They also sweep the road as well.

Then a garbage truck like the ones we have comes and empties the orange carts.  This happens every single day of the year and because of this the street are clean and without rubbish.  In my opinion they are the unsung heroes of the city.  Also I think they should get danger money because of the crazy scooter drivers on the.

Had a great weekend with my brother (Nick) and his girl friend Desiree here in HCM City.  I think the theme of the weekend can be summed up with scooters and rats.

We had some drinks at the tallest building in town on Friday night, Bitexco,  and then I took both of them home on the scooter.  For once it wasn’t us staring at the crazy things the Vietnamese transport on the scooters, it was the other way round!

On Saturday they rented a scooter and we went on a tour of the city.  We were heading for lunch and it took us 2 hrs to get there instead of 20 minutes.  We had a slight detour around the city and we were creative in the road rules and got the approval from some fellow Vietnamese creative rule followers.

Here is a video clip of what the traffic is like

https://instagram.com/p/_L_od1g9qn/

After our tour around the city and sucking in fumes, we thought we would relax at the botanical gardens.  When we got there we found out it was a Zoo too.  We saw elephants, giraffes, bears, tigers, lions, birds, crocodiles, hippopotamus, otters, goats, sheep and monkeys.  Some of the monkeys could fit through the bars so it is up close and personal.  Desiree had never been to a Zoo so it was lots of fun.  We watched elephants dance, monkeys eating corn flakes and we even poured water on a crocodile trying to get it to move.

On Sunday we thought a bit of culture was in order.  We went to the Notre-Dame Church and listened to the choir.  I think it was the first time Nick and I had been in a church since our high school days.  Our Grandmother would have been proud of us.

Now about the rats.  I have been here for over a month and until Thursday I had not seen a single rat.  Now I see them everywhere.  We were at a bar and we could see the rats running under a table.  At the river, they were on the banks and ironically they were also at the zoo.

We had lots of laughs and ate some great food.  This is a fritter and you make a wrap using the lettuce leaves.  The lady next to us showed us how it was done:).

I finally plucked up the courage to eat from this place on the street that I saw when I first arrived in HCMC.  I walked up to the kitchen and luckily the cook spoke English so I managed to order pork stir fry.

I then sat down and waited for my dinner, only a couple of minutes.  Then what proceeded to happen was the old lady beside me decided I needed a lesson on how to eat my dinner.  She got me my chop sticks and spoon and a small container and then mixed some soy sauce and chilly sauce together, then poured it on my food.  This was all done without one word from either of us.  The couple opposite us were smiling and giving encouragement.  I felt like I was eating beside my mother.  The lady was very kind.

The food cost me 35,000 VND or $2.10 AUD.

It was a great dinner with fun people; two Kiwis and an American.  We traveled there on our scooters together.

We had BBQ Chicken.  Here are some photos of how it is cooked.

Some had a try of the chicken feet, still not game on that one.  If you want cold beer, you put ice in a glass and drink it with a straw!

I had a great opportunity to visit a Habitat for Humanity Vietnam (HfHV) site at the start of this week.  An eager and delightful group of 14 volunteers from USA, Mexico, England and Canada arrived for two weeks to build two houses.

Two recipients had been selected to get help with their houses by the community and HfHV.  I drove down with the group on Monday morning from HCMC and then we had an orientation and met the local government officials and visited the housing sites where we would be building.  On Tuesday the group started building.

HfHV provides the tools and the construction supervisors to guide the building.  Everything is done by hand, mixing cement, transporting bricks, breaking bricks and making reinforcement wire.  The house owners also help with the build and we normally get a few spectators from the road.  It was a hard and hot day out there and I was glad to make it home.  I will catch up with the team when they arrive back in HCMC in 2 weeks.

I take my hat off to these people, they donate them time and energy and travel half way around the world to help people less fortunate than themselves.  We had a couple of Vietnam Veterans who hadn’t been back for 40 years so it was very emotional for them.   Enjoy the photos.

I have been in Vietnam now for exactly one month, time certainly passes quickly.  In that time I have found a place to live, bought a motor bike (110cc of pure speed) named Oscar, began Vietnamese lessons, been to the doctor four times, eaten food that I have no idea what it is and got lost on too many occasions to count.

The people at work are great and have been very welcoming.  We all go out for lunch together every day and then we come back and have a 30min nap.  I get my washing done for me and food is pretty cheap so I eat out every day and I get a massage every couple of weeks.  Some would probably say that I have a tough life:).

Now that I am settled in I have my first guests arriving tomorrow, my brother and his girl friend from Malaysia.  Can’t wait to take them around and show off Ho Chi Minh City.

Remember, my door is always open to anyone who wants to come over for a visit.