About 50 m from my house is a shop (dairy in NZ, corner shop in Australia).  I go here for my water maybe a couple of times a week.  They can’t speak English, and my Vietnamese is bad, so we do a lot of hand signals and smiling.  I got my good friend Trang to come along with me to be my translator so I could talk with them.

The two ladies are 80 (in the blue) and 82 and are 2 of 4 sisters who are all still alive, the other two sisters are married.  Seven people live in the house, 3 older ladies, a husband and wife and two children.  They have lived in the same house all of there lives and the two of them have never married.  Their reason was because they couldn’t afford to raise children.  I think they are amazing and very unselfish to think like that.

Before they had the shop they used to sell food from their house.  The shop is all they can do now and they don’t make much money, but they only need money for food, the house is free.  Their father was a construction work and their mother had a street food stall.

I asked them what changes they had noticed in HCM and they said it was the building of the tall buildings. They were here during the Vietnam War and they mentioned that this went on for about 30 years.  This including the fighting between the North and the South without the Americans.  Time was very tough then and they said that when the Americans arrived, they were very friendly and gave them canned food and they lived all around them.

What struck me about the pair is they are always happy and they are at their shop from about 6am till about 7:30pm everyday.  They didn’t complain and they wished me a safe journey back home and that they will be sad to see me go.  These are some of the beautiful people I have met here, I will miss them.

It was a different experience being in a foreign country for the Olympics.  Back at home in either Australia or New Zealand, it would have been all you would watch on TV and talk about at work and social occasions.  Here in Vietnam it was completely different.

The only time I heard someone mention the Olympics was when Hoang Xuan Vinh won gold and then silver in shooting.  These were the only medals Vietnam won at The Rio Games and the first gold medal ever.

Hoang Xuan Vinh

I watched the Olympics via live streaming and I had 11 channels.  I love the atmosphere and the chance to watch sports you would not normally have the opportunity to do: synchronized swimming, judo, fencing, badminton, wrestling and diving.  It amazes me how skilled and determined they are.

Good old New Zealand, for a country of just over 4 million, they do very well on the sporting stage.

However, the question I ask is what does this mean, how does it help the country?  Here in Vietnam people seem to be happy with what they have and they don’t play or watch a lot of sport.  I look at the way the professional sportsmen in AFL, rugby union and rugby league behave and are treated by the community and it doesn’t set a good example for people.  I think we place too much importance on sport in our lives.  Remember, it is for participation (health, fun) and for entertaining the spectators.  That is all.

 

Well, my professional racing career has come to an end in Mountain biking in Vietnam.  Out of 4 races, I got on the podium 3 out of 4 times and won a total of 1.2M VND ($70 AUD), medals, statues, certificates, bike helmet, seat and gloves.  Not bad I say.  It is more than I have earned in almost 2 years:(.

I can’t pick a favourite race, they were all different and challenging in different ways.

1. Da Lat: This was a three stage (days) race and was the hardest.  Man the hills were killers.  It was dry and there were several river crossings and the views were amazing.   And of course, the Choco Pie Incident. Choco Pie Incident.  Joost and James feature below.
   

   
2. Stage 1 of the Mountain Bike Series, Ham Da, HCMC.  This was a very technical course and a bit of water, little mud and a great spectator course. This was my first podium, 4th.
   

   
3. Cat Lai Fat Bike race.  This was an awesome course, great flow, bit of water and mud and not technical.  I got 2nd at this one.
   

   

   
4. Stage 2 of the Mountain Bike Series, Den Hung. This was the course of mud and more mud but loved every minute of it.  There were technical parts and steep downhill sections.  I got on the podium again, 7th.
   

   

   

   

   The Bike Shop put on some sausages and beers and the Fat Bikes were out in force. James cooking and Will and James podium winners.

   

   

   We did training on each of the courses except for Da Lat and for the last one, James took some awesome pictures, these had to be included.

I have had a great time here mountain biking.  Who would have thought that in a city of 8.2M you could mountain bike in and around the city?  Well if you have the local knowledge, a little bit of courage and perseverance, it can be done.  A special thanks to The Bike Shop who put on free Sunday rides where I have met some awesome people: James, Lui, Phu, Joost, Will, Pierre, Tim, John, Angel and many others.  I will miss it:(.

We are well and truly in the wet season here.  Pretty much everyday we get rain in the afternoon and about once a week we get a massive down pour with thunder and lightening.  You can normally tell when it is going to rain as the wind picks up and it doesn’t last long but is usually heavy.  People don’t wear rain jackets here, ponchos are the go.

I went shopping one day last week and got caught in the rain.  While I waited for the rain to finish in the shop, I watched some children play in the rain.

They had a lovely time.

I managed to get a video of the rain and the children playing in it.  I think one of them will become a laundry man when he grows up:).

Kids in the rain

 

You don’t realise how accustomed to a place you get until someone from the outside points it out.  I was talking to Niels on my phone (hands free) while riding my motorbike and I was commenting on things while riding.

I just saw a baby rat, it was so cute

I then started to think what other things that I think are normal now:

• You don’t even notice when the restaurant you are at has chairs that are only about 20 cm off the ground
• I don’t think a soft opening is strange.  This is when I building, lets say a Hotel that is being built is not entirely ready, they open 1 or 2 floors before the others are ready.
• I only look forward when driving my motorbike (Oscar), I hardly use my side mirrors.
• I think nothing of going up the wrong way of a one way street or driving on the footpath.
• I drop rubbish on the street with other rubbish as that is what you do and then the rubbish collectors come and pick it up.
• Fish sauce is just like salt and pepper, it can go on anything.  Same for chilli sauce, it is like tomato sauce here.
• Anything can be transported by motorbike
• Lunch over 50,000 VND is expensive ($2.90 AUD)
• Trà Dá is my drink of choice.  It is ice tea.
• If someone cuts you off in traffic you don’t even notice
• I don’t notice when people stare at me, happens everyday
• I now slurp my noodles when eating
• I wear a mask when driving my motorbike, I feel naked without it now
• If is gets below 25 C it is cold
• I am above average height here and it feels normal.

I think I will find it hard getting back into the Aussie way.  It is so much fun here.  The only thing I really miss in Niels.

 

My very good friend Lauren Obermueller’s time in Vietnam was finished.  She was over from USA doing a 6 month internship with Habitat.  Lauren had a very early flight on Saturday morning so she decided to stay up the whole night so she could sleep on the plane.  Trang and I decided to help her with this by going on Operation Midnight Ghost Ride, we started at about 10:30pm.  I had read of a route in the Vietnam Coracle so we used this as a rough guide.  First stop was the Thu Thiem Bridge.

This bridge gives a great view of the city.  From there we were to go into the tunnel however the tunnel is closed to motorbikes after 10 pm, not sure why, so we had to do a diversion and we ended up at the billboards that overlook the city.  This is a lover’s hang-out.

From there we went towards Cat Lai and then over the massive bridge, Phu May to District 7.  Along the way we found this club, we really wanted to go in there.

Not sure if it is similar to a ‘Man Cave’.  By this time we were getting very thirsty so we drove back to District 1 and went to a coffee shop and sat and watched the night life.  Across the road there was a McDonald’s so we then decided to go have a bite.  Now this place was busy, but not the people you would normally find here.  Yes, of course there were the people having a midnight snack after partying, however there were also families here at 1:30 am.  There was a baby and kids about 2 years old that had drank way to much red cordial and were bouncing of the walls, not literally and as you guessed, scouting and screaming.  We gave the parents a few disapproving looks and they moved, didn’t go home, just moved tables.

By this time we were getting tired, so we decided to go home.  The city was pretty quiet by now.  Photo courtesy of Lauren.

We dropped Lauren off at her apartment and said our goodbyes.

It was a great last night to share with Lauren and I will miss her company here in Vietnam.  Good luck with the job hunting.

There are many Pagodas and churches in Ho Chi Minh, however Su Jeong and I were lucky enough to be guided about a Pagoda by a former monk.  Danh Cuong who we work with was a monk from the age of 18 to 22, 5 years in total.  There are two types of Buddhism. Northern Buddhism which is what the Dalai Lama practices and Southern Buddhism.  Southern Buddhism is practiced in Southern Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Myramar.  Some of the more noticeable differences are in the food that they eat and the time it is eaten and the chanting .  In Southern Buddhism there are no female monks.

When we visited we met two of Cuong’s monks and we got to talk to them.  One had two dogs that had wandered off the street and sought refuge.

This area is where the monks spend a lot of their time, praying twice a day, starting at 5 am.

As you can see from the architecture, there are similarities with Angkor Wat (Cambodia) and also Thailand, of course except for me in the picture.

On special occasions they go to a dining room where there are raised platforms where the higher monks sit and as you can imagine there are no table or chairs.

We spoke to one of the monks and he was smoking so I later asked about this and monks can’t drink or have relations with women, but they can smoke.  Both Su Jeong and I both noted that there was a feeling of calm and peace compared to the hustle and bustle not more that metres outside the gates.

After our visit we had a lovely dinner in a great location.  Lauren would have been proud as there were lots of lights and she is a sucker for them:).  I think it has rubbed off on me.

You may not of heard, but I attended the Wedding of the Year.  One of my Colleagues got married and I was lucky enough to attend, it was my first Vietnamese Wedding.  So of course a new outfit was required and nails done.  I found a nail salon close to work down one of the alleys so we got them done there, Grace, Trang and I.  Mine cost 65,000 VND which is $3.85.  Need I say more and the flowers were hand painted.

After we had our nails done, we got ready at my place and then took an Uber.

The Wedding started earlier in the day, around 8:30 am and there are ceremonies at the Bride’s and Groom’s houses.  Because the Groom was American, ceremonies/speeches were only held at the Bride’s house.  This is only for family members and close friends so I didn’t attend.

The official part of our weddings is not done in Vietnam and they go to a department of the government and fill in the appropriate paperwork.  I was invited to the reception where the Bride (Loan) and Groom (Shane) are presented to the guests.  At this wedding venue there were three other weddings taking place at the same time.

There would have been about 500 people invited and we were entertained with a traditional Vietnamese dance:

Vietnamese Dance

Gifts are not given for the wedding, money instead in the envelope that the invitation was in.  Therefore, the invitation has your name on it so they know exactly how much you have given.  This is common and the information is used when you are invited to their wedding, you know how much to give.  This took some getting use to.

The Bride and Groom then entered the room and proceeded to light two candles, cut the cake which I understand is fake, and then pour champagne into a champagne tower with dry ice.

The couple then went around the tables and had photos, then we were showered with wonderful food, however, we had to eat very quickly.  During the dinner we had a band who played for people who wanted to sing, basically Karaoke without the screen.  There are a couple of very talented singers within Habitat and one of them is Phuong. Phuoug (right) and her sister:

Singing

After the dessert was served, everyone started leaving.  We got there at about 6:30 am and we left at 9 pm.  There was no dancing, Vietnamese like to sing not dance.

Some photos of the wedding

Now an interesting fact: if a younger man goes out with an older woman, the man is called the pilot and the woman is called the old plane.  Ingenious, better than Cougar.

I wish Loan and Shane all the happiness in the world and thank you so much for letting me share this special night with you both.