Videoke

The Videoke Station

Two weeks before I left for the Philippines, I was at Le Drugstore, a lesbian bar in Montreal. It was Karaoke Night, an otherwise quiet Tuesday. About 5 people in our  group, the slightly drunk blond host of the night turned to the Asian guy at our table (a Belgian, nonetheless) and said in French You guys, Asians, in your country karaoke is a front for prostitution! Seemingly unaffected by this ignorant comment, our friend ignored her and she continued to sing one of the songs she picked. Sadly, she will probably never be the diva she always wanted to be. However, in the foggy haze of this lesbian bar, everyone in different stages of drunkenness, she can feel like the stage is hers.

In only my first few days of life in the Philippines, I experienced the videoke. Videoke is the Filipino version of karaoke. Even before starting my job here, I was attending a birthday party where the family had rented a videoke terminal. In the middle of rice paddies, outside the tin-roofed concrete house stood the golden podium: a television screen affixed to a tall base on wheels complete with large red buttons and speakers from which our sung ballads will project against the neighbour’s tin-roofs and rice fields.

This is where I first sung Ironic, by Alanis. Little did I know that this was the easiest song anyone can sing, and would soon become my signature song. There has been many (and I mean about several times a week at the peak) times where I sing at videoke, and not one time goes by where I do not sing Ironic. I am told, others have begun to sing it while I am not in attendance. And I’m told it’s sung in my honour.

The previous intern and I are singing to The Sign

Now, karaoke is popular all over East and Southeast Asia, this is a fact. However something about it here makes it more common than anywhere else. In Vietnam, I may have sung karaoke about 5 or so times in the two years I was there. So far, in the two months I have been here I have sung karaoke upwards of 20 times. Most of the bars have a terminal. All you have to do is pay 5 pesos (about 10 cents Canadian) and tell the bar person what number song you would like and it’s done. The microphone will circulate from table to table as patrons sing their favourite love ballads. Even the toughest-looking guys will shoot down glasses of rum or gin while singing Hero by Mariah Carey.

Well, I surely can’t sing Hero (though that didn’t stop me from trying) but as time goes by I am searching for my new signature song. The song needs to be identifiable, easy to sing along to, and ready for its trendy re-emergence.  Some how none of the Ace of Base songs actually work (I’ve ruined Lucky Love and Don’t Turn Around). Celine Dion is way too difficult despite the fact in allows me to insert the fact that I once lived behind her (damn, I did it again). 

As the search continues, I will no doubt make a fool of myself singing way out of my range (my range is beyond what human ears can hear, by the way). Meanwhile, if that drunk rock-bottom diva at Le Drugstore was right, where do I pick up my cheque?

Jeepney, the new Xe Ôm

I can't go on with this blog without comparing my experiences in Vietnam with those in the Philippines. I know, I know - I am not even there yet. But part of my preparation is about researching what life is like there.

In doing some research, I came across the Jeepney. An odd jeep/truck contraption that serves as an informal mode of public transportation. 

Whereas in Hanoi I would have to negotiate price with a motorbike taxi  - a xe ôm, I guess the equivalent would be hopping onto a Jeepney. So instead of awkwardly trying to keep a safe distance between me and my (often) drunk xe ôm driver, I will have to awkwardly sit next to other passengers, and wonder if my change from the ride will ever make it back to me.

Check out this Youtube video about how to use a Jeepney:

Gratuitous Video Scene #8: Bus in Java, Indonesia

During our trip in Java, Smorg and I took a diverse array of transportation: motorbike, train, bus, bemo, minibus, ferry.

In what seems typical of public transportation, at every stop along the way a parade of people selling things come onboard. They then proceed to constantly try and sell you something while you are both trapped on this moving vehicle. They will actually throw the product in your lap, where you can examine it for a while. They will then come back and either take the item back or you give them the money. Snake fruit, pens, Muslim prayer sheets, doughnuts, fried tofu, magazines, you name it, they sell it. Every now and then I would wake up in a drowsy state as 10 people would storm through the bus throwing things into my lap, while my head spun between reality and sleep.

Most interesting are the musicians that also hop on between stops. Guitar, percussion and singing fill the bus. For bus-singers, their voices were quite good, and it was a welcome change from the hard selling.

Acupuncture

My wrist has been hurting me for quite few months now, and in the last week it has gotten pretty bad. So bad, that I could not type or even drive my electric scooter.

My co-worker suggested to me I try her acupuncture doctor. Cheaper than "Western Medecine," I thought, why not? I had never been acupuntured (hehe) before, but definitely would try it.

The acupuncture doctor practises from the bottom floor of his home. It's about 4 metres by 5 metres, and is divided with a small wooden screen. He was really excited to have a foreigner come to him, and he was even more excited to know that I could speak a little Vietnamese!

The treatment lasted about 5 minutes, where he poked my wrist with the same needle a couple times, and massaged my nerves. You could imagine how great that felt. I told him I was dizzy, so he made me lay down. He then proceeded to feed me longans, not allowing me to feed myself. I was lying there on the hard bamboo table while an old bearded Vietnamese man fed me fruit. Next time, he told me I should eat before I come over.

It cost me about 3 dollars for the treatment, but I was kind of hoping for something a little more therapeutic. In the end, I decided to go over to Yakushi Centre on Xuan Dieu to try out their treatment. It was definitely worth it. I paid twice as much, but it lasted a whole hour. They even attached an electrical source and soft shocks pulsed through my arm and hand.

In the end my wrist is doing a lot better... But still having difficulty typing and riding my bike. As for the cause, apparently it is tendinitis.

Back to Vietnam by way of China... Part II

Here is my bit about my food experience in Beijing.

My first day started off with a rice congee, similar in name to the one here in Vietnam (called chao). It turns out the similarity stops there. The rice soup here, was yellow in colour, and was doused in a sesame sauce. It was a lot thicker and was a bit salty. I scarfed it down with a vegetable spring roll and some fried bread. I didn't eat for about 8 hours after this, so I guess it did the trick. I don't think I'd eat it again though.

One of the most interesting meals was at a Szechuan restaurant. I have had Szechuan in Canada, obviously, but nothing prepared me for this. On the first bite, the flavour was great, if not a little strange. Then, this odd feeling took over my mouth. A numbing sensation paired with an uncontrollable stream of saliva pouring out of my glands had me in a bit of a panic. It wasn't necessarily spicy (though my mom would definitely think so), as the numbing took care of that issue. It turns out there were about a million little Szechuan peppercorns decorating this dish, a peppercorn that contains a natural numbing chemical. I continued eating while proclaiming in disbelief how anyone could actually want to have this feeling. It took over almost my entire face, reminding me of how when you go to the dentist it often takes hours before you can feel your lower jaw.

No trip to anywhere in Asia would be complete without trying the staple street food. Sticks with fruits dipped in a hardened sugar syrup are everywhere in winter. The traditional fruit to have in this style is the Chinese Hawberry. It's a bit sour like a crabapple.  You can also get strawberries, and any other kind of common fruit.

I visited a small street that had a hundred different street food vendors. I skipped quickly past the seahorse-on-a-stick vendors and tried some Beijing yogourt. Not unlike any other type of yogourt, except you drink it in a ceramic pot with a straw. 

Right before catching my plane back to Hanoi I went for Chinese dumplings. Apparently Beijing-style dumplings are boiled rather than streamed or pan-fried. My companions and I got egg and veggie as well as mushroom-filled dumplings. Hao chu (or however you would spell delicious in Mandarin)!

Vegetarian Hanoi

I've been here for about 9 months now. On the first day I arrived, I headed straight to this vegetarian restaurant I found on the New Hanoian. It is still one of my favourite vegetarian restaurants, and I go there at least once a week, if not several times a week. However, I have discovered quite a few vegetarian places within a 15-20 minute radius of my house. I use places because most of them are not really restaurants. They are usually people who set up some plastic stools and tables on the main floor and cook out of their kitchens once or twice a day (the picture above is of a street vendor who sells vegetarian Bun Cha and spring rolls at lunch).  Just counting on my hand, there are 6 of these places, if I include the lady who sells vegetarian food out of her freezer in my alley.

I imagine there are many more of these places, as about 4 of them were discovered just by chance of walking by and actually paying attention to what a sign says (ie. there was a certain threshold I passed in learning Vietnamese where I realised I can read and understand the world around me). The best places are usually these, the ones that are far into the alleys and are serving food in their living room! They also usually sell food for less than a dollar.

Travels Beyond Hanoi: China

I realised recently that I haven't really posted much about my travels outside Hanoi. So here is my effort at providing a concise but informative post about my recent trip to Southern China.

Here's the number one observation:

Young Chinese men love purses. Or man-purses or murses. Whatever you prefer to call them. Whereas in Montreal only a select few men would dare stroll around will a shiny-white Gucci bag (I'm thinking of one particular friend here), in China they were everywhere. I couldn't walk on the sidewalk in Guangzhou without being whacked by a Prada purse strapped underneath the arm of a tall Chinese 20-something in Capri pants yakking away on his touch-screen mobile phone.

And here's my second observation:

Clothes are cheap, stylish and plentiful. Whereas in Montreal I usually avoid clothes with a 'made in China' tag in favour of something more local... in China, this is local! Guangzhou (also known as Canton) is a huge clothing manufacturing city. Diep led me to the area full of 'fashion cities', buildings with hundreds of sellers wanting you to buy the latest knock-offs of DSquared and D&G for about $5-10 USD a pair. Hell yeah! And a new pair of shoes for under $20?? I'll take three - and I did.

The fashion district in Guangzhou, China

Although my trip didn't go exactly as planned (this will be the subject of another post), I am really happy with this entirely new wardrobe I've come home with. I didn't even spend more than $150!

Cheap Eats: Breakfast in Vietnam

This morning I popped out of bed and decided I wanted to go and try bun bo Hue for breakfast. I had seen it on the breakfast menu of my favourite vegetarian restaurant, and and though it was twice as expensive as the usual breakfast item, pho, at only about 1.15 USD a bowl it was still a steal.

The vegetarian version of this soup from Hue has vegetarian beef and rice noodles and is flavoured with chilies and lemongrass. The main difference between pho noodles and bun noodles is that bun noodles are thin and round, and made fresh as I don't think they can be found dry. The soup also came with wedges of lime, more chilies (as if at the start of a 35+ degree day you really want to load up on the chilies), and a plate of fresh herbs and leafy greens.

It was different than what I am used to eating for breakfast: toast or cereal. No real Vietnamese would ever toast up some bread and spread it with peanut butter. It's still pretty rare to find a toaster or even an oven in the typical Vietnamese household.

The other day I introduced Diep to cereal. He didn't know what it was, but when I described it to him, he instantly knew what I was talking about. He had seen it on TV and in movies. Eager to try this new food, he followed me in the kitchen where I filled up a bowl with granola. He wasn't sure what to do next, so I instructed him to pour milk in the bowl. I had to do it for him, as he wasn't sure how much to put in.

In the end, he didn't really like it. It was cold and sweet. Something he just wasn't used to eating in the morning. I thought maybe we could alternate breakfasts between eating sticky rice and tofu (which is what he's been making) and cereal.

Oh well. I guess I'll just have to get used to eating more Vietnamese breakfasts, or risk him leaving so early in the morning.... trying to escape my dry toast and cold wet cereal!

Maybe tomorrow I'll get the 60-cent pho bo chay.

Hot Wheels: Electric Scooter

On my motorbike in front of my house

So I splurged. With the financial help of my parents, I bought a brand new electric scooter!

The Yamaha Metis was a little bit expensive, but still dirt cheap compared to the price one of these would cost in Canada. I just still have to ride my bicycle to the market, or else the market vendors will overcharge me for sure!

Gone are the days of biking in 38 degree weather, or else having to take a motorbike taxi or wait for my friend to come and pick me up. Gone are the days where I arrive at a dinner in the old quarter, panting in front of my dinner friends with dark patches of sweat slowly expanding in size over my chest and back.

And those days have been more and more often. Except for a couple odd days this past week where the temperature felt a chilly 28 degrees, I don't think ithas dropped below 35 for months.

Now I can zoom around in my exhaust-free scooter, planting trees and flowers in my wake. Seriously. Instead of carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds spewing from the bike, hearts, stars and little princesses come out to tell you happy stories that smell like raspberry sorbet and vanilla.

You'd think this was true by some of the looks I get riding around! Sometimes I notice in my peripheral vision, a motorbike that seems to be riding at exactly the same speed as me. I only need to turn my head slightly to see a motorbike with three Vietnamese construction workers squeezed onto the tiny seat, all squinting at me with a puzzled look on their face. In those cases just nod and smile.

It's a pretty sweet bike. It goes about 40 km on one charge, takes about 4-6 hours to charge, and can reach up to 30-40 km/h. Traffic is often slow enough that I pass cars, motorbikes and bicycles easily!

Here's your chance: I haven't named my bike yet, so I need your help. I want to you help think of a name for it! Please leave your suggestions in the comments!

Gratuitous Video Scene #6: Can Tho Street Spying

On my recent business trip to Vietnam's south, I had to unexpectedly return back to Hanoi early. Because of bad planning logistics, I spent an entire day in the city of Can Tho. At the centre of the Mekong Delta, Can Tho is not a particularly interesting city.

I sat for many hours on a bench at the riverside, staring at people walking by and judging whether not a foreigner napping on a bench would be too strange a sight. It seemed already strange enough that I was sitting there watching what looked like ordinary children shovelling a pile of sand casually left on the sidewalk into used linen bags. In 30+ degree afternoon weather, what else is someone in Vietnam supposed to do? Everyone else of the benches were napping!

That, and the lady who makes mia da, an iced drink made out of crushed sugarcane. I watched her for hours in between reading Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut, methodically shoving fresh sugarcane into her mill. After this video was taken, she moved to my side of the street and I quickly signalled to her that I wanted one. It cost me about 30 cents.

Gratuitous Video Scene #5: Bali by Motorbike

Long story, but I ended up spending about half the time of my Bali trip travelling by myself rather than with the friend I was visiting.

I rented a motorbike but had a little accident when driving of some construction debris at high speed, and decided to return it early. My bruised and scraped up body did not want to risk another brush with gravel (but I have to say it made me look tough).

In Ubud, I found a motorbike driver name Wayan who agreed to take me around Bali to visit Mount Batur, a volcano in the central part of the Indonesian Island and some other sights. For 10$ (and a beer at the end of the trip), he took me around for almost a whole day on his motorbike.

Bali is one of the more beautiful places I have ever visited, mostly because everyday details are so intricate. It seemed like in every wall there was some sort of decorate carving of gods or monsters. Even the round-abouts had amazing animistic monster statues towering over the road.

I hope you can get a good idea through this video.

Welcome to Saigon

I've arrived safely in Saigon. I'd been back from Malaysia and Indonesia nearly two weeks, and I'm already on another 2 week trip. This time it's a business trip to Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh City) and the Mekong Delta.

The organisation I started my new job with is organising an awareness campaign in the south, and they've sent me along to help coordinate it.

Saigon is a crazy busy city, not unlike Hanoi. Though there are similarities, there is definitely something different about this city. The traffic is slightly worse and it is much bigger than Hanoi, but there seems to be a lack of street life in comparison. I spent about 25 minutes walking around the centre trying to find a cafe where I could just sit and enjoy a ca phe sua da (iced coffee with milk). I settled for the lifeless Highlands chain where I spent a good 50 minutes chatting to Jeannette and using up all the credit I had just charged to my mobile.

In between meetings I have quite a bit of time to spend exploring the city. I was able to eat at two really good and cheap vegetarian restaurants. Even though the organisation gives me quite a sizable per diem while I'm here, I just can't bring myself to spending a lot. I did get the extra fancy coffee (and most expensive) at the Trung Nguyen cafe, but that still only set me back 45,000 dong (2.50 USD). Also I sent all my newly tailored clothes as well as some old ones to the hotel laundry service, even having them iron them. There's nothing like having crispy-dried clothes when you've been hanging your clothes up to dry for the last 5 months. Plus the shrinkage was definitely needed on some of my pants and shirts. Splurge as I try, I'm just not a natural big spender.

I'll try and post some more of my experience here in Vietnam's largest city, the old capital of South Vietnam.

Food Tourist

I just got back from a trip to Bali and Malaysia. A trip whose main feature was food. Food food food. I saw a program at my aunt's house about a year ago on Penang Island in Malaysia and the place has since been in the back of my head. When I was presented with an opportunity to stop in Malaysia on my way back from Bali (due to awful scheduling by AirAsia's Kuala Lumpur-Hanoi route), I just had to take it. Even though the island was five hours by bus from KL, it was well worth it. I jumped from food stall to food stall and pounced on every opportunity to savour the unique cuisine of Penang: Baba Nonya.

This mixture of Indian, Malay and Chinese has resulted in the perfect balance of spice. I had a plate of Pasembor Rojak which was a mixture of different food items, strangely enough, chopped up and thrown together with shredded cucumber and doused in a sweet and spicy peanut sauce. My vegetarian version had tofu, potato, rice dumpling, some sort of croquet-like object, and a lentil-based cracker laden with peanuts. Together with a glass of freshly made carrot juice, it cost me about $1.50 USD.

The thought of going back to Penang is making me drool. It will definitely be on my travel itinerary again. Other than that, it is back to reality, as I start my new job on Monday.

Blowing Bangkok Birthday Bonanza 2009!!!

So I'm back from Bangkok, and now getting ready to take a 15 hour train ride to Danang in North-Central Vietnam.

I'm not rolling in dough, can I mention... Things are just so cheap here.

Thailand was an amazing experience. I think it's ruined my view of Hanoi.

There's something about mixing an elevated light rail system with coconut-based curries that makes me want to pack up everything and move there.

I'll sit on it for the weekend (sitting on the beach in Danang, is exactly what I'll be doing).

Scoring Cheap Food #2

Armed with my new knowledge of numbers in Vietnamese, I decided to venture out to the street market near my house. I wanted to make a soup for lunch and I was missing some key ingredients.

I surveyed the street quickly to decide which vendor I would buy my produce from. I decided on a smiling old lady who didn't seem frightened by the prospect of communicating with someone who obviously had a loose grasp on the Vietnamese language.

I pointed to everything I wanted and shot numbers out like a rookie. After having picked a lot of vegetables, I panicked. shit. I only left the house with the equivalent of about $2.50 Canadian. I was a little ambitious about being able to haggle to a low and acceptable price. I didn't know how to say i'm really sorry, but I just realised I only brought 30,000 dong. I surely had passed that price, even if she were ripping me off. I pulled out what I and was making a face and gestures and saying xin loi to excuse myself.

She pulled the 30,000 out of my hand and then gave me some more bills back. I imagined she would then only leave me with the kilo of potatoes and I would shamefully be on my way back home. But then she dumped all the veggies I had chosen into by bike basket, and sent me off on my way.

I guess I had enough.


The damage: 26,ooo dong (2$ Canadian) for a kilo of potatoes, 4 tomatoes, 4 hot chilies, a handful of green onions, a yellow onion, and a giant bunch of some sort of spinach-like vegetable.

Scoring Cheap Food #1

I have all these ideas for 'blog series', but have a difficult time going through with them. Hence the large amount of posts with a "#1" at the end...

But here's one that can be easy to keep up with! One reason why I came to Vietnam was because the cheap cheap food! I spent hours and hours in Montreal researching all the types of street food, and trying to figure out which ones were vegetarian. This one factored prominently on the list of 'must finds' and I now found it:


I apologise for the dark photo, I hate flash and this is in a rather dark market. It is called Bùn Dâu. It's basically a cake of rice noodles cut up with pieces of fried tofu. Usually it's dipped in fish sauce, but the nice lady who thought I was Russian made a small bowl of salt and lime juice to dip it in. It was really delicious, but the overpowering smell of my stall neighbour's shrimp sauce (a combination of baby-diaper and damp feet newly exposed to air after 25 hours of shoe-wearing) was hindering my ability to fully enjoy its consumption.

Important part is it only cost 10,000 Dong, about 58¢ USD!