7am - time to get out of bed - despite having been awake for hours due to one or more of the following: dogs barking constantly, neighbours playing music very loudly, public announcements and/or music playing over loudspeakers, prayers and/or music from the temple nearby.
Cold shower (how I miss having hot water on tap! such a luxury!) then either breakfast at home (cereal with long-life milk) or off to town on the back of Dan's motorbike. If we have breakfast in town we have either beef noodle soup (pho), sticky rice with chicken or fried eggs on a baguette.
8 - 8.30am - work. At the moment we are organising a national workshop on co-management (http://czm-soctrang.org.vn/EN/CW/home.aspx). Also working on some environmental awareness raising ideas, anyone fancy writing a kids song about mangroves for me?
11am - midday, Mon, Tues and Thurs - Vietnamese language lesson.
12 midday - lunch. Usually beef and pork noodle soup (bun bo) or vegetarian noodle salad.
About 1:00 - coffee or sprite at Mrs Thao's cafe. Mrs Thao has taken quite a shine to us and sometimes brings us out cut fruit, biscuits or yoghurt. She also plays the cds that we made for her with Western music. Quite bizarre to be sitting in a cafe in the middle of Soc Trang listening to Powderfinger and Crowded House.
1:30/2:00 - back to work. Sit in the freezing office (Vietnamese seem to love air-con and usually have it set on about 18 degrees) and try to avoid using the office toilet (smelly and gross - I will never complain about work toilets in a Western workplace again!).
4:30 - 5:00 - Home time. 8mins on the back of Dan's motorbike back home or 15mins riding my bike.
5:00 - 7:00 - Spare time with nothing to do, usually end up watching a dvd. Have become a fan of NZ tv series Outrageous Fortune, also re-watching Mighty Boosh and Flight of the Conchords series.
7:00 - Dinner somewhere in town. (Haven't cooked at home yet.) Cafe 36 if there is a work dinner on (or if someone decides they want to drink beer), the pizza and burger place if we are craving Western food (though it has been closed the past few days - hopefully it is not closed for good!) or one of the other restaurants in town, usually we end up getting prawns, squid, fried morning glory with garlic and/or green mango salad.
9:00 - 10:00 - Bed and sleep. As long as that *^%* dog isn't barking again!!!
Friday, February 26, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Holiday in Cambodia
Well, Tet has come and gone and so has my one week holiday to Ho Chi Minh City and Cambodia.
It was great to get out of the Mekong Delta for a while, the best parts were being able to get Western food again (Vietnamese food is pretty good but I do miss Western food sometimes - especially tuna, mayo and salad sandwiches for some reason), visiting another country and going swimming in the ocean.
Ho Chi Minh City really turned it on for Tet, one of the main streets in District 1 was closed off for a massive flower display. There were an impressive amount of orchids, camellias and even roses. There was even a flower ferris wheel and a giant ball of flowers that looked like it might roll off its stand and onto the street, crushing everyone and everything in its path. There were also a lot of tiger statues to celebrate the coming of the new year of the tiger (though Dan didn't cotton onto that connection until about a week later...hmmm).
Despite the flowery, loving vibe of it all, Dan and I managed to get told off 3 times by security guards. We walked down one side of the street to see the display then when we went to go back up the other way we got told we weren't allowed to walk that way - apparently it was a one-way system - though no-one else was following it! So we went back the way we came for a little bit then went back over onto the other side again (we didn't want to walk past what we had already seen again!). Then I took a photo of Dan with one of the tiger statues and we got told not to touch the displays (Dan was pretending to scratch the tiger on the chin). Then we got told not to walk up that side of the street again. So we gave up then and went and went to a cafe for a cold drink - it was very hot out in the street in the sun!
After a few days in HCMC we took a 7hr bus ride to Phnom Penh where we visited S-21 - an old school that was used as a prison and interrogation/torture centre during Pol Pot's rule. It was pretty horrific to hear some of the stories about what went on in there. Only 7 of the thousands of prisoners who were sent there survived, it is so hard to understand how people are able to do these kinds of things to one another! S-21 was really quite heart-breaking, also sad is seeing the huge disparity between the rich and poor in Cambodia and hearing the stories of rampant corruption. I guess heaps of countries have these problems but it seemed a lot more visible in Cambodia. As an example, there are a lot more cars on the roads in Phnom Penh than in the cities in Vietnam, big expensive luxury cars too, whereas the only other traffic is old, overladen motorbikes and bicycles (noticeably less numbers of these than in Vietnam too).
To stop this post from getting too despondent or lecture-y I'll move on to our time in Sihanoukville. Sihanoukville was like an entirely different world. It is like Cambodia's version of Byron Bay - full of bars, cafes, restaurants and tourists. But mostly it is full of backpackers. Sihanoukville is famous as a beach destination, but the beach itself is pretty much non-existent - it has been overrun with rows of cafes and bars extending nearly into the ocean itself. The cafes and bars are built right on the sand (which is eroding away in some places), they have set up deck chairs right up to where to waves come onto the shore - if you buy a drink or something at the bar you can sit on the deck chairs. There isn't much beach that hasn't been colonised by a bar or restaurant! It wasn't the nicest beach, there was a lot of rubbish floating around and a few raw sewage outlets leaking into the water - right where people were swimming! But we stayed away from those areas and went up the end where the rubbish didn't wash up and it was ok. It was nice to go swimming at the beach again and see water that wasn't dirty Mekong-mud brown.
The best bit of Sihanoukville though was the food - most places had a $3 bbq every night with fresh seafood. We had bbq barracuda, prawns and squid which came with coleslaw and bbq potato - so good! Those bbq dinners could nearly be the highlight of my holiday!
The journey back to Soc Trang was pretty exhausting. The bus from Sihanoukville to Ha Tien (in Vietnam - right near the Cambodian border) was pretty tiring - it was only 5 hours but a lot of it was on dirt roads and the bus was pretty old and had no suspension - bumpiest bus ride ever! Dan and I are now back at work (though a lot of people are still away on holidays) and are settling back into our old routines. Exciting news though - we now have a gas cooker and a pot and a fry pan! We'll be able to start cooking Western dinners again! Huzzah!
Flower festival in HCMC - I didn't mean to pull the same face as the tiger!
The giant ball of flowers
Don't touch the tiger Dan!
Sihanoukville early in the morning - so none of the deck chairs or backpackers are out!
It was great to get out of the Mekong Delta for a while, the best parts were being able to get Western food again (Vietnamese food is pretty good but I do miss Western food sometimes - especially tuna, mayo and salad sandwiches for some reason), visiting another country and going swimming in the ocean.
Ho Chi Minh City really turned it on for Tet, one of the main streets in District 1 was closed off for a massive flower display. There were an impressive amount of orchids, camellias and even roses. There was even a flower ferris wheel and a giant ball of flowers that looked like it might roll off its stand and onto the street, crushing everyone and everything in its path. There were also a lot of tiger statues to celebrate the coming of the new year of the tiger (though Dan didn't cotton onto that connection until about a week later...hmmm).
Despite the flowery, loving vibe of it all, Dan and I managed to get told off 3 times by security guards. We walked down one side of the street to see the display then when we went to go back up the other way we got told we weren't allowed to walk that way - apparently it was a one-way system - though no-one else was following it! So we went back the way we came for a little bit then went back over onto the other side again (we didn't want to walk past what we had already seen again!). Then I took a photo of Dan with one of the tiger statues and we got told not to touch the displays (Dan was pretending to scratch the tiger on the chin). Then we got told not to walk up that side of the street again. So we gave up then and went and went to a cafe for a cold drink - it was very hot out in the street in the sun!
After a few days in HCMC we took a 7hr bus ride to Phnom Penh where we visited S-21 - an old school that was used as a prison and interrogation/torture centre during Pol Pot's rule. It was pretty horrific to hear some of the stories about what went on in there. Only 7 of the thousands of prisoners who were sent there survived, it is so hard to understand how people are able to do these kinds of things to one another! S-21 was really quite heart-breaking, also sad is seeing the huge disparity between the rich and poor in Cambodia and hearing the stories of rampant corruption. I guess heaps of countries have these problems but it seemed a lot more visible in Cambodia. As an example, there are a lot more cars on the roads in Phnom Penh than in the cities in Vietnam, big expensive luxury cars too, whereas the only other traffic is old, overladen motorbikes and bicycles (noticeably less numbers of these than in Vietnam too).
To stop this post from getting too despondent or lecture-y I'll move on to our time in Sihanoukville. Sihanoukville was like an entirely different world. It is like Cambodia's version of Byron Bay - full of bars, cafes, restaurants and tourists. But mostly it is full of backpackers. Sihanoukville is famous as a beach destination, but the beach itself is pretty much non-existent - it has been overrun with rows of cafes and bars extending nearly into the ocean itself. The cafes and bars are built right on the sand (which is eroding away in some places), they have set up deck chairs right up to where to waves come onto the shore - if you buy a drink or something at the bar you can sit on the deck chairs. There isn't much beach that hasn't been colonised by a bar or restaurant! It wasn't the nicest beach, there was a lot of rubbish floating around and a few raw sewage outlets leaking into the water - right where people were swimming! But we stayed away from those areas and went up the end where the rubbish didn't wash up and it was ok. It was nice to go swimming at the beach again and see water that wasn't dirty Mekong-mud brown.
The best bit of Sihanoukville though was the food - most places had a $3 bbq every night with fresh seafood. We had bbq barracuda, prawns and squid which came with coleslaw and bbq potato - so good! Those bbq dinners could nearly be the highlight of my holiday!
The journey back to Soc Trang was pretty exhausting. The bus from Sihanoukville to Ha Tien (in Vietnam - right near the Cambodian border) was pretty tiring - it was only 5 hours but a lot of it was on dirt roads and the bus was pretty old and had no suspension - bumpiest bus ride ever! Dan and I are now back at work (though a lot of people are still away on holidays) and are settling back into our old routines. Exciting news though - we now have a gas cooker and a pot and a fry pan! We'll be able to start cooking Western dinners again! Huzzah!
Flower festival in HCMC - I didn't mean to pull the same face as the tiger!
The giant ball of flowers
Don't touch the tiger Dan!
Sihanoukville early in the morning - so none of the deck chairs or backpackers are out!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
An island escape...
I'm a bit behind with my posts, so I'm going to cheat and tell you what I did the weekend before last and just skip last weekend - last weekend wasn't that exciting anyway.
So, the weekend before last (30-31 Jan for those not keeping count) we escaped Soc Trang and went for a bike ride to and around My Phouc Island. My Phouc is a tiny island, accessible only by ferry (2,000 dong per person and bike - 200,000 dong if a local succeeds in convincing you to take a private boat over). The island is very green and tropical and very quiet! Something we aren't used to in Soc Trang! We biked around the 'main road' of the island which was more like a concrete sidewalk (though no-one walks anywhere in Vietnam - why walk when you can take your motorbike!) and were happily enjoying the peace and quiet...until we stumbled across a birthday party for a 12 year old girl.
I don't know how things are normally done in Vietnam but, when I was 12, my idea of a good time wasn't sitting around with a bunch of adults watching all the local men get drunk. But that is exactly what this party was like! The locals insisted we join them, so we did. The local men took quite a shine to Dan for some reason, they were patting his arm and head, pointing to and pulling out his grey hairs and rubbing the stubble on his chin. Then they dragged him off to drink beer and rice wine with them.
After a while we escaped (after performing a rousing rendition of 'Happy Birthday To You') and continued on our adventure. We drove past fruit orchards, fish farms, shrimp farms and bamboo groves. It was all very scenic and a lovely place to escape the city to.
So, the weekend before last (30-31 Jan for those not keeping count) we escaped Soc Trang and went for a bike ride to and around My Phouc Island. My Phouc is a tiny island, accessible only by ferry (2,000 dong per person and bike - 200,000 dong if a local succeeds in convincing you to take a private boat over). The island is very green and tropical and very quiet! Something we aren't used to in Soc Trang! We biked around the 'main road' of the island which was more like a concrete sidewalk (though no-one walks anywhere in Vietnam - why walk when you can take your motorbike!) and were happily enjoying the peace and quiet...until we stumbled across a birthday party for a 12 year old girl.
I don't know how things are normally done in Vietnam but, when I was 12, my idea of a good time wasn't sitting around with a bunch of adults watching all the local men get drunk. But that is exactly what this party was like! The locals insisted we join them, so we did. The local men took quite a shine to Dan for some reason, they were patting his arm and head, pointing to and pulling out his grey hairs and rubbing the stubble on his chin. Then they dragged him off to drink beer and rice wine with them.
After a while we escaped (after performing a rousing rendition of 'Happy Birthday To You') and continued on our adventure. We drove past fruit orchards, fish farms, shrimp farms and bamboo groves. It was all very scenic and a lovely place to escape the city to.
On the main road
Dan drinking rice wine
Dan's new friend - who was fascinated with Dan's sunnies
Monday, February 8, 2010
A lovely wander around the lake...
One of the most popular destinations in Soc Trang City (apart from restaurant 36 where the beer flows freely and the waitresses are all young and pretty) is the lake. It's a man-made lake in an-oh-so-natural looking and ever-popular (in Vietnam anyway) rectangle shape.
Surrounding the lake are sporting facilities, gardens, carnival rides and cafes aplenty. The lake is one of the few areas in Soc Trang where people actually walk anywhere! To give you an idea of how Soc Trang-ians spend their leisure time I bring you photos of the lakeside...
The lake dragons 
An alligator in the small zoo
Dan was quite excited about the orchid garden for some reason...
And now, to really test my blogging skills, I will attempt to upload a video of the crazy fish in the lake - they go nuts for a feed of puffed rice! (Dad - these fish put your Clarence River fish to shame!)
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