Asia Insights

Posted on March 3, 2014 by admin

I never thought I would travel in Asia, let alone spend 7 months there moving from Vietnam to Thailand, Laos, China, Hong Kong and Philippines! One of the coolest things about traveling is noticing the small differences in culture and human behavior, things we usually take for granted. Here are some of my personal observations on this matter, read on…

Hong Kong High tech shower

Toilets – one of the most diverging points of a society is the bathroom! In China you better be prepared to squat, in Thailand you will use a bucket to flush the toilet even if there is running water in the tap. In Philippines a toilet seat is far from being required and forget about hot water! Vietnam is quite westernized in this department although there isn’t any separation between the shower and toilet so prepare for a wet toilet seat (like almost everywhere in Asia!) while Hong Kong is a different world and you can even choose the temperature of the water!

street market Hanoi Vietnam

Supermarkets – supermarkets are a great way to get to know a society. In north Vietnam there almost aren’t any, all the locals still go to the markets twice a day to buy fresh products. Thailand and Hong Kong have been taken over by 711! But in Hong Kong all the supermarkets are so tiny and overcrowded there are actual human traffic jams in the aisles. The Philippines was a big surprise for me with loads of western products. While in China they have no bread, only dried crackers, but a whole section of different kinds of noodles. Also the cosmetics section which is massive everywhere in Asia (packed with skin whitening creams!) was much smaller.

Bicycling in Laos, hiding from the sun as usual in Asia.

Getting around – It is amazing how many different ways to make a Tuk Tuk there are. Thailand is famous for its Tuk Tuks that seem to be specifically manufactured. In the Philippines they just attach makeshift carriages to a motorbike. In Vietnam there are only motorbikes! In Laos they look like small converted tractors with the passengers sitting in the back but most people are still on bicycles.

Public transportation also varies a lot. Hong Kong is definitely the best with cheap super advanced metro and buses. Thailand is the land of luxury intercity buses (some even have a massage chair!). Laos will use the words “luxury” and “first class” but don’t believe them. Vietnam was surprisingly ok with bus schedules and air con! In China you have to take your shoes off to get into the sleeper buses which are crammed, with no marked seats and not all seats are created equal. The Philippines was probably the worst, with no schedule, no air con, and buses that seem they might fall apart on the way.

Folding money in the Philippines

Money – I mean the actual notes! Vietnam is smart enough to get rid of all the coins although they have an obsession for new crisp notes and won’t accept anything that looks too old. While in the Philippines they are obsessed with folding and crinkling up the notes! Laos has the most confusing notes in my opinion with all of them looking pretty much the same. Hong Kong has some high tech plastic notes. And in Thailand the heavier the coin the less it’s worth!

Utensils – A knife cannot be found anywhere in asia! Even modern Hong Kong will give you a fork and spoon. In Vietnam and China even those are rare and you better know how to use them chopsticks.

Communication – In China you will get shouted at, but don’t take it too hard they shout at each other all the time too. In Laos you might be completely ignored while in Vietnam people might just shake their heads in a ‘no’ motion. In Thailand people will say ‘yes, yes’ even if the answer is no, in Hong Kong people will smile and politely keep speaking Cantonese at you and in the Philippines you will almost always find someone that speaks decent English!!!

Food coloring and bucket of sugar in this Philippines traditional desert

Food – Asia is known for it’s strange ‘delights’. In Vietnam, silk worms, frogs, snails and dogs are a common thing. China will outdo even that with eating… well everything….there aren’t even any rats on the street. China will also over-fry and over-chemical everything. I’ve heard stories of apples not rotting for more than three months. Personally, for the first time in my life I had constant heartburn after two weeks there.

Thailand is queen, king and emperor of spicy food, but also of delicious fruit, fruit shake and fresh coconut water which I will miss forever. Laos was a bit dull while Philippines is obsessed with food coloring and sugar (seriously they add sugar to peanut butter!). For desserts head over to Hong Kong for endless delicious varieties of sweet soups, mochi style rice dough or jelly dessert.

I would recommend staying away from the Dorian stinky fruit which is popular throughout Asia, unless you enjoy the smell of sewage.

Tea house in China

Coffee or Tea? Vietnam has Its own delicious variation of ice coffee and also some strange room temperature teas, in China you will spend a small fortune for a cappuccino so you better stick with the endless varieties of teas served in tiny miniature bowls. Laos and especially Thailand are home of bubble milk Tea but not much when it comes to quality stuff.

Drugs – Thailand weed is great, Vietnam isn’t too bad either but don’t expect too much of the Chinese brand. Good luck finding any in Hong Kong. Laos is rumored to have opium but I couldn’t find any. In the Philippines they smoke pipes since rolling paper is very expensive and the weed had a delayed effect on me kicking in only half an hour after I smoked.

Chocolate? What in Asia? You have to be kidding me?!?!

Behind The Scenes

Posted on October 5, 2013 by admin

When you become part of a place it’s harder to look at it from the outside which is why even though I’ve had loads of experiences in Vietnam I haven’t been writing much. But now, already in Bangkok there are a few things I would like to share.

The Red Flag

Each newspaper is focused on one issue, sports, economics, world affairs …
The whole world outside of Vietnam is a scary terrible place!

Vietnam still suffers from many remnants of communism. As a white foreigner it was hard to feel them myself but by talking to locals a very restricting picture was painted. Bars and clubs must close by midnight, all the news-papers are strictly censored by the government, students must belong to this “communist youth party” in order to study and if anyone is hosting a foreigner overnight they must pass the foreigner’s passport details to the police.

The police appear to ignore white people but the Vietnamese that come in contact with them will be the ones the police try to get money from.

Here are two examples from my life: A Vietnamese who joined a climbing trip was blamed by local authorities for being the “tour guide” even though he had paid for the trip like all the foreigners and was not the guide! The authorities tried to force him to pay a “tour guide fee” even when the real guide tried explaining the situation – the authorities confiscated the Vietnamese’s identity card!

Very “yellow” news – a wife discovers her husband cheating on her makes front page.

A foreign friend was staying with a Vietnamese family. The family complied with the law and passed his details to the police who later came knocking on the door demanding the Vietnamese family pay a fee for hosting him.

In both cases the Vietnamese authorities didn’t communicate with the foreigners directly but instead harassed their own citizens.

Where America actually won the war

I visited Ho Chi Min (Saigon) for a few days and was amazed with the difference. Everything that I liked about Hanoi was gone. Western brands were everywhere (Starbucks, Pizza Hut, KFC and more), Big supermarkets, Shopping malls; the markets were geared towards tourists with very aggressive selling tactics. Night life was heavily influenced by the prostitution industry and crime levels are much higher. I was navigating with my phone’s GPS when two guys on a motorbike tried to snatch and grab my phone from out of my hand. They didn’t know that they were dealing with climbers’ fingers so I latched on to the phone and instinctively dropped my center of gravity and they just zoomed by empty handed with hateful looks on their face. As my brother pointed out, the west has not only gotten to Ho Chi Minh, it has corrupted it.

Practicing Wing Chun on a Climbing trip, more or less sums up my time in Vietnam. Photo by Nam, Check out his photo blog! http://cvlom.blogspot.com/

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the amazing people I met in the Vĩnh Xuân Nguyễn Gia (Nguyen’s Wing Chun) who accepted me into their family! As well as everyone from Vietclimb bouldering gym.

Viet Pride

Posted on August 14, 2013 by admin

I might have missed the Jerusalem pride events this year (I heard they still got a stink bomb thrown at them L) but I did join the LGBT community and supporters in Hanoi for their second pride festival ever.

All the colors of the rainbow

Hand made pride flags!

Preparations for the fashion show

The first two day of events happened at the Gothe institutions and included lectures, movies and a fashion show. The organizers did their best to provide a high tech environment, with five laptops, two web cam’s broadcasting live, a high res video camera man and instant translation through ear phones. The translation was meant for the few foreigners like me that joined the mostly local crowd. Unfortunately it wasn’t a very good translation so it was quite hard to follow.

There were intense monsoon rains the first two days which might have kept many people at home, those who did come heard LGBT community members talk about discrimination, gender roles and the fact that everyone asks them if they are married and when will they be married? The truth is I get asked the same question without anyone knowing my sexual orientation. Anyway, turns out annoying people in the crowd that just like to hear their own voice is an international thing, there was some straight guy that works in the medical field who was relentless in his jabbering. I’m pretty sure he was saying some bad things about the community but with the translation I got he might as well have been talking about eating pizza. Then came a sudden power outage to remind us that we are still Vietnam.

All motorbike are created equal

Photography is a dangerous occupation!

The next day I woke up super early to get to the main event, the parade which was supposed to be a bicycle parade!?! I was way too chicken to ride a bicycle across town so I thought I’d join by walking. That turned out to be impossible as people were riding really fast and in fact, at least half of them were on motorbikes not bicycles. So I hitched a ride with a young women. There must have been a few hundreds of us driving down the crazy traffic of Hanoi with cars and motorbikes zooming all around. I couldn’t help but think that the parade might be a homophobic ploy to try to get rid of the gay population, “assassination by motorbike accident”. Luckily no one seemed to get hurt.

Love the shirts! Hate the motorbikes!

I’ve organised a few parades and political demonstrations in my time and I have to say the organizers did one hell of an amazing job. Each participant got a free T-shirt, flag and water bottle. And there were tens of bikes decorated in the colors of the rainbow riding one after each other.

Self portrait from back of a motorbike!

It’s been a long time since I felt that I’ve been to some “underground” event. I felt this in Hanoi pride week, not because they were hiding but because it felt like something new and exciting coming into being in this quite traditional city. While some places in the world like Russia are going back into the dark ages banning homosexual behavior and using violence against the LGBT community (you can sign a petition to postpone the Olympics that are going to be held in Russia here until LGBT rights are returned) , it was great to see so many young teenagers come out in support of gay rights, marching this country forward!

A Skeptic Needle?

Posted on August 2, 2013 by admin

Ten minutes before I left for my first ever Acupuncture treatment, the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science published an article titled “why acupuncture is giving sceptics the needle”. If I had any inclination to believe in god or fate or whatever I’d say it was a sign telling me not to go. Luckily I don’t so I can bring you this tale. Read on…

I might not believe in God or even Chi for that matter but I do believe in the well documented Placebo effect. As I’m suffering from a mild L4/L5 pinched nerve, the cause of which I’m not sure I want to know, I thought why not try it. Even the article the Dawkings piece was based on said some research indicated Acupuncture could help in lower back pain. Besides I love Dr Mae-Wan Ho’s theory about how quantum coherence might allow our cells to communicate at a much lower level and she muses about acupuncture being able to affect that network.

I freaked out a seeing this still on the table with all the needles in...

I freaked out a little, seeing this while still on the table with all the needles in…

After I explained to the head of the clinic my symptoms she took a look at my tongue. She asked me to lay down while she and her assistant preceded to examine me by pressing at certain points, moving my legs around and stretching me here and there. I think it took a long stressful 10 minutes. I felt I was in some test waiting to hear the important results. Finally she said my spine was healthy and my energy levels were good. Which I’m hoping means my nerve pinch isn’t caused by a slipped disk.

From there I went with the assistant who started out with the best shiatsu style massage applying very strong and focused pressure. Then she swabbed my back with alcohol and my stress levels jumped up. I tried to stay calm while she inserted the first needle. It felt somewhat between a pinch and a static electric shock. Not too painful but still an ‘ouch’ moment. She went on slowly inserting more needles each of which felt different. Within a few seconds of the needles’ insertion the pain subdued and some weren’t felt at all.

Then she said I will feel a “tok tok tok”. Just as I began saying I don’t feel anything I yelped out as fast week electric shocks began pulsing through my lower back. That’s when things got really strange. I started feeling as if I was being stung by needles in placed the acupuncturist wasn’t even touching me, the thigh I was lying on, the back of my hamstring and the fingers of leg, all of which on the left side which is being effected by the nerve pinch. As the Acupuncturist’s English wasn’t the best it was hard to explain to her but when I did she went on to place needles in those area’s that I mentioned that she could reach and massaged the rest.

I was quite surprised at how dynamic and changeable the feelings were. Each point was sending out completely different signals every few seconds. At times the pulsing was almost unbearable, a moment later it was almost unfelt, then I felt pleasurable pressure on my lower back and suddenly my right shoulder felt as if it were pricked. I was being my regular animated self, giggling and screeching, when a woman that was getting a massage a few meters from me, said through a cloth certain that separated us, “next time I want to have what she’s having”, after which I struck up a strange little conversation with her trying to explain how strange it all felt.

Before the needles were removed I asked the acupuncturist if she could take a picture. I think she thought I was insane but still took the photo J

Then she asked me to turn on my back and started stretching me in a thai style massage.

I felt very strange getting up but could still feel my nerve pinch. As the whole treatment had cost me just $7 I wanted to tip the woman but she wouldn’t let me.

After effects:

I kept on needing to pee for the next two hours. Then after a nap I woke up my lower back feeling very stiff, as if it had a hard workout, but I couldn’t recreate the nerve pinch feeling that happens only when I arch my back. I kept wondering if my subconsciousness wasn’t allowing me to arch as far as I usually do but I really did my best to contort every which way. The lower back pain was there but the shooting pain down my buttock was gone. Latter I went to my regular kung fu class and at some point managed to recreate that nerve pinch feeling but it was still much harder to reach and the pain was much weaker.

The next day I woke up and the nerve pinch is pretty much back to usual, but the whole experience was strange enough so I’m willing to recreate the experiment on Sunday…I’ll see how it goes.

Sacrificing Coca Cola

Posted on July 25, 2013 by admin

I had hoped that communism had erased the stronghold of religion in Vietnam. I was wrong. Although like everything else I’ve encountered in this country, things are stranger than I expected.

Pagoda

Almost all the population is Buddhist, they believe in a form of ancestral worship, the afterlife and karma. Even though many of the younger generation don’t have a strong belief they still consider this part of their culture. The Vietnamese follow a lunar calendar and go to pray at one of the many Pagoda style temples that decorate the city at the beginning and middle of every month. That’s where things get strange.

Yep those are coca cola cans!

From my time in Japan I expected the entrance of the temple to be filled with small stalls selling stuff. Bringing offerings to the temple is also quite typical. What I didn’t expect is the type of offerings. A pyramid of coca cola cans set at the top of each altar along with a similar pyramid of beer cans made me gawk in shock. Although I guess there is some sense to it, if this is what you like in this life you might miss it in the afterlife.

How about buying some fake cash?

People left big trays filled with offering that included fruit, Oreo’s, drinks and loads of cash. Some of the amounts of cash looked to be awfully big until I noticed you could actually buy fake cash outside of the temple to put in your offering! Seems Judaism isn’t the only religion with a long cheat sheet.

I was wandering what happens to all the food but it turns out people just leave the offerings in the temple for a few minutes, moving them from room to room so they can be blessed by the different gods and ancestors. Later they take their plates back and the food and money are considered blessed.

There were trays to leave donations for the temple and also monks taking donations and in return for some type of food that has been in the temple for a long time so it’s “super blessed”

I asked if people weren’t afraid their offerings would be stolen, but the notion itself seemed outrageous as steeling from ghosts will mess up your Karma for life.

Culture Shock!

Posted on July 8, 2013 by admin

My first week in Hanoi was filled with so many ups and downs, ins and outs it’s hard to put it all in words. That’s doesn’t mean I won’t try. Read on…

Typical street

First 48 hours

It’s so hot even the dog can’t be bothered to move

I knew it would be hot and humid but knowing is one thing and feeling is another! The crowds, the constant movement, the noises of chickens and motorbikes everywhere put me in a state of shock. The first 48 hours in a new country are always the hardest so I reminded myself to observe and put my critical thinking on hold.

My first morning I awoke at 07:00, government speakers were playing loud music in the street. After the music there was a long speech of some sort and then some more music. These public announcement by the government start each day here. How weird is that? Although I guess it means you don’t need an alarm clock.

Buses and chickens that will probably be eaten by the end of the day.

I began my exploration and discovered that there is a very different balance between the public and private sphere than i’m used to. Children play in the alleyways and all house doors are open allowing me to peek inside and see them going about their business. Most of them are sitting on the floor busy with making food or sawing or some other activity, a lot of them with a big flat screen in their living room. Sometimes I’m not sure if it’s a house or some sort of business, probably both. And all motorbikes are parked inside!

My living room, not my motobike.

It seems everyone in Hanoi is busy selling something, anything! Women balance huge baskets on their shoulders or push huge carts with anything from bottled water to vegetables or clothing. Everywhere there are small stalls on the sidewalk selling food or services, even barbers.

Different style of ATM’s for all the buying?

Even wheelchairs are used as a sales cart.

Almost everything seems to be manufactured and sold locally with very little western influence. After feeling very embarrassed when three women in a local store were running around me I managed to find one of the only ‘supermarkets’ in the city, where I could quietly walk around with a cart and even a little air-conditioning. It was still quite messy compared to anything you find in the west and was nearly empty. I’ve made a resolution to try and buy from the markets and locals, we’ll see if I stick to it.

Food fields 100 meters from the markets and houses.

It was a nice surprise to discover there’s no McDonalds, no Pizza Hut and no Starbucks. I have seen one KFC which was empty. It wasn’t as much fun to discover none of the local places have air conditioning. The truth is I don’t see how any of these chains have a chance here as the Vietnamese seem to have invented fast food. At each corner cheap fast local dishes are sold. Another delightful surprise was how un-spicy the dishes are. Each table does have these red malicious looking sauces and cut up chilly you can add to your plate but I don’t have the nerve to even try.

Hot breakfast

Despite the heat Vietnamese start the morning with a boiling chicken noodle soup called pho for breakfast. Maybe if you’re hot inside you can trick your brain into thinking it’s not so hot outside?

Clubbing

Party time!

On Friday night I joined my flat mate to an opening of a new club. I was surprised to discover great electronic music and a multicultural environment that can give Berlin a fight. The place itself had an edgy atmosphere, being in a converted old office building that wouldn’t pass any inspection. Then suddenly the music turned to strange wedding type music making everyone run away from the dance floor. My flat mate thinks it’s a ploy to get people to buy more drinks as dancing people don’t drink.

The simple life?

While I’m finding some things very complicated, like crossing the road (although I’m getting better at that), or dealing with the bills and money, (my slight dyslexia seems unable to cope with the amount of zeroes 500, 5000, 50000, 50000?) and communicating (even when I try saying I don’t understand in Vietnamese I’m probably saying it wrong) other things are so simple. I mean, there are no coins for one! And when I needed a sim card all I had to do was go into a store and pay $4 for a prepaid and put it in my phone. No filling endless forms and registering online to activate it like Australia. I even have 3G! What exactly does this cell phone package include I have no idea, but for $4 you can’t really go wrong. Another example of this paradox between simplicity and complexity happened when I itched a stupid mosquito bite. A dangerous infection got into my blood system and my whole hand started to swell. A quick visit to a friend of my flat mate who’s a doctor and then a visit to one of the many pharmacies where I bought antibiotics without any need for a prescription. I don’t want to think how complicated that would be in Australia.

Try crossing this road!

Getting around is another example, navigating the small alleyways is very confusing along with walking amongst the thousands of motorbikes. Everyone keeps on telling me I should get a motorbike and it seems that every family has one! I’ve seen families of four ride on one motorbike, none of them with helmets (although by law they supposed to) while the driver texts on the phone! My mom will be happy to know there’s no chance of me joining the biker club. (Although I’ve been on my kong fu teacher’s bike, hoping his lightning fast instincts will keep us alive). The truth is I don’t see the need for them as, amazingly, google transit works here showing me what buses to use. And although there is no schedule, so far I have found the bus system surprisingly ok. They are old but have a sort of air conditioner and I never had to wait more than ten minutes. For 25 cents that’s not too bad. There is a guy who sells tickets on each bus. One of them actually pocketed my money and didn’t give me a ticket. When I discovered I was on the wrong direction of the bus an English speaking local wanted to give me her ticket but the ticket guy objected and I said it was fine. No need to get her in trouble for a quarter.
So, despite the hardships, the foreignness and the fact that going outdoors is still a mission for me (especially since two crazy monsoon rains have come out of nowhere in the past two days) I am uncharacteristically optimistic and starting to get the rhythm of this city.

More to come…

Still In The Trees

anthropological experiences from the fringe frontier

Category Archives: vietnam