Summer in Hue 2007

Fond Farewell

2007-08-02T05:37:00.001-07:00

What goes up must come down, and all good things eventually come to an end. As we approached another full moon (ngày rằm), the UCR Summer Session Program came to a close with a final, uproarious outdoor party on a hot summer's night in Hue with live dj'ed music, first techno, then Cá Huế, then a little dance music to get people jumping. I hope that some of the students will continue to post their pics here when they get back, but for me, el profesor, I am signing out after the next post until next year... Before I do, I owe many people my sincere thanks for a great program this summer. In no specific order...

Thanks Cậu Chưởng (Mẹ Nguyện's cousin) for a great tour of the Palace and for a great meal prepared by Mợ Hoa at your place.

Thanks Bradley, Huy, Lộc and Thái for good times, especially some smoky afternoons with Craven A and cà phê sửa đá off Hùng Vương. Special thanks to Huy in particular who single-handedly did much of the work with contracts, tours, personnel at Hue University and infecting almost every event with his optimism, humor and enthusiasm.

Pictured here are Ms. Kim Dung (lower right) and Anh Hồng and Chị Thủ (lower center) sitting next to Tony and Châu. Thanks, Dung, for all of your help with visas, foreign affairs, and the paperwork involved with university and city authorities with our group's visit. Missing from our outing today was Rector Phước who had to be at a public ceremony in the mountains. Thanks Dr. Phước in absentia. No stay at the Thanh Noi would be complete without the wonderful care of the housekeeping and restaurant staff. Mr. Hồng and Ms. Thủy supervise the housekeeping and personally handled care for our group's rooms this summer.

Thanks aunties, cousins and uncle! Thanks Chị Mỹ! Dr. Mỹ is not only the Head of the Vietnamese Studies Section at HUCFL that sponsors our program in Huế but as of last summer we found out she is a cousin-in-law, a niece of O Sương and Chú Huyên. She is an important behind-the-scenes player in the program, and we thank you profusely. Pictured in the center in the green áo dài is the rock upon which our family's stay in Huế is based, the veritable Thím Lạc. Every day we ate lunch at her home, wonderful home-cooked feasts prepared fresh each morning. In the blue áo dài next to Thím is O Hồng who lent us her bicycle and since 1997 has been another generous auntie to Hồng Anh.

Especially, thanks to the students for this year - Tony, Lidia, Chau (back row), Vicky, Jonathan, Tri, and Albert (lower right) - for being great students. Your diligence, always getting up and going out there - to class, to the internships - and especially your flexibility and tolerance made this an especially enjoyable course to teach. Also pictured here are some of the other staff (housekeeping, restaurant, reception) who again made our stay at Thanh Noi a flawless one.

Not pictured here are Anh Hùng and Anh Quan - restaurant managers - who set up our farewell party in the courtyard with fresh potted flowers and custom-printed menus. This party was by far our best success for welcome and farewell gatherings, and we've decided to hold all future gatherings in the same space.

Besides the UCR students, this program couldn't have been nearly as much fun this year without the participation of nine student volunteers from Hue University who partnered with the UCR students on their internships. A very sincere THANK YOU to you all for riding the American students around Hue, for interpretation, and for your fun attitude. It was great getting to know you and I am sure to make participation from local students a bigger fixture in next year's program.

This picture I think captures the general mood.

Thanks Quyen and Duc. They are stunned by how funny the jumping shots look.

On Scuppy duty, Chú Nghiên (Ba Tô's cousin) is the other half of the rock upon which my family's stay depends. He's endlessly funny and a wonderful master of ceremonies. Thanks, Chú Nghiên, for your humor and for your incredible contacts throughout the arts scene in Hue.

Finally, thanks to Chị Hương along with Chị Mỹ for your assistance with the language class, for your wonderful staff, and for some good meals in the evenings. We look forward to seeing you again soon in Huế or elsewhere in the future.

Thanks to Family in Saigon - Hẹn Gạp Lại!

2007-07-30T06:53:00.000-07:00

On our overnight in Saigon before catching the flight home, we visited with Em Thảo, her boyfriend Christiaan, and our friend Thơ from Cần Thơ. In the pic on the left, we were watching the many cool features of my new camera, plugged into the tv set and able to remotely shoot pics with a little infrared controller. THANKS as always to dear sis Thảo for her care and consideration of us as we passed through SG yet again. Thanks for visiting us in Hue and for taking time from the startup company to đi chơi.

Musical Boat Dinner

2007-07-25T18:46:00.001-07:00

Sunday night we went out on one of the dragon boats, double-hulled house boats that are effectively floating restaurants and stages where musicians perform traditional Hue tunes. It was also Tam's birthday, and she was surprised to receive a birthday card from some of the students who made it themselves (!) in the arts and crafts section of the main bookstore in town. Trang, another local student, took a stab at interpreting for the mc who only spoke Vietnamese.

Firpo's Visit

2007-07-23T17:27:00.000-07:00

Each weekend we have been in Hue, we've had visitors this summer; I guess we're getting popular. Christina Firpo stopped over for a night and we visited the palace and all the amazing mosaic work being done in various restored gates and buildings. The neo-classical world was nothing if not colorful. Besides visiting thepalace, we had a most excellent motorbike trip on the "great circuit" here from Khai Dinh's Tomb to Minh Mang's Tomb to the new highway to Linh Mu Pagoda and then back into the city. Pictured below are scenes from Quoc Hoc Academy where Ba To went to school, a stone mandarin wearing shades, and Khai Dinh's opulent, crazy mosaic palace.

Boat Trip to the Tombs

2007-07-22T08:12:00.000-07:00

We finally got ourselves to visit some of the kings' tombs this summer. The group picture didn't quite work out as planned as Albert took the chance to visit family in Singapore, but nevertheless we had a great boat trip up the Perfume River and visited the island temple to the Heavenly Lady (an old Cham goddess) and Minh Mang's Tomb. The boat provided a good breeze so Xuan Anh finally got to fly her mermaid kite from the bow. The Tien Ca (mermaid) kite finally got a chance to fly. She's also sporting a very dep conical hat with Hue tourist sites embroidered on the outside.

Vicky gets her fortune told at the Heavenly Mother Temple

People Living Underground

2007-07-21T23:13:00.000-07:00

After the DMZ we headed north and then directly east along the river to a village located along the coast called Vinh Moc. This place was one of many coastal villages that were heavily shelled by US airplanes and ships throughout the war. So, to cope, people developed a network of trenches above-ground and tunnels underground where they lived most of the time for several years during the worst of the shelling. An estimated 7000 lbs of bombs were dropped per person.

This is by far one of the most impressive war sites because in walking through the maze of underground tunnels, you get a very real sense of the extreme conditions under which people attempted to survive this war.

This year we've developed a jumping theme to group shots. It is what it is ...

Pi

Crossing the Ben Hai River

2007-07-21T18:25:00.000-07:00

Hien Luong Bridge across the Ben Hai River was the official dividing line between North and South VN during the war. During prisoner exchanges in the early 1970's, NLF or People's Army prisoners were exchanged for South VN and US prisoners (usually officers) along this bridge. Looking north to the North VN gate, Tony (Hai) and Chau re-enact a friendly crossing over. To the left is the newer highway bridge crossing here. And farther in the distance is construction going on for a new interstate-style highway bridge - the beat goes on...

Yey! We're free!!! More re-enactments.

Traveling to the DMZ - Dong Ha

2007-07-20T18:11:00.000-07:00

We are nearing the end of the summer course and the lecture class has reached the 15-odd years that American advisors then troops worked in Vietnam, building up an unbelievable infrastructure of bases, air hangers, jet landing strips in the jungle, and basically a whole lot of pavement. At a major highway junction just south of the former demilitarized zone (DMZ), there was once a relatively large marine air base at Dong Ha. Now all that remains of it are a few of these very heavy duty airplane hangers built out of corrugated aluminum filled with concrete on the outside. This particular hangar survived whereas most have since been scrapped because after 1975 it was used as a theater for performances.

When it came time to dismantle this one, the town Department of Cultural Affairs had already claimed it as city property and since then they have abandoned using it for performances (they have a brand spanking new theater) but maintain it as a historical ruin of the American occupation. Makes for a very striking ruin especially on such a sunny day.

On our way through Dong Ha we stopped at a cafe favored by one of many NGO's that operate in the DMZ doing rehabilitation work: clearing landmines, giving people with legs and arms blown off prosthetics, digging out unexploded bombs etc. Fortunately, the majority of unexploded ordnance has been dug up now in the area--this snapshot shows a picture of work going on about eight or nine years ago. However, there is still a lot of material left in the hills and even more across the border in Laos on what used to be the "HCM Trail."

The Hanoi Trip July 12-15

2007-07-18T17:28:00.000-07:00

From Thursday to Sunday we traveled and played Ha Noi style. The first stop on any city tour, Ngoc Son Pagoda on a little island in the Lake of the Restored Sword, Hoan Kiem, in downtown Hanoi. This lake has these giant tortoises that live several hundred years and only occassionally show up on the surface. Its the site for a King Arthur type story where a VN leader against the Chinese in 1427 received a magical sword from the lake and then returned it after winning the country's independence. The students were so happy upon learning this they jumped up and down and got a little crazy.

Most people think that study abroad is something that 20-yr-olds with a little disposable summer income do, but this year's experience with two older students, Albert and Tony, has proven to me that its really ideal to have more mature students on the program as well. Both of these guys have been great assets for their ability to organize outings, to hold up in foreign settings, and to engage with their Vietnamese partners in the internships. Also, I think the older one is, the more one appreciates that chance to be able to spend five weeks off of work learning and traveling.

No trip to Hanoi is complete without a visit to Ba Dinh Square and the Vietnamese version of the Washington Mall and Washington Monument, the oh-so-retro Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and associated sites around it. Here Chau Mai demonstrates his athletic prowess hurdling over the "do not enter" sign. On our morning visit, the mausoleum was closed, so we didn't get to go inside the frigid aircon and view "Uncle" Ho lying in eternal repose. However, we did visit the also air-conned HCM Museum nearby; just seeing what Hanoi is first-hand, and seeing a little more tangible evidence about "the north" and this enigmatic historical figure was a great experience.

How happy is our group? Just look at them!

Scuppy and Hong Anh joined us for this excursion to the national mall, here posing in front of a bamboo grove.

Here is Xuan Anh crawling onto the turtles that carry on their backs the names of those people who passed the national exams and received their PhD's. The steles date back to the 1400's and are one of the oldest archaeological remains in good standing in Hanoi. The site here is part of a larger courtyard and campus for Vietnam's first national university which dates to the 11th century in the same spot.

For the grandparents, another cute kid pic. Here seated in front of the entrance to a Temple for Confucius.

Student Trip to Bach Ma

2007-07-11T22:46:00.001-07:00

Last weekend (July 6-8) was a free weekend and six of the students went with the Vietnamese students to nearby Bach Ma National Park. This mountainous rain forest is home to some recently discovered species of deer and other mammals - some of the only new species discovered in the past sixty years. The trails in the park follow along several small rivers and pictured below are pictures from one day hike.

Student Shots - Hoi An, Noon Gate, My Son

2007-07-11T22:01:00.000-07:00

It's a little bit slow adding pictures from our hotel in Hue, so the students asked me to post some of their pics from my memory stick to the blog. Below are shots (top to bottom) of: an outdoor lecture at a coconut juice stand, a coconut juice at the beach near Hue, Lidia as the god Siva at My Son, Lidia and Vicky in the jeep at My Son, the class receiving flowers from Hue University for July 4th, Albert playing the drum at the noon gate, a funky group picture at the noon gate, and the non-funky picture. Pictured along with the Summer Session students are some Hue University students who have been partnering with them on individual internship projects.

Free Weekend July 6-8

2007-07-10T00:58:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was the free weekend in the program, no activities planned. Six out of seven students headed to the mountains to Bach Ma Natl Park with the Vietnamese students for an overnight trekking trip. While they hiked some seven kilomteres through mountainous jungles, Hong Anh, Xuan Anh and I opted for a more relaxed weekend trip to the beach on Saturday. We visited Canh Duong Beach about half-way to Da Nang and a lovely protected cove with a nice shallow, sandy beach as well as covered shade areas where our car parked and we ate freshly caught seafood.

Joining us on this trip were Thao, sister Dung, and Dung's friend May all travelling from Saigon to Hue for the weekend. Thao is pictured here in a basket boat parked on the sand. OK, we couldn't resist. Everyone took basket boat pictures. They are like giant floating cereal bowls.

No trip to Vietnam is complete without a picture in or near some kind of fishing boat. These boats are quite interesting, made of interwoven strips of bamboo then sealed with tar. There is a kind of near-shore squid-fishing boat also made from thick, basket-like interwoven bamboo. Why? Because in this region, there's a kind of sea worm that bores through wood. Bamboo is more fibrous, especially when coated with tar; and it can be more easily replaced. These are paddled with a single oar with the boatman standing in it, used for near-shore activities, getting back and forth to the boats etc.

All weekend people were burning votive paper and laying out incense in front of their homes. It isn't the full-moon period of the lunar month, so I was curious. It was an anniversary of an 1885 uprising in the citadel against the French where some 1000-2000 locals died, especially members of the royal family. The French troops were ordered to massacre civilians in retaliation for the newly crowned king Ham Nghi who urged all Vietnamese to fight.

Dung and May standing in front of a circular window of the palace gate. For her many admirers, here are some more pictures of Xuan Anh for the grandparents, some taken by Auntie MayMay.

"cheese"

the "ugly face"

"goggle face"

"hat head"

Scuppy Tribute in Pictures

2007-07-05T07:04:00.000-07:00

July 4th at Duc Son Orphanage

2007-07-05T01:35:00.000-07:00

This afternoon we visited an orphanage and school run by one of the most famous nuns in Hue, Co Minh Tu, who since during wartime has dedicated her life to loving and caring for abandoned and orphaned children as well as children with special needs. Lidia Tutarovina is doing her internship with the orphanage, writing a fundraising pamphlet about the orphanage's activities in English and teaching an English class to advanced students and nuns two afternoons per week. Unlike most institutions in Vietnam, Duc Son Orphanage does not require extensive permissions to work with foreigners and Minh Tu has received numerous awards even from the state. Why? Because all she does is care for children that nobody else wants. For any group that comes with cares for helping the children, they are welcomed with open arms. On this occassion, Lidia, Jonathan Chang and Vicky Nguyen as well as several partner students from the College of Foreign Languages and my colleague Huy as well as Co Hong Anh and Scuppy visited. Right after Minh Tu explained that she preferred not to receive large donations of candy because it rotted the kids teeth, we presented her with a big bag of candy. She laughed and said she appreciated the spirit of our generosity and I promised next year I'd come with toothbrushes and toothpaste. We presented her with pencils from UC Riverside - perhaps some graduate from Duc Son will attend UCR in the future? And we presented her with a 500.000 VND donation which she will sue to purchase formula for the infants that she cares for.

Duc Son is not an adoption agency and does not advocate putting children up for international adoption because of the unwanted attention and "market-influence" that brings into the community. Instead, Minh Tu explained that the purpose of her orphanage is to fill the kids with love and attention so they may grow up to be "complete" individuals even though they lack parents and family that is so important in Vietnamese culture. She likened the children to houses that if not kept up and filled with good atmosphere would have their windows closed, fall into disrepair. The Orphanage readily accepts children who have been abandoned...there are the usual stories: babies left on the steps of the orphanage, side of the road, born with severe deformities... as well as kids whose parents suffer mental illness, other severe disabilities, were simply too poor or who died in the flood of 1999. Pictured above is a guest member of our course, Dr. Floyd Killough, who also visited the orphanage. He has been volunteering his time working with some famous doctors at Hue Medical College who are doing research on rehabilitating kids born with genetic disorders--many associated with exposure to dioxin left as a residue of Agent Orange, the chemical defoliant sprayed in the hills about 50 km west of Hue on the "Ho Chi Minh Trail".

At the orphanage, Floyd introduced me to Le Dang Kiet, a 2-yr-old born a few months before Scuppy whose parents were deficient in Vitamin A. Vitamin deficiency is especially common in the highlands among some very impoverished communities, and it often affects the eyes. One couple living near the orphanage actually tried to adopt Kiet, but they themselves were too poor to look after him safely, to keep him from falling or bumping into things, and so they brought him back. Women living near the orphanage routinely donate hours of time to care for such kids. Floyd explained to me that while he was blind right now, one of his eyes could be restored to vision if he receives a transplant, and such an operation in Hue would cost only $3000.

Floyd is here with one of many American aid groups called Vets with a Mission where American veterans of the war in Vietnam come back and provide expert medical and professional support. Floyd is working in particular to bring much-needed laboratory and research equipment to the local hospital. On his first trip here, outside Quang Tri in January 1968, the pilot told passengers that below them in the city of Hue, the VC flag had been raised over the city. The NLF controlled Hue for ten days during the Tet Offensive.

The Most Beautiful Truckstop in the World

2007-07-04T18:16:00.000-07:00

After visiting the My Son monuments, brick towers built in a Hindu style by the Chams from the 10th to 14th centuries on a hill that gets pretty hot in summer, we headed by bus back through Da Nang to Hue. One member of the group complained of being hungry, and pretty soon we had a fullscale turista insurgency on our hands, so the bus pulled off near Lang Co Beach into a roadside truckstop. Fresh seafood was cooked to order and cold beers and Cokes were had for a slight markup on the regular in-town price. What I didn't expect was to have this incredibly scenic view out the back of the Tam Giang Lagoon, a large shallow estuary between Hue and the beach. Pictured here is an ideal family Christmas photo. Now if I can only get around to sending out the cards...

The light was just perfect, making everything sparkle in the late afternoon just after a thundershower had passed.

We Love Hoi An

2007-07-03T07:50:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we traveled to Hoi An for the first weekend trip. Hoi An is this sixteenth century trading port where Portuguese, Japanese and Chinese all lived together and had raucous parties all night long. This picture is taken from one of many tourist shops - the towns entire economy appears to be about beach resorts, silk pajamas, and late night clubs.

Hoi An is also known for its lanterns. Its one of those weird things that started here back about ten years ago, maybe one shop that made lanterns the old-fashioned way, that has mushroomed into a nation-wide phenomenon. Every backpacker joint and tourist shop from Hanoi to Saigon now sells these lanterns. They are like beacons attracting all manner of scantily clad tourist to buy some statues or order a cafe sua da (ice milk coffee).

Yep, Hoi An brings out the best in tourists. There was a full-moon festival when we went, and the students hooked up with a few Vietnamese pop stars and spent the evening at the beach with Vicky returning to show an autographed poster of the main pop icon. Scuppy, Hong Anh and I opted for more staid entertainment. We rode swan boats and wandered among the carnival.

This picture is for the grandparents reading this and Scuppy's many admirers...

It's this pretty, really. I shot this at 5:15 am walking across the river from our hotel to the main downtown market.

The Green Zone in 1966 ... Danang

2007-07-03T07:40:00.001-07:00

This past weekend we stopped off in Danang at the former US military headquarters for I Corps that is now a divisional headquarters for the VN army and has a military museum. Visiting military museums tend to all fall into the same pattern of the long narrative of resistance against foreign agression, but I nevertheless think its important to show the students some of the hardware to get a sense of just how different this place was in 1965 with thousands of helicopters and hundreds of thousands of Americans moving about. I snapped this picture of Vietnamese kids dressed in their patriotic red scarves (elementary school uniforms) crawling around on the remarkably well-preserved equipment.

The other detail that often gets lost on students is the ordnance that the United States dropped on Vietnam. Its impressive just to get a sight of some of the larger bunker busters and to think how many millions of tons of sucvh weapons fell from the sky. A friend here told me that after the war, people began mining unexploded ordnance for scrap. The metal used is of such high quality that it has significant value as scrap. A bomb like this, once defused and cut apart, might sell for four or five hundred dollars as scrap. I think this story, scrapping bombs for cash, is perhaps even more incredible.

Visiting the Sites in Hue

2007-07-03T07:22:00.000-07:00

I've been experimenting with different times to visit sites in Hue to avoid the heat. In short, there is no way to do this. We visited this circa-1840 ampitheater for tiger and elephant fights last Thursday for about twenty minutes before heading home, and it was hot outside, but "cool" to drive through a few alleys and just come upon this place where the old Vietnamese kings used to park their war elephants. The local kids, out of school for summer, have a lively trade going in postcards, water, bracelets, and fans. They pop out of their houses when the vans roll up looking remarkably fresh!

Last week I tried lecturing on the Nguyen Lords and "localization"- incorporating local sites/beliefs into state forms - at Thien Mu (Heavenly Mother) pagoda. Heat-wise it worked out fine. Started at 8am and went home about 1045. The place had been an important temple to the Cham deity Po Nagar (Uma) before 1600 and the first Nguyen Lord, Nguyen Hoang, made a big deal of erecting a new Vietnamese temple to the Vietnamized Po Nagar (Thien Y A Na) in 1601. The tower is an interesting blend of architectural styles, not the typical Vietnamese Buddhist pagoda.

No trip in Hue is complete without a visit to the Noon Gate (Ngo Mon) completed in 1833 as a copy of a similar gate to the Forbidden City in Beijing. The palace area is huge, and it really is worth three or four hours, a guidebook, and some music or a friend for the long walks. Today we took the quick tour, visiting some of the buildings. Our guide, Mr. Chuong, explained how the tile roof-ends are done in the shape of bats (called "phuc" in Chinese) that suggest a kind of visual homonym to the word "phuoc" which means happiness. The lanterns are there on the front of the gate for a night festival that ends this weekend.

We have yet to visit the royal tombs, but I expect that to be an afternoon boat trip sort of thing with music following on the river.

College of Foreign Languages

2007-06-30T00:26:00.000-07:00

On Monday, we started our first day of classes at the same time that a group from the University of Washington started their course of study. The UCR students are to the left and above is a sign welcoming each program. Pictured next to me (David) is Dean Phuoc and to his left, Dr. Christoph Geibel, head of the Washington group. Christoph served on my dissertation committee during my graduate study at the University of Washington; and I assisted him in leading a trip to Hanoi in 2000. So our association with study abroad trips goes back a few years. When Christoph asked me about possible hosts for his program open to U.S. students this summer, I sent him right to Hue. Having two American groups here seems to be fun for the students, both the Americans and the Vietnamese. The UW group will leave Hue in another week and spend two weeks in the former De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) working with veterans' groups on tree-planting and other rehabilitation projects. The UCR group will participate in service-learning internships in the city of Hue working with Vietnamese students at Hue Hospital, Thuong Lac Free Health Clinic, the Hue Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Hue Sports Center, and Duc Son Orphanage. Also in this picture, far left, is Mr. Huy, the logistics person in the Department of Vietnamese Studies who is largely responsible for organizing these programs.

Each year we have a welcome ceremony and this year, the College supplied each UCR student with Hue University logo gear. Sporting the ballcaps are Chau, Tri and Jonathan. Not pictured here are the Vietnamese students who will work with them on their service projects this summer.

Classes take place in this room, part of the ground floor of an old, French-era villa where the college has its temporary campus until the new, modern campus is completed this summer. Each room comes with ethernet, lcd projector, aircon, ceiling fans, and flowers (only on the first day!). Like UCR, Hue University is going through a massive building phase, and all of the various colleges around town will move to a new, American-style campus complete with green space and kids throwing frisbees on the grass.

Our Hotel in Hue

2007-06-30T00:07:00.000-07:00

"Welcome to Thanh Noi Hotel" the neon sign reads. We are located at this very fine local-style garden hotel in Hue, inside the walls of the old city that people in Vietnam call the citadel ("thanh" in Vietnamese). Xuan Anh is standing on the steps of the reception next to a very fancy looking Mercedes - great advertising for the place. No doubt it probably belongs to the Mayor or Vice-Mayor of the city since the hotel belongs to the City of Hue.

One of the great features of this little hotel is the very clean, small pool in the garden area. Here pictured are a couple of Italian kids who woke me up from my siesta screaming in Italian while doing cannonballs into the pool. Students are usually reading in the mid-day and resting after lectures, but the pool is a great and useful feature for the early morning or later in the evening. The staff at Thanh Noi Hotel know us well from last year, too, so there's no problem taking late-night dips.

Another nice feature of Thanh Noi is its garden-house style restaurant. Here under a very old Bodhi tree, breakfast is included free each morning, a great buffet of fresh tropical fruits, coffee & tea, some Asian breakfast dishes, and eggs cooked to order. During our stay here, there is a steady flow of European and American families and tourists passing through Hue. Its ideal, too, not having to clean a single dish during the program! In the far distance, you can just make out the wall surrounding the old, 19th century palace.

I didn't get a photo of the room in here yet, but its a standard room, fresh sheets changed daily, a fast laundry service, very clean floors, bathroom with shower or tub, and most important of all for us, a strong air conditioner. The rooms also come equipped with BBC, MTV, the Vietnamese broadcast channels, and a few European channels (Television Monde and a German channel). One thing we like here very much is the staff; they have all been working at the hotel for years and are relatively happy working there - so we feel secure there. They are constantly sweeping, cleaning floors and windows, and there day and night. This is relatively rare outside the five-star resorts, and I think it has to do with the management - esp. the Vice-Manager who is a graduate of the school that hosts us in Hue.

We've Arrived

2007-06-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

To all those interested in following the adventures of David, Hong Anh, Xuan Anh as well as the seven students in this year's program (from left: Jonathan, Tri, Tony, Albert, Vicky, Lidia, and Chau) we have arrived and are finally getting up online. At Co Hong Anh's prompting, everyone this year has bought a bicycle for fun cruising around town. (All have helmets, too.) Bikes here are cheaper to buy ($40) and resell ($20) than to rent daily from the hotel. Tri and Jonathan will be working at Bac Si Que's medical clinic for poor people, and Lidia will be working at the Duc Son Orphanage, so there may be an option for donating the bicycles for needy children instead. Hue is perhaps the most bikeable city, especially in the Old City (Thanh Noi) where we stay. Last night under the near-full moon, the group biked the main streets along the Perfume River, nearly empty after 10pm.

The Backpack Carrier

2007-06-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Hue on a sweltering June afternoon, the plane parking on the tarmac and us walking to the gate. Vietnam Airlines has lost its old Soviet-style block-letter logo and opted for the more inviting Lotus, symbol of pure quality service and a flight on Boeing equipment that practically levitates you from Saigon to Hue, Hanoi and any number of other destinations. I just read in the Vietnam News that the government has purchased four new Boeing 787's for its fleet, the Dreamliners.

Hong Anh is very proud of this latest child-carrying device. Its compact, crushable, and very comfortable. The Ergo Baby Carrier can be worn in front, back or on your hip, and makes for a great stroller substitute. A good workout too!

Family in Saigon

2007-06-22T20:30:00.000-07:00

On our way to Hue, we stopped in to stay with Thao and my adopted family in Vietnam. Thao lives in Thanh Binh District, just beyond downtown, in a highrise where she also manages about 8 programmers working for an Australian software company. Pictured here at dinner are Mama Hiep, Thao, and her niece and nephew, Cun and Bin, as well as us with a sleeping jetlagged Xuan Anh.

Xuan Anh and Cun get acquainted.

Feeding elephants sugarcane at the zoo. While the San Diego Zoo might be our favorite zoo back home, few places will let you feed the elephants anymore like the Saigon city zoo. Here the elephants wait patiently while Xuan Anh and the gang savor the moment. It looks like Bean is actually taking a few licks of his before giving it off.