dragon fruit in Vietnam

Is not this fruit the coolest and most amazing fruit you have ever seen? This is the dragon fruit, a raging hot pink bulb with bright green appendages curling off of it. Inside it is white with tiny black seeds and it has a texture similar to the kiwi.

The first thing that struck me about Hanoi, Vietnam were all the motorcycles. I would say about 90% of the people in Hanoi travel via motorcycle or bicycle. It was amazing to see 50 motorcycles at a stoplight, sometimes 8 stretched across a single lane. We got to take a spin around the city and it was quite enjoyable buzzing around, the wind in your face, dodging the other motorcycles and buses and cars.

Here's a short video clip from my motorcycle ride:



One very cool practice in Vietnam is a daily nap. After lunch, everyone takes a nap, no matter where they are. One afternoon we were sent off for our nap in one of the meeting rooms at the local commune we visited. I laid down on a wooden dining table for an hour and chatted with Linh, our translator.

So why was I in Vietnam? Well, the story in Vietnam has to do with the changing countryside. Many folks, especially young people, are leaving the countryside to work in the city. Also, the city is changing, the economy is growing, factories are springing up left and right, and so young people arrive in the city with hopes for a job and good pay. It was quite a contrast to go from the hustle and bustle of the city, high rises popping up left and right, to the beauty of the countryside, water buffalo trodding along, and green rice fields as far as the eye could see. At times I felt swept away into another time and place. You must take a look at my photos in my Vietnam album once I post them.

One project we visited was a biogas system run entirely on pig poo. The family owned about 70 pigs and had enough power for their home as well as two of their neighbors' houses. It was amazing to a hear a roar of pig snorts and squeals when they fed them.

Speaking of poo, have you ever tried weasel poo coffee? This is the name I have given a special coffee, found in Vietnam. The weasel eats the coffee berry and passes it through it's system, pooing out only the bean, which is then ground into coffee. Megan (coffee lover) had already heard of this coffee and forwarded me this link which mentions this coffee in the first paragraph.

For me one of the most interesting stories in Vietnam was about a 21 year old girl who had left the countryside to work in a Canon factory just outside Hanoi. She took us to her tiny apartment, one room the size of my bathroom, that she shared with 2 other friends from her village. She was energetic and happy, studying to be an accountant in the evenings while working at the factory during the day time. Her job was to check parts in an assembly line at the factory where she gets paid a little over $2 a day. It was fascinating and sobering to meet someone on the other side of the world who helps make the stuff that we buy at stores here in the U.S. If you own a Canon camera, who knows, maybe she was the one who checked out your flash before your camera was put together?

In Vietnam the houses all have super high ceilings, maybe 15 feet high. They say it's to keep it cooler. I like the feeling of grandeur it gives. I could definitely have a great time going shopping for clothes in Vietnam. The girls are all so petite and the clothes and shoes are so cute! Food in Vietnam is great, except for the meats like pig stomach that I'm not used to eating. And of course eating with chopsticks is oodles of fun and good exercise for the fingers.

Here's a link to some Vietnamese artists whose work we saw at a gallery in Vietnam. Some of my favorites are Trinh Quoc Chien, Dao Hai Phong, and Nguyen Minh Phuoc.

Well, there's another post from Mel's travels! Hope it was special.