I am writing this post on Saturday evening, 8 October, after a rather dreary (rainy, thanks to the typhoon that drifted south) and boring (writing reports) week.
But, a few things did crop to make the week tenable.
For starters, I have noticed that few local adult men are bald or even gray. But I am not smart enough to expound on the possible reasons.
Monday, four of us went to a backalley dive that serves duck for lunch. No other meal. No other base. Just duck. You can get it grilled or boiled, but it will still be duck. And, it was delicious and reasonably priced. Wonder what the dessert would have been if we have ordered it.
Sticking to the aquatic theme, Tuesday the same group (plus three from our client bank) grabbed a cab to an Old Quarter restaurant that serves fish. Only fish. And, only sautéed at your table. No menu needed. As usual, it was delicious. One can almost understand why locals have the rep of having two-hour lunches. And, to quote our local Bank liason in her follow-up email: “The fish we had at lunch today has the scientific name of Hemibagrus elongatus, which is a type of catfish.”
On Wednesday, 5 October, it was pretty much pouring all day as Nygene avoided us but pulled water in from the South China Sea. Could have been a lot worse. But, the local newspapers reported over 200 dead from flooding in the Mekong delta in Cambodia and Vietnam…fed from rains in VN and Laos from two tropical storms in 10 days. The rice crop has been wiped out, leading to a 30% increase in the price of the staple in a month. Fortunately, most of the region can produce 3 rice crops a year, but that doesn’t help in the short run. Many Viets blame the flooding on massive dam projects in Cambodia which are the subject of ongoing international negotiations. I am too dumb to understand the physics of the debate.
As a sidebar, I have noticed a propensity by local office workers to not use stairways. I am met with surprise when I actually use them to descend…or to walk up 1 or 2 flights. Americans are so strange…!
So, to this weekend’s activities.
The main theme this weekend is rain…interspersed with pouring. Seems to be accurate so far.
Howard, the HR advisor on this project, ended his stint yesterday. Very sorry to see him go…he is well traveled and a very likeable guy, so I learned a lot from him during my 3 weeks together.
Our main contacts at the Bank took the project team out to lunch at at Thai restaurant Friday in Howard’s honor. Interesting, since Howard is the only one who speaks Thai, so we had him order everything: mango salad, squid, veggie noodles, shrimp, grilled pork, and you name it. Finished with an interesting dessert of seaweed noodles and sweetened coconut milk…not something I would seek out, but it worked.
Then, in the evening, three of us went back to the local tourist trap named Delicious…me for the third time. We decided to sit in the outside area…then a monsoon hit…and we watched the rain being channeled from the tarps into 5 galloon buckets that were just dumped on site when they filled. No matter. We three ordered tilapia, with trimmings, and the fish came whole (gutted) to be sautéed at the table by our server. It is hard to imagine anyone could give better attention than he did, and we tipped him well for it by local standards…$2.50 on a $20 tab, on top of the standard 5% service charge.
Photos for various of this week’s activities can be viewed at:
https://picasaweb.google.com/110414898143254307072/ARainyAndInactiveWeek
Also bought a bunch of holiday gifts and souvenirs today…probably overpaid a bit, but bargained down from the posted price. Hopefully, we are all happy.
Including the departure dinners and gift buying, and taxis, I am still spending less than $30 a day here on average. Nice to be able to stay within a reasonable budget.
Final point of this post: Walking back from today’s travels, I decided that three weeks of gastrointestinal happiness qualified me to stop in one of Hanoi’s many famed reaches: a back-alley dive serving bai hoi. Bai hoi means, literally, “beer today”, and essentially means home brew that is rolled out in the morning and served until the keg is empty. No chilling, no pasteurization, and the mugs are washed with the same care as anything here in an alley restaurant. It tasted great and was dirt cheap…about 50 cents a pint. I shall reserve my full opinion until 24 hours have passed. Kudos to Hep A shots.
More to come as it warrants. Most of you are just starting your Saturdays…enjoy the crisp autumn weather.
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