Holy crap done with the Vietnam vids / pics: Index
June 11, 2009
May need to buy Vegas Movie Editor or something, Windows Movie Maker is incredibly slow, mainly due to the fact that it takes ~30 minutes to publish a youtubeish video (10 min), and sucks up the program.
I’d have to check whether in Vegas (or some other program) you can publish, and keep editing more video’s…
Need to also compile a giant DVD, replete with scenes, more pics (not included on this blog) and Truc’s vids and pic’s, which she has some great ones as well.
Cheers! Next blog is an adventure weekend to northern Nevada in the middle of nowhere, where a friends parents have built ~8 structures for a retirement area, beautiful.
Edited: Noticed that it was probably a pain to actually read through the whole thing, with a trip etc. it would be more worthwhile to post backwards, so it flows in sequence..added URL links to all the posts to follow one after another, and below…la Index.
Downtown travels:
Plane, Arrival, House Tour in downtown Saigon (Ho Chi Minh), Drinking with the extended family, Durian!
Hookah Lounge in Saigon, Rooftop drinking and Half-hatched Duckling Eggs.
The beach Vung Tura! Sun burns, awesome crab lunch.
Country Side travels:
Off to the Countryside, Walk over, tons of scenery, Home tour of numerous rich and poor homes, more drinkin, Boat ride.
More Downtown:
Return from the countryside, Viet Massage, Cab adventure; traffic mess, shopping.
12 DENTIST! Food poisoned, last days…
June 11, 2009
5/20/09 damn the dentist
Some fruit later on..
Man am I sick…thanks 4000 Heinekens…and weird food.
Well, weird / whatever food..we cruised back to the Hawaiin shop over yonder last night (its just a walk down the street) and it was the exact same crew, lol. Most of them are visiting from all over the world, a dude (who speaks a bit of English, older) from San Jose CA and his 91 year old dad (nice!), a bigger triad looking guy who know lives in Germany etc.
Same weird (heavy but tasty) steak cooked in a Hennessy sauce…note that my guts still aren’t feeling good with the massive amount of ginger-hot pot crap I had to force down my gullet. GAHHH. No more, they over cook, they can throw it away, my guts aren’t adjusting well to purely asian cuisine 3x a day.
Were already 5x beers in from the pool hall, but bring ON the dentist. I’m rocking my new “100% silk sir!” shirt, which cost $12, and I still got ripped off, kicking it, I learned two more cheers “OH GOD _something_!” and “RUN GO EXCELLENT” but I forget these things the moment I learn them..doesn’t have any sort of “stickiness” to me.
THE FUCKING DENTIST
This fucker shows up already hammered and they plop him down next to Sammie. Oh SHIT BALLS. I don’t wanna get back into chugging to “zero,” finishing that sucker off, but you know…I did it 3x, on top of probably 10x more beers (can’t tell, but they had a giant tote filled with beer empties, which is how they do the bill).
Funny side note: during pool a friend of the uncle shows up (who is way taniuchi’d out, bright red and wasted by the time were only an hour into the drinking at the restaurant), some other dude who..works for him? Hands him like $600 USD equivalent in stacks of 100.000 bills…wtf baller? Sammie’s new husband…I gladly divorce her in Vietnam, muahahha. The kid then keeps another half stack…
This dude (the friend of the uncle) then hands half of that stack to the triad looking fucker when we get to the restaurant..maybe I’m not too far off?
YET I DIGRESS!
11 4-star Dim Sum..Ahhh
June 6, 2009
5/19/09 Dim Sum
Eggs in the morning, holy fucking hung over. First time I ever “slept in” (8 AM, hah) late.
When we were bumming around, suddenly while I was about to upload pic’s to facebook, Sammie goes LETS GO! Huh?
Dim sum apparently with the uncle..nothings really ever planned, its funny and silly depending on the day.
I keep telling Sammie to stop picking at her skin that’s peeling..
Excellent Dim Sum, I spent 495.000, which was ~$28, my treat to the little cousin, Uncle and Sammie. Excellent thick and rich Jasmine tea.
Everything there was ~1/2 off of normal Dim Sum, but we were in a beautiful white-table cloth place overlooking the city. Air conditioned (thank the lord), plates were changed out every so often, and the Dim Sum (like everything in Vietnam) is very fresh.
The lunch hotpot was great…very heavy (too much almost) Ginger sauce, with raw meats of slivers of steak which just melted in your mouth after 20-30seconds in the pot (More like a large hot-plate). Had octopus (the only time I’ve EVER enjoyed octopus was here in Vietnam) and squid. Man I need to lay off the shell-fish…
I am also FAILING epically at rolling egg rolls….they are really Rice rolls, with rice paper which you first dip into water, place veggies / pineapple (lovely, then meat a bit of noodles, wrap and go.
I got only a SINGLE roll, I was a mess :D
5/18/09
Woke at 6AM, breakfast of EGGS! Holy shitballs, its SaigonIHop.
It’s the duckling eggs, which I can taste the difference, but at least it’s a nice heavy breakfast. It’s mixed with no meats, but with spices and some odd veggies. First time in weeks for this food.
I’m reminded of the beautiful book Shogun, by James Clavelle, which is a great treatise on old-world Japan, and the culture clash of the Portugese and specifically the English. (methinks I need to look into Adsense…haha)
Anyway, the captain is for about 3 months relegated to Japanese foods: slivers of fish, soup, and veggies. He then gets on a portugese ship with a FEAST laid out for him, including “grob” (beer), and procedes to MAUL himself eating half the table, making himself delirious with booze and food, effectively incapacitating him (which was the point of the feast). Its fucking hilarious, ALMOST how I felt.
Anyway, I’m paying for lunch, I want some damn prawns! :D So they cruised to the market, and we’ll see how it goes.
I look down, am writing this blog, and I finally got a little contingent of mosquito’s come through and MURDER my right foot, WTF? I got 8 in a 2” circle on the right ankle, and now just noticed FOUR more in other area’s throughout my right foot…probably a spider actually, with how many bites were evident.
9: Return from the Countryside, Massage
June 6, 2009
5/17/09 Continued! Ants, towels, Massage disaster..ish
MORE ANTS!
Sadly ambers Japanese rice-crackers, which have lasted this whole time (though diminished from my munching on em) are INFESTED with fucking ants. Sealed with a plastic baggie, and elevated on the TV, I thought they’d be fine..well, NOPE. So that helped me be all pissed as well.
CHEERS FINAL cliff bar! I was pissy that I couldn’t have any food, but I’m always pissy when I’m hungry.
Got a new towel after some confusion (why does he need two? Sammie’s Vietnamese is VERY limited), showered, ate my damn cliff bar and mellowed.
We then had stuffed squid and..something, rice, and a little bit of octopus. I can’t eat that type of food as a staple in my diet, so I was rather hungry. But, I went out, and got a massage..this was funny.
60,000 for an hour, which is 3.3$ without tip.
I don’t speak a lick of English, and I got lost (almost) two days ago trying to find the spot, so this time I got it. White man = skip the line (muahhaha).
8: the Countryside, such beauty in the jungle
June 6, 2009
5/17/09
Country (18th)
5/17/09
(5/16/09) Up all night packing, as I was expecting dirt floors, no running water, a 1.5 mile hike with my backpack (hellooooo shoes for the first time) etc. We got up at 5:30AM, my stomach was in Shambles all last night (the beach food, then the early morning breakfast of greens apparently made Sammie’s mom sick as well, so pepto bismal and NOW every day / meal, a family member asks “How is his stomach.” “Word gets around quick” as Sammie said, haha.
½ hour cab ride, to a bus with AC, thankfully, unthankfully the AC vent is busted right in my direction, so its actually Cold on the ride up. I use my awesome asian hat (of which I overpaid for) to deflect some of the AC. Two hours later, we arrive at the lounging coffee shop to await the hot cousin’s friend, and her dad (the darker uncle). I felt like I was going to break the little hut with my weight, “You break you buy!” is a national motto, but it twas all good.
The uncle came over, grabbed beer, then made trips on his scooter to grab all of our stuff.
Then we “hiked” over path’s (mainly concrete then hard packed dirt), very scenic, I had to gob my exposed skin with sunblock to avoid a purple suntan. The shoe’s would have been worthless, as its an “easy” walk really, about 1.5 miles.
7 Beach, dead electronics, off to the countryside
June 2, 2009
5/14/09
BEACH! The island Vung Tua
Didn’t write about it in the notebook, so my timeline was screwed up, 5/14/09 was written in retrospect, sorta, and ….etc.
Beach was good, got burnt, way too burnt. You gotta pay 10.000 for a shower, ate awesome food, apparently we only went because I was (rightly) bitching to get the fucking out of the house, but I guess I was obligated to buy lunch…coo. I’m fine with that, Sammie just brings things up like I should have known..she’ll jabber to me in Vietnamese sometimes, so she probably just assumes I know whats going on, haha.
Prior to leaving had some sugar cane..awesome stuff
5/15/09 Is the VietCong plotting against me?!
THE NORTH RISES! (?)
Watching Southpark (seasons 1-12, for $12) HA! I got The Soprano’s 1-5, Sammie got the aforementioned SouthPark, The L Word (“Ahhh yes ma’’’m we haf L Wahd raht thear! SIR! Please look at deese DvD’s! Prease Rook!”) Spent a lot of Vietnamese money, 700.000, which is $30-40 ($38 via this cpu’s calculator). Had a break using the CPU, but the VietfuckingCONG, er Voltage, is killing my USA devices. Like pungi sticks in the muck..ahhhhk.
6 Smashed Head and the Hookah Lounge
June 2, 2009
5/13/09 Skull Crusha!
Stressed this morning, the laundry was broken, though I saw it in use, so I thought they just didn’t want me to use it, but offered to wash it by hand for money..wtf? Just poor communication, it was leaking badly, so I just waited it out, though I was prepared to just wash it myself…what else am I gonna do with 4 hours of nothing in the afternoon, and 2 years of self-laundry experience (toilets, AHHHHG) in my life?
Sweat so much here its just water, not even salty or stinky..so you wear the same cloths all the time, such as my own routine: half-way through the afternoon I’ll shower, then let the cloths air dry (as long as we weren’t walking around or something), and they are fine (no smell) for the next day…otherwise I’d be doing laundry EVERY day. Silly.
Applied to personal health insurance, and emailed my resume to about 20 jobs on craigslist.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Blinding flashing pain roars through my brain, shattering my flight upwards, extending its palid hand through my neck to my shoulder blade…sparks fill my vision, and I utter “Mother FUCKER!”
Apparently my head isn’t stronger then this bunker-built concrete type home. With my height I am either (downwards) doing a slight limbo, or (upwards) ducking and moving discretely. Taking the stairs two at a time has consequences, such as a higher rate of momentum upwards, resulting (in this case) in a very painful skull thrashin’. Luckily I’ve been through worse, but am now pursuing a good massage tomorrow as my neck feels completely awful.
RANDOM PICS (the black stuff is Blood Sausage, very tasty, a texture like fried egg yolk).
5: Food, roof and peace
June 2, 2009
5/12/09 Tuesday
Woke up very hung over (hm, imagine that)
Stretched a bit, neck doesn’t hurt surprisingly (that damn right side still), very hard surfaces, the chairs, the mattress (making my arms go numb though) as its right next to the floor ~3” of padding, if that.
Went to market: Kinda stupid only following around with family, may as well cruise around by myself…can’t speak the language, plus Sammie is relegated (self, or by them, it goes back and forth) to her escort and her whims, I needed to pick up a travel pocket book and run around. I get pissy though, get Sammie moving on the beach, or going somewhere. Note that we have only gone to the temple and shopping at a grocery market, while getting good coffee, were basically at the house all the time (edit: mostly this was due to the honoring celebration of the grandfather, which necessitated feasts, family gatherings, ergo not leaving the house much).
Found a hookah lounge: HABIBI! Will try to get out there, its 110.000 a bowl ~$5 in my mind (actually $6, gotta roundup with that 18:1 vs my 2:1 calculation) shouldn’t be too bad, I can do a video review.
Ate more durian..I assisted with this MONSTER ass sucker, it took over 2 minutes of leveraging my weight and strength to crack it open, all the while MO HI BA YOOOOOO’ing (some of the snails from the market as well).
4: Lounge, temple, drunk on the roof.
May 28, 2009
5/11/09 Monday Lounge much?
Woke at 6:30AM, 20 min of yoga, everything hurts from the jump rope (mostly due to my lack of working out in the US, not anything to do with the humidity or anything). Alcohol doesn’t help, and stairs up and down constantly got my ankles working good (how funny is it to be lazy to hate stairs). Even the grandma cruises up and down stairs.
Yesterday, low space-requirements hahah, the maid / helper (who’s over every other few days for laundry and market-running for food and other stuff) confiscated sammies room, which is also on the top floor, and did laundry ALL day (literally) pissing off Sammie good. It also brought the ants…LOTS of them, swarming around a few dirty towles…nice.
Ants: They are everywhere. You walk downstairs, 5 will be lookin at you about to spit or piss on your face as you move down between levels. The kitchen: grab a cup, they were probably dancing in your potential water receptacle. Bathroom..hahahha, of course.
My room: HAHAHAH, bug spray EVERYWHERE. I sprayed the borders of my room pretty good, but comeon, theres 1” openings directly to the outside almost everywhere, so you just keep food / dirty stuff (protein bar wrappers anyone?) out of there.
Sammie, as the Elder Sister (half the people here must do whatever she says, lol, what a poor thing for those suckers) she can push people around, but doesn’t…lil good sammers, I’d be doing more, but Sammie enjoys the lounging around.
I think the AC is giving me a sore throat, but who knows. Its OCD heat (cold) management, with turning on the AC, then off during the night (too cold), then on again in the morning (hot again).
Also, the Vietnamese unplug (not just turn off) ANYTHING out of use, so I’m also being OCD about turning off the AC / fan while not doing anything. Good Xtra Large.
Culturally, its interesting how everyone is happy with their “lot.” Its “Karma.” Whether rich or poor, everyone just bums around, lounges, works, eats, drinks. Plus, it takes up a rather large amount of energy cooking 3x a day while getting fresh groceries from a market, EVERY meal.
