A brief country-side visit

In unrelated news ... we applied for Bao's tourist visa to come to Australia with me back at the beginning of July. A word to the wise if any gentle reader ever plans to do a similar thing. The information given to you in downloadable forms from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship is just the beginning of it all. I got hold of them several months ago, then thought to visit the Australian Embassy website for Vietnam. Lucky I did because I discovered a checklist of items and additional forms specific to Vietnamese visitors to Australia, and even then discovered that there is yet another form not listed with the checklist (only found that one by accident). Once we got them all filled in and documents translated + all copies and translations certified we went to the International Migration Office in HCMC which handles the Australian and Canadian Visa Application Offices, only to be told that in fact we were submitting the bare minimum of supporting letters and documents!

So it was a slightly anxious 4-week wait before the SMS came requesting Bao to return to the office and collect his passport. No hint as to the outcome, and the staff don't open the sealed envelopes returned to the office from the Consulate. Fortuitously the message came when I had already planned to take a weekend off classes and go up to HCMC. The outcome was a happy one ... and we'll be arriving in Sydney on 10 October!

Which brings me to ... A brief country-side visit :)

Friday afternoon and Saturday were pretty much a round of coffee shops and catching up with some of Bao's friends. However, on Sunday we made a trip down Highway 1 to Long An province and the familial home of Bao's sister-in-law. Remarkably this has been almost my first opportunity in 2 years to go into the country-side and get up close and personal with rice fields.

When we arrived in mid-morning there was a big party going on because one of the other relatives had just bought some land in the area. Many male acquaintances of the family gathered to eat and drink. This was effectively breakfast for us - drinking bia 333 is not the type of breakfast I really envisaged, and Bao and I eventually took the opportunity to walk around a little and indulge my love of ducks. I can't explain this ... they are dirty animals, but I just like seeing them swim and waddle around, or even experience the ignominy of being tied by the dozen to bicycles and motor bikes for transportation to market and back.

We also still had the trip back to Vung Tau to make, so noticing that the clouds looked threatening we made our thanks and excuses and left a little after midday. Unfortunately we didn't get very far down the road before the heavens opened and we experienced a drenching return all the way back to HCMC, a trip of approximately 50km.

Tempus Fugit

The minutes seem to go so slow ... yet the months have accumulated so much.

On Wednesday evening I joined Bao and his former colleague, Huyen, at a coffee shop. While we were sitting and talking I kept wondering how long it had been since I last saw her? And where?

Eventually it dawned on me that I last saw her just before she left STX. We had an evening picnic on Ha Long road just below the statue of Jesus. I rode there after class - on my bicycle, which means I was then living at Vo Thi Sau street. I moved house to Phan Chu Trinh street at the beginning of May last year!!

Could it really have been more than 15 months since then? Could it really be 12 months since I came back to Australia for a visit? (August last year)

Bao and I are coming to Australia to visit everyone this October. When that visit commences it will have been two years, almost to the day, since I first left Sydney to start this life in Vietnam!

Time slips away so fast ...

There and back again

When I arrived in Sydney a little over 2 weeks ago, I found the streetscape, the weather, the sensation of walking through the city and suburbs hugely, and unexpectedly, familiar. It was the first time in more than 25 years that I had taken a long absence from Australia and then returned. Somewhere in my mind I was expecting to feel unconnected with the place, but it seems that my Australian life is deeply ingrained although overlaid with a veneer of life in Vung Tau.

I spent the 2 weeks doing much as I expected - visiting family, catching up with friends, sorting papers, filing tax return. It was an enjoyable time and seemed to stretch more than 14 days, creating a distance of time as well as space from daily life and work in Vung Tau. People asked me was I happy to be back, and I was. At the same time I did feel like a visitor - it was very different to returning to a home space from a holiday abroad. And at the same time I could say with sincerity that I was looking forward to returning to Vietnam as well.

The experience of 'coming home' to Vung Tau has contrasted strongly with how I felt returning to Sydney. For a couple of days I felt very unconnected - the same sensation that I had expected and not felt in Sydney. I know my way around Vung Tau in a rough way, I got back on the motorbike without much hesitation, returned to the market, started eating at the same shops, but ... it's really hit home how far still I have to go to feel part 0f the place (let alone be part of the place). I commented to a number of people in Australia that not having the language makes life here very simple in terms of information and events. The many detailed complexities of life that roll on in every community wash past me unnoticed. It's striking home how much of a surface dweller I am in Vung Tau - shallow-rooted and easily dislodged, there is little to bind me here.

I'm not saying that language is the issue here - and besides I could be making much more of an effort to learn and use it. I think what I'm exploring/living out (or not!) is trying to move beyond just having a reason for being here, and instead work out whether this is soil in which I'm going to take root.

An update on life in the rainy season

I wrote back in May that the rainy season seemed to have started.

However, the weather June seemed to suggest that this conclusion was either falsely reached, or that information about the rainy season in Vung Tau had been greatly exaggerated in its telling.

July has proved to be a different case. We are now experiencing days on which it rains - heavily and sometimes with strong wind or storms - on several occasions in one day. It is a little bit inconvenient because sometimes you have no choice but to be out in the elements. If that happens to be the case though, the roads are quite deserted. If it's a Saturday or Sunday night when it rains, then suddenly all the cruising traffic and groups sitting along Ha Long/Quang Trung/Tran Phu streets - the contiguous roads that go from Back Beach around Small Mountain to Front Beach and then onwards around Big Mountain - are gone. It's as though they've been flushed from the roads!

This morning, for example, I started my walk at 6.35am in slight cloud that soon disappeared into a sunny morning. I got home and showered just in time for Xe to arrive at 8am to clean. Then I went out on the mountain bike for breakfast and to shop at the market, and got home at 10am hot and sweaty. Xe was just leaving and showed me that she had hung the washed sheet inside because she expected it to rain. I didn't see any particular signs that this was going to happen soon, but within 30 minutes it was bucketing down and has lasted until about half an hour ago. Now it's cloudy but the breeze and sun will soon dry everything up. Quite possibly we'll experience the same event this afternoon.

I'm starting to appreciate the rainy season though. Really, the inconvenience is slight. After all, I could just put a raincoat on and go out (I keep it in the motorbike all the time). And everything feels fresh afterwards. Plus it's really good to see the mountainsides green again after they dried off so much during the dry season.

I did get a little bit stuck by the rain recently, though when I finally made an excursion to Bach Dinh mansion (the Vung Tau White House) by mountain bike (another story!).

My new favourite beach

I've been to Back Beach in the afternoons on days off a few times (though not since I moved house to Phan Chu Trinh Street) just to keep the incredulous people satisfied.

"You live in a beach town, that close to the beach! And you never go there?!"

About a month ago Phil (Phuong), a friend from HCMC came down to stay with me for a night (Sunday through to Monday). Phil is self-employed as a management trainer and so has some flexibility in his working life, which means he was able to match up to my strange working life without a problem. He was very keen to head off to the beach while he was here (Phil is one of the incredulous by the way!), and suggested going to a small beach, below a restaurant, below the Jesus statue. I never even knew it was there!

It's now my favourite beach. The water is cleaner and generally safer than at Back Beach, where there are currents at work all the time. It seems to be known only to a few regular visitors and so it is much quieter. Sometimes there are small waves good for body-surfing. I am the only person in Vung Tau who body-surfs by the way. The Vietnamese idea of playing in the sea is to jump over the waves. And when the water is calm it's a good place to swim some strokes because the beach is in a little bay between a headland and some rocks. I try and go at least once a week now.

What happened to Richard?

If you're a regular visitor to this blog, surely you must be wondering what on earth has happened to me? Why haven't there been any updates for 2 months?

The sad truth is that working life opened its jaws and swallowed me whole. Since the end of May my weekly schedule was upped from 24 hours to between 26 and 30 (current status) hours per week, because I agreed to be one of two teachers on an intensive (10 hours per week) course with a corporate class. The eight students in that group are from Southern Service Flight Company (SSFC), a helicopter charter service that works closely with the oil and petroleum industry in Vung Tau, flying workers to and from the rigs - "off-shore" is the local parlance. They will then be heading off to Sydney - of all places - at the end of August for a 10-week course at AICL, which incidentally is a training partner with good old TAFE NSW - Sydney Institute. Part of my contribution to the course at ILA has been to give an Australian slant to the teaching - accent, cultural preparation, information about living in Australia, etc. It's been hard work to have the extra hours but rewarding to be with the class.

However, I fervently hope that when I come back to Vung Tau in mid-August (after my 2 weeks back home in Australia) that my schedule will be back to normal. That having been said, there is a possibility of another group from SSFC starting with us at ILA in September ...

Lately, though I have been clawing back a little bit of me-time. I tend to wake up very early nowadays - before 6am - and can't always get back to sleep. On Monday morning I decided to get up and went for a walk. The initial plan was to go just as far as my new favourite beach and back to take some photos. But I ended up walking around the whole base of Small Mountain and back home - a distance of 6-8 kilometres! This morning (Wednesday) I took a shorter walk up to the Jesus statue and back home, then got on the mountain bike and rode off for breakfast and a trip to the market. And now, of course, I'm making some time to bring you new and exciting stories from A small part of Vietnam!

Transport (yet again)

A few weeks after I started renting the Honda Spacey one of the teachers at ILA (Anne) decided to buy a new motorbike and hers became available for rent. A very attractive opportunity because:

1. she has been the only rider of it since new
2. she services it reguarly and it looks and handles like new
3. the rent is much cheaper (1,000,000 VND per month instead of 1,500,000).

Needless to say the Honda went back to its owner at the end of the first month, and now I am very happily getting around on the sporty-looking (red! - as you all know this colour is very important in motor vehicles) Yamaha Nouvo.

The poor old Honda was like driving a cow. Now I'm on a fine steed that handles well, responds to the throttle, and is a great ride. You know, the wind in your hair, the dust in your eyes, the flies in your mouth (although sunglasses and a face mask help with the latter) :)

Transport (again)

Well, I have finally rented a motorbike - a Honda Spacey. More of a motor scooter, really, because a) it is an automatic and b) the wheels on it are tiny. I feel very low sitting on it after riding around on Bao's motorbike. This is not to say that the mountain bike is retired, but it is a great relief to be able to jump on something motorised at the end of Saturday or Sunday teaching or in the evenings after work.

The Spacey is the bike in the middle of the pic, standing on it's maintenance stand. I had taken it to get the tail light replaced.

A new home

As you might know my old home at 34 Vo Thi Sau Street was sold. Initially I was told I would need to move out by the time rent was next due. Afterwards I was invited to stay on by the new owners but by then I had already arranged to move to Steve's house (he has moved on to Hanoi). I was happy about this because it is cheaper and a little bit more independent. I have a key to the gate and no need to bother a security guard each time I come home.

My new home is at 116 Phan Chu Trinh Street, still in Ward 2 of Vung Tau city. It is the last house in a block of 5 townhouses that reach up the hillside below the lighthouse road, so it is very secluded and has good views over the neighbourhood and across to the Jesus statue.

The house is on 2 levels. Downstairs is the entry, living room, kitchen, and a small guest room and bathroom (cold water shower only). The massive 10kg washing machine is also here under the stairs. Upstairs are the bedroom, bathroom (this one with hot water) and the balcony which goes around two sides of the house.

The house is a lot darker than Vo Thi Sau street due mainly to the dark tiles you can see in the living room picture, but it is larger - probably too big really. The other interesting feature of the house is the preponderance of naked women! Here is an example from the downstairs bathroom. The upstairs bathroom has a similar tile picture, and there is a plaster relief work on the bedroom wall.

Anyway, I am very comfortable here. I have a cleaner (Xe) who comes once a week to sweep, mop and dust, and who washes the bedding and does any ironing I have waiting. She is lovely, and has worked for the past two tenants as well. She also looks after the whole complex with outside cleaning and pumping water to the storage unit on the roof each day.

Trip to Can Tho and Soc Trang

A couple of months ago Bao and I decided to exploit the fact that Liberation Day (30 April) and May Day (1 May) occur on Thursday and Friday this year, by making a 4 day weekend trip to Can Tho. I very quickly got my application for leave in before any of the other 'weekend warriors' figured out they could do the same!

To try and make an early start from HCM City on Thursday we went up from Vung Tau on Wednesday afternoon - me by bus, Bao by company car. Although I left Vung Tau more than an hour before Bao he ended up arriving at Ben Xe Mien Tay before me, thanks to some very heavy traffic jams. A 2 hour trip turned into 4 hours. We were being met by Thanh at the bus station so sadly he had a very long wait for me.

It seems that a lot of people had the same idea of making a holiday - because the experience was repeated the next morning when we (Bao, Thanh and me) set out for Can Tho :( - heavy traffic all the way slowed the trip down enormously. When we got to the ferry crossing to Can Tho we decided - like most passengers - to get off the bus and walk ahead to the ferry because the queue was so long.

Can Tho is Bao's childhood home town. We had planned to stay at a hotel, but when he contacted Thu, his friend since they first started school, to say we were coming she arranged for us to stay in her parents' house instead. She also booked a car for us to travel out to the countryside and arranged for one of her students to be our guide.

On our first morning we were joined by another friend, Tan, and our guide Thuy. We went out 0f the city a bit to a temple that is quite old and was built to honour a famous scholar, as well as some other cherished people from Vietnamese history, statecraft and culture. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of this temple and it's not mentioned in guidebooks. Both Bao and Tan had heard of it but never been there before either.

As well as the main temple there is a building set aside for members of 5-6 local villages to come and prepare foods for festivals. They each come at different times.

Our second visit for the day was to a house built in about 1870. Internally the main house is much the same as when it was first built. It is a typical Vietnamese style, for a well-to-do family. What we saw I would guess is the main living and reception room. There was an abundance of wood carving and tiling as well as a mixture of Vietnamese, French and Chinese-influenced furniture . Outside there is an orchid garden.

We had lunch with Thu, her husband Tran and their new baby boy, while a heavy storm fell. But by the time we finished eating the storm was over and we went back home for a rest.

Saturday required a very early start - up at 3am to get ready for the car and driver (thanks Mr Thien) to arrive at around 4am. We then took a drive about 45km out of Can Tho to the south to visit the floating markets at Nga Bay (7 ways). These are the more original markets in the area, though not so frequently visited by tourists who go instead to Cai Be, Cai Rang or Phong Dien markets closer to Can Tho. The markets were much different to the one David and I visited in Thailand many years ago. At Nga Bay the boats are on a major river, and although most are moored there are also boats trading and delivering produce between them. In the past trade was based on barter - only in more modern times has it become cash-based. We had a great time on the river here - the best way of thinking about it is like a land-based market. There are sellers of every type of fruit and vegetable, and then grocery boats, wholesalers/middle-men, and boats selling food from soup to banh mi. The river is still a thoroughfare for daily life - we saw people being boated across so that they could go to school. Thu told me the next day that although she has lived in Can Tho all her life and visited the markets at Nga Bay many times, she still finds it interesting to go.

The next stop was for breakfast in Soc Trang town in Soc Trang province further to the south. Soc Trang has a large Khmer population (approximately 28% of the population) and the main Buddhist temples in this area are Theravada school (Thailand and Cambodia). We visited the biggest - Kleang Pagoda. In one form or another this temple has been here in Soc Trang since 1533. It is well supported financially, but also is an important place for learning, with very many monks living or studying here.

The second temple we visited was established by a Chinese family about 200 years ago. It's real name is Precious Mountain Temple (Buu Son Tu) but it is best known as the Clay Temple, because nearly everything in it is made of clay, mostly sculpted by the monk Ngo Kim Tong. When he died a number of huge candles were created and have been kept burning.

The third temple we went to is known as Bat Pagoda for the fruit bat colony that lives in the trees in the temple grounds. The temple was destroyed by fire 2 years ago and refurbishment of the replacement temple is still going on. The Buddha image was made of stone and it was saved, but is in a damaged state with one arm detached and soot marks apparent where the gold foil has burnt away.

Inside the walls are covered with scenes from Buddha's life from his birth through marriage to his renunication of his wealth and throne and on to his enlightenment. The temple is also known for the five-nailed pigs that have lived here. Thuy, our guide, told a slightly different story about this to the one given in Lonely Planet (which suggests that the pigs are pets). By the way, pigs usually only have 4 toenails on each foot. According to Thuy when the original five-nailed pig was born the people were afraid of it because it was different so they gave it to the temple for safekeeping. These pigs are not for eating, they just live out their lives in the temple and then are buried with headstones recording the date of their death (see picture at the top of this story). At the moment there are still 4-5 pigs living at the temple.

Our final temple before going back to Soc Trang town for lunch and then back to Can Tho, was the ceramic temple. At first I didn't understand Thuy's description of it as being built from bowls. It was only after we saw it that I understood that when it was rebuilt, there was not a lot of money available in the community to decorate it, so they used a mixture of old plates, etc. as well as ceramic mosaic tiles to cover the outside walls and on the interior.

Saturday evening after a very big dinner we took a stroll along the riverside, with the intention of improving our digestion. But instead we snacked on grilled bananas and then stopped off for a fruit shake. While there Bao was approached by one of the women working in the shop with the line "don't I know you?". This was a surprise but the bigger surprise was that one of the other women working there that night did know him. Bao must have a memorable face because she took one look and got his name right, even after maybe 15 years of not seeing him.

On Sunday we met up with Thu, her family and her sister for breakfast before making the trip back to HCM City and Vung Tau. This time we were lucky - no traffic - although the bus ticket price was much higher (no explanation given!)

This was a great little holiday. Can Tho is the biggest city in the Mekong and I think it would be an interesting place to live, so long as you like the quiet life (at least compared to HCM City).

A little bit of officialdom

I have a Vietnamese driver's licence!

There is a process by which I can "exchange" my NSW driver's licence for a Vietnamese one. I am still only licensed to drive cars but it is useful to have the document anyway even if I am driving a motorbike. Apparently ...

The process is:

1. go to the Department of Transport and Communication and collect the form
2. go to the Foreign Affairs office and get the NSW driver's licence translated (cost = 110,000 VND)
3. collect the photocopy and translation
4. fill in the application form, put a photo on it and get someone to authorise it (in my case I was able to ask ILA to do this)
5. get another 2 photos
6. take all these documents plus passport and visa and original licence back to the Department of Transport and Communication
7. submit the documents - get a receipt stating they have all the copies/translations/forms and have seen the originals
8. come back in a week and pay 30,000 VND - receive the licence.

Why did I bother? Well, Bao is trying to teach me to drive a motorbike, and we have all been advised by Anne (one of the teachers who is half Vietnamese) to get a licence even if it is just the car licence. It is possible to now also get the motorcycle licence by going for a driving test.

Reptilian visitor

This guy turned up behind the microwave oven! I assumed he came in through the kitchen window. He wasn't too happy about being removed (I used a pair of chopsticks to encourage him to go back out the window, in case you're wondering). He made a lot of noise about it!

A different teaching experience

On Monday night I was a guest teacher at a community college nearby my home. It is an adult class with more than 30 students in a Vietnamese school classroom. Those of you who have been to school in Asia may recognise the description. There are two doors - one for the teachers and one for the students. Two large blackboards and a raised dais for the teacher and the desk. The students sit in rows of long desks - some on forms and some on chairs.

4 of the students in this class come from Binh Chau town which is 80 kilometres drive away, and they do this 3 nights a week, then return home to work the next day. They are secondary teachers. The ages of the students range between early 20s and mid-late 40s. I enjoyed the experience very much - I hope that they did too.

The real value was that they do not often have the opportunity to speak with and listen to native English speakers, so there were lots of questions before we really got started on the lesson I'd prepared. Seeing that Valentine's Day has just passed, I made this and marriage the theme for the night. We started by discussing whether Valentine's Day is important to couples and lovers, who should give (men/women/both) and what the expectations are, including what the students would like to receive. Before the groups reported back I also asked them to poll who is married and single in their group, so that they could consider whether there is a difference in views. Nope - Vietnamese are very romantic people!

Tet holidays - Buffalo year

The week before Tet I was really unsure what to do with the time off (which had suddenly expanded because of a decision to close ILA Vung Tau centre a day earlier). Most of the teachers seemed to be leaving Vietnam and the general advice from most who had been here for more than 12 months was to go out of the country. Well, I thought it through as an option but I didn't really want to spend half the time travelling. The dilemma was more whether I would find myself stranded or alone because most businesses close and people travel back to their hometowns - which for a larger proportion of Vietnamese people is the countryside.

Bao had suggested that I come to HCM city. I liked the idea but I still had the same concerns - amplified by being in a hotel rather than at home. In the end though I was persuaded by Bao and Thanh assuring me that they had very few commitments over the holidays. Rather that for them like all Vietnamese the ideal Tet holiday is to have fun and relax.

So I gave up the concerns and instead planned a trip to HCM city. And it has been a fantastic time for me thanks to the generosity of these friends, and Bao's family.

I arrived in HCM city around midday on Friday (3rd last day of the Rat Year) by boat and was straight away whisked away by Bao to have lunch at his family's home in Binh Thanh district. His niece and nephew were particularly excited to see me and spent this and every subsequent visit testing my knowledge of English! They would ask me what something/a colour was. If I got it right they would tell me!! That afternoon Bao and I went shopping for sandals, then met up with Thanh for dinner. Later joined by Hiep (Bao's friend) for coffee.

The next morning Bao was busy with an old friend so Thanh and I took pho for breakfast then walked through the flower market and around the city centre before lunch. In the afternoon Bao and I had our first viewing of the flower show in Nguyen Hue street. That night I was able to catch up with Sharon and Irene, as well as 2 of Sharon's colleagues from the Vietnam Idol production, for dinner. This was their 2nd last night in Vietnam before Sharon returned to Singapore.

Sunday morning brought another invitation to lunch with Bao's family. Because it was the last day of the old year we had a number of special dishes, all delicious. Rest in the afternoon in preparation for a very late night then off to Nguyen Hue street again for the flowers and fireworks. Afterwards Bao, Hiep and I went for huu tieu in Cong Quynh street (at about 1.30am) along with many many other revellers, before crashing at the hotel.

The special event for first day of the Buffalo Year was to accompany Bao and his family to 6 different pagodas around HCM city. There aim is to visit 10 pagodas during Tet. This is also one of the days in the year when they all eat vegetarian food. So the day was spent partly tootling around the city on the back of motor bikes and partly visiting and praying at the pagodas. We started at 2 pagodas close to home but progressively roamed further afield. Here is a selection of photos from the day.













The last pagoda for the day was also the poorest one we visited - one monk with a great sense of humour. One of his stories was about the impracticality of some people. He regularly visits disadvantaged communities in the countryside, and had managed to secure the interest of a celebrity and a TV station in helping a community of blind people. But their proposal was to donate a whole lot of televisions!

On Tuesday (second day) Bao, Thanh and I headed off to Dam Sen water park for some wet fun on the slides. There were some truly scary ones and I have the bumps and bruises to attest for how fast and exciting they were!

On Wednesday (third day) we made a day trip by motor bike to David's home town of My Tho. Here we hired a boat and went out on the Mekong to visit some islands, taste the honey and the fruit, see the coconut candy factory and have lunch. We also got to visit Phoenix Island, which had been the home of a monk known as the Coconut Monk, and who started a sect with a vision for world peace. When David and I did a similar tour 10 years ago Phoenix Island couldn't be visited but there is now a hotel there, as well as an exhibition of photos about the life of the Coconut Monk.

I've included a photo of a bridge that the Sydney-siders reading this blog may think is closer to home! This is the new bridge connecting My Tho and Tien Giang province with Ben Tre province. Yes, it does look like the Anzac Bridge because like a number of bridges in south Vietnam it has been built to the same design. This one has only just opened and is a tourist destination in its own right as we discovered later in the day.

On Thursday I took a minibus back to Vung Tau, the first time that I've used this form of transport between VT and HCM City. It's a lot cheaper and not much slower when you factor out the time you have to wait for a bus load of people to gather (and the time spent establishing precedence in boarding - possible only because tickets are numbered as they are sold each day. There is no such thing as a queue in Vietnam.)

Friends

so ... this is a short introduction to the great friends I've made over the last 6-8 weeks.

Linh was the first friend I met. He lives in Vung Tau, and has done so far for a very long time, but originally is from Hanoi and spent 5 years studying in Russia.

Separately I met Phil (Phuong) from HCM City and then discovered that he and Linh know each other. So small world #1.

Through Phil I met Bao, who has become my very close friend here in Vung Tau, and through Bao, Thanh. Here is a pic of the three of us on the night that Vietnam beat Singapore in soccer.

Also there is Khoa in HCM City who is a long-time friend of Long back in Australia. And April who is living in Hanoi and working for Unifem - known April for many years now thanks to Long as well.

My new home

Hmm ... has been a while, so the news is getting stale.

anyway - I have moved to my new home in Vo Thi Sau street. I am very glad to be here. It is great to have some space and my landlords have set me up very well - new fridge, washing machine, microwave, rice cooker, iron and cook top. The gas bottle was connected up on Thursday, but I haven't started cooking yet.

The house is in a secure compound with two security guys, so I have to ring a bell each time I come home, so that I can get in the gate. They look after my bike (of the mountain variety) at night, and put it away/get it out for me whenever I go out.

This is the main house.

The apartment is a big studio, no separate rooms except for the bathroom. The promised new entry door (on the side of the house) was installed in place of a window, so it is massive! Huge bed, nice TV.
There is a big garden with many mango trees, a couple of coconut trees and some herbs and green vegies as well. The Vung Tau lighthouse is close by, and over the roof you can see the back of the Jesus statue.

Getting set up - home and transport

After many false starts as well as the invaluable assistance of David Vuong (travel agent back in Newtown) in finding some contacts, I have finally settled on somewhere more permanent to live. And it's a place that I looked at in the first week and initially decided against because ... well, because I didn't know any better I suppose. It is an apartment in a villa in Vo Thi Sau street close to Back Beach. It is actually a very nice - luxurious? - large studio, owned by one of the property tycoons of Vung Tau, and it seems that I will be the only other tenant in the place besides the owners. Don't have a pic to show you yet - I am signing the lease on Thursday and move next Monday.

Because I am moving to Vo Thi Sau street I have to do something more about transport than just my daily lift to and from work with Quang, walking and the hotel's dilapidated one-person bicycle (included in the tariff). So I asked Steve about Waltzing Matilda's - the hotel/bar/travel booking agent who he rents his motorcycle from - and went in on Monday to enquire. And to say "I can't actually drive a motorcycle - could someone teach me". After everyone fell about laughing at the prospect of this green round-eye wanting to learn, they have been very kind and given me 3 lessons - all the while I'm waiting for a motorcycle to actually become available. (I do wonder where there is a sub-text here!)

The thing is, the idea of riding the motorcycle is much easier than the act. In principle it's not that much different to driving a manual car, in fact there isn't even a clutch. But I have enormous trouble using the pedal to change gears down, and then there's the need to keep your balance, not veer into other traffic when you're trying to change gear and lane and get ready to make a left-hand turn (remember in Vietnam we are driving on the right hand side of the road, so it's the left-hand turns that take you across traffic), ... oh and slowing down for turns at traffic lights and intersections. The people at Waltzing Matilda's have been very patient and assure me that I'll get it ... but I think that I could make the roads of Vung Tau whole lot more dangerous.

Seriously considering buying a push bike instead and just getting a xe om driver when I need it!

The health check part 2

hmm ... after the time that has lapsed since the health check this post might turn out to booorrrinnng.

So you've learnt about the urine sample, the dental check and the x-ray. We returned to Le Loi hospital on Thursday to complete the various checks. If you think in terms of an overall medical you could say that this is quite a thorough procedure. However, if you think about it in terms of the value of the various examinations, well ...

• height and weight recorded. Nothing much that you can bodgy up on that. We all have mass and span!
• ear nose and throat examination. Now this was an interesting one. We watched each other receive the examination which was over in about 60 seconds. It was a little bit more involved than 1. nose - do you have one? 2. both ears? 3. can you swallow? - but not much more. I think the essential thing was to check that they were all connected together and not blocked up!
• eyesight test. We really didn't know what to expect with this. Noone was asked whether they needed glasses to read. Some of us had to read the letters on the tenth line of the chart, others on the sixth. For the tenth line we are almost certain there was a letter in Russian, so what is the right response when reading the line? Skip the letter? Say what you think it is as an English letter? Anyway all of us appear to have 20/20 vision - including Annabel who wears contact lenses. And the health of our eyes seems fine - we can look straight ahead and to the left and right when we're asked to
• ECG. This was the real deal. However, it took place in the accident and emergency room, and around us were people who were in pain or suffering from various cuts and injuries, and it was a little disconcerting that once again we seemed to be using up resources that would be better given to the real patients.

Anyway - that was just about the end of the medical. We were asked to check all the records made - which was an interesting proposition what with the form being in Vietnamese - and they've now been sent off to ILA Vietnam in HCMC for use in applying for our work permits (along with four photos). There are some teachers who have been waiting for work permits for 15 months but we've been told that procedures and timelines have been tightened up. So stay tuned to hear whether I have to get a new visa in January instead!

the health check - part 1

As part of getting a work permit a group of us had to go the Le Loi hospital for a health check. Noone knew exactly what to expect although when we were told that the five of us would have to go twice and to expect it to take 3-4 hours we knew there would be a lot of waiting involved.

Here's a picture of Annabel, Elsbeth and Steve doing some lesson planning while we were waiting for the fees to be paid to the hospital and the paper work to be collected. And here's a picture of Mr Dat from ILA (in the middle) paying the fees and collecting the forms.

We had to bring a passport sized photo to be attached to the paper work. (This was medically very important as you will soon read!)

Actually I should start by saying that anyone who comes to the hospital has to fill in forms and carry them around with them to various treatment rooms, so we weren't any different.

The first stop was a dual thing - blood was taken for testing (we presume) and we had to give a urine sample. The urine had to go into a very small test-tube (I wish I had the picture for this! I think that Elsbeth has one.) and then was left in a rack - identification for the blood and urine was via a number - but without being sealed!?

After that we went upstairs for a dental check. However, none of us made it into the dentist's chair. Probably a good thing because every treatment room we went to there lots of genuine patients waiting. The thing is our dental records were assessed via our photos. Now seeing that my photo was one taken for a passport, and seeing how for Australian passports you are not allowed to smile or show your teeth, I'm not quite sure how the condition of my teeth was assessed.

The other important stop on this day was for a chest x-ray. We are not quite sure what this was looking for - maybe to check lungs - but we are each now the proud owner of an x-ray which we can give to our doctor or throw away (Mr Dat's advice). Mine has a big white area on it - anyone able to diagnose my problem?

(Stay tuned for what happens on the second visit to the hospital)

30,000 VND haircut

today I had a haircut.

here's the 'before' shot on the left
and the 'after' one on the right.

Yes, I know you're asking what's different! well I felt my hair looked messy and I have to get photos for my work permit!