Flashback to the summer of 2014

Imagine if you will, it is midnight on a Sunday, and I am sitting reading Agatha Christie novels with tears leaking from eyes as I continue to eat chili powder and drink copious amounts of water. It is a strange scene isn't it. Especially considering that the last hours leading up to Mondays (of madness usually) should involved such strange activities. It almost makes you think I am making it up. But I am not. This has been part of my evening and for so many reasons.

The many everyday things of Hue

(Written a while back when in Hue, and now is as good a time to share it as any other)

It is easier to breathe here. It is hot, burning, lava-like and yet every once in a while there is a respite. Like the evenings. The occasional rainy days. The city is full of history, the streets full of bustle. Everyday brings something familiar and something new. I have fallen into a pattern, one that I will always associate with a happy summer. I know words and pictures will not do much justice to the experience. But I still try a combination of my favorite things: lists, words and pictures. 

The people selling lottery tickets, usually old. I was told it is considered unlucky to win as it splits families up over money.

A lottery ticket I bought.

Bye Bye Hue

"
Dear Hue,

I leave early tomorrow morning. I have a few days in Saigon and then I go home and then I go back to graduate school. I want to say goodbye to you. You were exceedingly kind to me. You welcomed me with open arms and warmth. As we arrived at the airport and drove through, I remember worrying about where I had come. I wasn't sure how I would survive my time here. But I did well. All because you are one of the best places I have lived in in my life (grad school dramas notwithstanding).

I felt more at home than I have for a while. You kept me safe and allowed me to explore without having to worry about crimes and harassment. I never worried about what I wore. I shouldn't have to but we all now how that goes down. It is one of the few times in my life, I have not worried and just been. It was wonderful. You helped me meet people who are wonderful and kind and warm and funny and who became friends. You allowed me to be a student, a tourist, a researcher and most importantly myself. You reminded me of how Indian I am (by virtue of my chocolate brown skin, my Indian eyes as I was often told) and yet I never felt like I was defined or judged by my color. I never felt the implication of being 'second-rate' that other parts of the world sometimes have managed to communicate. Khach San Duong Sat (the Railway hotel) was my home for 2.5 months and it became one with the kindness shown by everyone who works there. We shared food and chatted at the porch even when all we shared were fragments of different languages.

Dong Ba market

All the tourist reviews promise you that Dong Ba market will be overwhelming. That it is 'too touristy'. That you should miss it. I disagree. For me the Dong Ba market was a riot of color and things. I am glad I went and did not miss it as it originally looked like it would happen. Visiting during siesta time made it very clam and manageable. I think this may be the Indian in me but it actually felt calmer compared to the markets I frequent in Delhi (I will give some of that to the timing of the visit). It is a a giant beast of a market with everything from weasel poop coffee to paintings to clothes to shoes to detergent to dried fish to fresh meat to juice. The list is endless. Of course you have to bargain. I will say I have bargained a lot in Vietnam (all very politely and calmly) and am happy that I haven't lost that skill. I got some souvenirs and returned from the trip rather pleased with myself (and grateful to the friend who took me and was amazing). I have been on several motos in the past few weeks and I have to say it is exhilarating and tempered by the fact that traffic in Hue is busy but not insane. Maybe these pictures will give you a glimpse of the Dong Ba market I saw!

:-) 

A feast for the eyes and stomach

The famous hats

Pottery in various stages

The last lap

One week left for us to finish our project work here and it feels nothing short of absolutely absurd and strange that time has flown by so quickly. I am ready to be done with work but I am definitely not ready to leave and yet, leave I must. Work-wise it is strangely busy and yet slow. For now I am start to build a list of all the people, places and things I am going to miss and feel a wave of sadness at going. Here are some of my favorite photos:

At Ushi restaurant in Pham Ngu Lao. 
Perhaps an elephant, perhaps a monkey. 
Some of those toys squeak.

An illuminated prayer wheel lamp I spotted during my evening walk.

A canopy of umbrellas at a quaint quiet coffee shop

On walking

Walking is my favorite way to explore a city. It is also my way to clear my head. Off late I have been feeling sick. It keeps coming and going and I can't figure what is going on. Earlier in the week, I eventually was very upset and annoyed with myself. For not feeling better, for not being able to work, for having no energy, for sleeping so much, for being so weak. I figured a walk would do me a world of good. In my head I had meant to explore the city on foot more and not being able to do that made me even antsier. My time in Hue and Vietnam is almost over and I feel sad about that. Being here has been good for me in so many ways. Coming back to topic, I went for a two hour walk-a-about in the city and it was lovely. I started by walking to reach the ATM that has the maximum withdrawal limit. To get there I walked close to the Imperial citadel and then turned into a busy shopping street, choc-a-bloc with boutiques, shoe shops, restaurants, groceries stores and more. I am usually very good at getting lost but in my head I mapped a parallel road to reach an end of the citadel, where these is a large courtyard space. Children roller blade here, people fly kites, there are coffee and snack vendors. It is full of people and yet not crowded. Imagine if you will, an old building, its majestic walls, crumbling ever so slightly, rising against the evening sky, sometimes lit by the moon as well as the orange streetlights. Enterprising vendors rent out roller blades, it is a popular evening sport here. It is one of the many things that has caught me by surprise, it is new. I wave at every toddler I spot on the way and it is a testimony to the general kindness of people that all their keepers smile at me and encourage them to say hello. The kite sellers have all left by the time I get there and this makes me sad. I thought they stayed out for longer. A few people are flying kites but the sky is more subdued than the last time I was here. Still nothing will ever beat the first time I saw those vibrant life-like kites of butterflies and dragons and airplanes soaring in the skies.

Bye Bye Hue (for a week)

So we leave for Quang Nam early morning tomorrow. I have no idea what to expect. The Internet at our hotel died due to a power surge/lightning and it seems like there is a dim chance of Internet for one week. Definitely a scary prospect. (Edited to add: eating crow in Nam Giang). I am feeling much better (there was a moment where I thought I could not go for this visit but then things picked up). Today was spent mostly Skyping, doing some work, getting prints in the hot afternoon (with the Laotian winds bringing more heat in), eating lots of Indian food in preparation for the week of relative starvation that awaits and not doing anything useful. I am writing this from a coffee shop to which we ran as soon as we figured that Internet at the hotel at died. Ok, they are mopping the floors and we are the last customers. I feel a little bad now. Bye!

Mondays

Our workplace has moved down a couple of blocks, because the last one is under construction. This has a large courtyard and the rooms are more 'open-air' and less (no) air-conditioning, which lends for a good look in the 40 degrees heat. The shine on my face has never been brighter, the number of times I spray myself with whatever body spray/perfume/hand sanitiser is close never higher. The bathroom is a little far away (directly behind the building at the opposite end and a bit of a fun walk by a drain). One of these days I am going to post about bathrooms and sanitation hassles. I used it yesterday and promptly got locked in (the knob is broken and rusted). I banged and banged on the door but it is so far away that no one could feasibly hear me. I figured people would realize I am missing in a while but it started to get claustrophobic and I didn't want to be stuck in it. I could have broken the door because it was so flimsy but how would that look? Everyone would know me as the girl who broke a bathroom door. Did I want to be that person? On the first day of work at what are rooms sub-leased from another company? I wasn't sure. Luckily I could claw my hand out from the lower half of the door, reach the knob and get out. But now I have a new thing to worry about, thank you new office building.

But my bathroom adventures for the day continued. As I was showering, I saw the following beauty two feet away on the wall.

I am proud to say I finished showering and walked out and came back to take a picture to show the front desk staff. This was an emergency, there was no time for my usual miming tactics. Meagan may have scoffed at me but perhaps Meagan and I won't be friends now (are you reading this Meagan). Anyhow, the front desk lady very kindly came, by which time it had started to return home through the giant opening in the wall. She then put some Raid on it and sealed the opening with a regular tape. She smiled a lot and I think she may have been bemused by me. I would have been amused too. I am usually good at slaying my bugs and spiders and roaches (living in a basement apartment in Minnesota which was a bug-fest when 'Spring', cough cough, came b) but this was one fat-legged monster. I suppose I should be better at doing this myself but it truly caught me by surprise. How was your Monday?

More adventures on a motorbike

Sunday was meant to be the day we headed to either Phong Nha caves or Paradise caves. However, that didn't quite work out and instead Meagan spoke to a motorbike owner to takes us around Hue to visit some of the tombs. Hue is rich in cultural heritage and even though we have been here almost a month, we have barely scratched the surface of places to visit. 9 am came and even though the sun was out in full blaze, it felt early. We sat on the back of motorbikes with Mr. Thang and Thieu (I could be totally wrong about the names) and left for Minh Mang tomb, which is about 30 minutes from the city. Along the way Mr. Thieu pointed out government buildings, the best school for boys in the city (also apparently Ho Chi Minh's school), a park-like area and a lady Buddha (which I swear to goodness I heard as lady Huda, the local beer, at first). We stopped en route and Mr. Thang rather dangerously stood in the middle of the road to take pictures for us. I did shriek at that and also a little when Mr. Thieu answered his phone (twice if I may say) and drove single-handed in heavy traffic. I also saw my first moto accident today and even though nobody was terribly hurt, it was frightening - it happened when the bikes were turning.

Dinosaur hatchling aka
awkward adolescent teen chicken 

We reached the Minh Mang tomb and the lady at the ticket counter told us about a cheaper, combined ticket, which worked out great for us since we planned to visit the three places on Sunday. I enjoy how all the structures here have a lot of greenery and water surrounding them. This is also a UNESCO heritage site and had three halls, which were called Blessings Halls. We walked around the water, through the halls, sat on the concrete slabs and promptly jumped up, having been slightly burned. We ended the visit with (overpriced) sugarcane juice, which was compensated by the entertaining reality of two children hanging from a tree next to us and speaking in a language we could understand nothing of. Once outside, Mr. Thang had kindly arranged for pineapples for us, with salt and chili, which now we had no space for. The pineapple was packed into Meagan's bag (which has housed Durian in the past and really may not survive this trip).

Guess who is taller

Preparing for our field work next week

Working breakfast during our meeting 
to finalize the survey

Most of this week and today has been spent preparing for our field visits next week. As of now the idea is to meet with officials from three departments that work in the area of forestry and meet with 12 groups in different villages. How much of this will convert into reality will only be known next week. The planning for this trip has been fairly fluid, in terms of dates, people going with us, the groups we are meeting etc etc. We have prepared our questionnaires and surveys and have gone through three rounds of reviews.

Afternoon walks

The afternoon walk around the citadel is different. I head there after a long Saturday at work. It is alive in a different way. There are people but only serious folks. Serious fishermen intently watching the water, waiting for a catch. A few scattered young people, chatting lazily. The sun is glorious, especially after the endless Minnesota winter and cold. Yet the breeze makes my walk bearable. I start retracing my steps and then change my mind about heading home. I go to a big cafe close by where I have seen karaoke performances in the evenings.

The cafe is large and inviting, with no walls and lovely green furniture. Ca phe sua da doesn't lose its charm but the same cafes can. I enjoy trying new cafes, there are so many where we live. I am one of two customers. It is a lazy evening and the waiters are scrubbing tables, hosing the floor, preparing for the lively evening ahead. The boy serving me starts by speaking to me in Vietnamese and then switches to English as I say kong viet (which I want to believe translates into I don't speak Vietnamese but who knows!). The coffee is great and I enjoy the mild breeze. The music starts and I remember how lucky I am to be here in this moment.

Pictures!

These are a smattering of pictures from the last three weeks (one-third of our time here almost over!).

La Carambole in the touristy
district of town

At the restaurant at Bach Ma (clouds floated right into where we were)
Photo courtesy: Dr. Current

Road leading to our office
on a rainy day (almost dried as I walked)

Making friends

I mentioned this earlier and I think it is proving to be true even more as illustrated by today. By ourselves or in pairs we are more approachable. We often leave the citadel area to get meals and I was remarking to Megan yesterday how each meal feels like an occasion. There is a small food shop close to the hotel, a family-run business, that has really tasty and inexpensive fried rice and in the last week, I have been going there every two days or so. Ever since I thought I had made a breakthrough in miming a take-away box, it has been even better, because the portions suffice for more than one meal for me.

Ushering in the weekend (or the post in which I talk a lot about everyday things)

One of the citadel entrances

The birthday celebrations did not end with lunch yesterday. We all got back to our home (the hotel) and at some point made a plan to go to a place called Why Not! after a walk around the citadel (the original plan was probably just to relax but things changed!). We headed out and started to walk along the path by the citadel. We tried to go in but a man on a motorbike shook his hand at us and someone else told us that entry closes at 5 pm. We then walked around it, looking at the lotuses/loti in the water, a man wading in his underwear (I am still not sure why but it was purposeful), several people standing by their scooters and fishing. We got close to the entrance road and just sat and observed people flying giant, beautiful kites with faces, kids rollerblading (which they very cleverly did by walking on the grass to get steady).

Birthdays!

Yesterday and today were and are birthdays for Meagan and Megan respectively! They both got some written wishes from Minneapolis (thank you to everyone who signed the cards and those who intended to but couldn't :-)). We went out for dinner yesterday (Indian restaurant in Hue for the win!) and did lunch today! Here are some fun pictures from the days!

Cards!

Week 2 (the honeymoon period is over and work is on)

A picture with Dean (extreme left)
and Dung (extreme right)

Things are picking up at work. We started yesterday with a presentation by Dean Current (our adviser) on Community Forestry Management. This was very informative and useful, especially for me because of my limited background in natural resource management. He mentioned that the theory behind this is the idea that there is some value that forests represent, that needs to be valued and conserved. Different forms of enterprises in natural forest management include: timber enterprises, Non Timber Forest Enterprises, PES, REDD+ and eco-tourism. We have come across most of these already and it will be interesting to learn more.

We spent the rest of the day with Dean and Dung Ngo from CORENARM, hashing out our final project plan. We have been going a little bit back and forth on this but now it seems like we have two interlinked projects to work on.

Being a clumsy mountain goat on the slopes of Bach Ma (Bach Ma = wild horse)

At the summit 

On Sunday we visited the Bach Ma national park with some of the CORENARM staff. Our day started at 7 am and we got into a 15-seater mini cab for the 1.5 hour long trip to the park. Ten minutes into the journey the driver told us that we needed to switch the air-conditioning off for the engine to work on the steep ride uphill. Oh well, we slowly roasted on the trip but enjoyed some delicious litchis. We got to the park entrance, bought our tickets, used an icky loo (I have of course used many icky loos in my life but Minneapolis and being at the university had spoiled me), and then drove further ahead. We stopped by a restaurant and used an existing trail to walk to the mountain peak, also called the summit point. Along the way we came across a tunnel used by soldiers in the Vietnam/American war.

Structure at the summit

We reached the top, someone in our group discovered a leech in his shoes, we rang the bell for good luck and vibrations and went towards the house-like structure. It is evidence of our madness and bravery that we all decided to walk on the tin roof of the house, ignoring the chain barriers. It had a pretty solid grip and nobody tripped. We walked back, ate lunch (rice + soya sauce for me which was not that much fun), used an even ickier loo with a praying mantis by the door and drove to another trail that led to waterfalls. This is where it got exciting.

Slippery rocks 

First of all, it was very unclear whether the trail was 2 or 5 kms one way. I am also not sure anyone, including those who had been here before, really knew this trail. Finally, it was fantastic fun but there was no warning that it would involve walking on slippery rocks, hanging and sliding down ropes, crossing little creeks (I slipped at the end of one; I definitely had the distinction of falling the most but saving myself), jumping and essentially being mountain goats. It was quite a hike and it was fairly long and arduous. I must say to everyone's credit we all did it. The ropes were incredibly sturdy and as Megan put it 'confidence inspiring'. At one point when I slipped at a rocky edge, I just held on to it and was absolutely fine.

Victorious Meagan and I at the final waterfall

I don't think I am in great shape and I definitely bruised my ego with all my falls (Crocs are not meant for hardcore hiking obviously). But we did it. We reached the rhododendron waterfall and tried to peek down without plunging to disaster. Another trail led to the bottom of the fall but was '689 steep steps' down. By this time we could also hear thunder, were running out of water, and were in general willing to wrap up. There was definitely confusion about how to exit from the trail and which route to follow. We followed the signs and hoped that they were accurate.

Our adviser was the fastest of us all. 

I enjoyed the hike but I will openly admit that this is not my favorite activity. I can do it but I don't necessarily get the same pleasure out of it as some of the other hikers. That being said, knowing where we are going and the plan definitely makes things more enjoyable for me. Oh well. We finally figured that the exit trail was 1.2 kms and not 12 kms (sigh of relief) and marched in a single file. Our cab was able to come and get us and we were on our way back. It was a long ride and almost everyone except the driver napped I think. I ate all the litchis that were left. I was hot, sweaty, dusty and basically just disgusting.

I had a quick shower and was hungry as hell. The first shop I went to pretty much told me they had nothing to eat (it was strange and I am not sure what was happening). The second one, a street restaurant, was great. They packed me food and cutlery and smiled at me. I went to another coffee shop to get mango juice and twice in one evening they served me papaya juice because they didn't have mangoes. I had it the first time and asked for a lemonade the second time. With that ended our super adventurous, exciting, active, hot and unexpected weekend. Have a look at the pictures to see how lovely and slippery the waterfall trail was. 

Parts of our hike

View from the roof at the summit

          

          Calling this the edge of the earth

Being stranded in a lagoon and seeing a shooting star

View from our boat

This weekend has been nothing but full of adventures. On Saturday we went to the Tam Giang lagoon. We left by car from the hotel, took one boat to a restaurant on bamboo stilts and then took another, bigger boat to go out in the lagoon. We went all the way till a temple that the fishermen pray at for safety. We clearly didn't pray enough or leave offerings because on our way back, perhaps at one-fifth of the way, the motor stopped working. The boatmen made many but ultimately futile attempts to revive it. Before that happened, we did start drifting back and another boat and the buoys and ropes sort of worked together to prevent that. The currents had definitely picked up by the evening.

The view from the temple

We were stuck/stranded there for almost two hours and they were made longer by the fact that we were not sure what was happening. At one point I learned that the boatman was cursing the boat owner for taking so much time to send a new boat :). Dusk slowly turned to darkness and finally the engine roar we heard was the one coming to rescue us. The rescue did not involve a transfer as I had originally imagined but the smaller boat pulling our bigger boat by a rope. Of course this was much slower and the journey back felt much, much longer. The weather was lovely, almost perfect, not hot nor cold. We saw an infinite number of stars and I saw my first shooting star. You can imagine what I wished for.

The boat that took us to the temple and broke down

As we were returning, another boat joined us. At this point it was unclear whether it was to support us or to be carried along. Apparently a fourth boat was sighted as well a little later but eventually this daisy chain of boats caused the rope to fray and had to be dismantled. One of the sad or slightly upsetting things on the journey was a young girl who really had to pee (because we had been in the water for four hours by that point). It was an awkward situation and I cannot imagine that it would have been the same for a boy. There was a little bit of teasing and mocking but as I grow older I worry about this and I don't think we should do it. There should be no shaming of young girls for peeing and menstruating and all other natural things. Oh well, that is a story for another time. Honestly by the time we reached the restaurant on bamboo stilts, I had lost all enthusiasm for dinner. We had cancelled and remade plans for a really busy Sunday, which will be a separate update, and I just wanted to be in bed. Plus it was also a seafood restaurant so the traveling vegetarian in me had little hope. But folks must be fed and up we climbed on the bamboo structure.

Their existence was helpful.

I must say that at no point did we talk about safety in the entire trip at all. Our second boat had life jackets but if we had overturned I feel it would have been pure luck if you got one. I do miss speaking a language in which I can ask several questions, even if it annoys people around me. I would have liked to know the depth of the lagoon, how would we rescue the non-swimmers, if the bamboo restaurant had ever collapsed and other such things. But since I was in no position to do any such thing, I just enjoyed myself. I had also choked very badly before starting while drinking water and thought there was more dignity in any other way I died than choking while drinking water. The others had a multi-course meal, while I used chopsticks for the first time in my life to eat vegetarian noodles specially prepared for me. The noodles were nice and I was able to do them justice.

Before we started

We were fairly late and I think we kept up the family that runs the restaurant. The owner apologized to us and then there were musicians in the (connected) shack next to ours, who sang an apology song. From what I understand that was typical Hue music, which puts words to music, and the closest comparison is the blues. We finished a hearty meal, topped by passing around the fruit Durian, which people have a love or hate relationship with. Mine definitely wasn't love. We then got into another boat, headed back to the shore, then to the car, then to our hotel, and then to bed.

En route

View from our boat

More views

Meagan + little kid replicate Titanic

Waiting to be rescued

Dusk gives way to darkness

Day 4 (also the day where we go sightseeing)

Group photo!

This is, if you haven't already figured out, a relatively light week for us. Our experience can vary between 8 - 10 weeks and we are choosing to spend 10 weeks here and thus I think we are using this week mostly the way we intended to. Rather I should say I think this is a justified and sensible use of our time. I have hit the ground running for different projects in different cities (in India) and I have known and been in favor of the motivation for that. That being said, it has been a really long time since I had the chance to slowly immerse myself into a new project. I think being in a new country, where I don't speak the language at all, where our work has relevance but not the pressing immediacy of say a disaster relief project (which I have worked on), I am grateful for the opportunity to explore the city, meet with different people and treat this like a marathon instead of a sprint.

Day 3 @ Work

The wedding dress shop where we
 reached accidentally in the morning

We are spending this week mostly meeting with people at various non-profits in Hue. We walked over to Dean's hotel in the morning, spent a little time chatting with him about different approaches to forest conservation and community livelihoods, till Mr. Chuong from CORENARM came, and headed to the office for Hue Union for Science and Technology Associations (HUSTA). There was some mix-up with the directions and the taxi driver drove us straight into the courtyard of a fancy wedding dress shop. We made it to our meeting on time and met some very senior people, including the Chairman. They were very gracious and explained about the work they are doing, which has involved supporting CORENARM and agriculture, but also goes beyond it. I am grateful to CORENARM for doing this for us, this is making our experience so much richer. There seems to be a significant development sector/organization presence in Hue and it is nice to learn about it. We were also told about Hue has a large number of universities and doctoral students. Many of the residents of Hue have highlighted how they enjoy the pace and quality of life here more compared to say a bigger and busier city such as Ho Chi Minh.