Back to University

I am back to school ! For two weeks, I am having 3 hours vietnamese classes every morning at the University of Vietnamese language and culture. It is a very difficult language to learn: words are monosyllabic: there are 6 ways to pronounce each syllable in a slightly different way and each of them has a different meaning ! If I can learn enough to manage in the streets I'll be happy !It is fun to be in the middle of a vietnamese campus and observe the flow of students going to their classes on foot, on motorcycle or bicycle.

Cette semaine, j'ai recu la visite de Claire-Lise, une amie rencontree a Phnom Penh l'an dernier. Ici en compagnie de Thuy au restaurant Hoa Sua.

Last week-end, I went to visit the Great Wall in China .....???? .... :-)

Pelgrins to the Perfume Pagoda

On the way back from the Perfume Pagoda

La Pagode des parfums

La Pagode des Parfums ...

Dimanche 20 février:4h00: départ en mini-bus devant l'ambassade de France avec Thuy, une copine vietnamienne et une vingtaine de ses amis vietnamiens ainsi que deux autres français.4h05: arrêt petit déjeuner dans un petit stand de rue pendant 20 minutes ...6h00: arrivée enfin à proximité de la rivière, point de départ pour aller visiter la pagode. Mais nous ne sommes pas seuls: il y a déjà des milliers de personnes attendant de pouvoir passer pour se diriger vers les barques qui nous emmèneront en une petite heure de douce ballade au fil de l'eau au pied de la montagne où se situe la pagode. Ce ne sont pratiquement que des femmes qui pagaient frénétiquement pour emmener les pélerins. Car après le Têt (Nouvel An chinois), il est de bonne augure d'aller faire un pélerinage dans une pagode et d'y apporter quelques offrandes pour que la chance ne vous oublie pas ...Une fois arrivés, pris dans la foule, on tente tant bien que mal d'arriver à la Pagode par un petit chemin escarpé, jonché de pierres glissantes usées par les pas des pélerins. Le chemin est bondé de gens qui montent et qui descendent, qui se poussent, qui se frayent un chemin dans la foule. Arrivés enfin en haut, nos camarades de route offrent un plateau de victuailles à Bouddha et d'autres déités locales, puis en reprennent une bonne partie qui nous servira de pique-nique: gâteau de riz gluant, fibres de porc séché, mandarines. Après le déjeuner, la moitié d'entre eux se couchent sous des couvertures de couleurs fluoresentes mises à notre disposition sous de grandes tentes, pendant que les plus courageux d'entre nous reprennent le chemin vers les grottes situés à quelques heures de marche de la pagode. La foule est encore plus dense, on n'arrive pas à avancer. Après presque 1h30 de marche et à peine 2 kilomètres plus loin, je décide de faire demi-tour, redescend, et m'empresse d'aller me blottir sous une couverture car le lever était tout de même un peu matinal ...Après quelques heures d'attente (pour reconstituer le groupe, reprendre le bateau, retrouver le véhicule ...) nous rentrons à Hanoi, épuisés. Il est 19h. Fatiguante mais mémorable expérience !

Tara, Alison, Nathalie and I in Hoi An having our daily afternoon cake ...

Etudiant/Conducteur de Xe Om (taxi-moto) et diseuse de bonne aventure (voulez-vous un the ? Non, je prefererai une biere !)

Vieille femme brulant du feuillage

The fish market in Hoi An

Hoi An by night ....

Ha Noi - Hoi An

Before my training started, I went travelling a bit in central Vietnam for 1 week and a half. I spent 3 days in Hue, the ancient city of the mandarins with its beautiful citadel and its numerous mandarin tombs. The city itself has no charm but the ancient city is worth visiting. However, I must say I am not as sensitive to bricks covered with cement as to carved stone, and most of the tombs of the mandarins are in cement and usually restored in a heavy way ... I then went straight to Hoi An which is a charming small city with superb wooden houses from several generations of chinese people settled in Hoi An. There are tons of tailors, shoe-makers, fancy restaurants and a beach nearby. You can imagine what a nightmare it is to stay there, especially when the sun is shining (and it was !).I met 3 great women with whom I spent most of my days in Hue and Hoi An: 2 american women travelling each on their own for several months around the world and a french stewardess: Alison, Tara and Nathalie: we had good fun together !

Tet (New Year) 's eve in Ha Noi

My fancy kitchen ...

My living-room corner ... before redecoration !

It is 0h50 in Hanoï, everything is quiet. I am for a few hours now in the flat that will be mine for the coming 6 months. There is a large room with a double bed, a desk, four armchairs and a small table, there is also a fairly large kitchen and a bathroom. AND hot water AND an air conditionning system that is supposed to work as a heater as well (I didn´t managed to get it working so far) ... It's freezing and humid. Everything is humid, from the bed sheets to the toilet paper. The flat is cosy as a prison cell with its gigantic neon lights and kitsch furniture. I'll have to work on that to feel a bit at home ...
Next Monday is the beginning of the Tet festival ! Great, I really wanted to see it. Actually what I didn't know is that everybody go back to their families for a week of celebrations at home and that everything is closed: restaurants, shops, banks and probably most of the travels and buses agencies. All the contacts I got in Hanoï are actually gone to their home or on holidays ... And there won't be celebrations in the street as I expected ...hmmm ... Doesn't matter! will see how to make this week fun anyway !
I live on a quite large boulevard, but the building is a bit withdrawn from the street. My address is 34A Quang Trung Street, Hoan Kiem district, my home telephone is +84(0)4 94 22 816 and my mobile phone is +84(0) 91 435 98 10. There are 6 hours jet lag between France or The Netherlands and Vietnam: when it is 16h at your place, it is 22h in Hanoï. (BTW, if ever you intend calling me, be aware it it is much cheaper to use pre-paid phone cards for Vietnam (available in chinese shops or on the internet www.iradium.fr)). For those having ADSL at home, I will also be connected from time to time to Skype (free Net2Net phone available at http://www.skype.com/).
Sunday morning: Nice stereo to be waken up by: workings from the left window and traffic horns from the right one. It is extremely dark in my room, the next-door buildings are so closed to the windows that they shade them. Today Unpacking and cleaning day. I have an appointment at 15h with a british VSO volunteer for a tour of Hanoï and at 19h for the dinner with another french volunteer from the Hoa Sua school (the 2 last ones in town !).
Some more news coming soon ... Take care & send me some news ! Love, @leX

J-3: Departure to Hanoï

On Friday the 4th of February, I'll be in the plane to Hanoï !

After 2 months of travelling and visiting in Europe (Nancy-Utrecht-Amsterdam-Nancy-Birmingham-Paris-Bordeaux-Saintes-Boulogne Billancourt and Paris again ...) I am looking forward to the next adventure and settling down again !

My in-country training with VSO will start on the 18th of Feb for 2 weeks (courses about language, history, society, culture, ...) and I will start my work at Hoa Sua school early March (www.hoasuaschool.com).

Before that, I will use the spare 2 weeks to travel in Vietnam, probably up North in the mountains. I'll post soon some photos !

CU
@leX