Vietnam's UNESCO World Heritage Sites: a Preview

Ha Long Bay (1994)

It's not long after spending some time researching or living abroad that the subject of UNESCO's World Heritage sites comes up. 

First of all, what are they, really? And what is 'UNESCO'? It sounds like a food supplier for prisons.

Hoi An Ancient Town (1999)

UNESCO stands for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. In 1972, they approved and launched the most universally recognized international convention in history - the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. It covers many different types of sites around the globe (currently 981 sites (check out that cool interactive map!) - mountains, lakes, monuments, buildings, cities, complexes, and natural features are all treated with universal recognition).

Time to fire up the travel bucket list generator and see what my future plans will include...

Psycho Asian Comfort Food: Fried Rice 101

Dear Aito,

Did I ever say thank you?

When you said that having a rice cooker made you feel like a real person again, I didn't really understand. I'd never owned a rice cooker, but I'd always been curious - mostly because I have the uncanny ability to always over- or under-cook rice on the stove.

I'm glad we got this rice cooker for the house. It's amazing. AMAZING. How does it not burn the rice? How is it cooked perfectly every time? How does it do it so fast?! And how does it keep it steamed and perfect for days, even when it's not on?? Because I'm not a rice scientist (which apparently is a thing that exists), I am content to never know, and only reap the delicious rewards.

Never Say Goodbye

The only Goodbye I'm down with. Still... it's the first track.

I feel like I should admit this: I don't really do goodbyes.

Well, honestly, I don't FEEL like I should admit it, because I'm obviously objectively bad at them, but I feel like YOU might want me to feel that way, so there's that.

I do. I hate goodbyes. They are pointless. If we were randomly charged particles, we wouldn't say goodbye, would we? Of course not. We might see each other again. We might never. We'd never know. If we were randomly charged particles, we could never notice, or care.

But we're not. We've got purpose, direction (even if they change... even if they're random), and, most importantly, the internet.

Thank the gods for the internet!

Street Food III: The Search for Shock

My street food has been entering a bit of a rut lately. There's a storm a'coming, folks - time to shake it up.

Hopefully my next installment will tackle some more diverse dishes, including more substantial meals (almost everything I've gotten on the street so far has been 'eat on my bike' food as I zip between jobs and home) - there are literally dozens, if not hundreds, of specific, common dishes that I haven't tried. They seem to appear out of the woodwork the longer I'm here, and it's always a surprise. Why is it a surprise??

This edition brings 2 new drinks, 2 vegetarian dishes, cylindrical rice things (2, of course), and a whole passel of exotic fruits made into the best smoothies in town... minus the durian. Always minus the durian.

Here's my third round-up of treats from the streets. Enjoy!

Iced Sugar Cane Juice
Average Cost: $.25 USD
Mandatoryness Level: WOAH
Best Attributes:

PROS:
-DO YOU GUYS HEAR THAT GUY'S HEART? I CAN TOTALLY HEAR HIS HEART. WOW THIS IS GOOD. HOW IS IT GONE ALREADY? DO YOU THINK I HAVE TIME TO GET ANOTHER? WOULD THE KIDS LOOK AT ME FUNNY IF I CAME IN WITH TWO? HOW COME YOU'RE NOT DRINKING ANY? DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS? I JUST REALIZED YOU CAN GET THIS ON MY BLOCK, OH MY GOD. WHAT TIME DID YOU SAY? OOO PUT YOUR HAND HERE, IT'S LIKE I'M A HUMMINGBIRD, I WONDER IF VIETNAM HAS HUMMINGBIRDS. WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY WOULD LOOK LIKE. I FEEL LIKE THEY WOULD PROBABLY ENJOY THIS DRINK. WE SHOULD GET SOME MORE. I MISS HUMMINGBIRDS. DID I TELL YOU I CAN HEAR THAT GUYS HEART??

CONS:
-It's not that guy's heart, it's yours.

-Early onset diabetes

-Propensity to think/talk in all caps

-A truly unbelievable sugar crash

ON THE OTHER HAND:
-The best preparations give it a twist of lime, which is just outstanding.

Resolution Check-in: How to Speak (Enough) Vietnamese

The major difference is that, in the game, you're almost perpetually physically alone - traveling, I'm only mentally isolated.

Let's check out our hero's #4 New Year's Resolution...

4. Be able to basically communicate what I need in Vietnamese 

My vietnamese is just terrible. Much of it is that I'm shy and hesitant to use it in the first place (and the fact that it's just a difficult language, period), but I've come to recognize that, to put it simply, I've got to either use it or stay in the English bubble forever. Since the latter is not acceptable, I will start making more of a lingual connection to my environment.

Ha. Learning Vietnamese. I'd forgotten that I'd even made this resolution. Let me tell you a story.

It's time to unpack that dusty box that has "VIETNAMESE - HOLY CRAP, LEARN ME ASAP" scrawled on the side in big, black marker...

Traveling as an Introvert

Should the title of this blog
have been AnIntrovertAbroad?

Going away for the first time, I was pretty concerned about traveling as an introvert.

I recharge my batteries by being alone in a rich inner world. In an environment where I would have only new acquaintances, this was worrying to me. Would I have to explain? Would I be able to adapt? Would I be alone in a sea of extroverted youths? I secretly doubted my abilities... yet hoped that I would find reserves of "strength" I didn't know I possessed.

My nature is the big excuse I let stand between me and traveling abroad for so, so many years. I kept telling myself later, later, when the time is right. Later: you've got attachments, jobs, friends, and family. Later: you love Chicago. And could you really leave your cat?? How would you survive in a world dominated by short-term acquaintances? A place where you have to see and be seen in order to have any kind of social life? I both feared what I would find and was privately jealous of what I viewed as a "strength."

Well, here I am, almost one year into my first adventure. I stepped off the cliff of my comfort zone, landed in the deepest end of the forest, and found lions and tigers and bears... and beauty and wonders and friends. It seems like a good time for some introspection... although, when would I not say that?

Book Review: Helliconia Trilogy

The Helliconia trilogy, by Brian W. Aldiss, is an epic microcosm of a story - a tale of civilizations trapped by circumstances and directed by forces larger and more implacable than any human construct - their environment. It reminds us that we're part of a larger fabric, that we have a place in our habitat, our planet, and the stars themselves.

I initially didn't see any value in picking this book apart as part of my One Person Book Club (to contrast, the only previous book I've reviewed through this lens, The Dispossessed, had several obviously relevant themes wrapped in a much less epic bow). I didn't see how it could relate to either sustainable cities or my time in Vietnam, but I'd heard it was considered a Masterwork, and (completed) sci-fi series are kind of my jam. So, what the hell. I gave it a shot. I'd been reading way too much news recently, anyway.

It wasn't until partially through the second book that I came to see the connections between the larger themes and how they related to my own interests. The enormous, detailed environmental canvas provides a cosmic level of context for the actions of the characters (a context that we humans can easily forget we're a part of), letting us see the natural, sociological, and psychic ramifications of a cataclysm that shook nature itself to the core.

The themes of natural change are all-important. The unusual phenomena which created this environment dominates everything in this story. The three stories detail the fallout of a solar system's disastrous encounter with a second star, which causes the climates, evolution, and civilizations of a planet to spin wildly out of control, colliding in fascinating and mind-expanding ways over the course of centuries and eons.

L'Usine: HCMC's Foremost Food & Fashion Fusion

L'usine (151 Dong Khoi Street, HCMC) aims for a specific niche, and nails it: the creative crowd that loves euro-influenced brunch (and an exceptionally expensive boutique) has a home here. Much has been made of the two locations in HCMC, of which the best by far is the first Dong Khoi location (entering through the art gallery almost makes it all by itself!) sitting kittycorner from the stately Saigon Opera House.

Arty!

My friend and roommate Yona introduced me to L'usine, and I owe her a debt that will go unpaid for a long time. I won't go into crazy specifics here. It was one of the first western places I ate, and I've brought several friends here since. It's a solid, dependable option when you want a place with class and air conditioning, and a creative atmosphere with compulsively sippable Iced Lime Juice.

The boutique is a little too hyped up. Not only is half of it so trendy that it's probably already half-ironic by the time it gets to the shelf, but it's almost hilariously expensive. Even if I would buy a great afghan in the south of Vietnam (which, no), 200 USD is just a tad more than I like to pay for anything less than my rent.

But let's not lose sight of why I end up bringing my friends here... that comforting food!

I Do Karaoke So You Don't Have To - But You Should

Have you lived?

Have you taken down Metallica in a room the side of your bedroom, on a microphone stuck on 'echo'?

Have you pillaged the field of 1950's oldies, sacrificing accuracy of notes on the altar of ROCK AND ROLL?

Have you taken on The Rainbow Connection and sang it with every fiber of your being?

Have you ever done more to accelerate your already rapidly fading hearing in a single three hour session in a closed, neon-lit room?

My friends, if the answer to any of these questions is "no," you have not experienced the Vietnamese variety of Karaoke.

Picture it, if you will: a sunny Saturday afternoon, noon. Two friends and co-workers about to leave work/the city for good, and all they want to do is karaoke. You agree. You have no idea what you're getting yourself into...