In Praise of Living with Housemates Abroad / New House Tour

I live in a reasonably-sized bedroom, but I believe there are many great benefits of living in a smaller room, especially when you're in a house FULL of varied, awesome, friendly, nerdy housemates! (Seriously, we're all nerds about something, it's fascinating.)

First, let me describe my house for you.

I live in a house. It’s 3 meters wide at the main door on the street. My house has a garage, nicely-equipped kitchen, and a comfortable living room on the ground level. The living room and back 5 bedrooms were previously part of a separate structure, but at some point the wall between the (current) kitchen and living room was knocked down, combining the two and giving the house a super weird footprint. Rooms in the back lack the view of the canal, have less natural light, and are a bit hot, but are also  a bit cheaper.

Let's take a quick tour of my new place!

No Plan Motorbike Vacation: Tây Ninh

The City of Tây Ninh lies in the heart of Tay Ninh Province, almost an even 100 km NW of Ho Chi Minh City. The ride is along well-travelled highways (although you can explore if you so desire, Google maps is fairly accurate as far as I can tell), and there are many buses back and forth if you choose to watch the scenery roll by instead of getting a super-sexy farmer’s tan.

But a rando weekend getaway on a bus? Nopers. Nuh-uh. Not when it’s so close!

It’s time for a motorbike trip!

Vietnam Motorbike Bingo

Hey all, let's follow up my post about murderbike with a nifty little driving game!

Driving in HCMC is an experience. It can get nutty. There are so many people, everywhere, going all different directions, and everyone's doing everything all at once. You've got to look out for oncoming motorbikes, pedestrians, buses and larger vehicles - it's often overwhelming, and usually tiring, even after 4.5 years. You've got to plan for the unpredictable.

Check out a basic day in this gopro video my cousin shot on his trip for a taste of day-to-day street life. (Thanks CuzBro Chris!!)

These days, however, all this activity is pretty humdrum. Staying engaged while you're driving is crucially important - anything less than being 100% present is dangerous. I try to be observant of the world around me while I'm driving in order to stay sharp... and here are a few of the most striking sights you'll see on the roads of Ho Chi Minh City!

And now, a one-note joke for all you SEAsian Motorbike drivers out there...Just for you, with love from me... HCMC MOTORBIKE BINGO!

I Bought a Motorbike... and I Didn't Do My Research

@&#$ this fake Honda Wave. Looks fun and zippy. Is actually murdercycle.

A genuine Honda Wave is a great motorbike for a lot of reasons. They're cheap to fill up, cheap to repair, last basically forever (with proper care, of course), and are generally pretty good bikes for zipping around on any kind of trip, near or far.

So it's entirely on me when I say that the Honda knock-off I bought has been pretty much a total *$&%ing disaster. It was my own, personal, eternal teachable moment, every day, forever (it seemed) for 7 months. Truly, the gift that kept on giving! It was only when I moved houses and got rid of that disaster deathbike did my daily nightmare end.

First it was the brakes.

Then it was the gears.

Then the turn signals. Then the front lights. Then all the lights. Then the fuel hose. Then an oil leak. Then the engine. Then the ignition.

I thought I could learn to fix it. Mechanics laughed in my face. True story. I am much more shy around mechanics now. For some reason they are as intimidating as barbers and doctors for me (a lot).

Murderscoot Jr. continued to totally suck in new, ever-more impressive ways. I looked forward to learning some new horrible thing about it every time I got on... it was a major stressor in life for me, tbh.

The symptoms were clear: I had bought myself a lemon!

Life In a Shoe Factory, One Year On

Hi from the office! Pardon my sweat and fluffy hair.

Well Hello! It’s been a while. How nice to be back with you again! (Yes, YOU!)

I just passed an anniversary at my job, and it occurs to me that I’ve never really explained what I do at my new place of employment. I haven't posted in so long!

My mother likes to tell people I work in a shoe factory in Vietnam - har har, Mother! What a troll. ;D She’s correct, of course, but I’m firmly in bonafide cubicle-land among the shoe developers, managers, and planners. And, as of September 1st, I’ve been here a year.

It’s a fascinating job and fairly challenging in all the best ways, and a few really not great ways.

Let me give you a little overview...

Book Review: 'The Green Metropolis' and HCMC

David Owen’s amazingly prescient and clear-eyed book from 2009, The Green Metropolis, deconstructs exactly what city planners, environmentalists, and the general population get right about cities… and what they get very, very wrong.

His book offers staggeringly simple reasons to rethink how we approach the twin questions of:

1. “Are cities good or bad for the environment?” and
2. “Cars… OMG?”

His answers boil down to:

1. Very, very, very good, and
2. Yes, cars, OMG.

His arguments, citing a veritable mountain of statistical evidence laid bare in his clear, concise writing, chronicles the rise, fall, rebirth, and future of human cities since the invention of the automobile. He argues that these high-density urban environments are not only more environmentally green, but actually shift the entire conversation from cars and drivers back to fundamental quality-of-life issues for all humans, from the very young to the elderly, and how best to satisfy them.

Owens’ three basic themes are clear: live smaller, live closer, and drive less.

Tib Chay Restaurant: Upscale and Affordable Central Vietnamese Vegetarian

Tib Chay restaurant in Ho Chi Minh’s District 1 is a fine choice for getting your Central Vietnamese vegetarian food fix! Check it out – colorful, flavorful, and reasonably priced.

One of the best things (out of many, many best things!) about eating in Vietnam is the incredible variety. While it may be occasionally difficult to find street food that is truly vegetarian (for example, fish is not considered a meat), a huge chunk of the population is Mahayana Buddhist, and one of the traditions is eating vegetarian on the 1st and 15th days of the lunar month. As a result, there are a fair amount of prominent vegetarian restaurants, from cheap to expensive, that serve exclusively veg food any time of the month. Sometimes you just can’t with the pork again, you know?

Slightly off the beaten path, Tib Chay revels in the royal traditions of Central Vietnamese food. Central Vietnamese cuisine is distinct from the Northern or Southern traditions, and centered around Hue. This ancient city was the home of the last Vietnamese royal dynasty, and the food reflects the court: sophisticated and colorful. Dishes are often defined by their small size and elaborate preparation.

Our main dish (seen above) was the house rice, served with veggies and lotus seeds. I’m not usually a fan of anything culled from the lotus plant, but these seeds are an exception to the rule. The vegetables were juicy and well seasoned.