sex, bia hoi, chocolate chip cookies and state propaganda
thanks everyone for the overwhelming and positive responses regarding my blog. it makes me happy knowing i'm creating something people enjoy. at the same time it's difficult for me to cater to such a diverse audience. everyone from my conservative grandmother to my anarchist comrades are reading this. usually i can move through these different social and cultural spheres with ease, but this medium makes it so i have to be either honest with everyone or provide depoliticized, boring journal entries. this also means i have to be honest with myself. perhaps that is the hardest part.
we have a lot to catch up on so let's dig in. (also note that a recent post includes pictures of me and my bicycle thanks to another traveler who had a digital camera).
last week i stayed in the heart of ha noi's old quarter at the swankiest hostel in town. a sticker-shocking $7 a night for a *dorm-bed* was well worth it given the tantalizing extras: full kitchen, free coffee + tea, free internet, friendly and knowledgeable staff, visa services, free internet, a constant flow of international backpackers (re: new friends), and free baguettes with fresh peanut butter and an array of lip-smacking-good spreads.
i set out the first day on a scavenger hunt for grocery stores to stock up on cooking supplies. a whole afternoon's search for goods not only quickly acquainted me with the city, but also turned up the necessary ingredients for chocolate chip cookies, popcorn, stir-fry and omelets (with cheese!). working up a storm in the kitchen let loose intoxicating smells throughout the hostel. curious noses ventured into my little abode of production to see what was up. my culinary creations instantly landed me the nickname "chef" or "cook". i taught the hostel's cook and staff how to make stove-top popcorn and even pocketed a modest 50,000 dong selling cookies by donation. more than anything else, cooking gave me the comfort of feeling at home. my community in seattle largely revolves around food so i'm used to getting my hands dirty in the kitchen. by the end of the week my spirit and stomach were well satisfied.
while i whipped up delicious dishes in the kitchen, my fellow travelers ventured in and out of the hostel, taking time to visit intra-city sites (at ho chi minh's mausoleum and an ancient water puppet show) and nearby tourist destinations (in sapa and ha long bay). when i first arrived i thought: "wow, ha long bay sounds amazing. maybe i should go there." on closer inspection i realized i already traveled through ha long bay by bicycle during my trek from the chinese border to ha noi! the vegetation-covered limestone cliffs in ha long erupt nearly straight out of the ground and water. these shaggy, giant gumdrops dotting the coastline certainly provide an awesome scene, but i'm glad there wasn't a tour guide pointing them out to me.
much of the tourist industry provides preprogrammed expeditions. (well, i guess that's how most tourist industries work too). the tourist experience is like mass produced art. everyone reads one of the two popular guidebooks, goes to one of the three popular destinations, takes the same pictures (from one or two different angles), encounters the same scams, etc. although there's room for individual experiences (and there are plenty of people have them), i think it's much harder to break out of the tourist--touror relationship and do something original (think: me giving an impromptu popcorn popping class to a vietnamese girl at the hostel).
but it gets worse. coming from the "west"--and america in particular--our perceptions of viet nam are largely filtered by war movies depicting a quiet, innocent and docile people ravaged by war in an exotic and romantic land controlled by a powerful socialist regime. a plethora of literature and movies such as Indochine, The Lover, Dien Bien Phu, The Scent of Green Papaya, The Quiet American, Apocalypse Now, and Full Metal Jacket all contribute to concocting these semi-true truths. i am no more guilty than the next person. i too arrived in this land with the same fantasies. in fact, i think my experience detailed in an earlier post titled 'tien yen torture' was largely of my own making. for vietnamese people, it seems, the foreign nations warring here are something of the past. half the vietnamese population was born after the american war, and the country has changed a lot since that time.
talking with two united nations officials over bia hoi (fresh beer), i learned that the socialist party in vietnam has made leaps and bounds away from the ideals of marxism and now sits comfortably with capitalistic trends (in order to stay in power). one official recalled a meeting between the united nations and the vietnamese government: after talking about economic development of the free-market persuasion, a british man said that he was a socialist organizer in england during the 1930s and that what socialism means to him doesn't look like what the men were talking about that day. the vietnamese officials literally told him to 'shut up'. it appears most of the vietnamese people have quietly accepted these changes so long as they get a piece of the pie. in result, a strong capitalistic culture of individualism and profit-driven ventures now flourish in vietnam. labeling the country as an institution of socialism now seems nothing more than political rhetoric. america is as much a democracy as vietnam is a socialist state.
the effects are blatantly visible. teachers intentionally withhold information during class only to sell it to a more elite evening class where the rich kids get the full picture. vietnamese men driving mercedes alongside bicyclists and motorcyclists provide a visual of growing class division. (i even saw a hummer squeezing it's way down the narrow city streets.) the coal mine near cam pha that i passed by is part of a huge upswing in accumulation of nature's treasures. people in rural areas travel to the outskirts of cities to work in industrial parks, huge factories that mostly pump out cheap garment and electronic products for the whiter world. (and in these ways vietnam feels a lot like china).
but all this is neither part of sheehan's, morley safer's and dan rather's returns to vietnam; nor is it the vietnamese party line. many tourists come to vietnam with the expectations of a narcotic land and revolutionary political state. so that's what they go to see. and that's what the tourist industry provides. whether it's the mountainous beauty of the tourist honey pot that is sapa or seeing ho chi minh's embalmed body at the mausoleum, tourists come and see what they already know. in a sense, they come to vietnam to see themselves. the funny part is they pay for it.
there's one last thing i've been debating with myself about whether or not to include here. during my time in ha noi i made friends with katia, a french girl who arrived in vietnam with the hopes of landing a job in ha noi and staying there for six months. i admired her alternative approach to vietnam, and we really hit it off. one night we found ourselves kissing each other and we later talked about fooling around. with mutual consent, we decided to have sex together. at first i thought i would never mention this in my blog. (remember, my grandmother is reading this!). on second thought i considered how rarely people talk about sex in our culture. when it is openly presented it's often in a negative way and it's hard to learn how to have a physical relationship with a person when there exists few healthy examples. (i certainly do not have a perfect record and it's taken me awhile to figure this all out). i think it's good for people to enjoy their bodies and doing it with open communication, mutual consent (and a condom) is a healthy activity. so here i am sacrificing personal privacy in an attempt to take a stab at an all-too taboo and hidden subject.
one afternoon i chased british tourists beth and ben on my bicycle while they took hired rides on the backs of two motorcycle taxis. we were heading to ho chi minh's mausoleum. when we arrived, i opted out of seeing the dead guy and went for a walk around the neighborhood. i stumbled upon a nursery and stuck my head inside to say hello. a man said i was welcome, so i stomped around in the clay-rich soil and admired strange plants. i broke out my camera to capture an image of a leafy fern surrounded by a metal fence and threatening barbed wire. later the man offered me hospitality in the form of a red, round piece of fruit about the size of a clenched fist. while i munched on the juicy fruit a small clover plant caught my eye. deciding a plant would make a nice travel companion, i purchased it and set out on my way.
inside a park i sat down and ordered a juice at a quiet food stand. the two women working there were puzzled by my clover companion. after some hand waving and talk, one of the women left and returned with one hand clutching a mess of clover plants. it seemed they wanted to enrich my supply of clover so i let them have at it. and before i new it she was repotting my plant! while digging out the soil with a knife her tool cracked the clay pot in half. they looked at me and i shrugged my shoulders and smiled, trying to convey: "don't worry about it, shit happens". the woman left again on her bicycle and returned five minutes later with a plastic pot, more soil and a red balloon (for me). these are the smaller, ordinary interactions i'm enjoying most in vietnam.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
p.s. from the looks of it the post office in hanoi accepts mail general delivery. i didn't receive any packages so if you sent something perhaps there's a glitch in the system. if you want you can try and send me something at my next stop at a major post office in ho chi minh city. here's the address:
poste restante
att: charles rogers
Ho Chi Minh City Post Office
2 Cong Xa Pari, Dist. 1.
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
p.p.s. both the chinese and vietnamese governments censor my blog host, blogspot. in the past i told people to send me e-mails because i could not access my own blog to read people's comments. i've found a way to sidestep state censorship, however, using the services at anonymouse.org
so if you'd like to leave a comment please do. i'll also continue answering individual e-mails.
we have a lot to catch up on so let's dig in. (also note that a recent post includes pictures of me and my bicycle thanks to another traveler who had a digital camera).
last week i stayed in the heart of ha noi's old quarter at the swankiest hostel in town. a sticker-shocking $7 a night for a *dorm-bed* was well worth it given the tantalizing extras: full kitchen, free coffee + tea, free internet, friendly and knowledgeable staff, visa services, free internet, a constant flow of international backpackers (re: new friends), and free baguettes with fresh peanut butter and an array of lip-smacking-good spreads.
i set out the first day on a scavenger hunt for grocery stores to stock up on cooking supplies. a whole afternoon's search for goods not only quickly acquainted me with the city, but also turned up the necessary ingredients for chocolate chip cookies, popcorn, stir-fry and omelets (with cheese!). working up a storm in the kitchen let loose intoxicating smells throughout the hostel. curious noses ventured into my little abode of production to see what was up. my culinary creations instantly landed me the nickname "chef" or "cook". i taught the hostel's cook and staff how to make stove-top popcorn and even pocketed a modest 50,000 dong selling cookies by donation. more than anything else, cooking gave me the comfort of feeling at home. my community in seattle largely revolves around food so i'm used to getting my hands dirty in the kitchen. by the end of the week my spirit and stomach were well satisfied.
while i whipped up delicious dishes in the kitchen, my fellow travelers ventured in and out of the hostel, taking time to visit intra-city sites (at ho chi minh's mausoleum and an ancient water puppet show) and nearby tourist destinations (in sapa and ha long bay). when i first arrived i thought: "wow, ha long bay sounds amazing. maybe i should go there." on closer inspection i realized i already traveled through ha long bay by bicycle during my trek from the chinese border to ha noi! the vegetation-covered limestone cliffs in ha long erupt nearly straight out of the ground and water. these shaggy, giant gumdrops dotting the coastline certainly provide an awesome scene, but i'm glad there wasn't a tour guide pointing them out to me.
much of the tourist industry provides preprogrammed expeditions. (well, i guess that's how most tourist industries work too). the tourist experience is like mass produced art. everyone reads one of the two popular guidebooks, goes to one of the three popular destinations, takes the same pictures (from one or two different angles), encounters the same scams, etc. although there's room for individual experiences (and there are plenty of people have them), i think it's much harder to break out of the tourist--touror relationship and do something original (think: me giving an impromptu popcorn popping class to a vietnamese girl at the hostel).
but it gets worse. coming from the "west"--and america in particular--our perceptions of viet nam are largely filtered by war movies depicting a quiet, innocent and docile people ravaged by war in an exotic and romantic land controlled by a powerful socialist regime. a plethora of literature and movies such as Indochine, The Lover, Dien Bien Phu, The Scent of Green Papaya, The Quiet American, Apocalypse Now, and Full Metal Jacket all contribute to concocting these semi-true truths. i am no more guilty than the next person. i too arrived in this land with the same fantasies. in fact, i think my experience detailed in an earlier post titled 'tien yen torture' was largely of my own making. for vietnamese people, it seems, the foreign nations warring here are something of the past. half the vietnamese population was born after the american war, and the country has changed a lot since that time.
talking with two united nations officials over bia hoi (fresh beer), i learned that the socialist party in vietnam has made leaps and bounds away from the ideals of marxism and now sits comfortably with capitalistic trends (in order to stay in power). one official recalled a meeting between the united nations and the vietnamese government: after talking about economic development of the free-market persuasion, a british man said that he was a socialist organizer in england during the 1930s and that what socialism means to him doesn't look like what the men were talking about that day. the vietnamese officials literally told him to 'shut up'. it appears most of the vietnamese people have quietly accepted these changes so long as they get a piece of the pie. in result, a strong capitalistic culture of individualism and profit-driven ventures now flourish in vietnam. labeling the country as an institution of socialism now seems nothing more than political rhetoric. america is as much a democracy as vietnam is a socialist state.
the effects are blatantly visible. teachers intentionally withhold information during class only to sell it to a more elite evening class where the rich kids get the full picture. vietnamese men driving mercedes alongside bicyclists and motorcyclists provide a visual of growing class division. (i even saw a hummer squeezing it's way down the narrow city streets.) the coal mine near cam pha that i passed by is part of a huge upswing in accumulation of nature's treasures. people in rural areas travel to the outskirts of cities to work in industrial parks, huge factories that mostly pump out cheap garment and electronic products for the whiter world. (and in these ways vietnam feels a lot like china).
but all this is neither part of sheehan's, morley safer's and dan rather's returns to vietnam; nor is it the vietnamese party line. many tourists come to vietnam with the expectations of a narcotic land and revolutionary political state. so that's what they go to see. and that's what the tourist industry provides. whether it's the mountainous beauty of the tourist honey pot that is sapa or seeing ho chi minh's embalmed body at the mausoleum, tourists come and see what they already know. in a sense, they come to vietnam to see themselves. the funny part is they pay for it.
there's one last thing i've been debating with myself about whether or not to include here. during my time in ha noi i made friends with katia, a french girl who arrived in vietnam with the hopes of landing a job in ha noi and staying there for six months. i admired her alternative approach to vietnam, and we really hit it off. one night we found ourselves kissing each other and we later talked about fooling around. with mutual consent, we decided to have sex together. at first i thought i would never mention this in my blog. (remember, my grandmother is reading this!). on second thought i considered how rarely people talk about sex in our culture. when it is openly presented it's often in a negative way and it's hard to learn how to have a physical relationship with a person when there exists few healthy examples. (i certainly do not have a perfect record and it's taken me awhile to figure this all out). i think it's good for people to enjoy their bodies and doing it with open communication, mutual consent (and a condom) is a healthy activity. so here i am sacrificing personal privacy in an attempt to take a stab at an all-too taboo and hidden subject.
one afternoon i chased british tourists beth and ben on my bicycle while they took hired rides on the backs of two motorcycle taxis. we were heading to ho chi minh's mausoleum. when we arrived, i opted out of seeing the dead guy and went for a walk around the neighborhood. i stumbled upon a nursery and stuck my head inside to say hello. a man said i was welcome, so i stomped around in the clay-rich soil and admired strange plants. i broke out my camera to capture an image of a leafy fern surrounded by a metal fence and threatening barbed wire. later the man offered me hospitality in the form of a red, round piece of fruit about the size of a clenched fist. while i munched on the juicy fruit a small clover plant caught my eye. deciding a plant would make a nice travel companion, i purchased it and set out on my way.
inside a park i sat down and ordered a juice at a quiet food stand. the two women working there were puzzled by my clover companion. after some hand waving and talk, one of the women left and returned with one hand clutching a mess of clover plants. it seemed they wanted to enrich my supply of clover so i let them have at it. and before i new it she was repotting my plant! while digging out the soil with a knife her tool cracked the clay pot in half. they looked at me and i shrugged my shoulders and smiled, trying to convey: "don't worry about it, shit happens". the woman left again on her bicycle and returned five minutes later with a plastic pot, more soil and a red balloon (for me). these are the smaller, ordinary interactions i'm enjoying most in vietnam.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
p.s. from the looks of it the post office in hanoi accepts mail general delivery. i didn't receive any packages so if you sent something perhaps there's a glitch in the system. if you want you can try and send me something at my next stop at a major post office in ho chi minh city. here's the address:
poste restante
att: charles rogers
Ho Chi Minh City Post Office
2 Cong Xa Pari, Dist. 1.
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
p.p.s. both the chinese and vietnamese governments censor my blog host, blogspot. in the past i told people to send me e-mails because i could not access my own blog to read people's comments. i've found a way to sidestep state censorship, however, using the services at anonymouse.org
so if you'd like to leave a comment please do. i'll also continue answering individual e-mails.
posted by charlie at Thursday, March 02, 2006
2 Comments:
hi, im a vietnamese living in england, just came across your blog by chance, i haven't been back to vietnam for a while and it is very fascinating to read your blog. :->
hello anonymous. thanks for the note. please jump in and share your stories, comments or perspectives whenever you want. i quite like having other voices expressed here.
if you're the same person who replied to my "valentine's day marriage proposals" please check that entry as i added a comment in reply.
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