KATHRINE IN HANOI

Time's up

2008-11-06T10:18:00.001+01:00

So my time in Hanoi has yet again come to an end.

Tomorrow I'm off again - don't know when I'll be back, but I'm sure I will return some day. Hope you've enjoyed the pictures.

More Hanoi street pics

2008-11-06T10:13:00.004+01:00

3 days after the flooding

2008-11-03T10:15:00.002+01:00

Flooding in Hanoi

2008-11-01T09:22:00.005+01:00

It's raining in Hanoi - and not like the normal monsoon rain, with heavy rain for a couple of hours - this has been almost 36 hours of heavy rain!

Yesterday after a meeting I went out and tried to cross the road - it was around noon and the water was knee high. I caught a taxi and as I passed through the narrow streets I watched people barricade their shops as the the taxi "sailed" by. Some waved at me, I guess finding it funny that the taxi was acting as a boat - others stood stunned and anxious obviously afraid if barricades wouldn't hold.

This morning I read the rain fall has been the heaviest in Hanoi for 2 decades. Friday 300mm of rain fell. The news paper showed pictures of people wading through breast-high water trying to save their moto. And apparantly several people have died in the floods.

It's still raining and the weather forecast predicts heavy rain for the next couple of days.

It's raining in Hanoi.

Hanoi moments

2008-10-26T15:15:00.011+01:00

A little fat?

2008-10-21T14:22:00.002+02:00

My tailor's reaction when she saw me after nearly two years away was:
"Very long time - you big now!"

I went to visit my "old" maid and she sad: "Maybe, you a little fat now" and gave me her biggest smile.

Yes, I have gained weight since I left Vietnam, granted - am I fat? Well, no not excatly.

But here, being fat is a sign of wealth. Being fat means having enough money to fill you stomach every night. Being fat is a compliment. I knew that, but nonetheless it was a tiny bit difficult not to be a little bit offended as I am raised in a culture where being told you're fat is certainly not a compliment. Furthermore, I doubt any person with a bit of sense in their mind would said it that frankly, should someone they knew years ago have gained a bit of weight.

But that's Vietnam and within a split second I smiled back and said: "Yes, I'm a little fat now"

More food...

2008-10-16T18:09:00.003+02:00

Back in Hanoi

2008-10-11T18:30:00.005+02:00

So, I'm here. Back in Hanoi.

First impressions: Traffic has gotten worse - even though people are wearing helmets and there are more traffic signs up, it seems worse.

There are more flashy shops, more ATMs and you can actually withdraw 20 million Dong as opposed to 4 million in 2006.

Here are some pictures of the beautiful food I have been enjoying:

Hello again!

2008-08-26T20:45:00.003+02:00

It's been a while since my last post. I said goodbye to Vietnam knowing that we'd one day meet again.

A quick brush up on my life: Since my stay in Vietnam I lived in Sweden for half a year. The last year I've been based in the lovely Danish capital, Copenhagen. I've travelled quite a bit. Mostly in Asia, but I haven't revisited Vietnam.

I put some of my Hanoi memories into words and was published in the guidebook "To Vietnam with Love: A Travel Guide for the Connoisseur". Check it out if you're heading to Vietnam. The book is packed with personal stories from Vietnam.

So, why am I writing again after after nearly 2 years of silence? Well, I guess it's not that difficult to figure out - I'm going back to Vietnam! The tickets are booked, I'm leaving 8th of October. I'll be staying in Hanoi for a month doing some research. I think it'll be strange coming back. Most of my friends from "back then" have left the city looking for new adventures and I'm sure Hanoi is changing fast. I'm excited to go back. If anyone's still out there reading this - I will be updating on a regular basis while in Hanoi.

Goodbye and good luck

2007-01-14T05:05:00.000+01:00

So it's time to say goodbye... I've always hated goodbye's and this one really hurts.
It's been an amazing ride. During the last 6 months I've met some really nice people, led a very comfortable life, travelled in Asia and gotten to know Vietnam better. In short I've been happy living in Vietnam.

It'll be quite an adjustment to cross a street without 100s of motos coming right at me, to do my own laundry, cook and clean again, to enjoy the sound of silence, to study, to be exposed to temperatures under 15c and to pay 13 USD for mojito! I'm not quite sure I'm actually ready to leave, but nonetheless I am leaving.

I've seen how Vietnam's rapid development is changing everyday life in Hanoi. New shops pop up by the day, traffick is getting worse (as more people can afford a moto), KFC has opened two "restaurants" in Hanoi and soon you'll probably see McD, Starbukcs and Pizza Hut opening. It's globalisation people say, it's the way development works, when it works! Maybe they're right. I hope the development strategy will included preserving Vietnamese culture and traditions. I hope Hanoi doesn't turn into Singapore, which in my view has lost so much of its' Asian spirit. I hope the distribuation of the new wealth is not as unequal as it in China. I hope Vietnam is able to cope with the development.

I don't know whether I'll blog from my next destination, but I can reveal I'm going back to Scandinavia, but I'm not going home. If I do decide to do another blog on my Northern adventures I'll be sure to put a link on this one. It's going to be my 4th country besides Denmark since the summer of 2002 and I'm slowly beginning to feel more like a world citizen, which is good I suppose. One of my friends asked me whether I thought moving around from country to country in the pace I've done is hard - I don't think moving to a new country or adjusting to its' pace is that hard, but saying goodbye always is...
But it is the life that I've chosen to lead at the moment (some say once you're on the track you never get off it again), and I feel very privileged that I'm able to live this way.

I'd like to say thanks to the 15 somewhat readers a day that actually have tuned into this discount version of my blog (the Danish one getting the funny stories and the best pics). I hope you've enjoyed my Vietnam adventure as much as I have.

Goodbye Vietnam, I hope I'll recognize you when I see you again

6 months in Asia

2007-01-14T04:53:00.000+01:00

Tran Phu, UM, Pho,Lemon juice, Solace, Shopping, Bun cha, Little Hanoi, Teitur, "Xe om, em oi?", Tailor, Hanoi Taxi, Dragonfly, Ipa Nima Party, Spring rolls, Tiger Temple, Fruit shake, Foot massage, Bangkok, Traffick, Balcony Bar, Champagne brunch, Hoan Kiem, Sentimental journey, E-mails, Kuala Lumpur, Moto rides, Country side, Development, HAU, Hong Kong, Dim sum, Bia Hoi, Noise, Cultural differences, Christmas dinner, Markets, Bobby Chinn, Star ferry ride, Beijing, Humidity, Being Asian, Being European, Loosing my accent, Boat trip on South China Sea, Pollution, Nhuong our lovely maid, Graditude, Never cooking, Blog, Adventure, Puku, Sunday outings, Singapore, Friends, Rice with soy-sauce, Green Tangerine, Impatience, "Sorryyyy", Communism, Air con, Hoi An, Typhoon, Fresh Fruit, Hanoi Opera, Missing, Coca Cola, Happiness, La Place Café, Anh Khanh, Beautiful Beach, Highlands' Coffeee, Explaining myself, Embassy, Travelling, Female Power, Phu Quoc, Tiny dogs, Life in the streets, "Danskere på taget", Luna, Street food, Modernization, Rats on the roof, Waiting, Reckless transportation, Purchase power, Cocktails, Building sites, Reading books, Halida, Beauty, Cakes, Cofe, Squat toilets, Being ripped off, Handicraft, Caught in the middle, Bicycle guy in the street, Sushi, Rude people, Airports, Expat, West Lake, Uncle Ho, Luxury, Poverty, Contrast

Personal record

2007-01-10T03:50:00.000+01:00

Since end of June 2006 - 31st of December 2006 I've been on 21 different planes going to/from and within 7 different countries. That's a personal record!

The sound of silence

2007-01-08T09:41:00.000+01:00

The other morning in bed feeling a wee bit hungover I thought to myself that Vietnam was really growing on me. Yes, I know it might not be the most obivious thought a Saturday morning feeling a bit sick, but the thought came to me 'cause I wasn't annoyed by the salesmen and women shouting in the alley outside or house even though the woke me up a good few hours too early for me to sleep my high alchohol level away. It sort of felt homey that they were shouting whatever it is they shout.

Last week a noise guy came to the embassy to measure the noise level. As the embassy is located right next to a big street with lots of motos and cars it wasn't surprising that the noise level in the front offices hit the same level as in a factory hall!

But I don't notice it anymore. The colleague I share office with has 3 phones and they're ringing most of the day. She'll be on one with the two others ringing. I don't even think about it anymore! Vietnamese have a more relaxed relationship with their mobile phones. They'll gladly keep them ringing when in a meeting or on the other line. Sometimes it's like they're enjoying their ringtones before answering. Back home it's almost embarrasing how much noise a ringing phone can make in a class room or at a meeting. In my previous workplaces there have been rules phones are to be switched off during work hours. Here it seems the rule is almost opposite. Noise is a natural part of my Vietnamese world.

I remember the first weekend I went back to my parents when I was at boarding school. Suddenly all the sounds I grew up with was infamiliar to me and I couldn't sleep. My boarding school was in the country side and silence was the only thing you could hear at night. Back home with my parents the city sounds souded louder than ever...

It's funny how you can adjust your perception of what is normal to whatever environment you're living in...

Phu Quoc - paradise

2007-01-07T17:14:00.000+01:00

No words needed....

Being a Danish Korean

2007-01-05T03:31:00.000+01:00

Before living in Vietnam I’ve always felt weird whenever associated with Asian culture and values. Other bloggers have blogged about how they when people wrongly assumed they were Chinese or Japanese in the US. I guess their experience is somewhat different to mine as most of them are Viet Kieu (overseas Vietnamese) and when people wrongly take them for another nationality they’re labelled as belonging to another culture than the one they’re rooted into.

In Denmark most people assume I’m Chinese. I’ve always thought that was rather natural, since China is the world’s most populated nation, but it also made me think how little people know about adoption and where Asians in Denmark actually come from. American friends in Vietnam have asked me about “Asian community in Denmark”, but to my knowledge there are no Asian hoods in Danish cities as most non-Caucasian are from the Middle East or Africa. Where I’m from there are some Vietnamese (without having any statistical background I’d say maybe 100-200), but an Asian community as “China Town” or “Little Saigon” does not exist. Even though Denmark has huge integration problems compared to many other countries it is a fairly homogenous society. I know Danish readers might not agree, but my main subject in this post is not integration of immigrants, but me, the Danish Korean adoptee, currently living in Vietnam, and my view of being an Danish Asian in Denmark and in Asia :)

As far as I know most Asians in Denmark my age group (twenty-something) are in fact children (most of them girls) adopted from Korea. How many? One of the Danish adoption agencies state that from 1970-2005 3118 Korean babies where brought to Denmark to grow up. As there are two major agencies in DK and it’s bloody hard to adopt (lengthy application process and lots of tests) I’d guess the total numbers is roughly 5000 out of a population of 5.5 million people.

I used to be somewhat offended by the assumption that I was Chinese and I always wondered why, since I perceive myself as Danish it shouldn’t really matter whether people label me as being Japanese, Chinese or Korean, but it does. Because even though I, as a Korean adoptee who came to Denmark barely three months old, have no emotional connection to Korean culture or society, I nonetheless am Korean by blood.

I’ve earlier blogged about how tired I am of explaining who and what I am since apparently everything comes down to the colour of your skin and some people almost are offended when I persist on claiming my European (cultural) roots. It’s like I’m abandoning my Asian roots. I’m not – I just never realised I had any besides my looks. But one thing I’ve learned during the past 6 months in Vietnam is being in a group of purely Asian people (who might all have grown up in the Western world), but before coming here I’d never been in a group of all Asian. And I think to some extent I didn’t want to be in an Asian group in Denmark because I was afraid I would be taken for an immigrant (no, I don’t think there something wrong with being an immigrant, but the fact is I’m not one in the typical sense of the word). During my years I don’t know how many people who’ve said to me – “I don’t even think of you as not being white”. To them it was a compliment and I can understand the meaning of that sentence, but somehow there’s also an insult in the words; being white means included, not being white means being excluded. I’m adopted, I’m Asian, but they see me as included.

Here in Vietnam I’ve made Viet Kieu friends, and no to be honest I have not made many purely local friends. But hanging out with Viet Kieus have given me the opportunity to be in group of people looking like me with almond eyes and black shiny hair (or greasy if you use wax). Living in Vietnam has been very different from my previous travels in Asia, in many ways I blend into everyday life ‘cause of my looks and many ways I don’t ‘cause of my Western upbringing. Yesterday sitting in a bar with all Asians, I realised that I felt quite comfortable with me being Asian, them being Asian – I did not feel I had to try to be “more Danish” so that people wouldn’t think I was Asian born and bred. I didn’t even care. I don’t know whether I’ll feel the same when in Denmark again, but I hope so.

Being comfortable in your skin is alpha and omega for allowing yourself to be whoever you are. Being an Asian adoptee in Denmark will probably always bring up some issues, because no matter how much you’re upbringing is Danish, you’re looks and biological roots are not. I don’t have the same cultural roots vested in a “home country” that Viet Kieus have. I cannot go to Korea to find “my roots” in the same way (if at all) since the culture I would meet there would not be one I’d find familiar in any way or identify with. I don’t speak the slightest Korean and I have no desire to learn, but I’ve come to learn that I am in fact Korean, I’ve even been told by American Koreans that I act Korean. I think it always bothered me to be labelled Chinese, because I knew I should take some pride my Korean DNA. Living in Asia has taught me a lot about myself regarding my Asian appearance, the pros and the cons. It has taught me to be proud of my Korean heritage – the heritage that I’ve also claimed I didn’t have. My Korean heritage is my Asian looks and even though it is not WHO I am since you cannot and should not boil an identity down to looks, it is the first thing people do when the meet you. I will always be Danish of heart and mind, but I’m only now learning to be Korean as well : )

Speed wedding

2007-01-01T12:43:00.000+01:00

A couple of weeks ago I went to my first Viet-wedding. It was one of my co-workers who was gettig married and I'd asked her a ton of questions regarding the wedding, so I was pretty excited to go even though my other co-workers warned me that Vietnamese weddings were not fun at all.

Well, it was def rather different from a Danish wedding. The bride and the grooms' guests sat in two differenct sections of the room, I counted somewhat 400 seats so it was quite a big wedding.

While people were eating the ceremony with the rings being exchange took place and some family members gave a perfomance. After that the happy couple went around greeting the tables, everyone ate and chatted and around 45 minutes after arrival the first table of 20 people got up and left. I stayed approx 1½ hour and our table was one of the last to leave!

So no, my first Vietnamese wedding couldn't excatly be described as "fun", but I still thought it was fun to see how everything went about.

Winter in Hanoi

2006-12-21T14:40:00.000+01:00

Wouldn't want the dog freezing - it was 22c that day

Vietnamese performance

2006-12-13T15:54:00.000+01:00

A couple of weeks ago I went to a perfomance by Anh Khanh, dare I say Vietnam's most famous artist? It was out at his house in Gia Lam - neighbour province to Hanoi. His house and the surrounding grounds are filled with installations, sculptures and paintings - and the perfomance itself was quite something. I cannot explain what was going on as my art interpretation is not advanced enough to understand him, so I'll let the pics speak for themselves.

Violence in Hanoi Streets

2006-12-11T17:23:00.000+01:00

Last week walking down Hang Trong towards the lake two moto's stopped in the middle of Nha Tho. There were two guys on one moto - two girls on the other. One of the guys jumps of, pulls the girl-driver off by her hair and stars punching her in the face!
We start screaming "stop!" - others pull up by the side, but no one except the other girl does something to try to stop him...

The girls run towards the church in her high heals - he chases her, punches her till she's on the ground screaming. She gets up and runs and tries to hide between the rather big crowd and finally a guy pulls the violent man by his arms and stops him.

The girl has blood running down from her lips - she looks dead scared. We start walking again, stunned and scared. I've never seen anyone hit a girl like that. I have never seen anyone hit a girl in my life! I felt paralysed - afraid to butt in. Maybe it's an excuse, maybe an explaination, but I'm a girl, tiny of size and I wouldn't have the strength to hold him down and stop him. But what about the 20 something guys standing around just looking doing nothing? Why didn't they try to stop him?

I didn't understand what was wrong as the guy was yelling at her in Vietnamese, but it was obvious they knew each other - and maybe there's some codex here in VN saying you don't mess with other people's domestic affairs? I don't think there's anything in the world that justifies domestic violence and when you take it to the streets of Hanoi, you'd except someone to react, step in, try to help. I don't think I have a guy-friend who wouldn't try to step in if he saw a girl getting beat up in the middle of the street...

Why was everyone so passive? I don't understand....

It's oh so cold

2006-12-05T15:44:00.000+01:00

After Hong Kong I went on to Beijing where I for the first time since March felt really cold. The temp reached 0c at night and when I visited the Great Wall of China I could see my own breath piercing through the mist. I even bought a new winter jacket to keep the Chinese cold out ; )

After 6 days in Beijing I was looking forward to feel the warm humid Hanoi weather again and I was pleased when the temp showed 23c when I set foot on Vietnamese ground 11 pm. The humidity pressed against my body and I felt at home.

But oh, the joy only lasted a few days. After a hot weekend with the temp hitting a rocking 32c in the afternoon the following Monday summer was over and winter came in a flash! 19-23c is not much when you're used to 30c. The Hanoi winter feels cold and damp and last night I wore my grannie's home-knitted wollen socks, that's how cold I felt.

Yes, I know 19c is not that cold and in Denmark I'd probably be out in my bikini the first day of spring with temp barely over 20c, but here my body has gotten used to the humid hot Hanoi weather and does not seem to adjust very well to Northern Vietnamese winter weather. I wear a jacket and a scarf to work even though it's just across the street. It helps that the scarf is a lovely soft deep purple pashmina that bought on my most recent trip to Thailand ;)
Feeling cold reminds me of winter in Europe and that this Asian journey all too soon is coming to an end. Time is flying...

More Beijing images here

Sorry, I've been lazy

2006-11-26T10:09:00.000+01:00

...and enjoying life in Asia

So, here's a few pics from my recent trip to the amazing city of Hong Kong

Hong Kong island from the Kowloon side

Ladies market - which I actually didn't find too impressive

Hong Kong from Victoria Peak

South side of Hong Kong island

South China sea sunset

More pics here

Street games

2006-11-08T12:02:00.001+01:00

Does anyone know the name of this game?

How many people live in Hanoi?

2006-11-02T11:52:00.000+01:00

I wonder how many people actually live in Hanoi city? I think the embassy website says 2,5 million, Lonely Planet say 3,5 and the locals say 5 million.
What is your take?

Cook & Cook

2006-10-29T11:27:00.000+01:00

I normally leave the food bloging to experts like Sticky Rice and Real Thai, but I'll make an exception.

So, back in Hanoi my family and I wanted to try some of the different cuisines available (besides Vietnamese food of course).

So one night my sister and I opted for Cook & Cook, a Korean style teppanayaki place off Ba Trieu. It turned out to be quite an experience!

Each table has its' own chef and ours certainly new some tricks. It was kind of a mixture between circus and cooking with beautiful food and entertainment with knives and fire as the result.

We had a set meal consiting of around 11 dishes (as far as I remember); salad and soup, scallop with vegetables in curry sauce, grilled veggies, chicken with vegetables, grilled fish, prawn cooked in red wine, Australian steak with vegetables, fried rice, noodles and fresh fruit. It was fab, just fab ; )
Video available here

PS: After the meal we chatted with the owner who informed us a new KFC was opening just across the street. He seemed quite cheerful about it which I didn't really understand.
Anyways, I promised him to recommend his restaurant which I hereby do!

Holiday in Thailand

2006-10-24T14:03:00.000+02:00

My family came from Denmark to visit me and we spent 5 days of our holiday in Thailand.

I love Bangkok - shopping heaven, good food, lots of fruit juice from the street vendors and life in the streets after 10 pm!
But besides the joys of big city life we also went for a one day trip to Kanchanaburi, probably best know from the book and film "The bridge on the river Kwai".

The highlight of the day - besides walking on the brigde, riding on the "death train", getting cooled down in the mist of a beautiful waterfall and having a lovely Thai lunch surrounded by mountains - was a visit to the Tiger Temple.

As you can see below I actually got to pet a tiger. As a matter of fact I touched 3 full size live tigers!

More pics from Thailand here

Moon festival

2006-10-09T16:02:00.000+02:00

Pics from Friday - Hanoi celebrating Mid-Autumb Moon Festival

Building, noise, buidling

2006-10-08T17:17:00.000+02:00

If you are in Hanoi construction sites are just a part of the regular street scence. They're builing, building, building. Come to think of it it's actually pretty amazing how many buildings. big and small (but mostly big), that are shooting up everywhere in different parts of town. Building = noise! A lot of noise in an already pretty noisy city.

So this morning (after being out till 3) I wake up 'cause they're breaking up the road infront of our house. Mind you, this was 7 am in the morning on a feking Sunday! I'm used to noise from my landlords' kids running around infront of the house, the motos' noise from the street, the kid next door who plays the piano 4-5 hours a day and only knows "Für Elise", people shouting in our alley 'cause they're selling fruit or want our old magazines - I'm used to noise! But this was just too much. I put in my earplugs and hid myself under the duvet. Little did it help.
The horrible sound of them breaking up the concrete road with an air drilling hammer penetrated my vague attempt to sleep and made me long for my bed back home in Denmark on my quiet street a dark October morning covered by my warm duvet - where all you can here is the wind and the rain pouring down...
Who've thought I'd ever miss that?

Does Viet-teens driving motos have a death wish?

2006-10-01T16:55:00.000+02:00

So I'm sitting a Balcony Bar this Friday after a long week at work enjoying a nice drink chatting with a friend watching the Hanoi evening traffic around Hoan Kiem Lake.
Motos, a few bicycles, taxis and the kings of the Viet-road, buses swirl in between each other passing by under me. Business as usual. But then - something is disturbing the somewhat peaceful pace of Hanoi traffic - 2-3 motos with teens chasing each other zig-zaging in and out. Need I say practically no one here wear a helmet? Bumbing into another road user knocking yourself and the other person out of balance creating a potential accident is almost bound to happen. Even though these kids are born and raised on the streets and used to navigating through Hanoi traffic this does not make them over-human when it comes to avoiding accidents.
I know they're teens, trying to empress each other or the girl on the back of the moto, pushing boundries, but they seem more fearless than I remember me and my peers did 10 years ago.

Officially 11.000 people were killed in Vietnam traffic from 1st of January 2006 - 12th of September 2006. That's an average of 66 people a day! Someone told me the real number is around 3 times higher....

Saturday - having coffee with friends I mention this reoccuring incident in Hanoi traffic; teens driving crazier than what is percieved normal in this country. Horrified I listen to one of my friends who has lived in Hanoi for 12 years tell a story of how the Viet-teens challenge their driving abilities and death to the max: At night, in the deserted streets of Hanoi they apparently race against each other. That in itself is in my view nuts, but the story gets worse. In order to prove their dare-devilness they set the breaks out of function.... (bet you're shaking your head now) - the girl sits behind the boy which is normal, but the boy is blindfolded and the girl acts as his eyes! This must be the most stupid thing I've ever heard! Does these kids want to die?

I know I sound like a very old women sitting in my rocking chair pointing my cane at the telly rambling about "kids today", but honestly I don't understand this need for adrenalin when you might end up hurting other people - worst case scenario - taken another persons' life. Rock climbing, sky diving, bungee jumping - be my guest - do what gives you the kick and makes you feel a live, but why I ask do are you willing to risk another persons life as well?

The perfect wedding photo

2006-09-25T17:41:00.000+02:00

A couple of weeks ago I biked to the Museum of Etnology with two of my housemates.
Although the museum itself was quite interesting I discovered another interesting subject to blog about; The perfect wedding photo. There were brides and grooms everywhere - each with their own photo-team lined up to do makeup, light and so on - posing at all the minority house trying to catch the most beautiful photo to remember their special day by. It looked like posing as happy newlyweeds was very hard work! In fact they neither of the couples looked too happy about the whole situation besides when the flash was pouding against them. But I guess in the years to come it will be good to look back at that day 2 weeks before the acutal wedding where you were running around the garden at the Museum of Etnology trying to look as happy as ever while 3 other couples were waiting in line to catch the spot next!

So much for democracy

2006-09-20T06:46:00.000+02:00

So I open my computer this morning and there's been a military coup in Thailand! Geees what has the world come to? I'm supposed to go to Bangkok when my family comes to Asia in 3 weeks, kinda worried about riots, but maybe most people really wanted Thaksin to step down and welcomes this coup?
If the King approved of it, you could hope people will stay calm and it won't come to the same conditions as 15 years ago. Time will tell.
I guess democracy movements might demonstrate, but I was thinking what kind of democracy they're avocating - is the Thaksin model better than temporary military rule I wonder?

Modern Ballet

2006-09-17T17:02:00.000+02:00

Last week we went to Hanoi Opera to see modern ballet arranged by L'espace (the French culture centre in Hanoi). The performers were still students - and as far as I understood they were some of the first professional dancers educated in Hanoi. The show was divided into two sections - the first section consisted of 6-7 different acts - the second was one long story. I liked most of the show, but being an "old" gymnast I wasn't too impressed with their ability to hit the marks in some of the acts, after all they are soon prof dancers. It was clear they'd worked more on some acts than others. But over all it was a good experince and my first time in the Opera.

Feeling chilly?

2006-09-10T18:28:00.000+02:00

Who would have thought 27 degrees C would feel like a chilly spring day in Denmark?! Last week the temperature hit 40 c and the humidity was still about 60% and I thought I was about to die when walking out at West Lake. A/C was my best friend!
This Saturday the weather changed. I was going shopping and took a xe om and believe you me - I was freezing. The rain drizzled on me as the moto took me through the crowded streets of Hanoi and all I could think about was how I wished I'd brought a cardigan (+ please don't let me die in a moto-crash in Hanoi)!
The other day our maid try to explain us how cooold it gets in December, 15 c mind you she (sort of) said rapping her arms around herself to emphasize the coooold Hanoi winter weather.
"Ha ha" I thought to myself. I'm from Denmark - we go down to minus 10 c and with a cold wind it easily feels like minus 15. But somehow my body most have adapted to the weather. At home as soon as the termometer hits 22 c I'm in the garden wearing sunglasses and a bikini, but suddenly 27 c is cold to me! Oh God, I'm dreading the Hanoi winter...

Hanoi from the back of a moto

2006-09-04T17:32:00.000+02:00

"Ahh you doctor"

2006-08-28T15:46:00.000+02:00

When I was in Viet Nam in 2003 everyone asked where I was from (as they do now). This is how the conversation would go:

Vietnamese: "Where you from?"
Kath: "Denmark"
V: "Huh?" (looking very confused)
K: "Denmark"
V: "You no look Denmark"
K: "I'm adopted, I came to Denmark when I was a baby"
V: "You parents where from?"
K: "Denmark!"
V: "Huh?"
K: "I'm adopted"
V: "Ahh you doctor!" (smiling)
K: "Yes, yes I'm a dotcor" (sighing)

This time around I can show my little buisesscard from the embassy written in Vietnamese, they'll still look at me shake their heads and go... "ah Denmark?"
Marianne taught me how to say "Korean" in Vietnamese, and although I can't pronunce it perfectly it's still a much more satisfying answer to most Vietnamese than "Denmark". None of the ones I've met spoke Korean anyways (or at least I don't think they did - I've actually got no idea what Korean sounds like) and with the language barrier it's sometimes easier just to say Korean.

Sometimes they'll speak Vietnamese to me, but they mostly go: Japan? China and even Phillipines...

I actually found it much harder to explain to Westerns that I do not speak Vietnamese, my parents aren't Vietnamese and I don't speak any other Asian language. We were at a bar this weekend and this French guy asked me four times if I was sure I was from Denmark. After the 4th time I turned my back to him. I couldn't be bothered anymore.

I know some (or maybe even most) Westerns have difficulties telling some Asian features apart, and I do admit it can be hard, and I as Asian-looking am probably much more aware of the differences. And as far as I can tell myself, I could probably look Japanese, Southern Chinese and hopefully Korean : )
But the fact is - I'm Danish. Yes, my body's Asian, but my mind and my body language is Danish. I do not mean to give out in this post, I came to Asia, I knew I'd be asked over and over again - and I know people ask out of curiosity, but sometimes it can get really tirering to be questioned about you biological heritage each time you meet a person who doesn't know the term "adoptee" or doesn't want to accept that I'm not Asian of heart and mind.
I haven't been to Korea, I might go some day, but not in the near future. I'm not trying to renounce my Asian roots, I'm merely sharing my every day experiences of being an Asian-adoptee with a Western mind and heart in Vietnam.

PS: They adoption agency I was adopted through doesn't adopted from South Korea any more - they've become too wealthy, but Vietnam is actually one of the biggest countries where Danish couples adopt from now.

Hanoi pics

2006-08-25T18:57:00.000+02:00

I mostly post my pictures on my Danish blog as it has most readers - I upload them to flickr as well, but I'll post some here so you won't get too bored...

Fast food fascination

2006-08-24T13:42:00.000+02:00

A bit late, but better late than never, I have to comment on the fast food fascination there seem to be in Vietnam. From what I read in news papers and the like the same goes for many Asian countries.

As you might have read around the Hanoi/Vietnam blogspheare, KFC - Kentucky Fried Chicken - an American fastfood chain recently opend a "restaurant" here in Hanoi. This is the first of it's kind in the capitol of Vietnam. Here's no McD or other international fast food chain!

So what does this mean and why are people so fascinated with the term fast food? In just about every restaurant here there's a sign saying fast food. Is fast food really something a nice looking restaurant would self itself by? So it seems. The term appeals to Westerners, but also to Vietnamese....
My guess is as good as any's - but I agree on what is stated in the comments on Vietnamese God's blog - what is happening here was the same thing that happend in the Western world in the 50-60's. I remember reading in Hillary Clinton's biography that her parents took the family to McD as a special treat. Fast food is/was some kind of status symbol. That was before obesity-research - before people realized how unhealthy this kind of food is.
In Hanoi the KFC is not placed in the touristy Old Quater. The market for Westerners wanting comfort food is of course there, but I think the target is Vietnamese middle class people. Here it is the new and growing middle class' who wants to signal their wealth and Western lifestyle by eating at KFC.

To me KFC isn't even comfort food as we don't have it the city where I live. But I'm no saint - I do like fast food especially if I'm hung over! And I prop pop by McD to have a bigmac and some fries when I go to Bangkok in October - long live fast food ; )

Oh btw have a look at Preya's blog - I thought it was rather funny

Vietnamese Construction

2006-08-17T17:15:00.000+02:00

So this morning when I got out bed something was dripping on my laptop! I live on the 1st floor of a 4 storey house. I have no idea why, but there's some sort of opening in the roof, it's build in two levels and inbetween there's a space where the rain can get in! I have no idea what the point of this is, but if anyone knows please fill me in!
You're probably wondering howcome it was raining on my desk, since I live on the first floor - well, in the floor of the second floor there's a "window" where you can look all the way up to the roof - probably build in to let some more light into the room. But there are little cracks around the egdes of the window that allow a rather large amount of water to run through. I panicked and tried to dry the keybord the best I could and when I went to work, I put the computer infront of a fan going at full speed. Fortunately as you might have guessed, it still works : )
I've moved now the desk with computer and everything else away from the window.
The combination of the roof construction and the rainy season isn't good!

Sushi craving

2006-08-14T16:25:00.000+02:00

Somehow the blog have become very food-related. This post will be no exception!
Sushi is one of my favorite treats and yesterday I felt like I deserved a nice Sunday lunch. So I caught a xe om to Asahi Sushi located at Ba Trieu St just south of the Hoan Kiem lake. I hadn't been there before, but was quite surprised by the very modern style resturant.

I'm a sucker for sushi on conveyor belts! It doesn't even matter how hungry I am - the concept of delicious raw fish moving around on little plates just waiting for me to eat it draws me into the restaurant each time I'm near one. There's something satisfying judging each plate of sushi with your eyes as it moves around infront of your nose, carefully picking out the specific plate that looks the best. It's like being a kid in a candy store - only this time it's actually healthy food. God, I love sushi!

Well as for the sushi itself, I don't think the fish was quite as fresh as the Sheraton sushi, but it was still good. They wouldn't allow me to take pictures, but I'll def return to this restaurant next time my stomach craves sushi, and I might be able to take a sneak photo.

eating out, Vietnamese style

2006-08-07T15:32:00.000+02:00

Not every day is brunch at Sheraton : )
I've been trying out some street kitchens as well. Last night we went out for a late dinner and couldn't be bothered to walk very far - so we went down our local "food street". We orded 3x chicken noodle soup, 3 breads and one mixed soup - or so we thought! First a plate of chips arrived - then 2x fried noodles with chicken + one chicken soup (without noodles). My dish never came and eventually I pointed at the black soup with chicken the lady sitting behind me ate and I got my dinner. The soup was delicious although I have no idea what I ate.

Last week we tried another street kitchen close to the embassy. The food was displayed in plates at a counter and loads of people were sitting at little tables. Many people eating at the same place seems to be a good sign of good food. I had some semi-spicy meatballs that tasted amazing (I hope it wasn't dog meat), some rice and some kind of vegetable I've we def don't have in Denmark. When we asked to pay a girl came to the table with a book and wrote 4000. We tried to asked whether 4000 was for each of us or each dish, but she didn't seem to understand - then she wrote another 0 and took the 50.000 bill one of my fellow trainees was holding. We couldn't help feeling a bit stupid as we could see all of the other bills in the book were only 4 digits. Oh well, still dirt cheap :)

Sheraton Brunch

2006-08-06T18:19:00.000+02:00

One of the other embassy trainees turned 25 today and to celebrate we all went to Shearaton Hotel at the West Lake about 10 min. from Hanoi city centre. We'd been told there was an exellent brunch - and we weren't dissapointed!
Never in my life have I seen so much food! At first we felt a bit weird about it, knowing that people just outside the door would be able to feed an entire family for a week or more with the 23 USD the champagne-brunch cost pr. person. We decided to make the best of the experience although it felt rather absurd to be surrounded by luxury and waiters on every hand.
As the word "champagne-brunch" indicates the food orgie came with champagne, beer and wine ad libithum. This is the first morning ever I've started with champagne and sushi : )
I can't even remember all the different things on the buffet, but I'll show you a few pics of the amazing desserts so you'll get an impression.

I don't remember ever eating so much and it's certainly not something I would want to do every day - but if you can put aside the crazy circumstances (being in a luxury hotel in Vietnam) it was a cool experience and the food was amazing.....

Hanoi - hot and humid

2006-07-29T10:20:00.000+02:00

So here I am, in Hanoi. After another delayed flight I arrived Wednesday night and was picked up at the airport and taken to my hotel.
I've spent the last couple of days walking around town, mainly the old city, soaking in all the impressions of this beautiful, but hectic city. I don't understand the traffic and I'm dead scared each time I try to cross a street with scooters coming towards me from every direction. Somehow I don' remember this being a problem from the last time I was here - I must have blocked it out.
On Monday the new embassy trainee team move into our new house. I'm looking forward to unpacking all my stuff and hopefully I'll come to think of the house as a home.
Tuesday is my first day at work and I still don't really know what my tasks will be, but I'm excited to finally start : )

When I was here in 2003 it was right after the city reopend after SARS and I suppose the lack of tourists for quite some time had made everyone more aggressive in the hunt for money. I felt rather uncomfortable being pulled in different directions by people trying to sell stuff and when I left Vietnam for Laos I was fed up with being scammed and had no wish of ever returning to this coutry.
This time around there seem to be fewer tourists than last time, but people don't seem nearly as aggressive. Although they still shout at me to get on their moto or cyclo, or pull my arm to make me buy whatever item they're selling, they aren't as persistant as they were the last time around. I suppsose the economic development combined with a steady tourist flow have helped.

So far I like being in Hanoi again, but somehow I don't think I've realized that this is where I'll be till February.

4 countries in a week

2006-07-24T17:26:00.000+02:00

So here I am - in Singapore - the 4th country since last Monday, when I left Prague.
I spent two days in Bangkok shopping and walking around the city. I noticed the prices have gone up a bit - it's still dirt cheap compared to Denmark. Three years ago I ate about 7 little plates of sushi and had a coke for around 150 bath. Saturday the same amount bought me 2 plates and a coke at the same place.

Today I took the plane to Singapore - it's my first visit to the city/state and my first impression is that it's a very groomed city who've lost a bit of it's charm due to the economic growth. Maybe Singapore will prove me wrong, but somehow I can't get used to all the skyscrapers. It looks too groomed to me...

I'm finding rather annoying not being able to speak and Asian languague - due to my looks everyone expects me to. Oh well, at least here English goes a long way : )

I'm leaving on a jetplane

2006-07-20T23:11:00.000+02:00

I had a wonderful time in Prague
- the inner city hasn't changed much since my last visit 11 years ago, but three stops by metro from city centre a new shopping centre has emerged. It's supposed to be the largest one in Eastern Europe - the brands were the same as anywhere else in the Western World - who'd have imagined that 16 years ago?
After Prague I went back to my parents summer house where I've spent the last couple of days before returning to my parents house to pack up my stuff and say the last goodbye's.

In about 26 hours I'll be in Bangkok ... It's so unreal to me. I'm scared and excited.
Next post will be from the other side of the world

Summer house

2006-07-06T21:50:00.000+02:00

Went to my parents summer house for a couple of days - it's located on a little island in the North Sea. Even though it's only 12 min.'s sailing away from Esbjerg (where I'm from) it's like being in another world 1000 of miles away.
I've spent a week or two on Fanoe just about every summer. To me Fanoe is summer, icecream, walks and the beach.

The ferry

pheasant and mrs.

Soft-ice covered with chocolate and rice crispies

My dog in front of the house

My dad, my sister and my dog at the beach

Sunset

More pics here

Summer in Denmark

2006-07-01T14:29:00.000+02:00

I've taken these pictures during the last couple of days trying to capture "summer in Denmark"

"Dannebrog" is the name of our flag.

This is from the beach about 3 km from my house

Aarhus is built around a "creek" that still runs through the city centre

We went to an amusement park last night - and I had to have cotton candy!

Liquorice! My favorite! I like the typical Scandinavian salmiak black kind the best

This picture was taken around 11 pm - I love the bright summer nights

We went clubbing and this is the toilet at one of the clubs - it's a coed zink : )

It's 3.15 and the sun is slowly rising again.

Multi-lingual?

2006-06-28T15:41:00.000+02:00

While in London I bought a Vietnamese phrasebook. It seems like a really difficult language to pronounce and even though I don't consider myself a quitter I already feel like learing Vietnamse most be nearly impossible to a westerner.

I think of myself as multi-lingual as I'm fluent in Danish (of course) and English, speak German, can mangage in Swedish, tourist wise in French and understand Norwegian and a wee bit Spanish, but these languages descent from similar lines. Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, German and English are Germanic languages (though English and German are West Germanic and the Scandinavian languages are North Germanic) and they are related to the latin descenting languages French and Spanish. So even though they're distant relatives they are still relatives.
Vietnamese however is from the Mon-Kmher language family which is no way near familiar to the languages I know...

I'm not sure what my ambition is. Maybe to be able to order food at a street stall and making myself a understandable at a market. I know I can't possibly learn Vietnamese in half a year and since I'll be living with other Danes and the embassy's working languages are Danish and English I don't have to be able to communicate in Vietnamse, but I'd like to be able to anyways.
Anyhooo - it'll def be a challenge!

A dentist appointment

2006-06-27T15:28:00.000+02:00

Preparing for the internship we were advised to visit a dentist before going to Hanoi. So today I went. I'm embarrassad to say I haven't been to the dentist since I moved from my parents after finishing "high school/upper secondary school" 4 years ago. I don't really know why I haven't gone - I guess I was just to lazy to make an appointment.

So I was in the chair with the dentist fumbling in my mouth and somehow it reminded me of my childhood. I remember my father taking me and my little sister to the school detentist - in the ceiling there was a colurful (80's) poster of children playing with food. One half of the children were cherry and played with vegetables and healthy food, the other could hardly move - they were playing with candy. Of course it was suppose to send the signal that eating healthy would make you strong and happy - eating candy was bad for you and your teeth.
When I was about 14 I had a minor accident while doing gymnastics. Trying to do a "trick" with my coach I somehow fell with my head first and knocked out 2 of my front teeth. The following year I went to the dentist each month to check if the teeth were a live (weird that teeth are a live right?). Each time I looked at the poster with the healthy and unhealthy children wondering if they'd change the poster before my next visit. In the 10 years I went to the school dentist - they never changed the poster.

There's no real point to the story - just funny how some things will tricker a memory.
Btw the was no dental decay and the whole thing including x-rays took 20 mins. and cost me a whopping 400 kr = $67. Preparing for Hanoi is expensive!

Holiday pics

2006-06-25T14:07:00.000+02:00

A pic says more than a thousand words - so here are some holiday pics from London.

Mozilla Firefox or IE?

2006-06-25T14:05:00.000+02:00

I noticed that the blog doens't show properly in IE - somehow the sidebar is pushed to the buttom of the page and doesn't display at the side as it's supposed to.
I don't know why this occurs so I recommend using Mozilla instead.

Swinging London

2006-06-18T16:27:00.000+02:00

The summer holidays have finally started! I've spent the first few days bbq'ing with friends, drinking drinks and sleeping in.
Tomorrow I'll be going to London for a short 4-day holiday. I think this is my 6th or 7th time in London - it's one of my favorite European cities. Remember my first time in London - it was 10 years ago - it was only my second time travelling without my parents. I thought to myself that I'd one day love to live in such a vibrant and hectic city. Since then my travels have extended beyond Europe and I did have the chance of an internship at the embassy in London, but South East Asia is more attracting to me a the moment.
Because of my internship my summer holidays this year is actually kinda crazy. Within 5 weeks I'll be going to London, Prague, Bangkok, Singapore and Hanoi! Singapore being the only city I haven't been to before. It'll be 2 years since my last visit to London so I guess not much has changed. I was in Prague in 1995 with my parents and I do expect a lot to have changed during the last 11 years - and much will probably change with the Czech membership of the European Union.

Well, first things first. Off to Swinging London tomorrow to do some shopping : )

Change of plans

2006-06-14T21:29:00.000+02:00

So I got an e-mail from Tiger Airways saying that due to demands on other routes they've cancelled my flight from Singapore to Hanoi.
So now I've booked a flight back to Bangkok and from there to Hanoi. I'll have a good few hours to kill at the airport in Bangkok and it's going to be a longer journey than I'd planned, but hopefully they won't cancel the two flights I've booked yesterday.

I hand in my bachelor's thesis tomorrow - the grade will be posted the notice board (also known as the the Wailing Wall) at uni the day I start my internship in Hanoi...

This is what I'm leaving

2006-06-09T20:59:00.000+02:00

Thought I'd post some pics so you can get an impression of what I'm leaving. Denmark at is best (or worst).

This picture is from my campus. The university is build around a little lake. My faculty is on top of the lake on the right hand (but you can't see it in the picture)
It was taking this winter, it was actually March. Spring had a really hard time pushing winter away this year.
I reckon it was about -5 degrees c that day. The winter in Denmark is long and cold and some times it can be rather depressing, but somehow you make it through to spring each year.
Though far up north Denmark has 4 seasons: freezing winter where it gets dark before you've eaten dinner. Spring with lots of showers and green colours everywhere. Hot summers where the smoke from bbq's start in every back yard around 6 pm and stormy autumn with leaves in every red, brown yellowish nuance you can imagine. Denmark has it all.

This is the view down the street from my flat. I took this picture last week. The buildings in my street are around 100-120 years old. It's a rather quiet one way street in the city centre. It takes me 5 minutes to bike up the hill to uni - and 2 minutes down hill to the city centre. Perfect location!
Housing prices have increased by 200% during the last 2 years. It's rather fucked up to be honest. You'll get 1 one bedroom flat (50m2 if you're lucky) for 1,8 million Danish Kroner - that's $300.000. The sky high prices have made as good as impossible for first time buyers to enter the market.

This pic is from my parents back yard taken a few days ago. The dog with the ball in its mouth is mine : )
I tried to make her pose, but she didn't really want to and ran away to play with the ball seconds after this pic was taken.
Summer has finally come to Denmark and temperatures are around 25 degrees c. In a few weeks the sea will reach a high enough temperature for a wee dip and the beaches will be stuffed with people enjoying their summer holidays trying to get a tan.
Mine starts next week and I can't wait!
And since my bach-thesis won't write itself I best get back to it : )

A call from Ghana

2006-06-09T20:46:00.000+02:00

3 days ago I recieved a phonecall from the embassy in Accra, Ghana - they needed another intern since the Muhammed-crisis forced the Galathea 3 expedition to change its route. The first plan was to sail through the Suez-canal, but plans were changed cause they were afraid Danes might not be welcome in the Arab countries. So now they're sailing all the way around Africa.
The embassy wanted to know if I'd be interested in an internship mainly dealing with Galathea's visit, doing administrative tasks. But of course I wasn't.
I originally applied for internships at the embassies in Washington D.C - USA, New Dehli -India, Accra - Ghana, London - UK, Dublin - Ireland, Hanoi - Vietnam, Bangkok - Thailand + the Danish chamber of commerce in Bangkok, Thailand.

Status is rejection from D.C, New Dehli, Dublin (was runner up though) and the embassy in Bangkok.
I was offered an internship in Hanoi, London, the chamber of commerce in Bangkok and now Accra. My wish was all along to return to Southeastasia, partly because of good experiences during my backpacking trip in 2003, but mostly because of the rapid economic development the entire region has been going through especially during the last 10 years.
So I'm quite content with how things turned out : )

Two blogs, two languages

2006-06-05T16:23:00.000+02:00

Been trying to figure out whether to do an all English version of my blog or not. It would be easier just to mix Danish and English posts, or even do all the posts in English. After all most of the Danish readers understand English perfectly. However I originally created a blog for friends and family to be able to follow my preparations (and of course keep in touch after I leave), and I know my mum prints the blog for my non-internet-accessed-grannies and even though they'd probably understand the best part of the English post, I do think that an all Danish blog is better for their sake. In the end the purpose of the blog is for them (especially the very worried grannies) to follow my life while I live on the other side of the world and the little things that might be expressed using colourful adjectives might go lost trying to spell your way through an English post (+ I suppose my I write better in Danish as it is my native language)

So, I think my final conclusion is two blogs might be better.
To read the first English post in the Danish blog click here.