Jerudong Beach

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-wd2tonyCI

A house in Brunei

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUMQTXc7iDk

BRUNEI - Day One

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aASRrbAwnKA

Beautiful Hanoi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLpxpwIROh4

Women cool themselves on a bus in Hanoi June 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk9qOg39Npc&feature=channel_video_title

Cafe Life in Vienam 21 May 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=judKSX2J0jg

Crossing Toy Street

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ya7_XjYYCs

Women and swords

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da645-xrmrs

My Birthday in Vietnam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DgdKshXatM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY16KT-uPow

Guess who's first day at work ... observing another class

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJx4aPm-xtM

Stocking Street

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2cMb3LCQuk

The Towers

I finished work last night and went back into the office. All the lights were out because everyone had gone home or to the pub. I switched on the lights and saw all the photocopy paper boxes on the other side of the desk. The guy who works across from me has been away so some of my colleagues have prepared a "Welcom Back" for him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQcMcjucvao

Marching Baby, Banners & Parades

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq0Qp_DwIvI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TJhzCvUFyc

Vietnam - quaint but posionous

Lead contamination in Hanoi food
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/Social-Isssues/210894/Lead-contamination-found-in-Ha-Noi-food.html


Dengue fever in Hai Ba Trung area
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/Social-Isssues/210678/Hanoians-warned-about-dengue-fever-outbreaks.html


Deadly additives in foods that changes pork to taste like beef - used in restaurants around the Old Quarter (meat so I'm safe)
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/Social-Isssues/210724/Health-agency-launches-hunt-for-deadly-%E2%80%98beef-extract-.html


"By the end of 2010, there were 33 million motorbikes and cars in Vietnam, including 1.4 million cars."

So, according to the above figures, Vietnam is host to 31.6 million motorbikes. on 331,698 square kilometres; so that's about 953 motorbikes for every square kilometre.
http://www.lookatvietnam.com/2011/03/air-pollution-alert.html


"Residents living along banks of canals in HCM City discharge waste directly into the canals from 15,000 toilets ... Canals Tham Luong-Ben Cat, Tan Hoa-Lo Gom, Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe and Go Dua have from 300 to 1,000 eggs of parasitic worms per gramme of canal-bed mud, according to the department."
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/Social-Isssues/210440/Residents-continue-to-pollute-city-canals.html

"The Old Quarter has a big population, over 60,000 per square kilometre. Some places in the area have only about 2 square metres per person, which is far lower than the standard."
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/Opinion/210661/Old-Quarter-relocation-plans-scrutinised.html

A stroll around Lake Hoan Kiem in the evening

People stroll around the lake every evening. It was quieter than usual this evening due to a 4 day public holiday. However, the lake has been decorated with extra baubles and lights to celebrate the holiday. It's a strange juxtaposition; an elegant lake which usually reflects beautiful jade greens and yellow ochres, tarted up with brightly coloured flashy trinkets to meet his visitors.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TJhzCvUFyc

Đồng Xuân Market - a weird market in Hanoi

Dong Xuan Market is weird market at the top of Hang Dau - the night market street (note the street undergoes several changes through each block you pass through). I think it's wierd because the y people who work there seem as though they don't particularly like customers. One exception is a group of laughing women about my age sitting (and sometimes sleeping) among the fabrics down a small alleyway on the second floor in the rear building. They always stop to ask my age and compare ageing of hair, skin, etc. between Westerners and Vietnamese - I think I lose!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U9hRA4w0eI

FiviMart - a supermarket chain in Hanoi

Victor loves this supermarket; and a special treat for Helen in the middle.
As you can see, it's easily missed. I found it by accident during Tet when there was barely any traffic and no people were on the street.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tkX0fEj5Q4

Red Stilettos, food, and Hang Bong Street

On Thursday night we ate at a street stall with "real" chairs and I set my camera on the table to record everything that happened across the laneway, while I ate. This is a pprtion of what was recorded. (P.S. I removed the previous video clip as it wasn't good enough - not that my standards are high!!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIZ0NTZVahs

Women in the window - Hanoi - 21 April 2011

We were walking home down Hang Bong Street when we saw two women dressed up in cocktail dresses posing and sniffing clothes in the shop window. When one of the women saw me she started posing for the camera. My colleague spotted an elderly man with a huge smile on his face sitting in a doorway behind us, enjoying the scene. His legs will be the subject of another video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuFEDw4d6dM

WATERCOLOUR EFFECTS - HANOI AT NIGHT AGAIN - 1 APRIL 2011

An experiment using the watercolour effect on a short piece of video uploaded previously to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG-mGUJOkKQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CjLOl1QOZ8

Rollerblading in Lý Thái Tổ Park Hanoi 11 Apr 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9W3R94xmFo

Baby Trantrum in Lý Thái Tổ Park Hanoi 11 Apr 2011

Families enjoying themselves at Lý Thái Tổ Square. Enterprising women sell toys from blankets on the ground around the square.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxLYbPn1IDA

Hanoi Public Bus Route 01 - Fare 3000 Đong

Snippet of journey between Long Bien and Hanoi Central railway stations. Cars park in motorbike travel lanes; motorbikes drive anywhere, but park on footpaths; and pedestrians walk on roads - there's nowhere else to walk.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIKbiUEGOC0

The tomato seller

Dramatic and heart wrenching short film of a woman, tentative about crossing the road to meet her friend and co-tomato seller, who eventually achieves her goal. Where is that Turtle when you need him?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFQvXaJDuzw

More on the invasion of motorbikes in Hanoi

Lake Hoan Kiem - 1 minute - 5 Apr 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGDR1sAoVdI

Walking home from work - 1 minute - 4 Apr 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy-xA8qUxCo

Hanoi wildlife - 1 minute - 3 Apr 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XyBORdI6Qc

The Brides of Hoan Kiem - 1 minute - 2 April 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7eqvWWu0PU


Macroscopic Evidence of Quantum Mechanical Phenomena - Hanoi

Old Hanoi at night - 1 minute - April 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG-mGUJOkKQ

Forest floor to the canopy - 1 minute - 31 March 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brY3zkbSKGA

Restaurant in Dinh Liet Street - 1 minute - 30 March 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N6ySAg1Wek

The Footpath - 1 minute - 29 March 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-WCvatF63w

1 minute - Monday 28 March 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaBBnkcHF8s

1 minute - Sunday 27 March 2011

Sorry, I used the same music as yesterday without realising it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxF8xsPd75o

1 minute - Saturday 26 March 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twmm7ixpWh4

1 minute - Friday 25 March 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95GJto876DM

1 minute - Thursday 24 March 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtxkb6XVRf4

1 minute - Wednesday 23 March 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UowG0e0Z6QM

YOUTUBE VIDEOS

Hanoi street corner on Saturday afternoon - it's actually quiet compared to weekdays.


The Horse Temple starring Victor


Canberra Girls in Hanoi starring Helen and Eileen

CAT ON A RED TIN ROOF

"Aussie girls having fun" and "The Turtle"

Another youtube posting:

Canberra girls having fun in Hanoi

The Turtle of the Lake

A local food stall

I went upstairs in the "Sago" restaurant in Dinh Liet Street two days ago. (I don't recommend the restaurent for service, or food for that matter.) But I had an interesting view of the restaurant across the road. The blue plastic bags, I think, are filled with hot take-away food.

TET DAY

It sounded like a war zone last night. Over the last couple of days police have been guarding an area around Hoan Kiem Lake where fireworks were being set set up. They looked like small rocket launchers, and they sounded like it last night. The booms went on for about 15-20 minutes. I looked outside but couldn't see anything apart from a slight pinkishness to the sky when some of the booms occurred.


Downstairs on the groundfloor, the older man who is possibly the landlady's husband, was burning a small fire at the entrance into the little courtyard from the alleyway. I read somewhere the fireworks are to frighten away the evil spirits, and perhaps the little fire was to prevent them from entering this house in their haste to get away from the fireworks.

Yesterday I heard a gong struck three times at about 11 AM, in this building. This morning the gong was struck again three times at 8 AM and 11 AM. I have no idea what this is for.

Hopefully it's ok for me to go out now. I don't want to be blamed for some-one else's bad luck by being the first to crooss the thresh-hold of a house when I'm not a cat-person.

Pictures from the last couple of days are posted below:

Links to interesting videos filmed in Vietnam from Youtube

Young guys show off on motorbikes behind a police parade

Is this someone's view of Russians?


A view from the seat next the driver on a bus in Vietnam

And other view from the front seat of a bus

Boy crosses street in Ho Chi Minh City - actually the traffic doesn't look too bad compared to how it looks more recently

My first YOUTUBE post

Hanoi Old Quarter Streets 30 Jan 2011

or try

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRCj36FH31U

TET Streets - photos and movies - 30 January 2011

January 30th 2011

January has nearly finished and it's Tet in a few days - Thursday 3rd; and Tet Eve is Wednesday 2nd when the excitement really starts.

What's happened over the past month?


WORK
Our Director of English Programs left the country yesterday, and so did the Assessment Coordinator, to other positions in Australia and New Zealand. Work will feel very strange without then there. No-one has been assigned to replace the Director, but a temporary replacement for the Assessment Coordinator has been found. We do have an Acting-Director.

I pick up another class of Vietnamese Government officals. they seem like they are at a slightly higher level of language ability than my current Intermediate class. I'm going to base the enxt ten week syllabus around teaching grammar first and foremost and as early as I can in the next ten-week period - so that whatever employment-related material I bring in can also be looked at in terms of revision of the grammar items we've already covered, as well as discourse etc.

SHOPS
The shop next door to where I live has sold for a million US dollars. It's large enough to house a four wheel drive and about 4 rows of empty boxes - and that's it!!! The new owners have been rendering the space in concrete, and my landlady has taken the opportunity to render the allyway walls and put down floor tiles - also in the alleyway. Because the previous owner's property was joined to hers, the previous owner's permission was needed before my landlady could do anything; and he wouldn't give her permission.

I went out shopping twice yesterday to store up on groceries for the Tet period when the shops are shut. The first grocery store (Fivi Mart) had quite a few items left but no vegetables. Even though they aren't as fresh as the markets, it's cheaper for me, because everybody tries to rob Westerners by asking exhorbitant prices. When I first got to Hanoi one vender asked for about US$20 for a pair of rubber thongs. One the way hone there was an incident (see ACCIDENTS NAD NEAR MISSES below). Next I went to the supermarket at the plaza at the bottom of the lake. Barely anything on the shelves!!! Rows and rows of shelves were empty. Nothing except about 5 packets of Kim Chi in the fridges. There were a few vegetable, so I bought them.

ACCIDENTS NAD NEAR MISSES
Hit
Tingay and I went out to the Sofitel Horel for brunch last Saturday and decided we'd walk up tp the BookWorm bookshop north of Lake Tay Ho.

We waited on the kerb for a break in the traffic. Finally there was a break, I glanced to the right, just in case - nothing coming and stepped out into the middle of the road. I glanced again to right and saw a motorbike speed around the corner on the wrong-side of the road - the driver was talking to his wife on the back, and his head was turned. I was too far out in the middle of the road for him to worry me, but I turned to see where Tingay was, and saw him plough into her.

I watched his bike fall over and the three people, the driver, the wife and the child splay out from the bike onto the road. Then I thought "Where's Tingay?" She was lying face-down in the gutter.

She got up and we went back into the hotel had a cup of tea. As we sat there her arm started to hurt whenever she moved it, and her hand was swelling up. So we took a taxi to SOS where they xrayed her arm and found it fractured on the elbow - but they didn't have plater bandages. So then we took another taxi to the French Hospital where they bandaged her up.

Near miss
As I was walking home with the groceries yesterday and was only about 15 meters from my door in Hang Bac Street, a motorbike with four young men on it zoomed through the intersection ahead and then hit a parked mototbike about two meters in front of me, it careered up onto the footpath. I didn't have much room to move but I managed to move enough so that the bike fell against my legs and four men fell off, also against my legs. I'm glad I wasn't any nearer to the stationary bike.

The owner of the parked bike came out of a gold shop and started talking earnestly to the young men. They tested their legs - gingerly putting weight on them to check for broken bones, then just took off on their bike.