Tan’s in Việt Nam!

Yesterday, a bunch of us journeyed to the outskirts of Hanoi, nearly an hour away, to visit a village. This village specializes in carpentry. They acquire timber from Laos, and within a few days, can craft such things like coffee tables, drawers, and smaller tables. These masterpieces then find their way to Hanoi, where they are sold at prices a city person would expect to pay for a personally handcrafted, meticulously designed, and intricately assembled coffee table. My guess is a lot.

There are, however, many people in this small village who are not able to practice carpentry. These people grow and harvest rice. About 90% of Vietnam’s population participates in this ancient tradition.

Gerard arranged for our group to help out one of the families harvest some rice. When we arrived, some ladies gave all of us some sickles (a semicircular blade attached to a short handle), and demonstrated the proper way to cut grain. It was simple enough. We bend down, grip the bottom of the plant, and slash. After a few hours, we had cleared an entire field. Gerard estimates that we just made $50 U.S. for this family. When a field is cleared, the locals set fire to the field to burn away the roots of the grain that remain. Therefore, we get the term “slash and burn.”

$50 U.S. is close to 800,000 dong. That is a lot of money. But Gerard reminds us that such a hefty payday comes only twice in an entire year, as there are apparently only two times rice can be cultivated. It makes sense then, that the average yearly income of a Vietnamese family is only around $300 or $400 U.S.

Harvesting rice is hard work. It puts a toll on your back, as you are bending continuously. If you are not careful, you can cut yourself with the sickle, as my left pinky finger can attest. When I woke up the next day, my entire left and right leg were sore. But I am not complaining. I will, however, never look at another bowl of rice the same again.

When we arrived back at Hanoi at an obscenely late hour, a bunch of us decided that we wanted to go out for a drink. While there is usually no need to find a reason to drink in Vietnam (there is not much else to do at night), last night’s bar hopping had a specific purpose: to celebrate the eve of Kristy’s 23rd birthday. It was last night that I learned that my Vietnamese improves exponentially when I am under the influence of alcohol. The rate at which I produced Vietnamese amazed me greatly. I have a Vietnamese test on Thursday. I have one theory on how I should spend my Wednesday night…

…Study.

When we woke up the next day (ie, today), many of us went to 40 Cat Linh Street to continue celebrating Kristy’s birthday. At this address lies Horizon, a five star hotel. This hotel is so nice that the 6th ASEAN summit was held here several years ago. The Indonesian ambassador was received here. A month ago, a conference was conducted here to address the threat of Avian flu. We were interested in their “$15++ U.S.” buffet.

The “++” indicates that the price is $15 U.S., but there is an additional tax from the government, and another tax because it caters to foreigners. Therefore, we paid around $20 U.S., or about 300,000 dong per person. It was quite the buffet. I have never experienced such a wide range of food selection at such an outstanding quality in the United States. They had Indonesian prawns, Indian lamb curry, Japanese sushi, Italian pasta, American ribeye steak, French dessert… Any one of these single dishes would have put any restaurant on the map in America. But in Hanoi, Vietnam, we have a feast for our taste buds.

Ironically enough, both the people in the world of agrarian Vietnam and the people in the world of 5 star hotels have trouble understanding my Vietnamese. It is quite disheartening, especially when I feel like my Vietnamese is at its best. It is my hypothesis that these people see me and perceive a foreigner. Therefore, they do not expect me to know Vietnamese. When I speak Vietnamese, they are psychologically prepared to not understand me. And they don’t. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy. On the other hand, I could just be really bad at Vietnamese.

By popular demand, here are some very random photos. And by “popular demand”, I mean “my sister.”

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 23rd, 2005 at 7:18 pm and is filed under Super Xanga. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.