Have said it before, but I get so pissed at the 6am parades for the dead guys. Bad drumming and cymbals at six on a gawdamn Monday morning is an attack
We get alerts from the local embassy here with things to watch out for around town; Dengue fever, protests, etc. I received the below alert the other day and 5 people thought it pertinent enough to forward to me.
We would like to remind all U.S. citizens in Taiwan of the guidance contained in the Department of State’s travel.state.gov website on Taiwan’s local laws, particularly as these laws relate to controlled substances. Over the last several months, the American Institute in Taiwan has seen an increase in arrests related to possession of marijuana. The U.S. citizen community in Taiwan should be aware that penalties for possession, use, or trafficking in illegal drugs (including marijuana) in Taiwan are severe, and convicted offenders can expect long jail sentences and heavy fines. Taiwan also has the death penalty for certain drug offenses. Law enforcement in Taiwan treats all drug violations very seriously.
A new Feelies record came out last week and it is good. If you like the Feelies, then I like you. Have also had a reawakening to all things NRBQ. They were a band that I got into in that weird period where cassettes seemed like a good idea and I never had any on vinyl nor CD. Live From Yankee Stadium (which is neither) is my personal fave and you can get it on iTunes for $5.99.
And a buddy sent me a link to a review of this Ramones show in Seattle in 1977. I was a bit young for their first couple few years, but did catch them a few times in the early 80's. Actually, we ran late to a couple shows and due to their 30 songs in 20 minutes ethos, arrived as the smelly masses were leaving. Not a good effort of theirs was them opening a triple bill consisting of the Ramones, Tom Tom Club and Blondie at the Greek Theatre in LA. That had to be the 90's and all three were well past their prime. The best of times was them at the Hollywood Palladium and one night as they were playing Beat On The Brat, the crowd opened up in front of us and one dude comes stumbling out of the pile while another guy with a cast on his leg from foot to hip was hammering him with his crutch. Like I said, the best of times.
Last I left you, was heading to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam to join Betty for a couple nights. She was finishing a week of work there and joined her to check it out. Joining us was a co-worker of Betty whose wedding we attended in 2006. We met up for a late supper of Italian food naturally. At the table next to us was a loud table of a group from Under Armour. One of their party got louder and louder as the evening went on and the savvy executives in our group commented that is why that company is in trouble.
We really had one day to see the sights and we went for it. In the AM, we booked a tour to visit the Cu Chi tunnels. These are not only famous for their hilarious sounding name (and Vietnamese still leads the planet for words that sound dirty in English...their money is called Dong for crying out loud) but of their historic significance Won't do a deep dive into their history (the wikipedia page does a good job explaining them), but briefly, they are a network of tunnels over 100 miles in length where the Viet Cong based their attacks on the American headquarters in Saigon/HCM) during the Vietnam War, which is called the American War in Vietnam. Located about 17 miles outside of the city center, we took an hour long fast boat ride out to them. Our guides name was pronounced "You" and don't know how to spell it.
She was a delight...funny and knowledgeable and showed us a clip from a CNNGo report of Ho Chi Minh city that she was in. But can we knock it off with the peace sign in every photo? More on that later.
Assumed this load of humanity had to be from the States, but they were the New Zealand version of WT. Their group was just ahead of ours while walking around and we literally got stuck behind them in the tunnels.
The big mural behind the booby trap demonstrations showed GI's being impaled in horrific fashion and I noticed that all of the Americans depicted were white. "You" didn't know if that was on purpose or not but a size able percentage of Americans in the war were black soldiers. We were told that the tunnels that they opened to visitors were widened to accommodate Westerners, but they were still so narrow to be unholy. This is an amazing site and made a huge impression as to the surreal nature of war on all parties concerned.
After the boat took us back to town, we had a couple hours before our evening tour and took the opportunity to walk around District 1. This is the core of old Saigon and houses the prime examples of French colonial architecture and the hotels where the war correspondents made their reports/got their drink on. Had a cocktail on the rooftop bar of the Caravalle Hotel overlooking the old quarter.
You can walk from end to end of these sights in about 10 minutes, which makes for a pleasant stroll. The People's Committee Building was ginger bread-y
Unkie Ho.
And the General Post Office, designed by Gustav Eiffel, is as lovely a building as you'd find anywhere
After a cap nap, it was time for our XO Foodie Tour. We all climbed on the back of a scooter with our female driver/guides.
For the next 5 hours, we were driven all over the city. Vietnamese traffic is organized chaos. 7 million inhabitants of Ho Chi Minh and 7 million scooters. We were told more than once than when you cross traffic on foot, scooter or car, just go slow and steady and you won't get hit. If you make a sudden dash or stop...bang. It works, and is way better than Taiwan traffic culture. I've driven in a lot of places and have studied traffic in far more, and am convinced that the driving here is the worst. Am not talking about traffic, which is not bad in Taipei and is far worse in LA or Seattle, but the courtesy that they show to one another. Have never been to China, where they say it is worse than here, but if that is your defense...
The girls were very good drivers and we all felt safe immediately. I say girls cause they have a shelf life in this job and it is customary to "retire" by the age of 27. The reason for that is they believe that all the shaking of the scooter rattles their lady bits to the point of infertility.
We rode for about 15 minutes to our first stop and met up with the other half of our group...three doctors from a hospital in Alabama in country for some work with local counterparts in a cross cultural project. They were nice enough with the most gregarious being the big Russian guy (in the middle).
After a little driving tour of Chinatown, we headed over to the BBQ district. Giant tents filled with revelers. Sitting at long tables, our drivers turned into grill masters and they fed us goat with okre (good), beef that was edible, shrimps that were OK, and finally, jumping chicken/frog. The meat was fine, but as with chicken feet, am not big on the little bones.
Before our last food stop, we had time for some more driving around town. Such a great way to see the city. Our ladies would point out where the Koreans lived, the area by the river where young lovers go to snuggle all the while dodging the other two wheeled 7 million inhabitants deftly.
My driver just could not stop throwing out a peace sign in every photo. There are more than a dozen photos of her and she has two (or four) fingers up in every one...even while driving. I tried to get her to stop, but she was so darn cute that I couldn't yell.
Last stop was for seafood. The drivers helped crack our delicious chili crab legs
Scallops with spring onion and peanuts
Baby quail eggs with betel nut lettuce and noodles wrapped in rice paper
Some clams
And finally, the "highlight" of the tour...Balut. Betty has done this tour before and kept trying to scare us off of it throughout the evening. Balut is a developing bird embryo (usually a duck or chicken) that is boiled and eaten from the shell. The length of incubation before the egg is cooked is a matter of local preference, but generally ranges between 14 and 21 days. The eating of balut is controversial due to religious, animal welfare and human health concerns. Betty said that there can be little bones, cartlige and feathers in it. On the way to the restaurant, my driver asks if I want to eat it in the traditional way, which is just boiled, or if I wanted it with tamarind sauce and peanuts. Much like bacon, everything tastes better with tamarind sauce and peanuts and Betty had me leery already, so I chose that style.
We had our drivers drop us off at the other iconic roof top bar at the Rex Hotel for a nightcap (I had a Rexpolitan, which was a pink vodka drink), complete with local cheesy band playing 70's disco music.
Finished my book poolside in the morning and debated whether to buy the melons offered for sale in the taxi on the way to the airport.
In local news last week, Betty and I participated in the Taipei version of the Women's March. I marched in the Pride parade late last year and there were tens of thousands that day.
For the Women's March, there were tens of tens in attendance and 90% of those had to be Westerners. To be fair, it was at 4pm on a Wednesday, and Taiwan already has a decent respect for their females (the President is a lesbian). It was a decent walk...saw a bunch of girls (and boys) from the American School. The locals watched us with some curiosity and the only dissenting voice was an American lady straight outta the trailer standing on a bench with her bible yelling at us to "Repent Your Feminism"! Never thought that feminism was an affront to Jesus, so looked up that phrase. Here is a delightful link to and article on JesusisSavior.com that'll hip you to the fact that women have been evil since Eve.
A new Feelies record came out last week and it is good. If you like the Feelies, then I like you. Have also had a reawakening to all things NRBQ. They were a band that I got into in that weird period where cassettes seemed like a good idea and I never had any on vinyl nor CD. Live From Yankee Stadium (which is neither) is my personal fave and you can get it on iTunes for $5.99.
And a buddy sent me a link to a review of this Ramones show in Seattle in 1977. I was a bit young for their first couple few years, but did catch them a few times in the early 80's. Actually, we ran late to a couple shows and due to their 30 songs in 20 minutes ethos, arrived as the smelly masses were leaving. Not a good effort of theirs was them opening a triple bill consisting of the Ramones, Tom Tom Club and Blondie at the Greek Theatre in LA. That had to be the 90's and all three were well past their prime. The best of times was them at the Hollywood Palladium and one night as they were playing Beat On The Brat, the crowd opened up in front of us and one dude comes stumbling out of the pile while another guy with a cast on his leg from foot to hip was hammering him with his crutch. Like I said, the best of times.
Last I left you, was heading to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam to join Betty for a couple nights. She was finishing a week of work there and joined her to check it out. Joining us was a co-worker of Betty whose wedding we attended in 2006. We met up for a late supper of Italian food naturally. At the table next to us was a loud table of a group from Under Armour. One of their party got louder and louder as the evening went on and the savvy executives in our group commented that is why that company is in trouble.
We really had one day to see the sights and we went for it. In the AM, we booked a tour to visit the Cu Chi tunnels. These are not only famous for their hilarious sounding name (and Vietnamese still leads the planet for words that sound dirty in English...their money is called Dong for crying out loud) but of their historic significance Won't do a deep dive into their history (the wikipedia page does a good job explaining them), but briefly, they are a network of tunnels over 100 miles in length where the Viet Cong based their attacks on the American headquarters in Saigon/HCM) during the Vietnam War, which is called the American War in Vietnam. Located about 17 miles outside of the city center, we took an hour long fast boat ride out to them. Our guides name was pronounced "You" and don't know how to spell it.
After the boat took us back to town, we had a couple hours before our evening tour and took the opportunity to walk around District 1. This is the core of old Saigon and houses the prime examples of French colonial architecture and the hotels where the war correspondents made their reports/got their drink on. Had a cocktail on the rooftop bar of the Caravalle Hotel overlooking the old quarter.
The girls were very good drivers and we all felt safe immediately. I say girls cause they have a shelf life in this job and it is customary to "retire" by the age of 27. The reason for that is they believe that all the shaking of the scooter rattles their lady bits to the point of infertility.
We rode for about 15 minutes to our first stop and met up with the other half of our group...three doctors from a hospital in Alabama in country for some work with local counterparts in a cross cultural project. They were nice enough with the most gregarious being the big Russian guy (in the middle).
I have a nice tan going.
The first dish was a lovely bowl of Bun Bo Hue. From central Vietnam, is similar to pho but spicy and thicker. Have never been a big pho fan, mainly cause it is a bit plain for my taste, but this was fantastic and will throw it down whenever. I put a lot of the garlic chili sauce in mine as you can see.
My driver just could not stop throwing out a peace sign in every photo. There are more than a dozen photos of her and she has two (or four) fingers up in every one...even while driving. I tried to get her to stop, but she was so darn cute that I couldn't yell.
Last stop was for seafood. The drivers helped crack our delicious chili crab legs
Betty says I had a look of disgust on my face, but why did she have to work us up throughout the night? It wasn't bad. Wouldn't say it was good either, but I got it all the way down and if there were feathers in it, I couldn't tell. The Russian doctor ate three boiled ones and think he was just trying to show off for his cute driver. We were the only two of our group of six that went for it...so good job by me.
Coconut jelly for dessert
And some dinner entertainment from a teen age girl fire breather.
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