Restaurant Reviews

Over the next several weeks, I will write some reviews of restaurants in Tra Vinh. I will also make audio files and videos about these restaurants and post them to share with others.

I have two main goals in doing this. The first is to give Vietnamese people who are learning English some useful language that can help them. Most Vietnamese people will already know the things that I will write about (com tam, ca phe sua da, banh mi, banh xeo, sinh to), but this isn't a problem. Because they will already know about this things, it will help them guess the meaning of what I'm writing. Because all of these restaurant blogs will be about familiar topics (ideas, things), Vietnamese people will find them easier to understand. And because these are all very Vietnamese kinds of foods, I think that Vietnamese people will find these blogs useful when they try to explain these foods to foreigners.

The second group of people I want to help are foreigners coming to Tra Vinh or to other places in Vietnam. I will try to describe some of the different foods and also some of the different rules for getting and eating food in restaurants. For Vietnamese people, it might seem strange that I am writing about rules. For Vietnamese, it is obvious (clear) how to get food or eat food in different kinds of businesses, but this is not obvious for foreigners. I hope that these reviews will help foreigners explore (go, see, and learn new things) Vietnam more easily.

Here is the list of restaurants (and other eating or drinking places) that I want to write about.

1. Bay Loan--a com tam restaurant.
2. Nguyet Anh--a WiFi cafe
3. Huu Nghi--a pho restaurant
4. a sinh to place
5. Bay Mon Bo--a great place to get many different kinds of beef
6. a place to buy banh mi and other French breads
7. a banh xeo place not far from Uncle Ho Temple
8. a restaurant in the Tra Vinh Market
9. To Nga--a com tam place near the university
10. the canteen at Campus One
11. a banh mi vendor
12. a banh bao vendor
13. a garden cafe near the main gate
14. a garden cafe outside the city to the south
15. a vegetarian meal at a Buddhist temple for ram
16. a bakery on Dien Bien Phu street
17. a place selling sweets in Tra Vinh Market
18. 999 Cafe near Campus One

Restaurant Review: Com Tam Bay Loan

This is the restaurant where I eat most often. I went their my first full day in Tra Vinh, and I've eaten there at least five times a week since then. Why do I keep going back so often? Well, I guess there are two obvious reasons: the food tastes good and the prices are low. But there is at least one more important reason. The people who work there are friendly and always make me feel welcome, so when I eat there, it's a bit like eating with family or friends.

Because this is a com tam restaurant, it has food very similar to other com tam places. Vietnamese people will immediately know what is offered at a com tam restaurant, but foreigners might not know. Com tam means "broken rice" and it refers to the plate of rice that one gets with every meal. At a com tam restaurant there are several dishes (kinds of food) that you can choose from. A com tam place is good for foreigners since the customers can always see the choices of the food. It is not necessary to order from a menu. Usually it is not even possible to order from a menu. The customers just look and then either say what they want or point to what they want.

In this kind of restaurant, you will usually get rice, a meat dish and a small amount of vegetables. There will almost always be a small dish of fish sauce (nuoc mam) and maybe some chilis and maybe some limes. Usually Vietnamese people don't use chopsticks to eat com tam. The grains (pieces) of rice are smaller than average, and it's hard to use chopsticks. Instead people use a spoon and fork. They take these from a small box on the table and then clean them with a napkin. They pour some fish sauce (just a little since it's very salty!) on the rice, and then start to eat. In most restaurants, you will get iced tea (cha da) for free. And near the end of the meal, they will bring you a small bowl of soup.

That's the general way a com tam restaurant works, and Bay Loan is similar. There is always rice available, and also several different dishes. There is usually at least one fish dish, one chicken dish, and one pork dish. My favorite is the fish, maybe because they have different kinds of seafood and the recipes (the instructions or the ways to cook food) for the fish change every day. I like fish with big bones. I really don't like to eat fish with small bones because it is too much work to remove the many bones, and I also worry that I'll get a bone stuck in my throat (the part of the body inside the neck, between the mouth and the stomach). As for river fish or ocean fish, like both, but ocean fish sometimes has bigger bones and more meat, so I like that.

At Bay Loan, they know that I often like to get bitter melon (kho qua) stuffed with pork. My favorite way to eat this is get this with a fried egg. The bitter melon stuffed with pork always comes as part of a soup, and I love to put a bowl of this on one side, and then take a fried egg and cut it up in the rice. I really like it when the yolk (the yellow part of the egg) isn't solid. That way, I can mix it with the rice. I then eat this rice-egg mixture with the bitter melon soup. It's fantastic!

I don't get the chicken very often. I like chicken, and the chicken dishes they have there look but, but most days I go for (choose) the fish. I used to have the pork a lot, but now don't have it very often. There's nothing wrong with the pork--it was actually very good--but I just prefer their fish. Sometimes I have tofu, and whenever possible I like to get extra vegetables.

In the beginning, I used to drink sugar cane juice (nuoc mia) but then stopped. I usually go to have iced milk coffee after eating there, and to have that with sugar cane juice meant I was eating far too much sugar.

Bay Loan actually is two restaurant, each on one side of the street. I like the one on the side of the street away from Dien Bien Phu because it has higher tables and chairs. In the other place, there are only stools (very short chairs), and it's a little hard for me to sit there. The manager is a lot of fun. He always likes to joke with me and tease me a little bit. His daughter is just about 6, and I also like to play with her. For the first few months, she was shy and wouldn't play with me. She'd just stay in a room and say "hello", but after some time she became braver (not shy) and now likes to play with me. She likes to hit me (but not too hard), play with my beard, and watch me eat or read.

So, since the food is good, the people friendly, and the prices low, I've become a real regular (a person who goes to a business many times). Sometimes I think I should try other places more often. I guess I have tried a number of other lunch places, but Bay Loan remains my favorite, and that's why I keep returning.

Going Skiing

When I was a child, my parents used to love going skiing. Every winter they would go to the mountains for a week or two and ski. Skiing is sport in which people put long pieces of wook or plastic on their feet and they they move across the snow. It is very popular in northern Europe and has also become popular in many other places in the world with a lot of snow.

I went skiing a few times with my parents and liked it a lot. It's a little difficult at first. The skis (the pieces of wood or plastic) are about 2 meters long, and the boots (special shoes) that people wear are very heavy, so it takes some time to get used to moving with these things on your feet.

There are several kinds of skiing, but the two most popular are downhill skiing and cross-country skiing. In downhill skiing, people go down the sides of hills and mountains. In cross-country skiing, they move mostly across flat land. Downhill skiing is a lot faster, but cross-country skiing is better exercise. Now, with for downhill skiing people usually go to ski resorts (places with hotels and restaurants that are for fun and tourism). With downhill skiing, you want to go fast down a hill. That's not easy because you must be careful not to fall down and get hurt. But the hardest part is getting up the hill in the first place.

In the past, people had to climb up the hill, which was slow and hard work. Nowadays, there are machines that carry people to the top. The simplest machine is a moving rope that goes from the bottom of the hill to the top. You grab this rope and it pulls you to the top of the hill. A more complex machine is the chair lift. This machine has chairs for people to sit on, and then it carries you over the snow and trees to the mountain top. Once you are at the mountain top, you are ready for the ski down the hill. Hills and mountains have different colors, and these tell you how easy or hard they are. It's very important to be careful with these colors and to only go to hills that are right for you. The more difficult hills are longer and steeper (not flat). Often with the difficult hills, you must change direction many times, and this can be difficult when you're going fast. Skiing is fun, but it is a dangerous sport. Some people break their bones, especially their legs, because they did not have good control. And the sport forces you to use muscles that maybe you haven't been using much. You need to have strong thighs (the muscles in the leg above the knee) and shoulders for this sport.

One surprise for people visiting a ski resort is that the snow is very deep. In most resorts the snow is more than 2 meters deep! If there isn't enough snow, the resort might make artificial (not natural) snow. They take huge pieces of ice and then use machines to cut it into very small pieces, as small as grains of sugar. They then blow this on the sides of the mountains. Of course, it's cold in a ski resort. The temperature is usually below -10º or -15º C even during the day time. But you usually don't feel cold. People wear special clothes, and this helps keep them warm. Also because they are always moving, this exercise keeps their bodies warm. Another surprise is that the sun is so bright. People with white skin must use special protection on their skin, just like when they go to the beach. The sky is usually clear and the white snow on the ground reflects (gives back) a lot of light. Everyone, whether their skin is white or dark, needs to wear goggles (special glasses) to protect your eyes. If you don't wear these goggles, you eyes will become tired after a few hours of being in the bright light.

Downhill skiing is not a cheap sport. It costs several hundred dollars per day per person at most resorts. You have to rent a hotel and then you must rent your equipment (the things that you use): skis, boots, poles. Most people buy their own special winter clothing, and this is also costly. Finally, most people who go to a ski resort must travel long distances from their homes, so they have to buy plane tickets. Cross country skiing for most people is a lot cheaper.

One of the attractions of downhill skiing is that you can do it on flat ground with little snow. For example, there is no downhill skiing in Chicago, the city where I live in America. It is too flat (the highest point on land is just a few meters above the lowest point) and there is usually no more than 10 centimeters of snow on the ground. Not a good place for downhill skiing! But lots of people go cross-country skiing there. It's easy to go near the lake and put on your skis and then to go up and down the lakefront (the land near the lake). I don't know anyone who skis to work in the winter, but it would be possible if one's home and work were near the lake.

Youth Union Festival

Every year in March, there is a big celebration all over Vietnam. This is the celebration for the Youth Union, and at colleges and universities everywhere in the country, students have a lot of fun. The Youth Union festival usually happens on a weekend. This is necessary because students are very busy preparing for the festival. They don’t just get ready to have fun. They also get ready to build and make things. For the Youth Union Festival, students form groups (usually with students from their major and their class) and then make plans to build a place for their group to have fun. Here we see the photo of a very happy student who's majoring in English. He was good at cutting bamboo and also at explaining in English many things about the Youth Union Festival.

So what do students build? Sometimes these places are tents (a house made out of cloth), but sometimes they are more like small houses. Here is a picture after they have finished buidling it. You can see that this place is big enough for twenty or thirty students to stand, sit, sing, eat, dance, and have fun.

Here at Tra Vinh University, many students are very good at building things. They are farmers and have a lot of experience building things for their own farms, and they also understand how to use materials and tools. They know how to use materials like bamboo and palm leaves and also tools like hammers, saws, and nails.

They get many materials—most of them natural—and bring them to Campus One. They all come to the football field and build their tents there. Students with experience in building things will be the leaders, and they will help their classmates. They will give advice on how long to cut the bamboo, on how deep to dig the holes, on how many nails to use to hold the pieces of bamboo and wood together.

When I saw students making these structures (buildings, houses, tents), I did not think they knew what they were doing. The students were all young and looked happy and excited, but the wind was so strong that I was sure the structures would not stand. But I was wrong! The students had very good ideas about how to build these structures, and they made them strong and stable (not moving). And, of course, it’s very important that these tents be strong and stable: they are used for all the classmates to meet, sing, eat, and have fun. They must be strong and safe.

But it is not enough to be strong and safe. They must also be attractive. Who wants to sit and celebrate in an ugly building, especially for a big festival? No one! So students paid attention to at least two things: the strength of the tents but also to the decoration (the little things that make something beautiful). And most of the decorations yesterday were natural, just like the materials used to make the structures. In this photo we see two students taking a plam leaf and putting in near the door of their tent. Students brought many kinds of flowers and leaves and used them to make their tents more beautiful. Coconuts, palm leaves, and banana plants and flowers were some of the most common things used to beautify (make beautiful) their temporary (short time) homes. Sometimes students used these things in their natural state, but often they changed them a little bit. They took leaves and cut them or folded them to make them more attractive. Or they added color to different kinds of green plants. Some students were very creative. One group (which was engineers and tailors together) took many bikes and put them together to make an arch over the entrance (the place where you go inside something) to their tent. I love to ride my bike, so I found it interesting that they were able to take bicycles and make something beautiful (and fun) from them.

After the students have built their tents and decorated them, they are ready for fun! It’s hard work making these tents. It takes work of both the hands and the brain to create these temporary structures. So, naturally, students are a little tired after they finish. Most groups of students yesterday had lunch together inside their new tent and admired (looked at with happiness and pride) what they had built. Then they started various activities. Some people wore funny hats. And lots of students immediately started to sing with karaoke machines. It was loud, but a good kind of loud. This was the sound of friends happy to be with each other, and everyone was excited.

Other students went outside to build kites (toys made of paper or plastic that can fly in the wind) to fly. Also, at this time, judges from the Youth Union came to every tent to look at it. There was a contest for the best tent, and the judges had to see each tent to give it points. Here we see a photo of someone with large kite that just a few minutes later was flying high in the sky.

In the afternoon, there were many kinds of games. Some students played in small groups with their classmates, but others gathered in the center of the football field and played with hundreds of other students. It was very noisy and exciting. I could hear the voices of the students hundreds of meters away.

In the evening, everything looked very different. It was now dark, but students had already fixed lights to their tents and they then turned these on. Normally the football field at night is empty, black, and quiet, but last night it was filled with people and life. There were lights everywhere. Many students had put lights in the signs above their doors to their tents. Some had also put different colored lights inside their tents. There were so many bright lights that it looked a little bit like Nguyen Hue Street in Ho Chi Minh City on Tet! And everywhere you went there were students walking, running, singing, dancing, and having fun.

My apartment is very close to the football field. In fact, I live just about 20 meters from where the celebration was taking place. In my living room, it was very noisy. It was so noisy that I had trouble hearing the television, but that wasn’t a problem since most of the time I was outside with students and friends celebrating. I don’t know when the party ended. I was tired and went to bed about midnight. The bedroom of my apartment is not next to the football field but is on the other side of the building, next to the Agriculture and Fisheries Building, and there it was quiet. So although thousands of students were having a noisy good time, I was able to sleep easily.

This morning, when I woke up, it was all quiet. My plan was to get my camera and go take some pictures of the students as they took down their tents. I looked out my window and was shocked. Every tent was already gone! I had heard that there would be a big fire, but I had assumed that people would build a fire, watch it burn, then go to sleep and in the morning take down all their tents. But that isn’t what happened. I now think that the bonfire (a big fire for a celebration) they had last night was made with all the materials from their tents. I guess that they took the bamboo, palm leaves, and other natural materials and threw them on the fire. This did two things. It saved them a lot of work, since now they wouldn’t have to take all these things out of Campus One. And, maybe more importantly, it let them have a lot of fun. It made the fire bigger, brighter, stronger.

But this morning, as I look at the field, I find it hard to believe that just six hours ago, there was a small city in front of my apartment, a special kind of city filled mostly with young college people having a great time. And now, it’s gone. It’s all a little bit beautiful, but also a little bit sad. It reminds me that the things we love in life don’t last forever. They are here for a short time, bright and noisy, beautiful and filled with happiness. But then soon—much sooner than we want—they are gone. We think that we can go back to them, but just as I learned this morning when I saw the tents were gone, when we try to return, we find that everyone has left.

Probably the happiest times of my life were from my college years, so I enjoyed watching students today having fun, making friends and memories. When you’re in college, you think that it will last forever. You imagine that it will always be easy to meet your friends, talk with them, be silly, have fun. But in just a few years, years that are far too short and fast, it’s over. And maybe because we know this inside—we know that our youth won’t last forever—we enjoy these moments a little bit more. So, I want to say thank you to everyone I met yesterday. You let me take photos of you and to make videos of you setting up your tents and of you singing and having fun. Many of you invited me to join with you—for a short time—and share some of the happiness that you were feeling. I’m glad that I accepted your invitations of friendship. Even though I will l be in Tra Vinh three-and-a-half more months, and even though I hope to return many times in the future, I will never be here again for the 2011 Youth Union celebration. That is over and done with, and I want to let you know that I feel very honored to have been a part of your special day.

Taking a xe om in Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City is big. It's really huge! The whole area has about 10 million people, and this means that sometimes you have to go a very long distance. Lots of people have their own motorbikes, and they use these to get from place to place. But I don't have a motorbike, and I don't want to get one. In Tra Vinh, I get around on my bike, which I really love. But most people don't ride bikes in HCMC. The traffic is just too heavy, the distances too far, the pollution too bad, the temperature too hot.

So, usually when I am here, I walk. For distances of just a few kilometers, this is OK. Walking let's me see the city. I get to know the streets, businesses, sights, and sounds better. One day I walked from Ben Thanh market almost all the way to the airport. That was not a pleasant walk: too long, hard, and tiring, but I'm glad I did it. Once.

Today, I bought a lot of books and did not want to carry 10 kilos of things from the bookstore to my hotel. So I found a xe om. Xe om is a Vietnamese word, and the meaning is a little bit cute and funny. Xe means "car, vehicle" and om means "to hug". This is what people call a motorcycle taxi. There is a motorcycle, one driver, and you! You just tell the driver where you want to go, agree on a price, put on your helmet, jump on, and go. The helmet is required. Drivers won't take you anywhere if you are not wearing a helmet. But don't worry if you forgot yours. They always have an extra helmet for their customers. One problem for me is that the helmets are always too small, but I this problem by bringing my own helmet. It is big and red and very well.

Sometimes, it is a little scary to take a xe om, especially during the evening rush hour. The rush hour is the time before and after work when the streets are filled with traffic. On Friday evenings, the traffic is really heavy, and taking a xe om then is both exciting and frightening. But today, it was Sunday afternoon, the traffic wasn't too heavy, and the ride was simple and not scary.

Rice Harvest

Last weekend, I rode my bike around Tra Vinh province. I wanted to see what people were doing for the rice harvest. A harvest is the word we use to talk about the cutting of the rice or corn or wheat that is growing in a field. It is also the word we use when we talk about picking fruit (apples, mangoes, bananas, etc.) from trees.

Tra Vinh has many rice harvests each year. Many fields have two harvests each year. Some have three. And a few, my friends tell me, have four harvests each year. Many of the fields were planted with rice last September and October. The rice has been growing for five or six months since then. In some fields, the rice was harvested in January, after just three or four months, but in most fields, it took the rice longer to be ready for harvesting.

Although I am not a farmer and my parents were not farmers, I was raised in a small town in America in a farming area. Many of my friends when I was growing up were farmers. So, for me it is interesting to see some of the differences and similarities between farming in Iowa, the state where I grew up, and in Tra Vinh, the province where I now live.

One similarity is that whole families work together to do the harvest. In my state, the most common crops (plants for food) were corn and soy beans. In Tra Vinh, the most common crops are rice and corn. In both places, parents and their children work together to get the crop out of the fields. This is important since when a crop is ready, it must be harvested soon. Crops don't wait for the weekend! On my bike ride, I saw many adults in the rice fields cutting the rice plants and tying them together. This is hard work, and children can't easily do it. I also saw people drying the grains of rice along the sides of the roads. This is easier work, and older children can help, but they must be careful because of the traffic.

In both Vietnam and the United States, the grain (the seed) of the rice or corn plant is only one part of the crop. Farmers in both countries also use the stalk (the grassy part of the plant) for food for animals. People call this stalk "hay" or "straw", and it both countries, it is a useful product. In Tra Vinh, I saw many people gather the straw and make large piles of it in the fields or near the houses. They first make sure the straw is dry. If it is wet and they make a pile, the straw will spoil and become bad.

In Tra Vinh, I saw many people taking dried rice and putting it in large bags. They tie the bags tightly shut and then carry them to motorbikes or small trucks. These then carry the bags of rice to the river where other people put the rice inside large boats. The boats will carry the rice to different places where it will then be

Ho Chi Minh City for Christmas

About two months ago, I went to Ho Chi Minh City for Christmas. I'd heard that although most people are not Christian, it's still a lot of fun to be there for this day. I arrived early in the afternoon on Christmas Eve (December 24) and walked around the city to see what was going on. I had arrived in the city prepared for the holiday. Earlier I had a tailor make my Santa Claus non la, the traditional Vietnamese conical hat but covered in red and white like the cap of Santa Claus. At first I was disappointed since no one said anything as I walked down the streets in District 1. In fact, I felt a little foolish. Here I was, a grown man walking around a city with a silly hat on. I'd thought people would smile or greet me, but no.

However, as evening approached and as people started to leave work to prepare for the holiday, their reactions began to change. People smiled at me or said "hello" or "Merry Christmas", and this made me feel better. When it became dark, the traffic on the streets started to get increasingly heavy, and many of those on motorbikes had children who were also dressed up. Some, like me, just had on Santa headgear (though none had a Santa non la like I did), but others were wearing whole Santa outfits: cap, jacket, pants, and boots. The kids, of course, looked adorable, and I took a lot of photos.

As the evening went on, about 20 people asked to have their photo taken with me, and maybe another 100 simply took my photo without asking for permission. And that, of course, was fine by me. Anyone who dresses up in a silly Santa hat on Christmas Eve is asking to have his photo taken, and I was certainly pleased that people wanted to include me in their photographic memories of this night. I took maybe a hundred photos of people, stores, costumes. Some didn't turn out very well because of the poor light, but others came out pretty good.

What did I learn on this example of "Going Places"? Well, I learned that sometimes it pays to be patient. What seemed like a silly idea at 4 PM (namely, walking around with my Santa non la) turned out to be, at 9 PM, a pretty fun thing to do. I also learned that sometimes it's a good idea to take a bit of a risk. I wasn't sure if my hat would work and was a little reluctant to try it, but I'm glad that I did. Finally, I learned the importance of planning ahead and of testing. It took several days to get my hat made, and if I'd waited till the last minute, I wouldn't have had any hat to show off in. Also, I got a chance to test my Santa non la the night before at the annual English Department Get-Together at Tra Vinh University. The reaction there was positive, and that gave me more courage to go ahead with my idea of parading around a major city dressed in a somewhat crazy manner.

Snow in Chicago

Although Chicago is not my hometown, I have lived there since 1988. Chicago's a big, exciting city with people from many countries. In a few ways, it is similar to Tra Vinh. Both are cites that are on flat ground, and both are, therefore, very good for biking. Water is important to both. Chicago is on a huge lake of fresh water (about 500 km by 200 km), and Tra Vinh is in the delta of the Mekong, a huge river. And both cities historically have had close connections with agriculture.

But there are some differences. "Like what?" you might ask. Well, as it's February now, one of the most obvious differences in the weather. January is the coldest month in both Chicago and Tra Vinh but that little word "coldest" means two very different things. Here in Tra Vinh, "coldest" means temperatures of about 22º at night. In Chicago in January or February, "coldest" means temperatures of -22º at night. Please pay attention to that little minus sign ("-"). Usually it is not that cold, but the average night temperature in Chicago at this time of year is about -10º. That is colder than the freezer in your refrigerator.

When the snow falls, winter is beautiful, sometimes almost painfully beautiful. The snow looks like magic when it falls, and it also looks just as beautiful when it is sitting on top of trees, cars, and houses. However, people who have never lived with snow often don't realize that it can cause real problems. It makes driving and walking very difficult. The good news is that the snow usually melts (turns to water) in a few days or hours, but until that happens, it causes real problems. Another difficulty is that having so much snow makes it hard to take cars from their parking spots. People have to work hard to dig their cars out of the snow, and after doing all this work, they don't want other people to come along on use this snow-free spot. There is a custom that after people dig out their cars, they put a chair or some other object in the place on the street where their car was. Other people are NOT supposed to park there.

This practice is not legal. The roads are public property and everyone has an equal right to park there. But people also understand that it is hard work to dig out the snow, and people often respect others who have done this work.

Here's a photograph that a friend back in Chicago took and sent me. It shows a man who's very happy that finally--after an hour or more of hard work removing heavy, wet snow--he

Valentine's Day

OK, I'm writing this one day late, but please forgive me. Yesterday, when I rode my bike to Dien Bien Phu Street for dinner, I noticed some vendors on the streets that hadn't been there before. I noticed they were selling packages of fruit and flowers and found this strange. After all, Tet finished more than a week ago. But then I saw lots of red color and some heart-shaped boxes, and I realized that, of course, these vendors were selling things for Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day is a day of love and friendship. Sweethearts buy gifts--sometimes large, sometimes small--for each other. In the US, chocolate, sweets, and flowers are probably the most popular. Sometimes dinner in a nice restaurant can also make a good Valentine's Day gift. In schools in America, Valentine's Day is for both love and friendship. Some students will give cards to their classmates, friends, or teachers. It's also common for family members to send each other greetings on this day.

I'm not sure what is common in Vietnam. I'd like my readers to post some comments about how they celebrate (or have celebrated) Valentine's Day. Do you give things to a sweetheart, a spouse (husband or wife), a secret love? Is it just for romantic love or is it also a day for friends and family? Is there a generational difference on the celebration? I assume that celebrating Valentine's is a rather new phenomenon, so I wonder what parents or grandparents think about it. Do they find it sweet? Do they think it's silly and a distraction from more important things?

Please share your ideas. If you have photographs that you've taken that you'd like me to post, please send them to me.

The New Administration Building at Tra Vinh University

This morning I did go somewhere, but it was just a few minutes from where I live. Although the distance was short, it still involved a bit of discovery. I went to the new Administration Building, which opened just a few weeks ago here at Tra Vinh University. This is an impressive structure. It's maybe five or six stories tall and bright yellow. The building stands right next to the main gate, so everyone entering the university--or even people just walking, biking, or driving, by the front--will see it.

Inside everything's new and bright. All the tables, chairs, computers, and other equipment are modern and up to date. And there's glass everywhere. Even when walking inside the hallway, it's easy to see inside all the offices and, beyond those, to see out to the world on both sides of the building. To the south, one sees the other buildings on Campus One, and to the north, one sees the palm trees and farmland that make living in the Mekong Delta so beautiful.

In a hot, sunny place like Tra Vinh, this much glass can be a problem, but not in this new building. In hot climates, buildings with a lot of glass on the outside require huge amounts of air conditioning, and that's expensive. How does the Administration Building avoid this problem and expense? Well, although there's a lot of glass, most of it isn't directly on the outside of the building. Around the outside walls of the offices, there are more hallways and these serve an important purpose for maintaining the temperature of the building. These hallways keep the strongest sun off of the walls of the offices but they still allow light to enter. That means that everywhere although it is bright, there is still protection from the sun. Architects in hot countries have learned that adjustments like this are necessary when they build in climates with lots of sun and heat, and it makes me glad to see this king of "green architecture" here in Tra Vinh.

The building isn't completely finished yet. Workers are adding gardens all around it, but soon everything will be done. For me, this small trip to the Administration Building gave me a little bit of insight into the history of both TVU and also Tra Vinh province. The building is new, yes, but really, the entire campus is new. Just 10 years ago, the are that is now Campus One was marsh and farmland. There were no buildings and there was certainly no university. But in less than a decade Tra Vinh University has grown a lot and is continuing to grow.

I like that from the offices, one can see both the university and the countryside. Although there are many majors here, agriculture and aquaculture are two of the most important, and this is only right in an area like the Mekong Delta, which is one of the world's most important regions for farming and fishing. This new building, like most of the others on campus, doesn't hide from the world: it, instead, opens itself to the surrounding area and reminds us of why we are all here, namely to serve the educational needs of people in this part of Vietnam.

Things like this building and Tra Vinh University don't happen by accident. They take a lot of work, money, planning, and support. For me, I'm feel very proud and lucky to be a part of a university like this, one that serves an area that for many years did not have easy access to higher education. Having a university here makes a real difference in the lives of the tens of thousands of people who live in and near Tra Vinh province. The university provides education in many subjects very important for the future lives of students and their families. It helps them be better at agriculture and aquaculture. It also trains them in things like English, tourism, accounting, and law, subjects that are important as Tra Vinh develops industries and services.

If you're near Campus One, come and take a look at this building! And reflect a little bit on what it teaches us about Tra Vinh's past, and future.

Hue

During my Tet vacation, I decided to travel in Vietnam, concentrating on the central coast and highlands. My first stop was Hue and, unusually for me, rather than take a bus, I flew there from Ho Chi Minh City. Most times I prefer to travel by bus or train since it gives me more chances to see the landscape and the daily life of people in the areas we pass through. But this trip I didn't have a lot of time, and Vietnam is a long country, so I started by flying.

The biggest surprise as soon as I arrived in Hue was the weather. I'd expected it to be a little bit cooler than Tra Vinh and maybe with some light rain, but when I got there, it was clear I'd been wrong. The temperatures were about 15º the whole day, and there was constant rain. True, the rain wasn't heavy, but it stopped for just a few minutes each hour. I was dressed in shorts and felt a little bit uncomfortable but not too cold.

Most cities are not very pleasant when you first arrive. There's the problem of finding a hotel and doing this with one's luggage, and this true in Hue. The walk to my hotel wasn't long, but I was constantly shouted at by men on the street who wanted to get my attention. I hate this! And, unfortunately, it made me angry. But as soon as I got to my room and rented a bicycle, things improved a lot.

One of the main attractions in Hue is the Citadel. This is an area built about 150 years ago for the kings of the Nguyen dynasty. There is a large wall, about 2 km long on each side, that makes a huge square, and inside this there were--and still are--many houses, public buildings and businesses. Most of the buildings that existed 100 years ago have been lost in wars, fires, and other accidents, but the ones that survive are beautiful.

Some of the buildings have been restored. The colors are usually a deep, bright, very shiny red with brilliant gold decoration. Even in the rainy, cloudy weather they seemed to have an electric brightness.









My favorite was probably the building dedicated to the memory of many of the Nguyen kings. This building was restored, so the colors were wonderful. But more importantly, there was some real activity there. I happened to arrive just before the end of a ceremony to worship the spirits of the kings, and seeing the people and offerings, smelling the incense, hearing the prayers, bells, and drums made this building seem more alive than the others.













During lunch there, I met a German woman who's traveling around Southeast Asia for 6 weeks alone. She explained that she used to travel with her husband, but that since he died, she's started traveling alone again. Like me, she was surprised--and disappointed--by the cold, wet weather, but we both agreed that traveling in Vietnam is generally safe, friendly and fun, and we both liked the buildings in the Citadel.













In some parts of the Citadel there are hundreds of tourists, and it feels like the corner of Nguyen Hue and Le Loi in Hoi Chi Minh City. Lots of crowds and little space to move. But just a few minutes away, there were places with few or any people, and walking around there was more pleasant.

I spent maybe 6 hours walking around the Citadel, taking pictures, trying to keep my camera dry, and admiring the beauty, both natural and man made. Near the end of my time there, the battery in my camera started to run out of power, so I had to skip many places but that wasn't a real problem since I had enough time to return another day.

The Student Canteen

The name of this blog is "Going Places", and as I've said, this doesn't just mean going places far away. It includes things near by. The purpose is to use movement (going places) as a way to learn more English and to share ideas about the world. And this movement doesn't have to be just to famous places like Ho Chi Minh City, Halong Bay, Paris, or Tokyo. It can also be about going to ordinary places that we visit every day.

It's now 12:12 PM, and that's about time for me to go somewhere important, although very nearby. I mean the student canteen. I live on Campus 1 here at Tra Vinh University, and I'm lucky to be living in a beautiful new building made for visiting teachers, specialists, and volunteers. Out my window right now I see the sports field where students come to play soccer and volleyball and, just behind that, I see a group of trees. To my left, just 2 minutes walk away, is the student canteen. And that's where I'm going very soon for lunch. I hope to have cơm tấm ("broken rice") which is a dish that combines broken grains of rice with some meat and vegetables on the side. It almost always comes with nước mắm ("fish sauce"), a small bowl of soup, and often a glass of iced tea. At canteen it's tasty and cheap, and when I'm busy in my apartment or in the office, I like to go there, instead of riding my bike into town.

Today, I have a special goal. I want to take some photos in the canteen and then come back here and post them on this blog. I don't think it'll be hard, but I'm still interested trying out this new technology. I think that the combination of image (photo and video), text (words that are written), audio (sound files) and also feedback (ideas, suggestions, criticisms) from students, friends, and readers can help make this a useful tool for learning English.

Rice growing cycle

In September, when I arrived in Tra Vinh, the fall rice planting season had just started. Farmers put seeds of rice in the ground. There's a special word for this in English (and in Vietnamese). In English we say that people "sow rice". This word sow is pronounced exactly like the words so and sew. (There's another word spelled exactly the same but pronounced like the word now and that word means "female pig"). I didn't see farmers sowing rice when I arrived, but a few weeks later in early October, I did seem them transplanting rice. After the rice plants grow a little bit, it is necessary to move them to a new place with more room for them to grow. When I saw farmers doing this, I felt very lucky since I realized that I was going to be able to see an entire season of rice farming. When I told my friends this, they thought it was funny. There's nothing lucky about seeing a rice growing season in Tra Vinh, they thought. That happens at least 2 times, and sometimes 3 times, a year!

Still, I felt lucky and even though it is very hard work to plant and transplant rice, it's also quite beautiful, so I started to take pictures of the farmers doing this. I also took photos of the rice when it was fully grown in early January. And now, in the middle of February, it is time to cut the rice. There's a special word for this in English. We say that people "harvest the rice". And, of course, I plan to take photos and make videos about this part of the agricultural cycle as well. Today, I will ride my bike to the countryside with several friends and we will talk with farmers about their life and work, and I'll take some photos to share.

Like a lot of Vietnamese people, I love to eat rice. And living in an agricultural area is special for me since it lets me see just where our food comes from. It is hard to be a farmer. A farmer must work in the fields when it is hot or cold, sunny or rainy. The crops in the fields won't wait for farmers. So even if farmers feel a little bit tired or bored, they cannot be lazy. They have to take care of their plants and animals. And the physical work of being a farmer is demanding. There's a lot of lifting heavy objects and cutting and tying. So they have strong arms and hands. Farmers spend many hours each day bent over, so they also have strong backs.

Eating rice is a lot easier than growing it, but now I have a much better idea of the work that rice farmers do. Now, many times when I have a delicious meal with rice, I think of the beautiful green fields of the Mekong Delta, and I also think of the many hours of work and sweat that were necessary to grow the rice. And I also think of the many beautiful photos I've been lucky to take. Taking photos of rice is also a lot easier than growing it, so I feel thankful that the farmers of Vietnam have been so willing to share the beauty of labor with me.

Biking to Ben Tre

I love living in Vietnam. I say this all the time, and I'm afraid it will bore my friends, but it's true. I really like being here. Do I love it every minute of every day? Of course not! No country is like that. And no life is like that. We always have good and bad moments. But I have lived in many different countries (I have traveled to 27 countries, and I have lived in 6), and being in Vietnam is both generally easy and very pleasurable.

One thing that I really like about living in Tra Vinh in the Mekong Delta is that it's a great place to ride a bike. The land here is very flat. In the USA, I've lived in Chicago for about 20 years, and Chicago is also very flat. Flat land makes for easy biking. Mountains and hills are beautiful for the eyes but painful for the legs. But flatness isn't enough. Tra Vinh province is a great place for bikers because the countryside is beautiful. There's always sun and water, everywhere you look there's green, and people are very happy to share their lives with someone with a camera. Because of these reasons, biking around Tra Vinh is a great experience.

At least once a week, I take a long bike ride. "Long" here means about 20 km or more. My favorite bike ride involves visiting Ben Tre province, which is right next to Tra Vinh and less than an hour away by bike. My favorite place to bike is Mỏ Cày district. The roads here are special. There are many trees close to the road, and this provide shade which makes biking more comfortable. Ben Tre and Tra Vinh always have a lot of sun and heat, so the shade from the trees really makes it easier to bike around for an hour or two. Also near the road there is always a lot of water. There are small ponds for fish and also small streams of running water. The houses are close together, and the children are very friendly. For all these reasons, I always look forward to biking in Mỏ Cày.

I am not alone in this. The world's most famous travel guides are the Lonely Planet guides. The book about Vietnam talked about biking in the country, and an expert in biking said that Mỏ Cày was also his favorite spot in the entire country! I read this after I'd already gone there two times, and I felt quite lucky to be living so close to what seems to be the best of all biking districts in Vietnam.

What do I do when I go to Mỏ Cày? Well, nothing really. I've never been to a restaurant there, and I've never bought anything there: not a book, not a shirt, not a coffee, nothing. But I've taken lots of pictures and have talked with quite a few people. I was invited to a wedding in Mỏ Cày district and there I ate (and drank!) a lot and certainly had a lot of fun. It was a Vietnamese wedding, and I was the only foreigner. In fact, only one other person there spoke English, so I had to use my limited Vietnamese to communicate. That wasn't easy, but making new friends, eating food, dancing, taking lots of photos, playing games with kids, all of this was fantastic.

I've gone to Mỏ Cày several different ways. Usually I take the small ferry from Tra Vinh harbor that is just a few kilometers from Khu công nghiệp Long Đức (Long Duc Industrial Zone). Sometimes I take the Co Chien ferry (phà Cổ Chiên). A ferry is a boat that carries people and things across a river. The Co Chien ferry is fun to ride on, but if I take it, that means a much longer bike ride.

For at least two weeks, I won't be able to take any long bike rides in Vietnam but I look forward to doing this again when I return to Tra Vinh from Cambodia. If you have any questions, requests, or recommendations, please feel free to write them here in the comment box or email them to me.