It’s been a while, so I thought it was time to put together something that showed what we have been doing for the past few months. This is part 1. Part deux will be out shortly (?).
Let’s start with Thanksgiving. We stayed in town so that Robert could man the emergency desk as the boss was away. But we were able to get a quick overnight trip in to Hanoi for Thanksgiving with our friends Kellee and Jim (who were in Vienna with us). Jim had been on the team that managed the visit of the National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien to Vietnam, and as payment for his good deeds he got to quarantine for 5 days, missing the actual Turkey Day. So did our friend Josh, who spent almost four weeks in quarantine in 2020 (he was on the trip with us back to Vietnam).
We were roped into cooking, but it was great fun. As you can see in the pictures below, we were very worried about what we could get in Hanoi. I brought rice. To Hanoi. Like bringing coals to Newcastle. Saigon is much more international than Hanoi, but of course you can find rice. I just didn’t want to have to go to the store.
Left: I like this shirt, but not sure it is appropriate for the kitchen. Center: me mixing the salad. Jim’s behind me. Right: At the table, starting with Kellee (front and center) and moving clockwise: Albert, Mira, Josh, Matt, Me, Robert, Eric and Jim.
By the time we got back to Vietnam, the Christmas season was in full swing. It seemed like every business in Vietnam had Christmas decorations up, some to the extreme. Remember this is a country with only about 8 million Christians out of almost 100 million people. The majority of people don’t believe in any organized religion. But they do believe in window displays. The picture below on the left shows a fairly normal, somewhat muted Christmas decoration for a big bank. The picture on the right shows our complex! The manager loves Christmas. It was actually very nice - helped me remember that it was Christmas, because the weather sure as hell did not.
We still wear masks. And I am still wearing a tshirt I got in Thailand back in 2005. I guess it’s a good thing it still fits.
We were able to fit in a lot before we left for Christmas. We had a party for diplomats in our building (mostly American, but also some Ozzies. The British consul general was invited but couldn’t come - probably dealing with the fallout from Brexit.) And I made a ton of cookies. We went to the AmCham ball and got to sit at the head table with the ambassador, the chair and the head of AmCham. Picture below with a friend in our tuxes. Robert got his made for $200! We had a large barbeque while the ambassador was in town for all of the first- and second-tour officers, during which I almost burned down the house.
Short version: We got a new barbeque grill that is a nice but small Weber. Very normal. But the main charcoal available is made from coconut husks, and we still have not figured out how to work them well. This charcoal is VERY smoky. I wasn’t really paying too much attention, but the smoke was getting to be a problem, so my friend Paul came over to suggest that I move it out from under the awning. Which I did. Then I put on some sausages (very, very fatty ones, it turns out) and went in to the kitchen to grab something. When I came out we had 2-foot tall flames coming off the grill. I quickly ran up and smothered it with the top. Everything was fine. Hamburgers were perfect, sausages excellent, if a little black in color from the smoke. It all turned out well, and everyone was happy, but, for a moment, I was scared that we would have to evacuate the ambassador!
Below are two other pictures of HCMC in Christmas time. Let me first update you on what I am doing with my life. Well, I am taking 2 hours of Vietnamese a day. It is slow going. I can say things. I can understand things. However, it is rare that I can put those together in any meaningful way. I almost never understand a direct question. I am making progress, but it’s hard to feel day-to-day. I’m old! Gimme a break!
Outside of Vietnamese class, I go to the gym. And I cook. Below is me making pasta. I used a crazy recipe that required 14 yolks. Not sure it was worth it. But I ended up using all of those egg whites to make coconut meringues (not pictured) which were extremely popular at the consulate.
I also walk around the city. Some times I find very unexpected things. One of them recently was the Happy Chanukah sign below right. Vietnam’s not known for its large Jewish community. And it doesn’t have one. But there is a small one, this Chabad of HCMC. You can read more about Chabad here.
After a lot of parties, and a lot of cooking, we were ready for a break. We went to Phu Quoc, an island off the western coast of Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand just a 45-minute flight from Ho Chi Minh City. It is beautiful! We stayed at the JW Marriott. The resort was designed by an American architect, and all I can say about it is that the design is wacky. Beautiful but wacky. This is how the hotel describes itself:
What was once a 19th-century French university has been reimagined as an eclectically themed, lavish beachfront playground by renowned resort architect Bill Bensley.
Note that there was never a 19-century French university. Some pictures below:
From right to left: Infinity pool looking out over the beach. The very tall ceilings in the hotel lobby. I somehow have a modified T-pose in front of the lobby Christmas tree. Robert on the balcony of our room - yes, it was that nice.
We didn’t do much there. I read a lot, Robert went to the gym. But we did explore outside of the hotel a tiny bit. This included two trips that, when juxtaposed with the hotel, really shows a lot about Vietnam. We went on a bike ride with a guide from the hotel to a nearby prison camp that was used by the French to hold dissidents and then by the Southern Vietnam army to hold Viet Cong and Northern Vietnamese soldiers. Of course they had tiger cages for people as can be seen in the pictures below.
The Vietnamese don’t shy away from the bad things that the French, the Americans and the Southern Vietnamese government did. But they wear it likely. And there really are no more forward-looking people than in Vietnam. That’s true in business, and especially in businesses that export to the US. Our next trip was to the Red Boat fish sauce factory for a tour. It was amazing! And stinky! Our tour guide, Hang, didn’t speak English, but we somehow made it work. Robert would ask a question in his bad Vietnamese, and she wouldn’t understand. So I would ask the same question in my bad Vietnamese, and she would. Then I would ask something. No go. Then it was Robert’s time to try, and it would work. I can’t say that we learned the ins and outs of making fish sauce, but we practiced our Vietnamese, got some information and tasted all types of fish sauce. Let me tell you one thing: it was VERY salty! Overall, a great trip out.
We also got out to check this amazing bar that overlooks the town. It is one of the better places to see a sunset. Now the weird but obvious thing about Vietnam is that the whole country basically faces east. Which means, if you want to see the sun set over the water, you got to go to the few places that face west. Phu Quoc, since it is an island does that. And we saw a beautiful sunset that was partially cut off by a party room that was inexplicably closed to guests. Anyway, Robert took a bunch of photos of me (the two top ones are the best).
We also walked down the beach from our hotel and ate at an amazing beach fish shack. We got beer, grilled shrimp and squid caught that day, and were able to play with some puppies, chickens and ducks. It was magical.
We stayed through Christmas, and despite not many guests, the hotel went all out on Christmas night dinner. They had a beach barbeque with about 7 or 8 stations: cochon de lait roti, lobster, shrimp, ice cream, lamb, roast beef, crab salad. It was spectacular. We ate and drank too much. You can see how truly beautiful it was in the pictures below.
Sadly, the next day we had to return to real life in Saigon. It was a very nice Christmas and made being so far away from family just a little bit easier.
Next: New Year’s Eve and a trip to the Mekong Delta.