colin northcraft's blog

2010-12-12T10:46:00.000-08:00

well i have given up on living in vietnam and have moved back home. the cycling trip was my farewell tour and i got home on wednesday afternoon. i am staying at my parents house at ames lake. next week i will start looking for work.

2010-12-06T07:19:00.000-08:00

wow cambodia was wonderful. here are a few shots of angkor. its kind of hard to pick my favorites out of almost 500 photos.

2010-12-03T19:52:00.000-08:00

its all fun and games till someone loses. thanks to phong pham for the top two pictures, i think.

2010-12-03T18:50:00.000-08:00

ok, so the cycling trip is finally over. we can put our bikes away, shave our faces, and sleep in. it feels amazing to have completed the 1300 mile journey. it was the hardest thing i have ever accomplished. the last week i think was the most difficult. life on the road was beginning to takes its toll on the groups moral, and starting to chip away at my sanity. waking early everyday and packing the vans, finding something decent to eat, and finding a hotel in every new town, were the most taxing aspects of the trip. by the end the cycling was the easy part, it took no mental energy, just pedal, pedal, pedal. i can do that. opon ariving in saigon our group was welcomed by friends with junk food and cold beer at the palace gates. we spent the next two days partying and eating delicious food. im glad the trip is over. im glad i took part in this ride. im glad i got to meet all the great people involved and see parts of the country that were well off the tourist track. and of course im glad that with the help of my friends and family H2H was able to raise $35,000 for charities im vietnam. thank you everyone who helped make this possible.

2010-11-23T19:04:00.001-08:00

dont forget to never remember

2010-11-21T06:26:00.000-08:00

after a couple of short days, 65k and 48k, we have a long one tomorrow. 110k but it shouldn't be too bad terrain wise. after that we have an 80k day and then we have a rest day. the ride is nearing completion we will be back in saigon in a week. this ride has been great but it will be nice when i dont have to get up early every morning and move from town to town. i of course will still be riding my bike everyday, thats not going to change anytime soon, but im not really suited for life on the road.
to read other people's feelings about the ride thus far read Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City.

2010-11-19T02:06:00.000-08:00

wow today was wicked hard. 110k with huge mountain climbs through the jungle. one climb was 18k 10% grade. it was beautiful though.

2010-11-13T16:31:00.000-08:00

its my first opertunity to sleep in in over a week and im up at seven in the morning. the ride has been great so far. we are having our first rest day in the ancient walled city of hue. i feel safe from any invading hordes but not from the cyclo drivers.

2010-11-08T17:33:00.001-08:00

just a few photos from the road.

2010-11-08T17:23:00.000-08:00

wow im six days into the cycling trip. its been a great time so far. we have been staying in little villages so i haven't had much internet access. before we left hanoi we went to the school that we are donating to this year. it was a two hour bus ride south of the city to cat tang village. we met the principal of the school and hung out with the students and had a really good time. it was nice to see were all the money we have raised is going. as for funds we have met our goal of $35,000. thank you to everyone who has donated, and to those who haven't its not to late.

2010-11-05T03:02:00.000-07:00

wow sapa was amazing but for some reason bloger wont let me post any oft he increadible pictures i took. they are all on facebook if you want to lok there. i did a three day tour with three australians. we spent one night in a hotel and one night in a homestay in a little village outside of sapa. we took the overnight train to lo cai a town on the chinese border and then caught a bus the last two hours up the mountain to sapa. we arived at our hotel that had promised the best veiw in town but it was too foggy to see anything. that day we went on a smal hike to the nearby village of cat cat and saw the waterfall there. the next day was a more serious hike. we woke early and had breakfast at the hotel; it was still to foggy to see more than a hundred feet. our guide met us and we began walking out of town on the road. after a couple of miles we stopped at a small rest area were little girl were selling bamboo hiking sticks. i scoffed at them, "i dont need a stick." but after looking over the edge at the trail head i took that back. i bought a stick for 5000vnd and began the long slippery hike down the muddy trail. with the help of a 53 year old hmoung woman i was able to keep my feet under me and my ass of the mud which is more than i can say for most of the westerners out hikeing that day. once we reached the valley floor i found a shop i a little village selling rubber galloshes, the prefered footwear of the locals, and that made the rest of the hiking much easier. we stayed the night in the home of a local tribal family and in the morning the fog had lifted enough for us to look up at tghe giant mountain we had desended the previous day. that day we hiked up to a water fall and through the terraced feilds on trails so muddy and slick and narrow i couldn't help but wonder if anyone had ever fallen of the side and died. but it was all worth it for the increadible scenery.
that night we took the overnight train back to hanoi. i spent the next few days walking around that beautiful city until the rest of the H2H riders arived on sunday night. we have been on the road for three days now and i am really enjoying the ride.

2010-10-31T02:03:00.001-07:00

some shots from sapa

2010-10-25T22:04:00.000-07:00

well i am at the airport in saigon leaving for hanoi. i will then travel to sapa for a few days of relaxation before the bicycle trip begins on the 3rd of november. these are two of the three preschool classes i teach, the youngest ones i couldnt do group photos with cause i would have taken forever to get twenty three year olds to stand still. i will miss these kids. its nice to get hugs every day.

2010-10-19T21:04:00.000-07:00

went ice skating on sunday and rollerskating today. well it wasn't really ice skating, it was plastic skating. it was a bazaar experience. my friend thi called me on sunday while i was in between classes to see if i wanted to go "rollerskating" that afternoon. apparently a new place had just opened in district 3 and she had never tried it before. she knew that we have "rollerskating" in the US and she wanted me to teach her how to do it. well i told her it sounded like fun and that i used to do quite a bit of skating back home,but i had an evening class to teach and so i would give her a ring after i got off work. i was surprised that she had never been rollerskating cause i knew there was a rink next to the zoo that has been there forever, and in fact i was planning to go to that one on wednesday with another friend. when i got of work i met up with thi and we headed to the place. it was on the top floor of the youth cultural center and as we walked up the three flights of stairs i noticed the mannequins lining the walls were dressed in winter clothes, some were wearing skis and parkas and some were in hockey gear. we weren't going roller skating this was ice skating. i was thinking ice in vietnam, this makes no sense. but after getting our skates on it became even stranger. it wasn't ice at all it was a hard white plastic on the floor that was sprayed with wax to allow you to slide. the room was long and narrow more like a wide hallway than a rink so instead of skating in a continuous circle, you skated down the hall, turned around and came back. watching vienamese try to ice skate was hilarious but of course i forgot my camera.

today i went rollerskating with my buddy joel who volunteers at a youth shelter for boys. every wednesday they do some sort of field trip activity, last week they went to a water park and this week they went rollerskating. the rink was really cool cause although it was rather small, around the outside was a track of ramps with banked turns.

2010-10-15T20:18:00.000-07:00

i ate a cobra this week. it was wild. i had asked my buddy zack last weekend where a good dog restaurant was and he told me that on monday he and another guy ted were going out for snake if i would like to join. hell yes i wanna join. so i took the evening off work and we headed out to a snake house. zack had eaten cobra before and didn't like it but was willing to be our escort and after a long journey we found the place. i half expected it do be some back alley dodgy place, cause thats the kind of place zack had tried cobra at, but this place was really a nice fancy joint. we sat down and ordered beers and without even seeing a menu the waitress ask if we would like to have snake this evening, she knew why we were there. we asked to see the snake and we were taken into the back. the snake was already out of its cage and they were toying with it. this thing was huge, at least five feet long and it raised up and flared its hood ready to strike. wow i have only ever seen a cobra at the zoo and here was one that i was about to eat. after negotiating the price and ordering the three different ways it would be prepared for us, they asked if we wanted to watch it get killed, yep, and into the back again. after cutting of its head the blood was drained into a bottle of vodka, and the heart and bile sack were removed and placed in shots of vodka. both ted and i wanted to try the heart so we had it cut in half and even after that it was still beating. i'll be honest taking that shot with half a beating heart in it made me feel kind of queasy but it made drinking the bloody vodka through the meal easier. we had the stomach, liver and guts sauteed with onions and lemon grass, the meat barbecued, and also minced with peanuts, and the skin fried. i thought it tasted pretty good, although barbecued was hard to eat cause there were so many bones. i really glad i did this cause i feel like it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and an experience i will not soon forget.

2010-10-11T19:58:00.000-07:00

well its been a while since i last posted. i just got a new laptop so updates should be more regular. what fun things have i been up to lately? a couple weeks ago i went to a wedding that was interesting. it started at 7 o'clock and was over by 9. there where dance performances and people singing karaoke and all the men in the family kept making me drink "100%" meaning you have to finish your beer in one gulp. the whole event was a whirlwind of drinking, eating, taking pictures and it was over before there was a chance for the guests to dance. a truly strange affair but im glad i got to experience it.
i have been going on training rides with the other members of H2H a couple times a week.last week i went on a 100k ride and a 75k. im getting really excited for this, and thanks to everyone who has donated to our charity. it has been fun getting to know the people in the group and any conserns about spending a month with a group of 19 strangers who might be squares, have been washed down with pints at our fund raising pub quiz night. they're a fun group of people and i cant believe a didn't meet any of them sooner.

2010-09-30T04:05:00.000-07:00

thank you all so much for the generous donations so far. for those who haven't donated yet please go to h2hcharityride.org and see what your money could help support.

2010-09-27T21:15:00.000-07:00

well i finally broke down and bought spandex. i never thought i would wear it but for riding 1000+ miles in the tropics i fell like it might be necessary. if you are going to donate for my ride (and i think you should) please make sure to note that it is for colin northcraft in the comments section of the pay pal page. im getting really excited for this ride.

2010-09-22T02:13:00.000-07:00

in november i will be riding my bicycle from hanoi to ho chi minh city as part of the H2H charity ride. this month long bicycle tour will raise money for impoverished children in vietnam. please go to http://h2hcharityride.org/ to find out about the ride and to donate money on my behalf. every little bit helps, i need to raise $500 before november. thanks.

2010-09-19T01:03:00.000-07:00

well i spilled allot of water on my laptop and its not working so dont expect too many posts in the neat future.

2010-09-15T08:03:00.000-07:00

i enjoy seeing the jungle actively reclaiming the city. this is just down the street from my house. not only have these roots broken though this wall but they have made the side walk impassable on any wheel device. its kind of nice. it one of a very few places in the city where you can walk on the side walk without battling for space with motorbikes, both parked and moving.
my friend from seattle, craig, won the cycle messenger world championships in guatemala last week. congratulations. the fastest bike in seattle is now the fastest in the world. which bike you may ask? any bike between craig's legs.

i cut my hair the other day. i was sick of it. it was too long and it looked stupid, and its too hot here to have long hair anyways. i had been fighting the urge since i got here but after five months i finally had enough.

before

after

i think i did a pretty good job. but this isn't my first time cutting hair, my own or others. some of my students as well as my colleagues didn't recognize me. some say it makes me look younger, im not convinced i ever looked old though.

2010-09-06T11:44:00.000-07:00

the scenery became beautiful, as the delta gave way to rocky beaches and stone outcrops. for two hours i told myself that i would stop in the next town and find a place to stay for the night. but after stopping for lunch and realizing i still had a couple hour of daylight and i figured i must be about half way to mui ne i decided to keep going north and try to beat the sun set. the road north of la gi was great. freshly paved nice and wide with an amazing view only interupeted by half built and abandoned beach side resorts. lavish places that never reached completion or failed to reach there investors dreams. i made it to mui ne just after the sun went down and i got a room on the beach at a place i had stayed before.

2010-09-06T11:13:00.000-07:00

i haven't posted in a while, but i have been trying too. my internet connection is spotty. i went to vung tau a couple weeks ago and rented a motorbike to ride the coastline. it was really nice. i had just planned on hanging out on the beach in vung tau for my two days off work, but plans change. after taking the hour long hydrofoil ride from saigon i realized i had not desire to stay in this tourist trap of a seaside town. i rented a motorbike after some wandering and some haggling and with only a map of the town that i was in, i headed north. i planned to head to the next fishing village 30k out of town but after the short ride there i didn't want to stop. the guide book i had mentioned a couple towns in this area of the coast so i kept going. i figured if i kept the ocean on my right i would stay on track. the highway turned to towns and the towns turned to country and the road turned to dirt but i kept heading north as near as i could tell.

2010-08-19T22:51:00.000-07:00

i have been working allot and i feel like i have nothing to show for it except a lack of social life. i went to a party last night. it was a going away thing for a girl i work with but i barely know. i have been working at VUS for three months now and i hardly know anyones name. i haven't felt so awkward in a social setting since high school. i found myself listening to peoples conversations and stories and it made me realize i haven't actually talked to anyone in saigon in weeks. when my friend pat was here was the first face to face conversation i have had with anyone in months. i talk to my students, and a little bit to the ta's in my classes but that's just exchanging social pleasantries or comparing cultural differences. being at a party and surrounded by people who are all friends i realized i know nothing about any of these people and they know nothing about me. i haven't told anyone about the things that happened to me last night, or last week. no one knows about the drunken xe om drivers, the flat tires in district four, the late night rides across the suspension bridge and getting lost in the rural areas and rice paddies surrounding saigon. for the first time since i've been here i felt lonely. what was i doing here in this room full of strangers, in this foreign country where i cant speak the language or understand the culture. this feeling of loneliness turned into panic as i looked around the room wondering if i could even remember how to have a conversation. have i become such a hermit that i have finally forgotten how to interact with others. i took the last sip of my drink and went into the kitchen to make another one. i saw a guy from seattle that i have met before and i shook his hand and opened my mouth and before i knew it words were coming out.

2010-08-12T11:34:00.000-07:00

cheap, fast, quiet and available; the best that we can achieve

wearing badges is not enough in days like these

2010-08-07T21:00:00.000-07:00

im working seven days a week now, well its been that way for the last three weeks actually. on the weekdays i work at a preschool for an hour and a half in the afternoon. on the weekends i work at a private language school in the mornings and the evenings. and i just picked up an extra class a another language school on thursday evenings. it may sound sound like allot of work but its only about twenty hours. which surprisingly here is almost full time and more than enough to live on. somedays it does feel exhausting though, every day going in and dealing with seven different groups of kids. on my way into the preschool the other day i stopped for a coffee on the side of the road and was taking a picture of this tree growing out of the wall when i noticed this person sleeping on there cart. i almost didn't notice the sidewalk napper, and it made me wonder what he had been doing that made him so exhausted.

on tuesday i went for a bike ride with my friend sasha around district two. its a strange world out there across the canal. as you can see from this photo its quite close to downtown saigon, but it is very rural and in some areas totally desalit. the area along the canal appears to have once a been a booming little neighborhood but now its rows and rows torn down houses, heaps of bricks and the occasional woman selling fruit. i guess that the area is getting ready for a major wave of construction to come in and build high rise apartment buildings like in district seen but with a better view of downtown. you now what they say, there's a slow train coming.

my friend pat is in town from korea. he is here to visit his girlfriend sonha whom he met in seoul but lives here in saigon. i got to hangout with them a couple nights last week. we went out for delisious sushi one night and the next night they substituted in for paul and ana (who just moved home) on our weekly pub trivia game. we did alright somewhere in the middle of the group for points. its hard to live up to the win that my team of carmen, sasha, ana, paul, and i got one week. taking home the top prize of a bottle of rum was huge for us.

after trivia pat, sunha and i went to one of the bia hoi's on de tham street. we sat outside drinking beer and watching the craziness of the backpacker district at night. i don't know when we left but it was quite late, and i felt awful the next day at work while reading to the preschoolers the story of bambi and trying to explain why the animals fall in love and why the forest has to burn. these are complex questions and i cant explain them to preschoolers in english let alone vietnamese. there are evolutionary reasons for us to feel love for a partner and it helps to create a safe and nurturing environment for raising young. as for the burning of the forest they almost tricked me with that one into going on a long diatribe about the benefits of periodic burns for replenishing carbon in the soil. sometimes i get frustrated when kids ask me a question that i want to answer but i cant pair down my vocabulary to make them understand. its really nice to talk to someone here who is an old friend.

2010-08-02T22:14:00.000-07:00

remember kids, say no to drugs

2010-07-29T22:37:00.000-07:00

the neighbors have a dead body on display in there front room. funerals here are a big event. this could be a long weekend. i hope my new neighborhood has less people dying.

2010-07-23T22:18:00.000-07:00

my alley looks nice but can be really loud.

i got a new hat.

i love when they spell it out for you, just incase you didn't know what to call it.

i saw one the other day that was crime. i'll try and get a pic.

sometimes i miss my friends.

2010-07-21T21:12:00.000-07:00

in the midst of the chaos of saigon i am starting to find some thongs i really enjoy. i don't enjoy being unable to communicate with people, i don't enjoy everyones rude attitude, i don't enjoy sleeping on a box spring with no mattress, and i don't enjoy being quizzed down about my wage and relationship status by hostesses at the bars. i do enjoy my new job, working at a preschool. the kids are adorable and a ton of fun. i leave every day with a smile on my face. i also really enjoy watching the lightning storms from my roof. every few days a good storm will roll in and i'll go up to the rooftop patio with a bottle of scotch and my ipod to watch. the sheet lightning lights up the city and for a second the raindrops freeze mid air like a giant flash bulb popping. when the storm gets closer the thunder is so loud it shakes the air out of my chest and when the lightning bolts are so close i can see the raindrops exploding i can feel the electricity in my bones. watching these storms is my favorite pastime here. it makes me feel so small and insignificant, like my troubles aren't real there just in my head. this is when i feel at peace in saigon, standing in the rain watching a storm.

2010-07-14T11:49:00.000-07:00

so last week i was all excited to buy a new bike. i had found a steel fuji track bike for sale at one of the small bike shops across town, and after frustrating attempts to barter we settled on a price around $200. waiting for pay day i anxiously checked up on it several times and i told myself it will be fine, "no one else is looking for a track bike in saigon." well i was wrong. three days after my last visit i finally got payed and with pockets full and spirits high i made my way across town to the little bike shop. devastation swept over me as i crossed the bridge and peered into the shop. the bike was gone, some other asshole is riding around on the bike that should be mine, the only track bike in saigon.

today i went out to the bike shops. there's a small street in a low rent neighborhood, across the river, that has a dozen or so used bike shops. just like back in seattle, on my day off i like to parruse the used parts shops even if im not looking to buy. today i found a zunow frame at a price i couldn't pass up. i knew that i wanted to upgrade my frame set,which weighs a ton, but i figured it would be after the wheel set, which also weighs a ton. but for $60 i bought a new frame and got all the parts swapped, and now i want to build it up with all shimano 600 parts, seven speed.

oh and i found this sweet 3rensho saddle at the shop too, but i didn't but it.

2010-07-13T23:30:00.000-07:00

at 5:30am the sound of a marching band tears me out of my sleep. staring at the ceiling i wonder if in fact i am still dreaming, what would a marching band be doing wandering the maze of alley ways at 5:30 in the morning on a saturday. for fifteen minutes i hear horns and drums moving closer and then further away, before the sound fades for good and i can get an hour more sleep. as im getting ready for work the band starts up again and as im leaving they pass my house and i get a chance to see what was going on. a ten member band plays at the back of a funeral precession that stretches half a block. on my ride into work i pass them on the street, taking an entire lane the precession marches slowly toward the cemetery dressed in traditional garb, carrying the ornately decorated casket with the band keeping step.

2010-07-05T23:07:00.000-07:00

well there were no forth of july celebrations here in saigon. its strange, so many of our young men died here for there freedom and its as if they dont even appreciate it. just joking. i spent the forth working. classes are going pretty good, i have a group of beginners on sunday afternoon that are pretty fun. theres twenty two students in the class all around the age of six and were learning colors and numbers and family members. they ask me questions in vietnamese and i ask them questions in english and we both look at each other with an expression of pure confusion. in the evening of july forth i went out for some drinks at my favorite pub. i was the only american there and i yelled at the brits about how we kicked there ass. i drank beer from singapore on ice and jim beam whiskey straight. i wore my bald eagle tee shirt with pride. freedom baby, freedom.

2010-06-30T10:08:00.001-07:00

living in an alley.

2010-06-25T22:14:00.000-07:00

sorry i meant to finish writing about my trip to dalat but i got distracted and forgot. so lets see, oh yes, the third day there. so i woke early because of the construction noise under my window that i of coarse had left open to enjoy the cool, clean, mountain air. not so enjoyable at six in the morning when the light breeze brings with it sounds of jackhammers. the hotels power was out, which is quite common here in nam, so instead of closing the window and turning on the fan, i got up and set about my day exploring the historical attractions and city streets of dalat. after a wonderful candle light breakfast at the hotel i headed out to the crazy house. the crazy house is a hotel in dalat that was designed by the daughter of a politician. to raise awareness of the environment, her vision was to create a dwelling that mimics forms from nature. for a small fee tourist can explore the unrented rooms. most people hate it, likening it to cheap disneyland maze, critisizing the confusing lay out and narrow walkways that cant acomadate two people passing that seem to go nowhere. i loved it. growing up i went on allot of house tours. every family vacation included the exploration of at least one architecturally signifigant building. everywhere i travel i pay attention to the local design features and love seeing someone using space in a new and unexpected way. it felt lake a whimsical antonio gaudi design. walking around the outskirts of town and delighted with the magic of the crazy house, i wandered towards the old train station. the views of steep ravines and terraced farmland were lovely and glimpsed from winding roads that at times felt like highland drive and others like lakeview.

2010-06-18T23:04:00.000-07:00

alright im back from dalat. it was great to get out of town for a few days, breath some fresh air, and walk the streets without being harassed to buy sunglasses, lighters or massages. the ride out to dalat which is in the south central highlands, was a beautiful nine hour trip through jungle mountains and coffee fields. when i got into dalat in the afternoon i got a room at dreams hotel and took a soak in the hot tub. being that dalat is in the mountains it gets cool at night and when i went out to dinner i actually was able to wear a jacket. the next morning i woke up early and signed up for a mountain bike tour. the pamphlet about the trip made it look like a gentle ride through the hills and past some farms which would be ok but i had hoped for some real trail riding. less than an hour into the trip we where off the roads, in the mountains and i was gettin g my wish. tons of difficult climbing, and nice fast descents and beautiful vistas. this was not a tour for unskilled riders and i often had to wait at the top of climbs for the guides to push there bikes up. getting back into town after the ride i was grateful that i had chose to pay the extra money for a hotel with a hot tub and steam room cause i was sore.

2010-06-13T22:26:00.000-07:00

i found a house to move into. its only for seven weeks, im just riding out the lease for someone. but its nice and big and it has a kitchen and a patio on the roof. its a little closer to my school and its out of the tourist area, thank god. i move in on friday and in the mean time in gonna get out of town for a couple of days. i'll be heading to the central mountain town of Dalat where there's mountain biking and cooler temperatures. it will be really nice to get out of the madness of Saigon for a bit and collect my thoughts, breath some fresh air, and maybe i'll even get to wear a sweatshirt in the evenings.

on a different topic of things that i found the other day, is the mouse in my toilet bowl. at first i had thought it must have climbed through the ventilation slats high on my bathroom wall and then scaled the outside of the toilet bowl only to fall into the water and get stuck. this must have been some expert climber i thought, there's nothing to grip from the vents high on the wall and then free climbing the over vert of the commode itself seemed like quite a feat. i felt bad having to end this little adventurers journey with a swirling flush. the more i thought about the impossible lengths he would have gone through to end up in the bowl i began to consider an alternative and more probable route. he must have climbed straight up the pipe i had flushed him back down. realizing this, the cute little adventurer of my fantasies quickly became a disgusting little sewer monster. im just glad i didn't follow my first instincts to try to save him from a watery grave by picking him out of the toilet by the tail and delivering him outside.

2010-06-09T10:20:00.000-07:00

some scenes from the prettier side of town

2010-06-09T09:30:00.000-07:00

woke up today to a half dead cockroach on my bathroom floor surrounded by ants. i thought they were pulling it apart but after watching the scene for a minute, i realized they weren't eating it they were pulling it across the floor and trying to take it with them whole. a truly impressive show of strength.

later in the day i went to the bank to open my new account, and afterwards i went for a ride along the canal. its gross but strangely intriguing. children play in the garbage along the muddy shores and boats filled with bananas drift slowly along the water.

as i rode along a street by the zoo the sights and smells of grilled meat reminded me of my hunger and convinced me to take a seat at a sidewalk table and have lunch. i got allot of smiles and more than the regular amount of snickers as i hunched over the child sized table and rolled my own spring rolls with the delicious mystery meat. it was a spicy and sweet ground meat some of it wrapped in a leaf before grilling and some was in a casing. i really liked it but the language barrier kept me from finding out what i was eating what ever it was im glad i stopped and spent the 25,000vnd on the best lunch i've had since being here.

2010-06-07T20:53:00.000-07:00

2010-06-07T20:34:00.000-07:00

wow so another week has gone by. i've been working a bit, i now have four classes at VUS. that only amounts to 12 hours of work though so hopefully i can get a few more soon. the classes are going well and i think for the most part the kids like me. it kind of feels strange being a teacher, i wear a tie when i go to work and if it wasn't for my long hair people could confuse me for a respectable member of society. i need to start looking for an apartment this week, i cant afford to stay at my hotel for another month. well i guess i could afford it but it would be nice to pay less in rent and have a kitchen and a living room and some roommates around to talk to. anyways no much new or exciting happening, oh except i went to karaoke last week with the girls who work at the shop under my hotel. what a surreal experience. getting drunk and singing with eight vietnamese girls i a saigon karaoke bar and of course i forgot my camera.

2010-06-01T21:26:00.000-07:00

i got to bed last night at a reasonable hour (1am) knowing that i had to get up at 8am for a meeting at 8:30. but instead of sleeping like a normal person i rolled back and forth from my left side to my right as my mind raced from thoughts of bicycles to thrift store shopping. every hour i would turn on the light and read some of my book hoping that it would calm me down or at least make my eyes tired. after a little reading i would attempt sleep again, but without success. at 6:30 i considered just getting out of bed and starting my day. the sun was already up, and i could here the sounds from the street of people starting there day, riding a motorbike to work, setting up there stalls on the street, and hammering away at construction sites. i could get up now and it would give me the opportunity to get some breakfast before the meeting, and besides, how was an hour and a half more of lying in bed gonna help me anyways. inevitably as i considered this i finally drifted of to sleep. and of course my alarm went off, shortly there after, telling me it was time to get up and go meet with the head of the school about the curriculum for my new class. i got to the meeting on time (exhausted and looking like shit) only to find out that the appointment was actually for 9:30 and since she was running a little behind this morning it would be pushed back to 10. just my luck, i had been hoping to be back in bed by 10. oh well, just like an old pool hustler in NYC once told me "some days you get the chicken, some days you get the feathers." today all i got was feathers. at least i stopped on the way back home and got a nice breakfast. now im going to further throw off my internal clock by going to sleep at noon.

2010-06-01T06:19:00.000-07:00

i've been feeling sick for a couple days but today i finally felt better and was gonna go for a bike ride until it started to rain heavily. i think we are really entering monsoon season now. these are some cool old cars i've seen around town.

2010-05-30T22:04:00.000-07:00

OK so its been over a week since my last post, sorry. in that time i've gotten a job at VUS and taught my first class. it went alright, sort of semi organized chaos. the class is about 15 students, lower intermediate level, ranging in age from 9 to 13. im just the substitute for this class and the way i always treated subs i coming back to haunt me. other than that i've been laying pretty low, trying not to spend to much money, i only get payed once a month so its gonna be some time before any real money starts coming in. today my stomach is really upset so im just gonna stay in all day. the lack of any bicycle culture here is a bummer, i miss my fixed gear.

2010-05-23T13:53:00.000-07:00

this may be too much for some but i really appreciated this article in the stranger. having lost too many friends to suicide i think that it is a subject that should be openly discussed and not swept under the carpet as it often is. it affects and hurt us all in different ways and here is one writer trying to deal with it. http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/to-be-or-not-to-be/Content?oid=3997702

2010-05-22T07:59:00.000-07:00

had a great ride today. fed up with the stop and go of downtown riding, i got on the highway running along the canal. flat out sprinting for an hour. if the canal wasn't full of trash and the smell of sewage it would be quite lovely. nice to get out and really stretch my legs. back in town i had my new favorite street food for dinner. its fried rice flour cakes with garlic and eggs, topped with green onions, green papaya strings, peanuts, and soy sauce and sweet chili sauce. it cost 20,000vnd and since i discovered this a over week ago i've eaten it almost every night.

2010-05-20T03:41:00.000-07:00

love the bow tie!

http://www.girvin.com/blog/?p=4395#more-4395

2010-05-18T11:26:00.000-07:00

so what's been new? mmmmmmmmmmmmm. i got caught out in my first rainstorm here. not that it was the first time its rained, that happens about every two days, but it was the first time that i was outside for it. the funny thing is its so warm here that even completely soaked i was totally comfortable. i didn't notice that my shoes were filled with water for miles. the bike is nice. not to say that its a nice bike, its quite heavy and a bit small, but its just nice to have one. and with the addition of a turbo saddle and toe cages its a pleasure to ride and explore the city on. i have a couple of job interviews lined up this week so hopefully i will start work soon. its been nice to have all this time off but honestly i have no idea how to occupy my time without work. i guess thats sad i'm so conditioned to work i don't know how to function without it. i've been so institutionalized by wage slavery that i seek its comfort.

2010-05-16T02:15:00.000-07:00

2010-05-14T13:24:00.001-07:00

big man vietnam, im an f-ing giant here!

rummy these are for you

2010-05-10T05:56:00.000-07:00

finally i got my bike. damn it felt good to be back in the saddle today. its been over a month without a bike and it was starting to make me really irritable. now a huge grin spreads across my face, and i have the feeling im gonna sleep well tonight.

2010-05-08T12:27:00.000-07:00

if you open your eyes, oh what a sweet discovery; there is hope, and there is joy, and there is acceptance.

2010-05-06T00:02:00.000-07:00

i dont feel bad about my level of inactivity here when i talk to other expats and they also dont wake till noon and dont get out of bed till they've watched some discovery channel. at this point the only appointment i have on my calender everyday is going to the bar around 9:30 or 10.

2010-05-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

sometimes saigon can be extremely frustrating. i've been trying to email my resume to potential employers but they cant open my attachments cause its written with an mac program, so i switch it to google docs, which sucks, but i cant print it cause the internet cafe's cant read it mysteriously. when i give up for the night and go back to my room i sit down at my desk and turn on my computer. i hear a strange crackling noise and start to investigate as i feel something crawling up my leg underneath my pants. i never knew a cockroach could be so scary. i was screaming like a little girl as i jumped in the air and swatted at my pant leg. now i keep feeling like there's something crawling up my leg.

2010-05-02T23:42:00.000-07:00

this is my typical breakfast here in saigon, its a mushroom and green onion omelet, chicken leg, green beans and rice its a lot of food and they always give me soup with it. its served from a stand on the street and i sit at a small table in the alley as i eat. this cost 30,000vnd which is under $2. i have also fallen in love with sugar cane juice. old women sell it fresh squeezed from stands all over the city. today i had an excellent cup for 5,000vnd.

2010-05-02T01:04:00.000-07:00

im beginning to really miss to really miss riding my bike. its been one month already out of the saddle. i put a down payment on a frame from the local "modern" bike shop, but it wont be built up till thursday. in the meantime im starting to go crazy. i was just looking at bikes on craigslist seattle. its not fare how cheap and easily accessible quality bikes are in the pacific northwest.

Jack Rebney fights back!!!

2010-04-29T07:58:00.000-07:00

this made me laugh my ass off, first seen at bikejerksmpls

2010-04-29T07:16:00.000-07:00

this is the walk up the creek bed to fairy falls

2010-04-29T01:09:00.000-07:00

the white and yellow sand dunes

2010-04-29T00:40:00.000-07:00

the sun setting over the fishing village of mui ne

2010-04-28T11:25:00.000-07:00

2010-04-28T02:35:00.000-07:00

ho chi minh city is not what you would call pedestian friendly. the sidewalks are filled with motorbikes and street vendors and one is forced to walk in the streets. mui ne however was quite nice, wide sidewalks no traffic and a white sand beach. from where the bus dropped me the place i was looking for was quite far and after being sent in the wrong way by a directionally challenged bar tender i had to take a motorbike to find the place. it was worth it. located on the beach the saigon cafe's rooms were clean and cheap and lovely. my first morning there i met a group of backpackers that i ended up hanging with most of the time. i went on a small hike up fairy stream to a little falls, i went on a tour to the sand dunes, i watched the sunset from the fishing village, i swam in the ocean, but most of my three days there were spent playing cars and relaxing. i am now back in HCMC and need to start shopping around for a job.

2010-04-23T03:34:00.000-07:00

the raised voices make it seem as if there yelling at each other. but theres no way that anger caries through all daily interactions. the smiles, laughs, and horseplay tell me otherwise. when i finally find a bar thats open and not full of prostitutes i think i've found heaven. that only last till i have to pee. the bathroom is clean, well stoked and smells nice. the only problem is the size. the bathrooms are like tiny caverns, i have to hunch over to use the toilet. its like pooping in the Cu Chi tunnels.

tomorrow im leaving for the coast. i'll be relaxing on the beach in Mui Ne and exploring the ruins of Phan Rang. it will be nice to escape the chaos of the city for a few days and let all i've seen so far sink in. pictures to come soon.

2010-04-21T20:57:00.000-07:00

the tables stretch out from the store front onto the sidewalk bluring the line of comerce and public. i guess thats enigmatic of the country though. public and private engaged in a delicate dance, harmoniously blending the war torn past with the bull market future. in this the tourist district we are constantly reminded of the econimoc despairities, as it is a driving force in the sales of sunglasses, shoeshines, and bootleg dvds. sales based on guilt rather than need. relaxation is a chore under the flickering lights of the crazy buffalo. but if you squint your eyes just right, fill your ears with the white noise vibations of the world, and try to let the tensions flow out through your toes, you might just find peace in the chaos of this paris of the orient.

2010-04-21T06:08:00.000-07:00

we all have good days to accompany the bad. today i wandered my subconsciousness instead of the city i've plopped myself in. i hurt my foot yesterday walking back from the zoo in flip flops. my lack of activity compounded with my sense of self prescribed loneliness to create a noxious brooding and somehow a desire for a cigarette. the more i explore my own head the more i realize i need the lighthearted stimuli of the dear friends i've continually made and left behind. i run and run but cannot escape myself. somehow the happiness i'm continually chasing, and i think we all are, always seems to be within reach until i grasp for it and realize its fleeting nature. but who the fuck cares cause tomorrow i will wake and inevitably forget all this nonsense that i've put myself, and the sorry audience, through.

P.S. fuck your simpathy, we've all been through it, most just don't discuss.

2010-04-19T23:58:00.000-07:00

today i went to the jade pagoda and the Saigon zoo and botanical gardens. on the way there i got a ride on the back of a moped. the moped man was a tiny old guy who probably only weighed 100lbs. about half way there i started wondering why we were going so slow, our combined weight was still less than the mopeds packing whole families that were passing us. i looked down and realized he hadn't taken it out of 4th gear the whole time. slow and steady.

2010-04-19T04:57:00.000-07:00

holy pagoda my feet are killing me

2010-04-18T21:59:00.000-07:00

these are some pics of my new room its nothing fancy but it will do for now

2010-04-18T18:18:00.000-07:00

yesterday i bought a phone with the help of carmen, but i dont seem to be able to make calls outside the country with it, or maybe im just doing something wrong. on the way back to my place i walked through a sculpture park and also by the cathedral. i wanted to go inside but the line was arround the block and i hate mixing with tourists like that. i have to move out of my current hotel today, so i spent some time looking for a new one. i found a nice place; A/C, fridge, TV, WiFi, hot water, and was able to talk them down to $260 for the month. so i move into my new home today and im starting to feel like i've got the swing of things.

day 2

2010-04-17T17:48:00.000-07:00

yesterday i spent the day wandering the streets, back alleys and marketplaces of HCMC. the streets are not set out in any kind f grid so it is quite easy to get totally lost. the congestion or main roads is easily escapably by stepping into the maze of alleyways that create the real heart of a block, filled with little shops, cafes, and merchants of all kinds. everyone was very friendly, the children all saying hello, and most people offering a smile or a wave to the foreigner off the beaten path. i ducked into a courtyard to seek refuge from the oppressive sun, and the little old woman who sold me soda was the cutest thing i have ever encountered. she spoke no english, and i no vietnamese, but she asked a million questions of me and we laughed under the shade of old tree. with my thirst quenched, and smile across my face, i set back out to the streets to explore my new home and before long i realized i was completely lost. after wandering through a sprawling but tightly packed market full of exotic sights and smells, i came to the canal and came to the conclusion that i was much further from my district than i had guessed. so with the sky filling up with clouds i hopped on the back of a moped and the driver quickly piloted me through a swamp of traffic back to my hotel. his salvation from my aimless wandering cost me 20,000 dong, which is about $1.10, and worth every bit because open returning to my room the heavens opened with a rainstorm that for an hour flooded the streets. i rested up listening to the rain washing the streets and when it had subsided i met carmen for dinner, we ate pho sitting on the sidewalk outside a cafe, the sidewalks here are not for walking, and she told me about working in HCMC and what to expect. after dinner we went to another cafe to drink beer and eat snails. the vietnamese love to drink beer on ice and eat snail, cockles, and some shelled creature that translates to finger snake. they have a name for this kind of sidewalk evening snacking/socializing but its pronunciation is beyond me. this city is gonna be really fun.

2010-04-16T22:21:00.000-07:00

yesterday i kicked it with pham and tasha here in the tourist district of HCMC. it was just like hanging out on the porch in the central district except with more prostitutes, people trying to sell us sunglasses, and no rummy. this city is insane, its like NYC on crack. crossing the street is taking your life into your own hands. i think im gonna really like it here.

2010-04-15T19:21:00.000-07:00

well i made it, after 17 hours of travel time im in Ho Chi Minh City. its muggy here but the people seem nice, and the traffic from what i saw isn't as crazy as everyone says, i only saw half a dozen near collisions on the way from the airport to the hostel. it seems like everyone drives as if they were bike messengers, just going with the flow bobbing and weaving as necessary.

welcome to korea

2010-04-15T01:52:00.000-07:00

2010-04-12T12:12:00.000-07:00

i hope that when i get to Vietnam i cant stop having the reoccurring dream of packing my suit case. somehow that simple act manages to get more and more stressful as my departure draws nearer. once i get there it will probable be replaced by a new nightmare involving something just as boring like going pee or eating breakfast, i just don't want to pack that suitcase for the 200th time.

2010-04-10T21:39:00.000-07:00

god hawaii sucks. the sun is always shining, the breeze smells of flower blossoms, and the girls hardly wear any clothes at all. every night we party and every day we play at the beach. i don't know how anyone could live in such an awful place.

2010-04-03T15:12:00.001-07:00

well bye for now

2010-03-31T18:07:00.000-07:00

i saw myself the other day. i was young, maybe 13 years old. i was rifling through shirts at the st. vincent de paul's in carnation. ben fells was with me and he saw it first. it was brown like wet cedar bark with bold white stitching and square buttons to match. the lapels were so wide they would have made john travolta jealous. it was the most beautiful shirt we had ever seen. we both wanted it instantly and we argued over ownership all the way up to the register. after what must have seemed like an eternity of pubescent quarreling at the front counter of that thrift shop in a small town, the clerk threw the shirt at us and told us to "just take the damn thing." so we did. we decided to split custody, i would get it one week and him the next, and that's the way it went for years all throughout high school until i went to college. it happened to be my week with the shirt, which turned into a decade and i never saw ben again.

last night i was at a bar having a goodbye drink with my old and dear friend josh hall before i move away. we were discussing the past and all the great times we've shared. i imagine i wont be seeing him for quite some time as i am moving to a country separated from home by the largest ocean on the planet. in the middle of a tale of youthful pranks josh looked at my shirt and asked me if it was my custody week. 14 years after that fateful day in carnation the shirt finally fits.

2010-03-04T18:18:00.000-08:00

last week jay was in town we went out saw some bands at the bar went to a few partys cause some mischief it was great to see him

today i made ablog

2010-03-03T12:51:00.000-08:00

today while on my lunch break i created a blog. the entire time i was on the computer tom sat next to me bitching about how i was hogging all the computer time and how my blog was gonna be stupid and no one would read it and how he hated me and my stupid blog. i asked him then why he was sitting next to me and he replied that it cause im his only freind. thats what im gonna miss about seattle my great friends.