Vietnam: Day 3

Eggs anyone?  This is the public market in Hoi An Vietnam.  So much food.  So fresh.  Fish are still flopping, beef being carved off the cow as it is milked (not quite) and eggs still being laid by chickens being plucked (not really either).

This cute old woman is selling specialty Cao Lau noodles at the market.

Bananas!  We were told that you should buy bananas the way you choose a husband.  If you choose a husband that is pretty on the outside, he will turn out to be ugly and mean on the inside.  So find a banana that looks ugly because it will be sweet and delicious to eat.  We've tried it and it works!




So it started raining and we had these rainjackets/plastic bags to wear.  The Greene's and us thought we looked a little like Easter eggs.










Haven and Finlay riding a water buffalo.  These guys just hang out in their pasture here, tied up of course, and help farmers with pulling plows and carts.  Not so much anymore, but they are worth having.  They cost about 20,000,000 VND to purchase ($1000).








Fin hauling seaweed to the farm.  This is standard practice here in Vietnam.  Doesn't he look like he fits in?








Haven is working the water wheel that would traditionally be used to pull the water up out of the river to irrigate the crops.  Now they've got electric pumps to do that work.  Haven just sat there and used her feet to step, like riding a bike a bit.  It worked pretty well.









Haven's turn to bring some seaweed fertilizer.  We dug up the old bed about 10 inches and then threw down the seaweed.  After stomping it flat we covered it up with the very sandy soil and planted young Pac Choi plants.  Haven is wearing the traditional farmer shirt with her rain hat.





This family can cook a mean Bahn Xeo!













Cooking our shrimp that we marinated.












Megan and Erin performing the tandem flip!

Haven is balancing our lunch on her head all the way to the table.

Spreading the rice flour on the cloth.  It is suspended over a boiling pot of water heated by a fire.  We all made perfect rice papers for fresh Vietnamese spring rolls.  Too bad we ate so much for lunch.  We could have enjoyed them right off the fire.  I don't think we'll be making them for anyone at home though.  You know...it's kind of hard to find good bamboo sticks in the States.






Here fin is making a rice cracker over hot coals that he is fanning himself.  Two hands working together.








He did such a great job on the cracker that he didn't want to share it.  He went back to grinding the rice into flour using this grinding stone.

Our day at Tra Que Water Wheel farm was so fun.  Thanks for the recommendation by the Jenkin family.  We highly recommend it to others.  It was truly a highlight and our guide, Helen, was a gem!

Vietnam: Day 2

O.K.  Vietnam is amazing, but I keep thinking of all of the war movies that I've ever seen.  I literally heard the phrase "anyting you want" from a woman yesterday.  I don't quite remember the movie, but I do remember the scene...something like a woman in a brothel-esque, red-light-sporting business in Saigon.  This was nothing like that, but she did have a heavy Vietnamese accent.

 You can get anything you want made in one of a hundred clothing shops here in Hoi An.  I'm not sure why there are so many, but I keep thinking it's because they make so many clothes for people around the world.  I'm going to ask someone about it...really.  Here you see Erin getting sized up.  "Wow, you've got long legs."  We got clothes and shoes–something for everyone in the family.

 This river, which you only see a channel of here, is one of the many life bloods of culture in Viet Nam.  This one is touristy, French-influenced, and muddy.  I love the eyes painted on all the boats.

 This is the larger, main course of the river, but you still only see less than half way across here.  That's an island there.

 We couldn't get off and explore beyond the gate as there was a ticket checker table set up just in front of Finlay, and, of course, we didn't have a ticket for the historic old town walking/biking area.  Nobody was there, but Fin's a rule follower and we weren't wishing to get thrown in jail today.

 The unheated pool means lots of fun...but only for short spurts.

 An Banh beach is very quiet these days.  You can see why by the look of the surf and the slope of the beach.

 The beach erosion made for some cool "cliff's" to surf down and jump off.

Nobody here.  Fishing fleet may have been banned from the water.

So far we have been impressed with this country.  Well this city at least.  We just enjoyed a welcoming dinner from the owner of the hotel for all of the guests.  What a treat it was to meet another teaching family from Australia, a couple from India living in Melbourne, an ethnic Iraqi from Sudan living in the U.K., a family traveling for half a year from Switzerland (daughter with a Mariners t-shirt on) and another family from Sweden.  It is so interesting to hear from so many different points of view, but really, so similar.  We loved it!

Vietnam–Day 1

After missing out on our airplane lunch, when we got to Hoi An/DaNang we were starving.  We checked out our room at Hoi An Garden Villas and hopped on the bikes to find food.  This is how we got to the lovely motor free zone on the river:

No big deal.  It's just what we do.

Haven's "Lucky" Birthday!

Haven turns 8 on the 8th of December...

"Fun."

Well that was well put.  Simple.  That's how Haven described her party.  After Saturday Sports her friends Sawa and Shelbe came over and celebrated her birthday by singing at the Norae-bang, playing in the cold wind, opening presents, and sleeping over.  (Sawa went home early as she was a bit nervous to stay.)

Shelbe, Haven and Sawa couldn't get their coats off before opening the presents.

Erin's owl cupcakes.

An army of them.  So good to look at and to eat!

"Happy Birthday to you..."

Haven's friend Sawa has such a great smile.

Thanks Yaya for the presents!

Our latest videos

Here is Finlay's Horror movie trailer that he directed and starred in.  We walked in the sunshine around our neighborhood and explored some new places.

Link:  http://youtu.be/kNPCjFiP8Q4

Haven made a movie trailer too!  She focused on the Family Comedy genre.  It's called The Curtiss Family On The Loose.

Link:  http://youtu.be/uazCuimEtPo

We also made a Bollywood-themed movie trailer when Carol (Yaya) was visiting with us a few weeks ago.  This is the one that started it all.  I hope you enjoy it.

Link:  http://youtu.be/ptSOVlBCUmM

East meets West: Still trying to assimilate

At lunch today we decided to test the waters with fusion cuisine. Curtiss-style fusion. Kim (seaweed) with everything!

Kim with pretzels and peanut butter, kim with pizza, kim with mac and cheese. There is no end to what kim will cozy up to!

Sometimes it tasted like this.

And others tasted like this!

Nancy and Denys Visit

You can't visit Korea and not try the exercise equipment located in every park and on all hiking trails!

Namsan Mountain and North Seoul Tower followed by a trip into Itaewon for great Italian food!

 A visit to a local outdoor market to try some new things!

A visit to our favorite park, Bundang Central Park. Every time we visit something is going on in the plaza. This time there was a memorial of thanks to the UN Nations that aided Korea in the Korean War.

Baseball in Korea is so much more fun than the MLB in the States. The crowd is super involved, chanting and dancing the entire time. Stadium food barely resembles that in America, beer is cheap, and the mascots are cool!