Tết 2018 (Part 2): The Marble Mountains and Hội An

Part 1 of tết 2018 can be read here

14-Feb-2018

The next day was glorious. I opened my hotel room curtains at an early hour to see the sun burning itself brightly onto the beach. It looked like Baywatch with the glittering sea, palm trees and beach huts. I was ready for the day, excited to think of the upcoming tour and seeing something different, but before breakfast I took a quick stroll to the sea. It seemed to be the one thing I always wanted to do throughout the tết holiday here. I wrote a valentines message in the sand for Luiza and then wrote about Ireland (this wasn’t too long after Ha Long so the phrase was fresh in my memory). I spent a minute to take in the sea breeze and waves crashing.

  • The lifeguard hut and palm trees at sunrise
  • the loungers
  • my message to Luiza
  • Fake sandals
  • coconuts

The morning buffet was tasty enough. The hotel had plenty to offer so I wasn’t left wanting for something to eat. Typical me went for some bitesized spring rolls and noodles with some condensed milk coffee. The receptionists were really friendly, always asking me about Ireland and hoping that the tour they booked to the Marble Mountains later in the afternoon would be satisfactory. They may overstep boundaries sometimes like asking if I was married or complimenting how handsome I was a lot, but this seemed to be a theme in Vietnam generally, that they would be upfront. In any case the food was nice and the day was beginning.

The morning started out similarly to the day before, chilling by the beach, walking around the promenade, and seeing what was around. However, today was the first day where lots of teachers were going to be arriving, so there would be some socializing soon. I got out my phone and started texting people to find out where they were.

Johnny had arrived, and despite calling Jacks number, he was the one that answered and demanded I come to their part of the beach further down the promenade with a bag of cans. It seemed to suit, so I got cans, a few bags of crisps and some snacks and headed a few hundred meters down.

It wasn’t long before I found a large group, with a bluetooth speaker and banter aplenty. Johnny was so pleased to see me again, being the first time since the CWD that we were together. He would recount his stories of Haiphong and then just take it easy by the beach. People would get in the beach at various times and dry off fairly quickly in the hot sun. We just chilled out, relaxed and had Larues, which turned out to be brewed in the central region.

  • The group messing with Odhran
  • The beach
  • Odhrans mermaid look
  • The sea

The afternoon had passed, and I left them to it to go to the Marble mountains. It was a decent sized bus, picking up guests from various hotels and driving at a steady pace south. It wasn’t too long before we had left the city, somewhat surprisingly. Đà Nẵng has the same population as Dublin, but due to the high rise of most of the buildings it only takes a quarter to half an hour to get outside of the city proper, and not a good 2 hours in Dublin to get from Bray to Swords. After seeing green fields and some new developments, the bus turned right and towards what can only be described as marble pillars jutting out from the ground. It was interesting how flat the land was, yet have these hills jut out to a decent height. We got our tickets and walked in.

  • View from the marble mountains
  • The buddha in the cave
  • Praying in the cave

The walk around was peaceful and calming, as if I was walking up Killiney Hill again. The paths and steps were useful as a guide and we were given free reign of where to go, so long as we made it back to the bus in an hour. I was really enjoying myself taking photos of the old pagodas and temples. With all the greenery surrounding them it made for some excellent shots, as was an opening at the top of a staircase that led to the next section.

The highlight definitely was heading into a cave buried in the hill. A staircase led to a large chamber with a temple, Buddha statue overlooking the area, an alter and lit with candles. It was the stuff of adventures, as if you had discovered some new treasure in one of these temples and had to do a legger and escape before the cave collapses!

After another few flights of stairs back down to the ground floor, we had a chance to see the marble shops. Unlike Ha Long, this felt a little less like a tourist trap than the pearl shops, though only by a little. It was likely still more expensive than other places nearby, but it was worth a look. It also had statues I would actually like to take back to Ireland as well, and had a lot of effort put into the carving. Turtles seemed to be very common, as were fish and oddly enough large Christ statues, presumably for export. I left empty handed, but it was worth a look.

Finally, the bus drove further south and I got to see the wonder of Hội An for the first time. The sun was setting, and the town lit up with beautiful lanterns and candles floating down the river. Getting off the bus, it was hard to describe the beauty, but it was everything a foreigner thinks is beautiful about an old Asian aesthetic. The buildings were never more than 3 floors high, painted in bright yellow colours and with tiled rooftops, wooden window covers and old creaky doors. Plenty of outdoor dining was seen, and the streets could be narrow at times, allowing streamers of lanterns to cross between houses. There was very little in the way of Neon or air pollution. Despite feeling sleepy as a town from first appearances, it became clear that it was actually quite lively in certain quarters, with stalls selling everything from crab pancakes to ‘Vietnamese pizza’ or just rice paper with fillings and hot sauce. There were even tit tat, such as zippo lighters and Spiderman with an M16-toys are weird here.

Our guide took us to a restaurant on the vendors street, and we went inside. Here, we were given spring rolls, broths, a chicken and rice dish, and something that I instantly loved: Cao lầu. This dish had marinated pork, thick noodles, some salad leaves, crispy square crackers and in a broth that tasted like soy sauce or teriyaki. Delicious, cheap, and filling, it remains my favourite noodle dish in Vietnam (sorry Bún Chả). We also had iced tea and took in the dark wooden interiors, and it was all quite relaxing.

  • The delicious meal
  • Lantern vendors
  • the main bridge
  • the Japanese bridge
  • Some more touristy zippos

A few postcards bought later and we were back on the bus heading back to Đà Nẵng. I was dying to get back to Hội An after what I had seen. I had only touched the surface of what looked like a pleasant little town unlike anywhere else I had seen and to be there with a coffee in the morning and a beer at night with a Cao lầu was my new aim of the holiday. That would all have to wait another time, for now it was another night in the hotel and seeing what was happening the next day…

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Tết 2018 (Part 1): A taste of Da Nang

13-Feb-2018

The day had come and I was raring to go. Pretty much all of house 5 had their bags packed and heading to all sorts of places. Some of the group were even making a break for Cambodia or Thailand, but most were staying in Vietnam, checking out Saigon, Phu Quoc and central Vietnam for the most part. We had spent a month in the North, it was time to try somewhere else.

The flight was at half 8 so I was early to the airport, almost too early. Unlike international flights, domestic flights in Vietnam are far more about showing up maybe 1-2 hours ahead of time rather than 3. I arrived at Noi Bai airport by 5AM, sharing with Dawn and Kim in a taxi and heading down the fairly long route there. The early morning flight was ideal for beating the traffic but once at the airport it left little to do. I did call Ireland and let them know of my holiday plans and where I would be around for the week before checking in luggage.

The domestic flight area in Hanoi was really limited compared to the international terminal. At least there was a decent restaurant to get Pho and a drink, but apart from a few gift shops there wasn’t much. Still, the queues to the flights were over and done before you knew it, and getting on the plane was exciting! And yet, just one hour later, I would be in Da Nang!

Dragon Bridge of Da Nang

The first impressions of Da Nang were good; Ignorant of my history, I was glad the airport was smack bang in the middle of the city. Anyone who looked up anything on Da Nang during the Vietnam War would tell you this was THE major air base for the US and at one point the busiest airport in the world. War remnants weren’t particularly strong in my mind though as the mere 5km taxi to the beach evoked a bright city with more in common with Miami than a battleground. The city is divided neatly in two, the airport/city section, and the beach section, seen once crossing one of the many bridges over the Hàn River. The big sightseeing part of the short trip was the Dragon bridge, recently built and looking like a dragon crossing the river. On weekends it would even breathe fire! But the real sight was seen once the taxi dropped me off at the Ana Maison hotel.

The beach

Mỹ Khê beach was just down the road from my hotel, and it was begging me to come and see what it had in store, as the sun was rising over the sea and glimmering light was shining all over it. I had to wait just a little bit and go to the hotel, but it wouldn’t be long before visiting the beach. The hotel was one row behind the front row of hotels, so it didn’t feel too exposed. I knew there would be a lot of time spent on the beach for my stay.
The room itself was really good for a supposedly 3 star hotel. The bed was comfy, the bathroom was big, and there was even a TV and minibar! The window overlooked the beach, and I had plenty of time to myself in the room. Not a bad way to start the holiday. The staff were also really friendly and approachable. I actually used some of the time here to call Luiza and let her know how I was getting on. She would have loved the beach as well.

The hotel room, comfortable and with good facilities

One trip to the nearest shop later and I had nivea sunscreen, quite the rarity, along with plenty of water, a baseball cap, some knockoff Abercrombie sandals and some fizzy orange just as a sugar boost in case. I had bought sunglasses in the big Vinmart in Hanoi so I was sorted for that. I headed in shorts and just settled down at the beach to take it all in. The clouds gathered at intervals, but it didn’t last long, and the crashing waves were a wonderful sound to all the chaos of Hanoi’s motorbike horns. A giant statue was in the distance at the curved headland. Like Bray Head’s cross, it was always there wherever you walked along the beach, but actually getting there would take a bit of effort. I spent some more time reading in my travel books and texting a few others to see where their progress was. Some teachers were arriving the next day, others later in the day. For now it was all me and my time swimming in the sea.

Finding lunch was initially a challenge. Most of the beachside bars were further south, and the restaurants close by all in Vietnamese. I chose one not too far away and sat down. The menu was Vietnamese, but at least there were pictures and my limited vocabulary picked up noodles and pork. I ended up with pork ribs and some weird style of noodles that looked more like a wavy white carpet of noodles stuck together than separate strands. The ribs weren’t presented as whole ribs, but into bitesize cubes, ideal for using chopsticks. They were delicious, marinaded very well in something sweet but spicy. Biting around the bone was cumbersome but it didn’t matter when the taste was great. The tiger beer in the heat was just perfect too.

Checking out what to do over the next few days

The rest of the day was spent on the beach, then asking the hotel about trips around the area. They suggested the Marble mountains and Hoi An the following afternoon, and that sounded exactly like the sort of trip I wanted; Based here in Da Nang but able to choose one or two places to visit while here and then do my own thing for the rest of the day. Hue and that large Buddha statue that was overlooking the beach looked like other potential day trips.

My Khe Beach

All in, this was a truly relaxing day, one day to take things in and see what was around. Despite all the socializing to come, the solo reflection days seem to stick with me a lot on trips like this. The Marble mountains, Hoi An and the New Year were to follow…

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The buildup to Tết

03-Feb-2018

It feels like a classic case of ‘life is what happens inbetween’.

A few weeks had passed from teaching Monday to Friday, having parties in Trung Hoa and visiting Ha Long bay. It was exciting to have had a big adventure, but Tết was on the horizon and approaching surprisingly fast. I had been spending my time during the evenings planning what I could do for the 10 day break in February, reading my lonely planet book and budgeting according to prices online. Phú Quốc was first on my list, but the flights there from Hanoi were far higher than during other weeks of the year. It seemed like that would be the destination I would take if I was working in Saigon. the paradise beaches would have to wait for later in the term.

Speaking of Saigon, that was another destination I was thinking of. It seemed mysterious, maybe even more lively than Hanoi, but Nick Sando said to avoid the big cities during the holiday as they would be far quieter with Vietnamese people going to their hometowns. So 2 final options came to mind of Ninh Binh and Hoi An. Reading the book, Hoi An was represented more than Ninh Binh, so I was looking more towards central Vietnam. The clinching point however was finding out many of the Hanoi teachers were going to be in Da Nang, a city roughly 20km north of Hoi An and with more of a buzz to it. Looking it up, it was an hours flight away, and had the same population as Dublin, so on paper it looked exciting. I booked the tickets on the 29th, Set to leave Hanoi on the 13th and ready to enjoy 6 days holiday! Not bad for €100 return flights.

Next step was to set up accommodation. It turned out Da Nang was a city of hotels, so I booked one near the beach, to truly feel like a holiday. The Ana Maison hotel seemed to fit the bill, and was close to a lot of the other teachers hotels, so meeting up wouldn’t be too much of a problem. The taxi from the airport was thrown in as well, so all that was needed was to wait until the day to see what the place looked like!

The other thing that was happening apart from Tết plans was BME’s end of year ceremony. Simply because I thought it would be a little extra flavor to my time here, I signed up to be a part of the teachers dance section. Over a few weeks of learning (some of which I was really not in the mood for but I did anyway) The Vietnamese teachers choreographed a dance for me and Pip to do, set to a banging tune that sounded like George Michael was on vocals and some guitarist was doing riffs like his life depended on it were thrown in. It was suitable for my style! A few other teachers joined in, and Cian would turn out to also join into the dance, but with a Vietnamese assistant. He certainly looked the part in the white emperor outfit!

The dance practice

The day of the event came on, and I was thankful that I was not alone. Niamh, Kelly, Liz and Jodi McGinty were also involved. They did a more flowery and traditional Vietnamese dance which looked really impressive given the prep time.

The event was in a conference center not too far away from BME’s main office, so only a few minutes walk from House 5. We were given plenty of beer along with some food designed for the locals. I had the rice and rolls, and was happy to keep with the Bia Hanoi. Annoyingly though, BME seem to have forgotten what a ‘party’ is for the first, oh, hour and a half. It felt like 2 hours to be honest, even with the beer. For most of the show it felt like a business conference with powerpoint presentations about earnings, money, and marketing buzzwords they likely didn’t understand in English. It all felt very self-congratulatory, and I just kept thinking back to Vodafone conference parties and how much better they were at incorporating the business with the entertainment.

  • Lizzy looking well
  • Hanoi beers
  • Jodi and Niamh
  • Beers for everyone!
  • The final dance worked well
  • Pip with the flower
  • the realllllly boring BME powerpoint
  • Giving prizes for teachers

But the time came to get up on stage and dance. I was nervous, but less so than you may think for someone performing for hundreds of people. I had made a fool of myself on stage in the past, and this wasn’t going to be seen in Ireland, so there was that…

The rest of the party was spend just having banter with other tables and having a good time. That wasn’t the end of the night however, as we headed into town to puku to watch the 6 nations. It was a wild and sometimes messy night of cheering and drama, though both matches didn’t end until nearly 4 or 5AM due to the time difference It was one long night, but it was a satisfying blowout in total, and the holidays were about to begin…

Vlog based on Ha Long Bay and this post. Very shy but early vlogging!
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Ha Long Bay (Part 2)

Remember in my post about House 5 sessions that I said I was only capable of pulling out a 5 star drinking classic occasionally? Well Ha Long turned out to be one of many such nights! From dinner until breakfast, the staff certainly put the ‘Party‘ in ‘Oasis Bay Party Cruise‘. As an aside, I loved this party cruise and wholly recommend it for any new group of teachers or group of friends heading out on a party trip. Oasis Bay also do a more conventional cruise, something I would gladly take the Mammy and Daddy on and has more emphasis on comfort than jagerbombs. Check them out if you are visiting Vietnam in the future and wish to see Ha Long Bay in all its beauty.

If you missed Part 1, read here.

28-Jan-2018

The night began with dinner. Similar to lunch, there was a plethora of dishes to choose from. Being in the cruise mood, I had the seafood with pumpkin soup. I was excited to have the soup as my mum would have cooked up some killer soups every Halloween. The clams were delicious and I had a rum to kick off the night. It was a great start, sharing banter around the table and seeing the twinkle of ship lights out of the windows.

Then after eating the Vietnamese staff came out to the main dancefloor, dressed in palm tree designed shirts and performed a dance show for us! It wouldn’t feel out of place at a European campsite but it was performed much better and with enthusiasm. It had us game for all sorts of dancing after, such as to Waka Waka. We then had a plethora of party games, beginning with the classic flip cup challenge, followed by lots more choreographed dancing and then morphing into a club night. Some forfeit was involved to the losers of flip cup but it slipped my mind as the night progressed.

As mad as the night was becoming, it did feel like it split neatly into 3 situations: Meeting up with Rebecca at regular intervals in the room, usually to give out about the trap house remixes of 90’s classics, dancing to said remixed classics, and then finally to hop into the hot tub or jacuzzi outside. It felt odd at first to keep coming down to see Rebecca given the main party was upstairs, but I did need a breather from time to time, and she wasn’t a fan of the music anyway. What we did enjoy was having the curtains open and seeing nothing but dark silhouettes of the islands and lights from other cruise ships in the distance. For all the chaos upstairs, the calm, still movement across the bay was wonderful and it was nice to just chill, say nothing and take in such a sight.

But speaking of the chaos, after quite a few hours of people moving from the bar to the hot tubs and to the dancefloor, the floor was getting incredibly slippy. On a few occasions people would slip, but manage to land while still holding a drink in one hand and a balloon in the other. I skidded twice, and it was tricky to dance like crazy and keep an eye on surroundings at the same time. Becca and Pip then used a line in and delivered a few bangers from Fountains of Wayne to Sum 41. Top notch!

The jacuzzis were the most craic though. People wanted to be in the hot tub and watch the islands go by. Despite being in them 3 times already, and with swim shorts dying, I was tempted to go in again. Then Jack and Odhran went ‘come on Paul, do it!’. Then I ushered something I would continually say when it meant doing daft things. “Do it for Ireland!”

So I just got in in my boxers with a group of 10 of us. We chilled with a few beers, vodkas and just did the classic ‘shitetalking’ for what may have been an hour.
Eventually I got back to my room. Chris was MIA, so I presumed he had found someone to be with for the night. I took off the wet boxers and passed out in the room, on what must have been the most comfortable bed I had been in since arriving in Vietnam. Knowing it was sometime around 4AM, I kinda wished I had gone to bed a few hours early to truly relax in bed. Maybe the 2 night trip would have worked better for that, but a weekend was all the time we had. I was thankful Rebecca didn’t make a song and dance out of me being naked in bed, it was just the state of the night, so we got some rest.

The morning was one that definitely felt like the aftermath of a big night out. The hot tub had been covered, the dancefloor was mopped up, and people were taking stock of some of the madness from the previous night. There was breakfast followed by a spring roll cookery class. While fun in their own way, I was happy to be at the deck watching the islands go by again. Odhran came out and had a smoke as well, taking it all in. The islands simply were breathtaking, and the cruise was going at the perfect pace, as we slowly floated past.

Returning to the main room, we had to pay the bills. I had clocked up a satisfying level of beers and spirits. At least the Bia Hanoi’s were at 35k each and 3 Jagerbombs totalled to less than a tenner. It turned out during the jagerbomb fuelled section of the night that I gave my 3 Nitrous balloons to others as I wasn’t a fan of using them, instead having vodka and rum. Classic.
A few people had bills heading north of a few million dong but none were as amazing as Michael Clegg, who rocked up well over 70 balloons for the night. At one point I was thinking of singing 99 Luftballons just as a joke.

After paying up we all took one last look of the islands before departing the cruise, but the drama wasn’t over; Dawn had got an eye infection from the jacuzzi, so herself and Kim headed to treat her. It also wasn’t clear who was still drunk and who was just hungover as well, so the bus trip back was a mix of loud noises and people just wanting to pass out or go to the toilet. At least the trip back was at a slightly faster pace than the way there.

All in, it was a phenomenal trip that I will never forget. Despite all the partying, there was plenty of scenery to gaze at as well, and I took as many photos as I could possibly take until the memory card was full. It truly felt that not a single minute was wasted, even when a lot of us onboard were wasted! The kayaking and luxury room alone would have made for a wonderful trip, but add in one of the worlds natural wonders and it goes up to a whole new level. Its hard to find anything like Ha Long bay, so I would highly recommend going if you have the chance.

Lonely Planet Guide to ha Long Bay Here:
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/vietnam/northeast-vietnam/halong-bay

A full video of the trip, enjoy!
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Ha Long Bay (Part 1)

“Its like something out of a James Bond movie“–My pharmacist in Killiney 2 weeks before my trip to Vietnam

After a few weeks of classes in Hanoi, it didn’t take long before the group of teachers were thinking of weekend breaks away from Hanoi. It was fast becoming clear that the city had grey skies that rarely gave way, and Trung Hoa had only so much adventure.

Louis Hood had been organizing a plan to visit Ha Long bay for a few weeks, and was definitely a solid planner. He had booked a full section of Oasis Bay cruise for our group based on numbers and arranged a time at Gemini coffee to give him the couple of million dong it cost to pay. He even got a minibus sorted to pick us all up from the main accommodation, so that was handy!

Rooms seemed to be booked based on which houses were hanging out and would have 3-4 people in them. The lads had already got their group so I would have a room with Rebecca and Chris. At the time I hadn’t got to know Chris as well as the others but he seemed likeable enough so it was as good a time as any to catch up.

The day of the trip began on Saturday morning, with the minibus outside the BME main accommodation. I was all ready to roll; I brought my camera, my swimming shorts, the crap but waterproof gopro, the MP3 player for the journey and a wad of cash to keep me going through the 2 day tour. A boat isn’t going to be the easiest place to take money out.

I got on the bus, somewhat tired but doing alright. What I didn’t realize was how late a lot of other teachers were. Bethan wasn’t feeling well but with enough encouragement she got on. Fairplay to her for doing so.

The bus departed, escaping the misty Hanoi, but also taking a while to get to Ha Long. Despite being around 170km away, it took a good few hours and a stop over to get to the bay. In Ireland that distance would be covered in just under 90 minutes. It didn’t help that we stopped at a pearl shop nearby. I had got used to these sort of places appearing midway through a trip from the Jade factories in Beijing. They only really exist to rip off tourists, and this felt like no exception. Despite having nice pearl collection, I knew I would find better deals in Hanoi or at Ha Long. Maybe next time, tourist trap!

  • the pearl factory

We arrived at Ha Long just before noon. The harbour was misty and the city was in the distance. A wall of islands were further away than expected, and palm trees were outside the terminal. It seemed like the only notable thing in Ha Long was the ferris wheel, looking like a more tropical Silent Hill at times. The terminal was more welcoming, with welcoming staff, Leonie’s colourful Vietnamese flag, and the group in high spirits.

After taking a small speedboat from the terminal, we approached the large cruise ship. The Vietnamese flag was waving on top, and had the Oasis Bay logo lit up in neon. It looked amazing, and only got better when we got on board. The staff were incredibly welcoming, greeting us all as we walked through the long corridors, up a staircase and to the main interior. Before discovering that though, I walked all the way to the front of the ship, which showcased gorgeous green islands. The cruise would sail through many more over the next day and a bit, but I just had to see them first.

Returning to the interior, there was a dancefloor area with mixing desk, a lot of dining tables near the back, and a few sofas to relax and unwind. We were offered something that tasted like peach schnapps, and then had a meal of a few tasty Vietnamese dishes. I went with a yellow curry because it was the first time I had actually seen this in Vietnam! Shellfish and rice were all around as well, and I had a few oysters and clams too.

  • the sofa, table and shisha
  • chill
  • schnapps
  • chilling with Rebecca

Afterwards we were set to go Kayaking. We put on some really thin ponchos, which felt more like putting on a Tesco plastic bag ,but it would keep the water at bay. I paired up with Rebecca and we kayaked along the bay. In truth she did a lot more rowing than me, all the stamina I have is in my legs and continually kayaking for more than 20 minutes at a time seemed to give me a need for a break. The other kayakers seemed faster, so we had to put more effort in keeping up. In any case we made it under limestone caves, through jagged pillars and finally into a lagoon in the bay, silent as it could possibly be, and with the occasional monkey howl heard and echoes through the misty area. It was surreal to hear such silence after all the noise in Hanoi. You would swear Kong was about to show up given the absolute silence before a massive attack on helicopters in the film.

Heading back, we took it easy for a few hours, swimming, chilling in the jacuzzis and exploring the ship. I had the gopro on so I was jumping off lots of tall heights for the best clips, and having fun underwater. Despite the crew thinking it was too cold to swim, the water was roughly the same temperature as Brittas Bar on a summers day so I was willing to give it a go.

The rest of the day seemed to be spent chilling in the jacuzzi, having a shower to clean myself and taking a timeout from the rest of the group for a bit. Rebecca and Chris were good to bounce banter around in the room, and at one point we heard some of the group shouting from the window. We took a pic of the trip photo at that moment, from the bathroom window…

Checking out the room
  • Jack, Odhran, Cian, Bethan, Emily and Zoe
  • Clegg having fun
  • the view
  • the jacuzzi

That was the day done. It was a lot to take in, but featured tasty meals, a load of kayaking, chilling out on the ship and taking in the natural beauty of the bay. Truly it was worth seeing, and this was only during the day! The night would be something different entirely…

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House 5 drinks in Trung Hoa

Lets be real, I was 28 and from a post recession Ireland. By 2018 I had felt like the times of clubbing, going on the lash and generally being up until 4 or 5 in the morning were on the way out. Maybe I could be capable of pulling out an all time mad sesh again at a friends wedding, a Eurotrip with the lads or maybe around Christmas, but it seemed a given that mad sessions weren’t on the cards for me anymore. This seemed doubly true after moving into house 5, sometimes known as the OAP house to other teachers in their early 20’s. It seemed like the other houses were where the casual sex and cans until sunrise were happening.

And yet, it seemed to me that House 5 pulled its weight just as well as anywhere else when it came to parties at the weekend!

Me and Alex dancing to the Backstreet Boys

BME made rules at the beginning saying there was a midnight curfew in our houses, but in practice only the main accommodation was checked as some of the taxi drivers lived there too (yet another blow to anyone stuck living there). So this allowed our house to set up the tables on the ground floor, play tunes at a decent volume (the neighbours weren’t going to complain) and bring bags of cans from the Circle k, less than a hundred meters from the house! The convenience made us a magnet for some great pre drinking nights. The women would be able to find vodka Ha Noi or Alligator vodka near the Eurowindow building at a decent price. Combined with a few tubs of pringles and crisps, and the night was ready to roll.

Typical drinks area

Some other houses would have sessions too, usually the one near the bia hoi lake. However, the police were often called to that house due to the noise, and I was uncomfortable with being there when the only door out could be padlocked. As someone with a habit of leaving scenarios before they get too risky, this was a bit much. I would always have meerkat senses there even with Saigon specials just in case. Other memorable sessions were had at Jacks house beside the twin lakes on St Patrick’s Day, and a few games of poker in the main accommodation using 1000 dong notes as chips.

On that note the parties were noisy. This was an issue in general, as it seemed a lot of the teachers were absolute chatterboxes that wouldn’t shut up even when there were important things to listen to, such as taxi times, collecting flashcards or keeping quiet when police were on the way to check the goddamn house for noise! There must be something about the interns but in general the parties had people talking really loudly, playing loud music and laughing, well, LOUDLY. Its no surprise neighbours were complaining about the noise, but even at later sessions of maybe 3 to 4 people we would somehow have enough noise to get complaints. Cian especially loved turning the volume up to 11, be it the music being played from the telly, on a speaker or just off the phone. I never really got the noise part, but interestingly it must have rubbed off on me when I returned home. I was asked to turn down music that in my mind wasn’t that audible for fear of upsetting the neighbours. It must be the Irish psyche. How could you not want to listen to Orbital-Halcyon and on or Reflekt-Need to feel loved?!

In any case nights would involve getting out of the by now really sweaty BME uniforms, throwing them in the wash and having a long shower. Then after cleaning up, putting on some decent clothes and shoes, I would head down the staircases to have some beers and listen to music. Depending on the house people could smoke on the rooftops, outside the front door or just at the table. It was cheap to smoke and most places would allow it, so my clothes would often smell like an ashtray by the end of pre drinks. It was like IADT all over again.

A haaaaaaape of cans

House drinks would make up the bulk of weekend partying as the $700 salary wasn’t tailor made to weekends on the town the same way $1500 was just a few months later. However, every other weekend I would hear words from Laura or Sadie about the clubs in Tay Ho, such as ‘The Birdcage’ or ‘Sidewalk’. Birdcage especially seemed very mysterious and interesting. They said it was in the middle of nowhere but the music and drinks were amazing. Sidewalk and the Old Quarter seemed like a more conventional night, but more on them in a future top 5 list.

What made these nights great in House 5 was the real sense of ease that everyone had. Nothing bad felt like it was around the corner, and we tended to be at the level of having loads of laughs while also not getting police called for the noise. Fortunately for us the FPT shop next door had a massive pair of speakers outside blaring Vinahouse, so our noise was tame by comparison. When we were finished with cans, we could get more, head to town or simply walk upstairs to bed. The options were handy.

Rebecca, Sarah, Diane, Laura, kelly & Alex

Most smaller sessions involved Alex, Chris, Laura, Kelly, Kristina, Rebecca and Leonie. Larger ones would have a few different houses showing up and the whole house would get involved. Birthday surprise parties were a real highlight, hiding in the dark house waiting for whoever’s birthday it was to come in and give them a shock! Drinking games and music would follow. One particular memory involved Kelly’s birthday. Once I had lost a game of beer pong, Chris Howells immediately stuffed my mouth with a bottle of Alligator vodka to finish. It began the slow descent to madness that was the trip to town.

Many quieter sessions would just happen whenever we felt like it, and often during the week. We found a TV in one of the rooms and plugged it in on the ground floor. Then, after buying a HDMI cable we turned it into a place to watch films or just more music with graphics. School of Rock, Mortal Kombat and the Beach were shown on the telly, so it was something to focus on while having drinks and snacks. Of course if we felt like it we would also just have mad conversations and games too to liven things up. Either way it was all just a bit of fun.

Me crudely fixing the wifi (again to Backstreet Boys)

All the chill out sessioning really endeared me to House 5, and I look back on it with a lot of fondness. Were there better places to stay in Hanoi? Absolutely! But none would have this level of craic balanced so well.

  • Surprise party time
  • Kelly with Diane, Rebecca, Kristina and Alex

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5 western restaurants to check out in Trung Hoa

In the past I have showcased 5 decent but forgotten places to dine in, and 5 great street food locations in the area. This time its worth mentioning 5 sit in restaurants that were great to eat in, be it after a long week, as a weekend treat, or just to get stuffed! All of these are restaurants that served foreign foods, so if you have had one too many bún chả’s, then these 5 are worth checking out.

Spices

  • The Spices sign
  • House 5 hanging out by the Spices sign!
  • Spices was great for large groups!
  • Writing into the book while a Chettinad and Naan bread are beside the plate.
  • Biryani
  • A slightly spicier curry along with rice and naan.

Spices: Taste of India was the go to Indian restaurant for us. We didn’t head to the Old Quarter much during the internship so we missed out on PK Spice, Namaste, Grills & Gravy and Nan n Kabab. Until then, there was Spices. At first hard to find, it became second nature after a few weeks of checking out the area. True to my own personal tradition, I came here after my first paycheck. Dishes are the standard fare, with biryani’s lacking curry sauce but with yoghurt. Chettinad is here as well, though Veda in Ireland does seem to do it better. However, the interior is really fancy, and Tiger beers are huge, at 500ml, giving it more brownie points. Always worth dining in, even a few years of working in Hanoi later.

Pizza Pompeii’s

  • The entrance
  • Pepperoni pizza, Saigon special, Rebecca banter!
  • Laura with her cake.

2 Pizzerias were contested in Trung Hoa. Ciao 40 made a strong case, with Lizzy really liking it and with great pasta dishes, but Pompeiis had it all. It was a favourite of Megan, and worked especially well for group events. Jon’s farewell (spoilers for later) and Laura’s birthday were celebrated here. It does pizza without cheese in stone fired ovens. Pepperoni pizzas were simply perfect here. The chef was from Naples and had a serious love of both his own and Vietnamese culture. All in, it was a must have for anyone after something above your typical Dominos pizza.

Update from the future: Pizza Pompeii’s may have moved from Hoang Dao Thuy street in Hanoi, so double check before visiting or taking a date there. You may have to settle with Tokyo Deli next door.

Thai Express

  • Red curry and rice

Admittedly its sheen wore off as it was a franchise chain, but nonetheless this was where to get really enjoyable Thai food. They served great curries, Pad Thai’s and even coconut ice cream! I would eat with house 5 here, as well as Rebecca. Staff were friendly, and you could get a small discount with their loyalty card. My only gripe would be betting served beer in a glass of ice rather than being served chilled, but its a minor quibble. If you arrive in Vietnam and for whatever reason want Thai food, Thai Express will do, and there are other branches in the country, generally in Vincom megamalls. Other locations included the Lotte Tower, Saigon or even Bien Hoa!

Paris Baguette

This was a boulangerie/cafe hybrid, with waffles, doughnuts and sandwiches available. My personal favourite was popcorn chicken with lettuce in a demi baguette. Really tasty and worth sitting down for, but in most cases Paris Baguette was a place for takeaway foods. Nonetheless I dined with Rebecca here (seeing a pattern?) and it was definitely better to have a conversation here than other, noisier places. The staff really went plastic paddy for the French, wearing the berets and striped clothing with a blue backdrop and Eiffel Towers. All that was missing was the twirling moustache and string of garlic! All in, a better place to eat than the similarly named Paris Gateaux. Check it out.

Ciao 40

I was torn between putting this or Al Fresco’s on the list but ultimately Al Fresco’s was another franchise chain like Thai Express, and it did feel less special when it turned out to have branches in Saigon. Ciao 40 on the other hand had a stronger identity overall, but both Italian restaurants were excellent.
As stated earlier with Pompeii’s, Lizzy really enjoyed Ciao 40 and highly recommended it. The interiors are really fancy, and the sort of place you would take a very attractive woman to for a date with wine and pasta. The pasta dishes especially impressed, and with a wide variety of dishes you wouldn’t be disappointed with the selection.

Some honourable mentions go to Poseidon in Hanoi centerpoint, an absolutely massive Fish buffet restaurant, but you need to know what you are doing going in (ie following the Vietnamese line!) and Cowboy Jack’s, an American themed restaurant beside Vuvuzela that did the usual MURICA’ stuff and pints at similar prices. A McDonalds has since been build across the road too, so maybe if you would want western food there is that as well. In any case, for a large built up area of Vietnam’s capital, it still had a few places to keep you from feeling too homesick.

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End of week teaching in Kim Giang

The good news for you lot dreading another school review: This is the last core school I taught at in the week, and I taught here both on Thursday and Friday. The bad? I will do a quick rundown of the many cover schools I taught at as well! However, from this point on there will be more about the actual adventures on a blog site called Paul’s TEFL Adventures.

Thursday was something of a slog as far as teaching goes. By this point of the week I was teaching on autopilot, so it was the right time of week to send me to Kim Giang, another Thanh Xuân school near the Tô Lịch river. This time myself and Sara would be paired up and sent to the school. Oddly, the school had a few different entrances and none seemed to get us into the teachers room at first. It did feel like a school where the planning for the courtyard and back entrance got mixed up and they just made do with building the school around it. The Christmas poster that never got taken down throughout the internship wasn’t a great sign either…

  • Sara writing plans on the wall with students everywhere!
  • The Christmas poster that never got taken down from January to June

Thursdays tended to be with an in school TA but after 3 months BME TA Took over. She was professional and quiet, similar to Hien at Thanh Liet, but she seemed less experienced. Still, she did things by the book and the grade 3’s I taught behaved for the most part (keyword being the most part).

You see, Kim Giang is likely the noisiest school I taught in Hanoi, second to perhaps Ha Dinh which was only around 500 meters away. Perhaps this area just allows children to scream and shout all day and not discipline them. At least the students tried not to be offensively bad, just incredibly noisy. No middle fingers, chair throwing or rude insults which was done to other teachers happened to me. It was just wall to wall noise. Class sizes here could be 70+, and it showed. I would hate to teach a full class like this all day.

This was alleviated by having by far the soundest TA on Fridays; Linh.

She was a college student that was friends with the teachers, and would be great to talk about almost anything over the course of the internship, be it other countries, . Sara’s TA Hiền was equally fun, and both of them became facebook friends. Hiền at first was coming on to me quite a bit at first, but I told her I was taken and she was cool after that. It turned out long distance relationships were tricky in Hanoi (more on that another time). Either way, Friday had awesome TA’s, and it made the incredibly noisy final classes bearable. Even when another special needs student was trying to punch other students and throw students down the stairs outside the class I was not as bothered as in Co Nhue. Maybe I was more of a hardass and disciplined him more than the other student, having him against the wall as he would dry hump my leg and be destructive in class otherwise. I still felt for him because if he was allowed outside the classroom any other Vietnamese teacher would grab him by the shirt and bring him into another room, not to be seen for 30 minutes and likely given corporal punishment despite his condition. Staying by the wall in my mind was the lesser of two evils.

As mentioned, the classes were noisy, but on Friday the levels were similar to jet engines. Fortunately the classes went from worst class first to best class in the end. The first class was the least engaged and difficult to participate in classroom activities. It was like wringing something out of very noisy stones.

Now the second class was much better. The students engaged in the class and while they weren’t as strong in their English skills as the last class, they were far more creative. If you had a story with blanks to fill in to complete it, theirs would be the most entertaining. They would have stories about Spiderman getting arrested for being at an Iron Man movie screening, then getting stuck in the prison toilet while escaping and using spider powers to find his freedom. They would think outside the box and use a lot more pop culture in their answers. They even had a strong basketball player who would more often than not score a team winning shot, throwing a piece of paper from one side of the classroom to the bin by the teaching platform. As noisy classes go they were good.

Finally the last class was full of excellent speakers. Some more unusual and challenging exercises were used, and I gave them some real world English examples for them to use in future. Being the better speakers I let them use their skills more with less sheep herding to answers and encouraging any other words or phrases they may have heard. This let to team names inevitably being called ‘Slenderman‘ ‘Jeff the Killer‘ and other creepypasta stories for teams…And Jason.

And…that was it…

The week was over.

All that was left to do was get into Tommy’s taxi with Sara. Sometimes other teachers would be there from a few different schools, but either way we were heading back to the main accommodation to start the weekend. We would often take the highway route back, checking out the Five star garden apartments, the Handico building’s sparkling lights and the convention center on the way. At the endI would sometimes just head to the corner shop and get some snacks, maybe some sesame crackers, or even cheeky cans for the weekend. The time to chill had begun!

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5 street foods to check out in Hanoi (Trung Hoa)

Hanoi is a city full to the brim of delicious street food, and has its own identity when it comes to it. When you first come to Vietnam, you may think its going to be like Thai food or Chinese food. In truth, its its own thing, with French and Chinese elements on top of its own spin on what was seen elsewhere. In other words, its worth having a look at some examples of whats eaten today.
Trung Hoa was full of tasty meals available to eat for lunch or later after afternoon classes. So I thought I would recommend 5 street vendors to check out if you ever happen to be around Trung Hoa…

Bún Chả

I freaking love Bún Chả. It is the northern cuisine perfected, with authentic flavours, relatively simple ingredients but given the upmost amount of time to prepare. I would go so far as to say its the greatest soup dish of all the Vietnamese soup dishes if Cao lầu didn’t exist. At the very least its among best representative dishes of the North.

Pork meatballs, pork belly slices, in a warm broth with vermicelli noodles, carrot and kohlrabi, served with a tonne of salad leaves, garlic and chilli, and ready to mix everything together. It is a wonderful dish that is hard to replicate abroad compared to the simpler phở bò or bún bò Huế. If there is a Vietnamese restaurant near you, then see if they have this item on the menu. You won’t regret it. A solid alternative if you can’t find it is Bún thịt nướng, which is similar but more common around the south of Vietnam and lacks the main broth.

Recipe: http://www.ricenflour.com/recipe/how-to-make-bun-cha-recipe-vietnamese-grilled-pork-rice-vermicelli/

Bánh mì

Something needs to be said about the greatness of something as simple as an egg sandwich. Ireland has an anthem dedicated to it after all! But using a demi baguette as the base, adding any ingredients they have, topping with a few sauces and coriander, and that’s it. No Irish jumbo sausages, no Subway bread bases. Just what needs to be there to taste great.

There were quite a few bánh mì stalls around house 5. Sometimes a woman would set up shop next to the front door at the mobile phone store. Others would be at more stable places like in the laneways, or in their house. Wherever they were. these were great meals to get you through the afternoon or to satisfy you for the evenings. A simple roll with a fried egg was my choice (bánh mì trung), but there were other options included pate, grilled meat (likely pork), vegetables or even a doner kebab variant. I would meet up with Sarah quite a bit to get bánh mì’s.

My personal favourite of the internship was here.
https://goo.gl/maps/jkQNbeHhHD5p98uL8

Phở Ga


One of the more well known Vietnamese dishes, this dish can be found pretty much all over the country, and no matter where you move, chances are you won’t be too far from one. While I personally prefer the chicken variant over the more common phở bò, it is still tasty and a guaranteed hangover cure. Hanoi does phở different to other regions, focusing more on the broth and making sure its so good as is that phở needs no other sides (limes, beansprouts phở sauce, sriracha and more). Personally, I prefer the southern variant, but you are not going to complain when the dish is served to you. Hot sauces are still likely around, and tend to be homemade so it really adds to the dish.

As stated, this was around Nguyen Thi Dinh street but other places were around. It remains the most common Vietnamese dish I have made in Ireland, so try and make some yourself if you can.

Location:
https://goo.gl/maps/ugtr54AkFR3t8KvA9

Nem rán

Of all the street food places to meet up after morning classes, this one was probably the most frequently visited. I would be here at least twice a week during afternoons eating (no exaggeration here) the best spring rolls in the world. Not even Tony in the Thai House could work up a rice paper version quite like this (and his are masterpieces!), with just the right blend of vegetables and fish sauce side. Tiny lime like fruits. chillies, a plethora of salad leaves and cold vermicelli noodles are presented on a large blue bowl, and it all made up to a hearty, but healthy meal. If you are reading from abroad, try Vietnamese style spring rolls if you haven’t already. I feel they take the gold, with Thai and Chinese getting silver and bronze.

Location:
https://goo.gl/maps/3XZg1fJDYnLJGzkU9

Cơm chiên/cơm rang

Both are names for the fried rice vendors and shacks, and there were a few different places to find them. This is a fairly standard fried rice, often served with a broth, vegetables or meat, but oddly these main ingredients were served to the side of the rice itself rather than integrated in the dish. It is served on a flat, oval plate, piled on like a small hill, and tends to have soy sauce or sriracha sauce handy. It could get quite salty if you didn’t get a can of coke or a bia Hanoi but it was definitely a filling meal that could keep you going for a while.

I really enjoyed the rice made for takeaway at Nguyễn Ngọc Vũ street, but many others enjoyed the rice by the Eurowindow building (Cơm Bình Dân). Odhran especially considered this to be the best rice in Hanoi, and its hard to disagree with him. The meat is cooked perfectly, and served at a reasonable price. Either way, you will be spoiled for choice if you look through the laneways.

Odhrans favourite:
https://goo.gl/maps/c1vBm76JBNL5JZLy8

So there you have it, 5 foods eaten regularly around House 5 and the Trung Hoa area. These were all delicious, but can also be found anywhere around Hanoi, and Vietnam. All of these meals can be made at home. Some like banh mi are straightforward, while others like bun cha require more preparation. Special mention for making Vietnamese meals at home goes to Huy and his website on recipes (https://www.hungryhuy.com/) , All recipes (https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/228443/authentic-pho/) for more recipes I couldn’t find, and lastly the Asian Home Gourmet, who make great spice mixes if you feel like the recipes are too much work.

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Wednesday teaching in Cổ Nhuế

17-01-2018

I mentioned in the last post that Cổ Nhuế was great for banter and bad for everything else, but I was getting ahead of myself. Without a doubt it was the quintessential ‘schticks’ school for my internship; beyond the CT20 ringroad, painted yellow that was fading fast, quite a distance away from any high rise buildings, and with noisy students that were difficult to control without plenty of games. But it was more than simple location that made it the worst.

Myself, Chris Howells, Mia and Niamh would wait for our taxi, but the driver tended to want to get the job over and done with. After a while we made a deal with him that we could leave a slight bit later so we could avoid the teachers room, or lack of it…

After the long drive, we would walk through the gates of Cổ Nhuế 2B, and through a ground that was fully tiled, the afternoon sun would blind us all reflecting off the cement tiles. It had a sense of the exotic with the palm trees, iron rail bridge nearby and golden sun, as if this is the Vietnam you see in the movies. But all the fun would quickly dissipate when we looked for the teachers room. As it turns out, while there was a teachers room, we were simply not allowed in it! So where would we go to check our plans?

Under the stairs.

No, I’m not kidding. 4 BME teachers, the teaching assistants and a heap of paperwork all had to work under the staircase of the school and prepare from there. Students would press their faces and noses off the doors. It was very distracting and had very little privacy to think.

The classes themselves were OK. By this point in the week I had gone through enough of the same lesson to do it effectively. The only issue was one class in particular with a special needs student.

Vietnamese families often don’t have the luxury of sending students with special needs into a dedicated learning environment to help their education. Instead they have their students try and learn to fit in with a classroom with 60+ students. On top of that, the regular teachers don’t seem to care one wit about the students, and you alone are responsible for giving them something to do. On 2 separate days of the week I would have to approach the difficult task of accommodating children with special needs, and Cổ Nhuế 2B is one such day.

It was a shock. One of the students was roaring loudly one minute into the class, and I sternly reasoned with him to be quiet. Then my TA approached me and said ‘don’t worry teacher, he is not normal’. And the pin dropped in my brain. And a whole swirl of ‘holy fuck I’m after being mean to a special needs child’ was rolling around inside. But before I could find something alternative for him to do, he ran outside the classroom to chase a fly out of the room. The TA wasn’t bothered in the slightest and thought it was great that he was out of my hair, but I still felt incredibly guilty for being harsh at first.

For future weeks I would give him some paper and suggest he draw something relevant to the taught topic, but I knew deep down he would be lucky to have a squiggle on the page. He would even use the paper to rub his genitals or his belly and it would really distract from the class, but if it meant the other 59 students were attentive it was what I needed to do. He deserved better, but I was no special needs tutor. It didn’t please me.

The way back from the school was manic. The school flooded with all the motorbikes in the general area, and we jogged into the taxi to leave. The sun had sank lower, and burned red through the dust particles. The taxi would take us either the CT20 highway route, or the (now more interesting) Stadium route. It turned out that the alternate route was part of the F1 Hanoi Street circuit, so I can lay claim to having been on the roads!

  • Co Nhue 2B, the F1 street circuit and Trung Hoa
  • The track highlighted
  • The stadium. We would drive past here on occasion.

The route involved passing Mỹ Đình stadium and a large telecoms tower, so it was more memorable than the usual motorway route. It did feel like a long ride either way, especially with so many blocked junctions with traffic around 5PM. At least Niamh, Chris and Mia were good to talk to. It sometimes seemed that we were forged in fire through these classes. They would often talk of having a similarly dour time at the school, Niamh especially.

Either way, end of the humpday, and the week only got easier from here! Just Kim Giang to go for the main schools!

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