Vietnam http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/ en Copyright 2007 Mon, 24 Sep 2007 22:32:54 +0800 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.2 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Đi chợ Việt Nam Tôi mới sang Việt Nam chưa lâu nên chưa biết hết về mọi thứ ở Việt Nam. Nhất là về hàng hóa tại các chợ.

Chính vì vậy hôm qua tôi đã đi chợ để mua các thứ cần thiết cho mình và qua đó hiểu rõ hơn về chợ ở Việt Nam.

Tôi ở gần chợ Đồng Xuân nên tới đó mua hàng.

Chợ Đồng Xuân có đủ thứ mà mọi người cần: quần, áo, mũ, giày, dép; đồ ăn thức uống như: thịt cá, thịt bò và rất nhiều quả tươi chín mọng nước.

Tôi đã mua một bộ quần áo, một chút gia vị cho bữa ăn và vài kg. hoa quả như: lê, táo, xoài...tôi rất thích đi chợ Việt Nam.


]]> http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2007/09/i_ch_vit_nam.html http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2007/09/i_ch_vit_nam.html Tieng Viet Mon, 24 Sep 2007 22:32:54 +0800 Bai 8 Ở hiệu sách.

Sáng nay em Hiệp đã đi đến hiệu sách Trang Tiên để tìm mua quyển sách nâu ăn. Bởi vì em Hiệp rất thích nâu ăn. Ở hiệu sách Trang Tiên có nhiều sách hay. Nhưng không có quyên sách nấu món ăn Thái Lan. Sau đó, em Hiệp tim người bán hàng và hỏi thông tin về quyển sách đó.

Người bán hang trả lời ở đây không có quyển bạn muốn mua và xin lỗi.

Em Hiệp hởi: Có thể tim quyển sách tương tự quyên sách nấu món ăn Thái Lan được không?

Người bán hang trả lời: À được. Có quyên sách nấu ăn châu Á. Và bạn có muốn mua thêm quyển sách nào nữa không?

Hiệp trả lời: Tôi muốn mua thêm một quyển sách về các loaì hoa.

Người bán hang trả lời: Bạn thích loài hoa gì? Hiệp trả lời: Tôi muốn có thông tin vê tất cả.


Ở cửa hàng hoa quả.
Sáng nay chị Nga đã đi chợ Yên Phụ vào cửa hàng hoa quả.

Người bán hoa quả: Chị muốn mua quả gì?
Chị Nga: Tôi muốn mua dưa hấu, bao nhiêu tiến một kg.?
Người bán hoa quả: Mươi nghin đồng một kg.
Chị Nga: Tôi muốn mua 1 quả, cho tôi quả ngon nhẻ.
Người bán hoa quả: Được rồi. Chị muốn mua thêm gì nữa không?
Chị Nga: Có, chị bán cho tôi thêm một kg xoai, dược không?
Người bán hoa quả: Dược chị á. Mười năm nghìn của chị. Cảm ơn chị đã mua hang. Hẹn gặp lại chị.
Chị Nga: Cảm ơn chị Cháo chị.

]]> http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2007/09/bai_8.html http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2007/09/bai_8.html Tieng Viet Thu, 20 Sep 2007 20:13:23 +0800 Ban Toi Tôi có hai người bạn thân: Hùng, người Việt Nam và Brett người Mỹ.

Hùng là sinh viên trường Đại học Hà Nội. Hiện nay, Hùng đang làm việc ở H I T S, một công ty Nhà Hát. Hùng nói tiếng Anh rất thạo. Bạn ấy cũng có thể nói tiếng Việt, và một chút tiếng Đức. Hùng thích lái xe ôtô và lái rất nhanh, giống người “lái xe racecar”.

Còn Brett, trước đây, Brett là nhân viên văn phòng ABC-AID ở Mỹ. Sau đó Brett sang Việt Nam. Hiện nay, Brett đang là giám đốc văn phòng ABC-AID ở Việt Nam. Brett làm chăm chỉ và chị là giám đốc rất dễ tính. Bạn ấy có thể nói được tiếng Anh, tiếng Đức, tiếng Pháp, tiếng Ý, và một chút tiếng Việt. Đặc biệt, Brett biết chơi lướt sóng.

Thỉnh thoảng, Hùng và Brett nói chuyện với nhau bằng tiếng Việt. Cả hai bạn của tôi đều là người tốt, sôi nổi và vui tính. Chúng tôi hay ngồi uống rượu với nhau và nói chuyện rất thú vị.


]]> http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2007/09/ban_toi.html http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2007/09/ban_toi.html Tieng Viet Mon, 17 Sep 2007 20:15:38 +0800 cho thuê nhà Looking for house or apartment in Hanoi for 2 people, 2-3 rooms...or more if home/office potential exists. Low to medium budget.

Bạn anh có thích...Friends, I like:
Sàn gỗ-wood floor
thích nhà rất cũ - I like very old house, 100, 200, 500 years old is ok.
Sáng Sủa - light
nhiều cửa sổ - lots of windows


How to help.
Fill out the Comment form, below.

]]> http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2007/08/cho_thue_nha.html http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2007/08/cho_thue_nha.html Fri, 03 Aug 2007 15:33:59 +0800 Tet 2007 It has been almost a year since I posted an entry. Why? Well, familiarity of my surroundings has caused me to stop documenting every bowl of noodles, every Pagoda, and every motorbike ride. However, a lot goes on still.

Many expatriates share the experience that every day is different in Vietnam. So keeping up with a blog requires a full staff. Here are some notes of the rest of the Year of the Dog.

]]> http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2007/02/tet_2007_1.html http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2007/02/tet_2007_1.html Wed, 21 Feb 2007 16:01:51 +0800 Cat Ba Cat Ba island is in Ha Long Bay. In late April on a particular 3-day weekend, Vietnamese go to Cat Ba by the thousands. What is a sleepy island during the winter, suddenly becomes full with people arriving on high-speed ferry boats and romantic junks with red sails.

]]> http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2006/04/cat_ba_1.html http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2006/04/cat_ba_1.html Sat, 29 Apr 2006 18:29:47 +0800 Songkran in Bangkok "Songkran" is a word from the Sanskrit language which means to "move into" and refers to the orbit of the sun moving into Aries. Thailand's Songkran new year festival: basically a country-wide water fight. My water-balloon loving brother and nephew would love it. But the real heritage of Siam Songkran is rooted in the family.

]]> http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2006/04/songkran_in_bangkok_1.html http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2006/04/songkran_in_bangkok_1.html Sat, 15 Apr 2006 10:31:43 +0800 South of Hanoi Vietnamese drive 125cc motor scooters for hundreds of kilometers on highways. Workers in Hanoi drive south to provinces such as Ninh Binh and Nam Dinh on holidays. Scooters weave in and out of the few cars and many other highway users, such as quadruple axle sand trucks, ox carts, and school kids on bicycles. Twice a day, the highways are lined with hundreds of bicycles with at least two, and often three or even four school kids on each bike. They roll along like laughing monkeys sitting on the handlebars, rear rack, and wherever else they can hold on. Meanwhile, trucks barrel down the road at 40 km/h blasting their horns, brushing the bikes out of the way.

]]> http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2006/03/south_of_hanoi.html http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2006/03/south_of_hanoi.html Tue, 28 Mar 2006 18:48:05 +0800 Laos and Cambodia

Vientiane is a small city on the bank of the Mekong River, bordering Laos and Thailand. Upon arrival, we rented bicycles having suspicious ticks and near-flat tires and we rode slowly through the town. The evening found us on the river's sandy edge, with a group of local boys, a guitar, and a case of beer.

]]> http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2006/03/laos_and_cambodia.html http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2006/03/laos_and_cambodia.html Sun, 05 Mar 2006 18:15:50 +0800 Unappetized in Translation

This morning, a Vietnamese friend came over and invited me to breakfast. I was a bit under the weather, tired from being up until 3:00 AM writing for a client. I felt like eating eggs and toast and drinking a tank of coffee.

I suggested, "How about Western food?" Envisioning eating a large, white plate of fluffy eggs with a silver fork while on the garden patio at the Goethe (German Cultural) Institute. My friend's answer: a definitive, "No. How about leech soup?" We walk on for a moment, while I process how to respond. My inner thoughts go from "don't be a wimp" to "absolutely not" to "I wonder if I could get the leeches on the side."

]]> http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2006/02/unappetized_in_translation_1.html http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2006/02/unappetized_in_translation_1.html Fri, 10 Feb 2006 00:21:42 +0800 Nha que

Today I was squatting in the kitchen area of the yard at my friends house having some Nestle 3-in-1. A small cat was sleeping under my chair. I asked my friend's Grandmother in Vietnamese if she liked cats. She replied with an emphatic yes. Then she continued, "baby cats are not tasty." And added, "big cats are very tasty."

Today another friend of mine, Tin, took his aunts, uncles, and cousins visiting from the country side to an ice cream shop. It was their first experience with ice cream. His 21 year old cousin asked him if she could take her ice cream cone home--that is 100km by bus or train to the south of Hanoi. She did not know yet that ice cream melts. Tin's mother was along, and she said she remembered her first ice cream bar as a child in Hanoi, enjoyed on a hot day. The frost was wafting like smoke from the ice cream. She blew on it for a long time thinking it was too hot to eat.

Tin and I had some good fun today sharing our stories about Vietnam country people. They are so charming and innocent.


]]> http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2006/02/nha_que_1.html http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2006/02/nha_que_1.html Wed, 08 Feb 2006 23:34:56 +0800 Tet Woof In Vietnam, "Tet" or Chinese Lunar New Year is the biggest and longest
holiday celebration of the year. For the weeks before, people shop
like mad, buying Tet gifts and offerings. The traffic and crowds are
unbelievable. They buy liquor, tangerines, cakes, nuts, dried fruit,
lucky money envelopes, trees, and branches. They also get haircuts,
buy new outfits, and get manicures. Many people ask you, "Can you feel
the Tet," meaning can you feel the spirit of the season and the
anticipation of the change to the New Year, the year of the Dog. Woof!

]]> http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2006/02/tet_woof_1.html http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2006/02/tet_woof_1.html Fri, 03 Feb 2006 08:10:50 +0800 Western New Year Begins Discovered that my reporter friend had a story in mind when he was asking me about Christmas in America.

The article he wrote is linked here.

For New Years Eve, I was invited to a friends house to have Lau, or "hot-pot" not unlike sukiyaki or fondue. We successively add meats and vegetables to a pot of boiling broth on a table-top gas burner.

After a leisurely Lau with seven friends, we headed back to my place for coffee and champagne to toast in the New Year.

Today finds me in Bangkok, relaxing in the Royal Orchid Lounge. I have a long layover before heading to Los Angeles and eventually Portland and San Francisco.

I'm headed back to the US to celebrate my Grandma Everhart's 90th birthday in Menlo Park. I'll come right back to Hanoi to celebrate Tet or Chinese New Year with my friends. We are driving motorbikes to the port city of Hai Phong, about 100 KM from Hanoi.

]]> http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2006/01/western_new_year_begins.html http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2006/01/western_new_year_begins.html Sun, 01 Jan 2006 15:16:01 +0800 Vietnamese Christmas Christmas is celebrated in Vietnam. It is called "No en" (Noel) in
Vietnamese. It's a mostly a commercial, "for fun" time. Shops and
restaurants have the coziness we have in the west; however, there are
not many images of Jesus birth, nor any signs of Hannukah traditions.
Santa and his deer reign. Businesses set up huge fake trees, lights,
and gold 6-foot tall signs that say "Merry Christmas," Reindeer and
Santas are all over the place. The Hanoi Cathedral has the only
nativity scene that I have seen in town. It is massive, covering the
whole front of the church.

]]> http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2005/12/vietnamese_christmas.html http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2005/12/vietnamese_christmas.html Sun, 25 Dec 2005 09:11:19 +0800 United Frison
Last night I decided to "go out," and so I went to Frison, a new resaurant in San Francisco on Washington Street. Upon the first course break, my friend Aslan and I went to the outdoor patio to look at the plants and finish our vodka martinis. In walks two ladies, lighting cigarettes even before the thick glass door swings closed. Affinity, or whatever you want to call it, is apparent. I knew one thing, we would not be just going back to our table to take up the rest of our dinner.

]]> http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2005/12/united_frison.html http://www.ponybob.com/vietnam/2005/12/united_frison.html Sat, 03 Dec 2005 15:43:31 +0800