Bai Bien Cua Toi (III) TET mania in the streets, Gladiolas .... va mot dit dep

I sleep until 5:30 ;-)

That is still early enough to call Grandma, and she's happy to hear from me but less happy about the cold snap about to hit Vancouver.

a Mother-of-pearl Morning

Puppy shows up out of nowhere like most mornings ;-)

I check how much I pay for the calls to Canada with my Vietnamobile phone..... 75,000 VND for 10 minutes..... that works out to CAD 0.42 per minute...... for calls from the Vietnamese boonies to Canadian landlines.  NOT bad, LOL.  When my stupid Freedom Mobile phone was still roaming in Vietnam (on this trip it does not!), they would charge me CAD$ 4/min (yes, FOUR DOLLARS per minute!).

A little while later ....

Good Morning Viet Nam !

Ti/n has checked with his sister & brother who emigrated to Canada about 20 years ago, WHERE they actually live.......  Yes, it's a small world: they live in Vancouver... I get to say toi so/ng o Vang Cu Ver and  I'll just have to meet them and bring something for him in March, LOL.

My Vietnamese is continuously improving .... but I am fully aware that I am still at a very low level...... but I UNDERSTAND more and more bits that Vietnamese people are saying to me.... like when the CUTE construction guy this morning said giup! .... I guess I would be HELP because I'm tall ;-)

Time for Song Cau..... No, the bank is NOT open on a Saturday..... let's hope it's open on Monday because I'm very low on cash...

5 bottles of wine, 1 carton of cigarettes .... I need to stock up because everything might be CLOSED for TET ! .... and I see a HUGE line-up at the bank machine when I drive by..... only later in the day do I find out that the huge number of people trying to get money out today ALL OVER VIETNAM has wreaked havoc with the electronic banking systems...... electronic banking crawled to an almost standstill and bank machines wouldn't dispense cash for hours ....

the new and spreading fashion:  Panini-style Banh Mi .....

And WHAT IS THAT I see at my local village market on the way back?  Giant Gladiolas!  They must cost a fortune... but I ask anyway.... bao nhieu?....   80,000 VND?  That's as much as M will charge later for a small plate of spaghetti with tomato sauce.... 
Needless to say, the 1.40 meter long giant bunch of Gladiolas rides home with me on my scooter, sideways in front of my knees.... which requires extra thinking with oncoming traffic and roadside fixtures..... but they survive.

Is it possible to develop a Love-Hate relationship with a language?  
I'm walking around all proud because I can now say "toi muon co mot cai khan moi" (I want a new towel).... at least that's what it means if all the accents and intonations are in their right place, i.e.: tôi muốn có một cái khăn mới.
But WITHOUT the accents, my original sentence means "I want to have a good time".  
Don't believe me?  Check it out on Google Translate !








The Gladiola arrangement works for now.... now I just have to wait for them to explode into bloom ;-)








As soon as I head out with the new kite, T spots me....... He chases the kite's shadow for a while and then he wants to play with the kite too.... HELL NO kiddo, you ruined the last one in record time,  LOL.











They are installing the new water disposal system in the kitchen.   I've seen these concrete pipe segments being built by hand right here in the village but I always assumed they were part of a new water supply pipe. 
NO, they are the components for a 3-chamber sewage system.   Dump the shit (literally) in the first one and sand is such an excellent filter, you get clean water out of the last one.
I almost faint when they lower the last HEAVY concrete part into the hole.  Three Vietnamese men (they are STRONG) are barely able to lift it and there is someone INSIDE the pipe segment down in the hole directing the descending concrete piece. 
Is he wearing steel-capped boots just in case the thing comes crashing down?  NOPE. Flip-flops on bare feet is all.  I have to look away when the 3 men on top use all their strength pulling on ropes to prevent the thing from crashing down into the hole.
These pictures are taken when the whole thing is already in the ground... but you get the idea.... smoking while handling a flex cutter ....

And I SWEAR that I was distracted by Ti/n outside of the picture frame at the moment when my finger was pushing the shutter button for this one .... 

dit dep ;-)

NO, I was NOT aiming for this shot, but IT is a nice one (LMAO), so it stays ;-)

These guys started ripping the floor tiles of the kitchen area open this morning....dug the giant hole ... installed the sewage system....connected it.... filled the ground back in ..... and the new tiles and plumbing are in place this evening.  Rat nhan !   

15:30

YES .... these are REAL mandarins ;-)

16:00

Taking the above picture, Ti/n saw me walking to the beach with the SONY Alpha, and asked "Canon?".    Finally.  Someone who knows a little bit about photography and who will be able to help me direct my old Canon Ixus to a new owner (a village kid?) who has the eye but has never owned a camera.

17:15
Time for my daily meal in Sweden....

Mr Sweden has done his place right...... he has a touch for things and people.... and it's the first time I am laughing out loud today ..... 'nough said?


Back home, the construction guys are just finishing the driveway (AFTER they did the whole kitchen thing already today).... and when they leave there is another one of THOSE smiles form one of them.... coincidentally the owner of the butt cleavage above ....  WTF?   
J (a Vietnamese guy half my age back in Vancouver) must have been right after all .... once he commented on me being in Vietnam by saying "They must love you over there"....  

.... but I STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND WTF is going on !