A video worth watching...
27 April 2015
25 April 2015
My New Friend
This past Tuesday I received a letter
telling me that I owe 13,138,000 VND (US$626) on two boxes of new motorcycle gear (off-road helmet
and other protective gear plus K&N air and oil filters for both motorcycles) I'd ordered from Revzilla in the U.S. The total value of the shipment was US$1500. I called the number on the letter and was told that if I wanted to talk about reducing the bill, I could meet with him in-person. In Ho Chi Minh City.
On Wednesday, I rode the DR-Z 6-1/2 hours to HCMC to meet with customs on Thursday. I carried an envelope with three million VND
to offer as a 'gift' to whomever could help me reduce the bill.
Sparing you the minute-by-minute, I wore a collared shirt and long pants in place of my normal Saigon t-shirt and shorts (showing respect); I kept my normal "powerful" body language in-check (subtle indication of lower status); I waited patiently until it was my turn; and I spoke to everyone with respect.
When I was introduced to Mr. Trieu, the guy I spoke to on the phone, he handed me the paperwork, said, "13,138,000" and indicated, by pointing, where I could pay. I started to follow his pointing finger, then turned and said, "Yesterday you told me that if I came from Đà Lạt to see you in-person, you could help me reduce the amount." He replied, "You want me to help you? Sit over there."
After 40 minutes of sitting in an abnormal-for-me "small" body posture to avoid looking like an arrogant Westerner, I was told to sit at a table where the Customs officer was already seated with my paperwork. Fortunately, he spoke better English than he thought and we communicated easily. During our conversation I learned the following, mostly in answers to my questions:
1) All individually imported goods are subject to 30% duty and 10% customs tax, regardless of intended use (personal, business, or resale)
2) Importation of second-hand goods is prohibited (so my idea of having a friend remove labels and original boxes won't work)
3) Bringing goods in when physically entering the country is the best way to do it
4) My friend who has paid duty and tax on only one shipment of many is very lucky
5) Type of visa or citizenship are NOT considered when assessing duty and tax
I told him that it was my mistake to order so many things without knowing there was a 40% fee to get it in-country. I also showed him, when he asked if I'd taken the bus, a photo of my DR-Z400. He liked it and asked if I could see it; he was a bit disappointed that I'd taken a taxi in the hope that I'd be leaving with my boxes of gear. I offered to bring it by and he said, "Another time."
Since he had opened with an apology about his English ability, I found an appropriate point during the course of our conversation to compliment him on his very good English—especially his pronunciation, which is more precise than that of most Vietnamese with whom I've spoken. He demurred and I insisted—all part of the dance.
After about 10 minutes, he introduced his boss. She sat down, looked at the paperwork, asked him a few questions, and left.
Finally he asked how much I could pay. I hesitated, then said that I had an envelope with three million... and waited...
No reaction.
After maybe 20 seconds (a long time if you're just sitting there waiting), I said that I could probably pay four million. He immediately replied, "Four million" and we had an agreement. We talked for another couple minutes before he excused himself and tasked someone else to do the paperwork. Fifteen minutes later, I had my boxes--they insisted that I verify everything was accounted for--and was walking out the gate.
On my way out, I saw my new friend standing outside, apparently waiting for me. I thanked him again and again offered him the "gift" envelope that now contained one million VND by pulling aside some papers and revealing about half of it (the envelope, not the contents). He said, "Save it for petrol on your ride to Da Lat." WOW!
I took this opportunity to mention that a few things were out-of-stock when I placed this order and that I was going to place another. I then asked if he would be able to help me next time. He replied, "I like the way you talked to me. You are my friend. Next time, ask for me and I will be glad to help you." Then he asked if I drink beer and we agreed that next time we would have a few together.
Bottom line: the duty is 30%; the tax is 10%; anything less is a gift.
Suggestions for reducing the costs of your next shipment:
1) Show respect
2) Ask for help
3) Take your time
4) Be thankful
Six months ago, I would not spend two days traveling and one day in a Customs office to save $400+. Today, I have no schedule, no commitments, and nothing better to do. Today, I also have a new friend.
I am most thankful that my very jaded view of Vietnamese (and other) government officials and the need to ALWAYS offer monetary "gifts" to game the system was wrong. Sometimes you can get what you want with simple courtesies and respect.
On Wednesday, I rode the DR-Z 6-1/2 hours to HCMC to meet with customs on Thursday. I carried an envelope with three million VND
Sparing you the minute-by-minute, I wore a collared shirt and long pants in place of my normal Saigon t-shirt and shorts (showing respect); I kept my normal "powerful" body language in-check (subtle indication of lower status); I waited patiently until it was my turn; and I spoke to everyone with respect.
When I was introduced to Mr. Trieu, the guy I spoke to on the phone, he handed me the paperwork, said, "13,138,000" and indicated, by pointing, where I could pay. I started to follow his pointing finger, then turned and said, "Yesterday you told me that if I came from Đà Lạt to see you in-person, you could help me reduce the amount." He replied, "You want me to help you? Sit over there."
After 40 minutes of sitting in an abnormal-for-me "small" body posture to avoid looking like an arrogant Westerner, I was told to sit at a table where the Customs officer was already seated with my paperwork. Fortunately, he spoke better English than he thought and we communicated easily. During our conversation I learned the following, mostly in answers to my questions:
1) All individually imported goods are subject to 30% duty and 10% customs tax, regardless of intended use (personal, business, or resale)
2) Importation of second-hand goods is prohibited (so my idea of having a friend remove labels and original boxes won't work)
3) Bringing goods in when physically entering the country is the best way to do it
4) My friend who has paid duty and tax on only one shipment of many is very lucky
5) Type of visa or citizenship are NOT considered when assessing duty and tax
I told him that it was my mistake to order so many things without knowing there was a 40% fee to get it in-country. I also showed him, when he asked if I'd taken the bus, a photo of my DR-Z400. He liked it and asked if I could see it; he was a bit disappointed that I'd taken a taxi in the hope that I'd be leaving with my boxes of gear. I offered to bring it by and he said, "Another time."
Since he had opened with an apology about his English ability, I found an appropriate point during the course of our conversation to compliment him on his very good English—especially his pronunciation, which is more precise than that of most Vietnamese with whom I've spoken. He demurred and I insisted—all part of the dance.
After about 10 minutes, he introduced his boss. She sat down, looked at the paperwork, asked him a few questions, and left.
Finally he asked how much I could pay. I hesitated, then said that I had an envelope with three million... and waited...
No reaction.
After maybe 20 seconds (a long time if you're just sitting there waiting), I said that I could probably pay four million. He immediately replied, "Four million" and we had an agreement. We talked for another couple minutes before he excused himself and tasked someone else to do the paperwork. Fifteen minutes later, I had my boxes--they insisted that I verify everything was accounted for--and was walking out the gate.
On my way out, I saw my new friend standing outside, apparently waiting for me. I thanked him again and again offered him the "gift" envelope that now contained one million VND by pulling aside some papers and revealing about half of it (the envelope, not the contents). He said, "Save it for petrol on your ride to Da Lat." WOW!
I took this opportunity to mention that a few things were out-of-stock when I placed this order and that I was going to place another. I then asked if he would be able to help me next time. He replied, "I like the way you talked to me. You are my friend. Next time, ask for me and I will be glad to help you." Then he asked if I drink beer and we agreed that next time we would have a few together.
Bottom line: the duty is 30%; the tax is 10%; anything less is a gift.
Suggestions for reducing the costs of your next shipment:
1) Show respect
2) Ask for help
3) Take your time
4) Be thankful
Six months ago, I would not spend two days traveling and one day in a Customs office to save $400+. Today, I have no schedule, no commitments, and nothing better to do. Today, I also have a new friend.
I am most thankful that my very jaded view of Vietnamese (and other) government officials and the need to ALWAYS offer monetary "gifts" to game the system was wrong. Sometimes you can get what you want with simple courtesies and respect.
17 April 2015
$1 a day
One of the many things that I absolutely LOVE about my new home is that for less than $1 per day I eat a lot of fresh fruit and veggies!
Bananas, tomatoes, avocados, custard apples, mangoes, and more...
Custard apple? Yes and it's my new favorite. When I was a kid, my mom would occasionally make "Baked Apples" for dessert—she'd core big red apples and fill the center with (I think) brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Then she'd bake them until soft. It's been at least 40 years since I had one and my mouth is watering as I write this.
The custard apple tastes like an apple with a cinnamon undertone that reminds me of those long-ago desserts every time I eat one. They're purchased green with a bit of give. When they start to darken, it's time to enjoy!
First you pull the stem...
Then you gently pull the "scales" off...
Break it into sections...
and enjoy until only seeds remain.
They're pretty healthy and I'm eating one most days as one of my snacks throughout the day along small bananas (~US 50 cents per pound) bought still on the stalk, mangos, and/or other assorted fruits for others.
Add my daily smoothie made of two small avocados and four plum tomatoes, and I might've spent $1.
If you can find custard apples where you are, give them a try. You'll thank me.
Bananas, tomatoes, avocados, custard apples, mangoes, and more...
Custard apple? Yes and it's my new favorite. When I was a kid, my mom would occasionally make "Baked Apples" for dessert—she'd core big red apples and fill the center with (I think) brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Then she'd bake them until soft. It's been at least 40 years since I had one and my mouth is watering as I write this.
The custard apple tastes like an apple with a cinnamon undertone that reminds me of those long-ago desserts every time I eat one. They're purchased green with a bit of give. When they start to darken, it's time to enjoy!
They're pretty healthy and I'm eating one most days as one of my snacks throughout the day along small bananas (~US 50 cents per pound) bought still on the stalk, mangos, and/or other assorted fruits for others.
Add my daily smoothie made of two small avocados and four plum tomatoes, and I might've spent $1.
If you can find custard apples where you are, give them a try. You'll thank me.
15 April 2015
13 April 2015
Cats, a mountain road, and a fish farm restaurant
Hello Again! It's been three weeks since my last post and even longer since I've talked about my experiences. There is quite a lot to write about and I'll see if I can get caught up with at least two posts a week for a while.
Over the past few months a couple friends made off-handed comments to the effect that they "really enjoy reading the travel parts" of my blog... Thank you!
Does that mean the non-travel stuff is less important? To me, no. This blog is about the adventure of living and traveling overseas. Almost every day I learn something new or have a new experience, some of which make good reading. Those are the ones I attempt to write about.
I'll warn you now that this isn't one of travel posts, though there is a bit of a road adventure below =:-0
If you can force yourself to read on, I promise a couple smiles (maybe even a chuckle), at least one "WHAT?!", and one or two things that get those of you for whom "Why am I still working?" is not already a weekly or daily question to ask it.
As for why I'm on this adventure:
1) Watermelon is in season and local year-round
2) Because I can
3) My body is deteriorating and I don't know how much longer I will be able to travel
4) After 49 years (I started cutting neighbors' lawns at 12), I'm tired of working
5) It's nice to have total monthly expenses less than $700
One bonus to all this that I've thought about a few times and have yet to write about is this... liquidating my "estate" last fall and enjoying the proceeds myself saved someone else from having to go through my accumulated crap after I move off-planet and try to deal with it. It's also much better for me :-D
Quick (and funny-to-many) story...
Every time I've encountered a cat in VN and I'm with natives and they acknowledge the cat's presence, they say "Meow" (the locals, not the cat). I thought that this was like someone driving past a field of cows and yelling "MOO!" out the window. It's not. I recently learned that the Vietnamese word for cat is mèo. Can you guess how it's pronounced?
I'm still laughing!
Soon after I arrived back in Đà Lạt after my adventure in Lao, I was invited to join a group of 30+ for morning coffee/tea, followed by (I found out later) lunch at a fish farm/restaurant. Hell yes, I'm in!
The first venue is less than 2 km from my house, mostly open-air, and on a nice property along the lake at the north end. The market and most of the tourists are at the southern end. Although I'd ridden past the place a few times, it's set back from the road enough that I never noticed it. As is most-frequently the case, I was the only Westerner in sight and everyone made an effort to make me feel welcome. For most that's a smile and "Hello!" because that is the extent of the English they're willing to try on someone who can actually (most days) pass for a native-speaker. My reply is usually "Xin Chao!" (pronounced sin-chow) which is the Vietnamese greeting that interprets as hello. Often I am rewarded with a smile, other times a polite laugh accompanied by a comment (in Vietnamese) to the others that I take as along the lines of, "Wow! He's trying to speak Vietnamese!" They are usually a little disappointed when they learn that other than "Xin Chao" and numbers under 100, my ability to speak their native tongue is about equal to that of the flipping dogs who bark their heads off at every stranger.
I keep meaning to start VN language lessons beyond the Pimseuler CDs that I only got halfway through, though I've yet to actually do it. Soon, I promise myself again...
After coffee/tea about 23 of us headed out for lunch. Everyone else was in an SUV (only rich or well-connected people [yes, that's redundant] have SUVs here) while Quynh Chau (pronounced "quinn chow") and I were on my cruiser. The main road out of Đà Lạt to the south is a narrow, twisty two-lane job with occasional spots for pulling safely off to the side. It's uphill coming into town, for example from the airport or HCMC, and downhill going out of town (again, I'm redundant); and it can be fun IF the tour vans don't decide to pass on a curve coming at you.
Oh, wait... this is Việt Nam.
In a long-ago post I mentioned that size of vehicle is all that matters here as far as who has the right-of-way or even the right to occupy a particular patch of pavement. Did I mention that the double white lines and, if fact all pavement markings in VN, are only decorative? As Quynh Chau and I followed the SUV caravan downhill, a Toyota Corolla (a mid-sized sedan in VN) decided to pass us on a curve with traffic coming at us... and me with nowhere to go but into a ditch and/or the trees—the cruiser is the on-road bike
and it does very poorly if you're off the paved surfaces!
Theasshole's Corolla's first attempt to pass us pushed us to the every edge with my LOUD aftermarket horns blaring the whole time. Because of the narrow road and the on-coming traffic, he didn't give me the customary one+ car width or room as he passed. Instead, he allowed me just over half the width of my motorcycle and that decreased rapidly as he failed to follow the curve of the road. At some point, he must've noticed that I wasn't Vietnamese—and killing people that don't look like "us" is frowned on by the police here, not practiced by them as is now acceptable in 'merica—so he backed off. I should mention here that I tried to slow down and let him past, but then he slowed. WTF??? Maybe it was target fixation...
Within 0.5 km, though, he just had to get past me, so here he comes again. This time, I was ready for him.
As he slid closer and closer to me, I lifted my leg and kicked to the left as hard as I could. I was immediately rewarded with a very satisfying "THINK"! A "think" is a higher-pitched version of the "thunk" you get when striking quality metal with an air gap behind it. Remember, this is a Corolla. I hope I dented his door; I was too busy keeping the rubber side down to look. He immediately backed off and didn't try again. Mission Accomplished! As a bonus, right after the kick I was greeted with a laugh and a squeeze of delight from my passenger. She later told me that she didn't notice a dent and also hoped I'd made one. Maybe word will get around not to mess with the crazy SOB on the big blue bike... that would be nice, though I'm NOT holding my breath.
The fish farm restaurant is on the motorcycles-allowed part of Highway 20 and was quite something. Everything is outdoors and under cover of thatched roofs; the fish and eels are raised in ponds on the property; the restaurant part consists of wooden-plank tables with the omnipresent plastic chairs in numerous structures built over a big pond. I was so taken by the whole thing that I took only a few photos... none of which I am able to find :-( This is a shot of the entrance that I took on the way back from Ho Chi Minh last week:
My second big experience for the day was when I tried the eel. At first hesitant, I then thought, "it's not killing them, so it probably won't kill me."
It was GOOD! Although it was fried, the bright white meat inside had no hit of greasiness and was very rich and firm. I know I had a photo of that, so I'll keep looking.
The rainy season is ending in Olympia and ramping up here. I've already lost some stuff to a ceiling leak that is just part of the deficiencies in my rental house that I'll talk about in a future post, and yesterday we got caught in a downpour while out riding. The rain here is more like that of South Florida—short STRONG showers with big drops—than the long misty, drizzly, damp perpetual rain of the Pacific Northwest. They say the rainy season is six months-long, so I'll be packing my rain gear every outing for a while.
I'll end with an Irish saying I recently saw again:
"If you can see the mountain, it's going to rain. If you can't see the mountain, it's raining."
Over the past few months a couple friends made off-handed comments to the effect that they "really enjoy reading the travel parts" of my blog... Thank you!
Does that mean the non-travel stuff is less important? To me, no. This blog is about the adventure of living and traveling overseas. Almost every day I learn something new or have a new experience, some of which make good reading. Those are the ones I attempt to write about.
I'll warn you now that this isn't one of travel posts, though there is a bit of a road adventure below =:-0
If you can force yourself to read on, I promise a couple smiles (maybe even a chuckle), at least one "WHAT?!", and one or two things that get those of you for whom "Why am I still working?" is not already a weekly or daily question to ask it.
As for why I'm on this adventure:
1) Watermelon is in season and local year-round
2) Because I can
3) My body is deteriorating and I don't know how much longer I will be able to travel
4) After 49 years (I started cutting neighbors' lawns at 12), I'm tired of working
5) It's nice to have total monthly expenses less than $700
One bonus to all this that I've thought about a few times and have yet to write about is this... liquidating my "estate" last fall and enjoying the proceeds myself saved someone else from having to go through my accumulated crap after I move off-planet and try to deal with it. It's also much better for me :-D
Quick (and funny-to-many) story...
Every time I've encountered a cat in VN and I'm with natives and they acknowledge the cat's presence, they say "Meow" (the locals, not the cat). I thought that this was like someone driving past a field of cows and yelling "MOO!" out the window. It's not. I recently learned that the Vietnamese word for cat is mèo. Can you guess how it's pronounced?
I'm still laughing!
Soon after I arrived back in Đà Lạt after my adventure in Lao, I was invited to join a group of 30+ for morning coffee/tea, followed by (I found out later) lunch at a fish farm/restaurant. Hell yes, I'm in!
The first venue is less than 2 km from my house, mostly open-air, and on a nice property along the lake at the north end. The market and most of the tourists are at the southern end. Although I'd ridden past the place a few times, it's set back from the road enough that I never noticed it. As is most-frequently the case, I was the only Westerner in sight and everyone made an effort to make me feel welcome. For most that's a smile and "Hello!" because that is the extent of the English they're willing to try on someone who can actually (most days) pass for a native-speaker. My reply is usually "Xin Chao!" (pronounced sin-chow) which is the Vietnamese greeting that interprets as hello. Often I am rewarded with a smile, other times a polite laugh accompanied by a comment (in Vietnamese) to the others that I take as along the lines of, "Wow! He's trying to speak Vietnamese!" They are usually a little disappointed when they learn that other than "Xin Chao" and numbers under 100, my ability to speak their native tongue is about equal to that of the flipping dogs who bark their heads off at every stranger.
I keep meaning to start VN language lessons beyond the Pimseuler CDs that I only got halfway through, though I've yet to actually do it. Soon, I promise myself again...
After coffee/tea about 23 of us headed out for lunch. Everyone else was in an SUV (only rich or well-connected people [yes, that's redundant] have SUVs here) while Quynh Chau (pronounced "quinn chow") and I were on my cruiser. The main road out of Đà Lạt to the south is a narrow, twisty two-lane job with occasional spots for pulling safely off to the side. It's uphill coming into town, for example from the airport or HCMC, and downhill going out of town (again, I'm redundant); and it can be fun IF the tour vans don't decide to pass on a curve coming at you.
Oh, wait... this is Việt Nam.
In a long-ago post I mentioned that size of vehicle is all that matters here as far as who has the right-of-way or even the right to occupy a particular patch of pavement. Did I mention that the double white lines and, if fact all pavement markings in VN, are only decorative? As Quynh Chau and I followed the SUV caravan downhill, a Toyota Corolla (a mid-sized sedan in VN) decided to pass us on a curve with traffic coming at us... and me with nowhere to go but into a ditch and/or the trees—the cruiser is the on-road bike
The
Within 0.5 km, though, he just had to get past me, so here he comes again. This time, I was ready for him.
As he slid closer and closer to me, I lifted my leg and kicked to the left as hard as I could. I was immediately rewarded with a very satisfying "THINK"! A "think" is a higher-pitched version of the "thunk" you get when striking quality metal with an air gap behind it. Remember, this is a Corolla. I hope I dented his door; I was too busy keeping the rubber side down to look. He immediately backed off and didn't try again. Mission Accomplished! As a bonus, right after the kick I was greeted with a laugh and a squeeze of delight from my passenger. She later told me that she didn't notice a dent and also hoped I'd made one. Maybe word will get around not to mess with the crazy SOB on the big blue bike... that would be nice, though I'm NOT holding my breath.
The fish farm restaurant is on the motorcycles-allowed part of Highway 20 and was quite something. Everything is outdoors and under cover of thatched roofs; the fish and eels are raised in ponds on the property; the restaurant part consists of wooden-plank tables with the omnipresent plastic chairs in numerous structures built over a big pond. I was so taken by the whole thing that I took only a few photos... none of which I am able to find :-( This is a shot of the entrance that I took on the way back from Ho Chi Minh last week:
It was GOOD! Although it was fried, the bright white meat inside had no hit of greasiness and was very rich and firm. I know I had a photo of that, so I'll keep looking.
The rainy season is ending in Olympia and ramping up here. I've already lost some stuff to a ceiling leak that is just part of the deficiencies in my rental house that I'll talk about in a future post, and yesterday we got caught in a downpour while out riding. The rain here is more like that of South Florida—short STRONG showers with big drops—than the long misty, drizzly, damp perpetual rain of the Pacific Northwest. They say the rainy season is six months-long, so I'll be packing my rain gear every outing for a while.
I'll end with an Irish saying I recently saw again:
"If you can see the mountain, it's going to rain. If you can't see the mountain, it's raining."
22 March 2015
A Must-Read Eye-Opener (for those who didn't already know)
PLEASE spend five minutes of your day to click on the link below and read Paul Krugman's editorial in Friday's NY Times. For those who are unfamiliar with Krugman, he is a Nobel Prize-winning economist who is anything but boring.
Trillion Dollar Fraudsters
For those who want a visual of where the money's going, Occupy Posters has this graphic:
Now... what are you going to do about it?
Trillion Dollar Fraudsters
For those who want a visual of where the money's going, Occupy Posters has this graphic:
Now... what are you going to do about it?
20 March 2015
I am now settling in in Đà Lạt
FINALLY! After almost two months in VN and five weeks after my originally projected arrival, I left Sài Gòn
and headed for Đà Lạt!
That was six weeks and at least 5 kilos ago... it's time to get you caught up!
Upon arrival I checked in at Villa Pink House and, first thing the next morning, I started my search for a furnished rental house. Although there are houses available, there are also five major hurdles for this Westerner:
1) Language—many landlords speak less English than I speak Vietnamese.
2) Vietnamese housing is rarely built to anything resembling Westerner building standards and I'm a picky SOB.
3) There is no central agency for rentals, so finding them is mostly word-of-mouth.
4) Time-critical is a foreign concept to many natives, so it's tough to see even one property per day.
5) I'm leaving in a week for my Lao trip (see previous posts from February 2015) and would like to have something nailed down before I leave.
Fortunately, I knew a couple people who knew a couple more people who were looking to rent out a property.
The sister and brother-in-law of someone I met when I was here last summer has a nice new three bedroom, two story house with a pretty good layout and a nice, secure courtyard in which I can park both motorcycles. Rent is 8 million VND, or about $391/month.
The downsides are that it's completely unfurnished—not even a stove or refrigerator; on a street with a LOT of gravel on the roadway (like riding the motorcycle on ball bearings); the "someone" would like a romantic relationship and I'm uninterested, so that may cause landlord issues down the road; and the house is for sale, so I'd get 30-days' notice to vacate if/when it sells.
NEXT!
A friend of Ron, one of the front desk guys at Pink House, has a small one bedroom house, fully furnished. She is very nice and speaks pretty good English, but the house is too small; a neighbor has a very powerful stereo; and the "security gate" might keep out a small child (bonus points), but no more. Rent is 6 million (US$285)/month.
NEXT!
My friend G knows a bunch of people in Đà Lạt and he hooked me up with Kristina and Eric. They who live in a new development called Ananda for whom Kristina is the Project Manager. The project consists of 2, 3, and 4 bedroom furnished townhouses built to Western designs and is about 70% complete. By "Western designs", I mean that they have actual closets (most VN houses use wardrobes/armoires or hooks on the wall to hold clothes) and insulation in the walls and ceilings. The climate in my new hometown is rather temperate, so lack of insulation is less of an issue than it would be in Hà Nôi or Ho Chi Minh City. That said, it would be nice to have. Unfortunately, the last 2 or 3 bedroom unit ($450/month) rented a week before I showed up. All Kristina has available is a 4 bedroom unit that usually rents for US$600/month and that she'll rent to me for $550. The $550 is not a problem, the unit is just too big... and needs more repair than a relatively new unit should. Whomever had it before did NOT treat it well. In any case, it's too big, so I asked Kristina to put me on the list for the first 2 or 3 bedroom unit that comes available. I will keep in-touch.
NEXT!
There's a web site called ex-pat blog that has an incredible amount of information by and for ex-pats (people living outside the country from which they hold a passport) living just about everywhere—"The living abroad website, by expats, for expats." The site is divided up by continent and then sub-divided by country and destination (city or area). Each city has a Classifieds section where you can post items for sale, classes offered, jobs wanted or offered, and so on. It was here I found an ad for a three-bedroom house near Đà Lạt University. The property is owned by an ex-cop who speaks not a word of English, so his nephew placed the ad and conducted the walk-through.
Although the address is on a major boulevard, the house is down an alley off an alley off the main street. It's a bit confusing at first, though I was happy to see that the sub-alley is off the same alley as the Ananda project. The courtyard in front of the house is shared by the owner's house and a number of apartments, mostly occupied by young people (university students?). Although there is the requisite small dog who's prone to barking his fool head off at anyone and everyone who dares enter the courtyard,
he's harmless and actually quite amiable if you try to make friends. He's now my buddy and comes for a head scratch every time I arrive home.
The furniture was pretty rough and consisted mostly of the typical faux-cushioned hard couches and chairs typical of the country.
One of the main selling points for me was the upstairs sun room with two walls of glass.
The room to the right would make a good office. The view is mostly of the back of the Ananda project, though it does include a long-distance view of the city outskirts. Two of the three beds are quite comfortable, much less like the plywood-topped mattresses to which I've previously referred, and the entryway is large enough to allow easy maneuverability of the motorcycles into the alcove to the right in this photo.
There's also a pretty cool bannister on the staircase...
All for 6 million VND (US$285) per month...
Remove those awful living room couches and I'll take it!
Since I was almost immediately leaving for a couple weeks, we agreed that I would leave a 4,000,000VND deposit and the rental contract would start on 17 February, even though I would probably not return to Đà Lạt until closer to the end of the month. I wanted the owner to be comfortable and felt it would be too much to ask him to go the entire month of February without rent... and it was worth giving up the $100 or so to avoid risking losing the house. In the U.S. I would've negotiated a bit, but I wasn't in the mood to haggle over a few dollars... and with the money I'll save over renting at Ananda, I can buy some furniture.
This happened on day four of seven prior to Lao, and the rest of the week I bounced from shop to store to market looking for a couch, wardrobe (no closets, remember?), and a table to use as a desk that I could later use as a dining table if needed/desired. Then I left for the visa run to Lao.
I rode the DR-Z up from Sài Gòn on 24 February, checked into Pink House, and the next morning headed over to the house with my worldly belongings in 10+ suitcases (plus the two motorcycles). I rode the Steed, followed by a mini-truck arranged by Ron at Pink House. Total cost for the trip, including loading and unloading, was 200,000VND (US$9.52) plus a 50,000 VND tip.
Once the bags were in the house, the owner and I sat down (with his nephew translating) and worked through the rental contract. As is standard here (at least for ex-pats), the entire six months' rent is due up-front: $1710 plus another hundred or so for water and electricity and $190 for 10Mbps Internet. A total of just under $2000 for six months; less than one month's house payment back in Olympia. There is definitely something to be said for down-sizing!
You can see the alley entrance to the courtyard immediately to the right of the house and the white wall on the right is the back of one of the Ananda development townhouses.
I just passed the three week mark in the house. Within two weeks after moving in, I bought couches (18 million) and an area rug (3 million) for the living room, covering much of that awful tile...
A friend helped me find a furniture maker who built a custom wardrobe (deeper to hold my broader-than-Vietnamese-shouldered shirts) for the bedroom (5 million);
and a custom-designed shoe cabinet with room for three full-face motorcycle helmets (3 million) for next to the front door—NO ONE wears shoes in the house, just flip-flops or sandals (I go barefoot);
There are also a couple new basic clothing racks in the upstairs "catch-all" bedroom and a few kitchen appliances and implements.
The furniture, et cetera you see in the store is the same exact piece they deliver to your home at no additional charge. Unless you're dealing with the maker, as I also am for the custom dining set/desk (10.5 million) that'll be delivered next week, there is no such thing as ordering or making modifications.
I'm settling in, and the motorcycles are happy in their new home...
I will post more soon, I promise!
In a teaser a few posts ago, I mentioned that within two hours of my arrival in Đà Lạt, I'd been knocked down by a motorbike. I saved that story 'til the last part of this post 'cause I didn't want it to distract from the above.
I'm about two blocks from my hotel, walking back from town. Always careful to look both ways, I start to cross the street, still watching to my left for on-coming traffic, in case they don't see me.
Talking or texting on the cell phone while operating a motorbike is very common in VN. I have no idea if there is a law on this; if there is, it is NOT enforced. While riding, one has to be constantly wary of riders looking down and tapping on their phones instead of paying attention to traffic. I'm tempted every time to knock the fcuking phone out of their hands and so far I've managed to control this urge, though I cannot promise for how long that will be the case.
Back to my attempted pedestrian street crossing... as I make it to the center, I start looking uphill to my right—the coast is clear so I relax a bit and WHAM! I feel a slash across my left calf, just above the ankle, and I SLAM to the ground, asselbowhead! As I lie on my back, feet facing uphill, I hear a commotion as, I realize a second or two later, other pedestrians and even motorbike drivers come to my aid.
As they all try to lift my head and drag me out of the middle of the lane (it's a two-lane road and I'm now a speed bump), I'm pushing them away and yelling (in English 'cause they won't understand Spanish), "STOP! Don't touch me! I need to move on my own!!!" SHEESH! Nothing feels broken, but it does hurt, so I figure I'm pretty okay... but if I have spinal or neck damage, the LAST thing I need is for the Good Samaritans to do further damage!
One of the passers-by speaks pretty good English and he tells me that one of the other GS's is the kid who hit me. The kid leans over me and starts to apologize. I interrupt him with, "WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU DOING ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD???" You blind-sided me and could've KILLED me!!!" and more. He apologized (in English) profusely and, once I moved myself to the sidewalk, insisted on taking me to the hospital—on his motorbike—to get checked out. The other guy with good English insists on accompanying us on his own motorbike and, because four's a party, I call my friend Vy and ask her if she can meet us at the hospital. The good news is that the hospital was only two blocks away.
In addition to taking me to the ER, the kid insisted on paying for everything. Since he seemed like a good guy who make a mistake, I backed him down to paying for half of the 900,000 VND (US$43.86) bill for the doctor, a CT scan of my head, and an X-ray of my back. He ran out of money when it came time to pay for the meds, so I paid that bill (about $15). Vy and the other guy were a comfort and we all gave the kid who hit me a break when he disclosed that he'd been on his way to the hospital to visit his sister and his new-born nephew. He was apparently preoccupied, though I never did find out what the hell he was doing on the wrong side of the road—other than driving like a lot of other Vietnamese.
After 90 minutes or so of waiting for and undergoing the procedures, it was determined that I was no more broken than I had been that morning, and I was kicked free and the kid (I knew his name for about 3 minutes and am blaming it on the hit to the head :-D ) went upstairs to visit his sister and nephew.
About two days later my left elbow started hurting a LOT and took about two weeks to stop aching. It hadn't hurt immediately after the accident, so I hadn't had anyone look at it. I'm just glad it's stopped.
It took me about three weeks to stop hesitating before crossing the street on-foot and I still look both ways like my head's on a swivel from curb to curb. I suggest you do the same.
To end this post, I'll share something that was less surprising to me than it probably should've been... click here.
and headed for Đà Lạt!
That was six weeks and at least 5 kilos ago... it's time to get you caught up!
Upon arrival I checked in at Villa Pink House and, first thing the next morning, I started my search for a furnished rental house. Although there are houses available, there are also five major hurdles for this Westerner:
1) Language—many landlords speak less English than I speak Vietnamese.
2) Vietnamese housing is rarely built to anything resembling Westerner building standards and I'm a picky SOB.
3) There is no central agency for rentals, so finding them is mostly word-of-mouth.
4) Time-critical is a foreign concept to many natives, so it's tough to see even one property per day.
5) I'm leaving in a week for my Lao trip (see previous posts from February 2015) and would like to have something nailed down before I leave.
Fortunately, I knew a couple people who knew a couple more people who were looking to rent out a property.
The sister and brother-in-law of someone I met when I was here last summer has a nice new three bedroom, two story house with a pretty good layout and a nice, secure courtyard in which I can park both motorcycles. Rent is 8 million VND, or about $391/month.
The downsides are that it's completely unfurnished—not even a stove or refrigerator; on a street with a LOT of gravel on the roadway (like riding the motorcycle on ball bearings); the "someone" would like a romantic relationship and I'm uninterested, so that may cause landlord issues down the road; and the house is for sale, so I'd get 30-days' notice to vacate if/when it sells.
NEXT!
A friend of Ron, one of the front desk guys at Pink House, has a small one bedroom house, fully furnished. She is very nice and speaks pretty good English, but the house is too small; a neighbor has a very powerful stereo; and the "security gate" might keep out a small child (bonus points), but no more. Rent is 6 million (US$285)/month.
NEXT!
My friend G knows a bunch of people in Đà Lạt and he hooked me up with Kristina and Eric. They who live in a new development called Ananda for whom Kristina is the Project Manager. The project consists of 2, 3, and 4 bedroom furnished townhouses built to Western designs and is about 70% complete. By "Western designs", I mean that they have actual closets (most VN houses use wardrobes/armoires or hooks on the wall to hold clothes) and insulation in the walls and ceilings. The climate in my new hometown is rather temperate, so lack of insulation is less of an issue than it would be in Hà Nôi or Ho Chi Minh City. That said, it would be nice to have. Unfortunately, the last 2 or 3 bedroom unit ($450/month) rented a week before I showed up. All Kristina has available is a 4 bedroom unit that usually rents for US$600/month and that she'll rent to me for $550. The $550 is not a problem, the unit is just too big... and needs more repair than a relatively new unit should. Whomever had it before did NOT treat it well. In any case, it's too big, so I asked Kristina to put me on the list for the first 2 or 3 bedroom unit that comes available. I will keep in-touch.
NEXT!
There's a web site called ex-pat blog that has an incredible amount of information by and for ex-pats (people living outside the country from which they hold a passport) living just about everywhere—"The living abroad website, by expats, for expats." The site is divided up by continent and then sub-divided by country and destination (city or area). Each city has a Classifieds section where you can post items for sale, classes offered, jobs wanted or offered, and so on. It was here I found an ad for a three-bedroom house near Đà Lạt University. The property is owned by an ex-cop who speaks not a word of English, so his nephew placed the ad and conducted the walk-through.
Although the address is on a major boulevard, the house is down an alley off an alley off the main street. It's a bit confusing at first, though I was happy to see that the sub-alley is off the same alley as the Ananda project. The courtyard in front of the house is shared by the owner's house and a number of apartments, mostly occupied by young people (university students?). Although there is the requisite small dog who's prone to barking his fool head off at anyone and everyone who dares enter the courtyard,
The furniture was pretty rough and consisted mostly of the typical faux-cushioned hard couches and chairs typical of the country.
One of the main selling points for me was the upstairs sun room with two walls of glass.
All for 6 million VND (US$285) per month...
Remove those awful living room couches and I'll take it!
Since I was almost immediately leaving for a couple weeks, we agreed that I would leave a 4,000,000VND deposit and the rental contract would start on 17 February, even though I would probably not return to Đà Lạt until closer to the end of the month. I wanted the owner to be comfortable and felt it would be too much to ask him to go the entire month of February without rent... and it was worth giving up the $100 or so to avoid risking losing the house. In the U.S. I would've negotiated a bit, but I wasn't in the mood to haggle over a few dollars... and with the money I'll save over renting at Ananda, I can buy some furniture.
This happened on day four of seven prior to Lao, and the rest of the week I bounced from shop to store to market looking for a couch, wardrobe (no closets, remember?), and a table to use as a desk that I could later use as a dining table if needed/desired. Then I left for the visa run to Lao.
I rode the DR-Z up from Sài Gòn on 24 February, checked into Pink House, and the next morning headed over to the house with my worldly belongings in 10+ suitcases (plus the two motorcycles). I rode the Steed, followed by a mini-truck arranged by Ron at Pink House. Total cost for the trip, including loading and unloading, was 200,000VND (US$9.52) plus a 50,000 VND tip.
Once the bags were in the house, the owner and I sat down (with his nephew translating) and worked through the rental contract. As is standard here (at least for ex-pats), the entire six months' rent is due up-front: $1710 plus another hundred or so for water and electricity and $190 for 10Mbps Internet. A total of just under $2000 for six months; less than one month's house payment back in Olympia. There is definitely something to be said for down-sizing!
I just passed the three week mark in the house. Within two weeks after moving in, I bought couches (18 million) and an area rug (3 million) for the living room, covering much of that awful tile...
 |
| If you look closely, you'll see a bit of the artwork I brought with me and the dragon I bought in Lao. |
There are also a couple new basic clothing racks in the upstairs "catch-all" bedroom and a few kitchen appliances and implements.
The furniture, et cetera you see in the store is the same exact piece they deliver to your home at no additional charge. Unless you're dealing with the maker, as I also am for the custom dining set/desk (10.5 million) that'll be delivered next week, there is no such thing as ordering or making modifications.
I'm settling in, and the motorcycles are happy in their new home...
I will post more soon, I promise!
In a teaser a few posts ago, I mentioned that within two hours of my arrival in Đà Lạt, I'd been knocked down by a motorbike. I saved that story 'til the last part of this post 'cause I didn't want it to distract from the above.
I'm about two blocks from my hotel, walking back from town. Always careful to look both ways, I start to cross the street, still watching to my left for on-coming traffic, in case they don't see me.
Talking or texting on the cell phone while operating a motorbike is very common in VN. I have no idea if there is a law on this; if there is, it is NOT enforced. While riding, one has to be constantly wary of riders looking down and tapping on their phones instead of paying attention to traffic. I'm tempted every time to knock the fcuking phone out of their hands and so far I've managed to control this urge, though I cannot promise for how long that will be the case.
Back to my attempted pedestrian street crossing... as I make it to the center, I start looking uphill to my right—the coast is clear so I relax a bit and WHAM! I feel a slash across my left calf, just above the ankle, and I SLAM to the ground, asselbowhead! As I lie on my back, feet facing uphill, I hear a commotion as, I realize a second or two later, other pedestrians and even motorbike drivers come to my aid.
As they all try to lift my head and drag me out of the middle of the lane (it's a two-lane road and I'm now a speed bump), I'm pushing them away and yelling (in English 'cause they won't understand Spanish), "STOP! Don't touch me! I need to move on my own!!!" SHEESH! Nothing feels broken, but it does hurt, so I figure I'm pretty okay... but if I have spinal or neck damage, the LAST thing I need is for the Good Samaritans to do further damage!
One of the passers-by speaks pretty good English and he tells me that one of the other GS's is the kid who hit me. The kid leans over me and starts to apologize. I interrupt him with, "WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU DOING ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD???" You blind-sided me and could've KILLED me!!!" and more. He apologized (in English) profusely and, once I moved myself to the sidewalk, insisted on taking me to the hospital—on his motorbike—to get checked out. The other guy with good English insists on accompanying us on his own motorbike and, because four's a party, I call my friend Vy and ask her if she can meet us at the hospital. The good news is that the hospital was only two blocks away.
In addition to taking me to the ER, the kid insisted on paying for everything. Since he seemed like a good guy who make a mistake, I backed him down to paying for half of the 900,000 VND (US$43.86) bill for the doctor, a CT scan of my head, and an X-ray of my back. He ran out of money when it came time to pay for the meds, so I paid that bill (about $15). Vy and the other guy were a comfort and we all gave the kid who hit me a break when he disclosed that he'd been on his way to the hospital to visit his sister and his new-born nephew. He was apparently preoccupied, though I never did find out what the hell he was doing on the wrong side of the road—other than driving like a lot of other Vietnamese.
After 90 minutes or so of waiting for and undergoing the procedures, it was determined that I was no more broken than I had been that morning, and I was kicked free and the kid (I knew his name for about 3 minutes and am blaming it on the hit to the head :-D ) went upstairs to visit his sister and nephew.
About two days later my left elbow started hurting a LOT and took about two weeks to stop aching. It hadn't hurt immediately after the accident, so I hadn't had anyone look at it. I'm just glad it's stopped.
It took me about three weeks to stop hesitating before crossing the street on-foot and I still look both ways like my head's on a swivel from curb to curb. I suggest you do the same.
To end this post, I'll share something that was less surprising to me than it probably should've been... click here.
07 March 2015
05 March 2015
MouseMouse
From our first meeting in November 1997, she brought me laughter, joy and (mostly) love.
She always wanted my attention...
practiced good hygiene...
except for the goopy eyes that, in her defense, she couldn't see and were caused by incurable disease...
wouldn't have followed convention even if she'd known what it was...
loved a good spot in the sun, especially as she got older...
usually only shared when she wasn't aware she was
(Shadow and Gregory arrived while she was asleep; notice they're behind her)...
and felt safe... sometimes.
"Is that a can of tuna opening?"
"If I wait long enough, and concentrate hard enough, I'll grow into these..."
"Okay, now move a little to your left... I'm almost there..."
Mouse rarely saw the humor in others' actions...
and held herself steady and proud, even at 17+.
Those of you who got to meet her in-person may wonder, "Why no photos of her dancing on two legs?" I guess it's because I was usually laughing pretty hard... and because it never entered my mind that she'd ever stop.
She could be a cranky old broad and, at well-under 6 lbs (2.7 kilos), she scared some of the most feline-familiar people I know... maybe because she reminded them of their dark side? Someone once told me that Mouse's personality was mine without the social skills... and I think there's some truth to that; though she could dance better than I ever will.
When I left, Jo from Feline Friends all but demanded that Mouse live out her last days in her home... and refused a donation from me because, paraphrasing here, Mouse and I are family now. I checked in a few times and was told that everyone was adjusting well and that Mouse was happy. Then, in mid-February, I didn't get a reply. Thinking Jo was just very busy, I wrote again a week or so ago.
Jo replied that Mouse had had a stroke in late January and, although she got to the vet very quickly, the paralysis grew to where they soon decided her time had come. Mouse got to leave the planet peacefully and surrounded by love... as we all hope to when it is our time. My bet is that she's finally walking around on two legs...
I cried a little when I heard this, though I always thought Mouse would stroke-out very quickly; she definitely had my pre-charm school temper and I would never have been surprised to come home and find her stretched out in a final scream. I let the knowledge of her passing sit a bit before writing this, and as I write, I can't stop crying...
When I left, I knew that I will never see any of my furry kids again. Since they're all well-loved and cared-for, I was okay with that, though I do miss them greatly! Mouse was more special in many ways and put up with a LOT of what she would call "competitors". She was happiest, I know now, before Shadow came in 2000 and after Sofie, Amy, and James went to their new homes a couple weeks before she went to Jo's... when it was just the two of us. The last weeks together were wonderful and she seemed to have new energy... like she would live forever!
Now Mouse will live forever... in the minds and hearts of everyone who met her... and now, I hope, in yours.
If you'd like to help out an "everybody gets the best and longest life possible" feline rescue organization whose volunteers have hearts as big as the sky, click here to visit their web site and make a donation in Mouse's name or the name of your furry kid(s). Jo will probably say I shouldn't ask, and I'll listen to her as well as I listen to everyone else.
CLICK HERE and then on the "Donate" tab... I just did. Or even better, click on the "Adoption" tab and then "Adult Cats". You'll find some wonderful friends there.
Thank you! Now go hug your furry kids for me...
 |
| The wire sculpture is eight inches tall... |
practiced good hygiene...
except for the goopy eyes that, in her defense, she couldn't see and were caused by incurable disease...
wouldn't have followed convention even if she'd known what it was...
loved a good spot in the sun, especially as she got older...
usually only shared when she wasn't aware she was
(Shadow and Gregory arrived while she was asleep; notice they're behind her)...
and felt safe... sometimes.
"Is that a can of tuna opening?"
"If I wait long enough, and concentrate hard enough, I'll grow into these..."
"Okay, now move a little to your left... I'm almost there..."
Mouse rarely saw the humor in others' actions...
and held herself steady and proud, even at 17+.
Those of you who got to meet her in-person may wonder, "Why no photos of her dancing on two legs?" I guess it's because I was usually laughing pretty hard... and because it never entered my mind that she'd ever stop.
She could be a cranky old broad and, at well-under 6 lbs (2.7 kilos), she scared some of the most feline-familiar people I know... maybe because she reminded them of their dark side? Someone once told me that Mouse's personality was mine without the social skills... and I think there's some truth to that; though she could dance better than I ever will.
When I left, Jo from Feline Friends all but demanded that Mouse live out her last days in her home... and refused a donation from me because, paraphrasing here, Mouse and I are family now. I checked in a few times and was told that everyone was adjusting well and that Mouse was happy. Then, in mid-February, I didn't get a reply. Thinking Jo was just very busy, I wrote again a week or so ago.
Jo replied that Mouse had had a stroke in late January and, although she got to the vet very quickly, the paralysis grew to where they soon decided her time had come. Mouse got to leave the planet peacefully and surrounded by love... as we all hope to when it is our time. My bet is that she's finally walking around on two legs...
I cried a little when I heard this, though I always thought Mouse would stroke-out very quickly; she definitely had my pre-charm school temper and I would never have been surprised to come home and find her stretched out in a final scream. I let the knowledge of her passing sit a bit before writing this, and as I write, I can't stop crying...
When I left, I knew that I will never see any of my furry kids again. Since they're all well-loved and cared-for, I was okay with that, though I do miss them greatly! Mouse was more special in many ways and put up with a LOT of what she would call "competitors". She was happiest, I know now, before Shadow came in 2000 and after Sofie, Amy, and James went to their new homes a couple weeks before she went to Jo's... when it was just the two of us. The last weeks together were wonderful and she seemed to have new energy... like she would live forever!
Now Mouse will live forever... in the minds and hearts of everyone who met her... and now, I hope, in yours.
If you'd like to help out an "everybody gets the best and longest life possible" feline rescue organization whose volunteers have hearts as big as the sky, click here to visit their web site and make a donation in Mouse's name or the name of your furry kid(s). Jo will probably say I shouldn't ask, and I'll listen to her as well as I listen to everyone else.
CLICK HERE and then on the "Donate" tab... I just did. Or even better, click on the "Adoption" tab and then "Adult Cats". You'll find some wonderful friends there.
Thank you! Now go hug your furry kids for me...
25 February 2015
DR-Z
In the taxi going to meet Hau to pick up my "new" motorcycle, I'm actually excited! Since I returned from my adventure in Laos just the day before (17 February), he was kind enough to put of family matters and meet me this morning, the 17th anniversary of his father's death.
As I explained in an earlier post, most Vietnamese people can tell the date of the three previous generations of ancestors' deaths more readily than the birthdays of immediate family members. This is because they believe that the quality of the ancestor's afterlife is at least in part determined by the size of the party in both people and food given every year to celebrate the ancestor. Hau's time this morning is very valuable and I am honored that he is taking some of it to deliver my motorcycle to me.
I was right to be excited; the DR-Z is great!
And pretty, if you like yellow :-) It's not my first choice, though the graphics Hau helped me add make it more tolerable. There will certainly be no valid, "I didn't see you" excuse!
When I first saw it, it was covered in flat black wrap
and I've never been a fan of the blacked-out look... especially when it's less than well-done. I did have to keep the fake Mobil 1 sticker, though
because native English speakers sometimes miss that it's a fake... so it's become a "paying attention" test of sorts...
I like the bike a LOT more now, even though there is an issue I need to resolve on my next trip to HCMC... while the right side is fine, the left side graphics do not align properly from panel to panel.
Hau was pretty sure I would object, though in the hope that I'd been here long enough to accept it, he let it slide. We talked about it and he has promised to make things right.
Do you remember the phrase? Say it with me, now...
"It's Việt Nam!"
Even though it is the same engine displacement (400cc), because it is an enduro (combination street/off-road) it is a totally different feel than the Honda Steed... and I like it! It sits up a LOT taller than the cruiser and although the higher center of gravity takes a bit of getting used to, I rode around the streets of HCMC enough before leaving for Dà Lạt that I feel comfortable enough to tackle the 300km ride.
Hau did a great job of getting it ready and even added something that I came up with... a 10cm PVC tube mounted opposite the exhaust that will hold tools--a panier of sorts.
My tools were with the Steed in Dà Lạt, so I rode the 8 hour trip with it empty. Upon arrival, I noticed that the black Contact-type paper he'd used to wrap it was frayed around the edges of the cap
Then, looking closer, I was VERY GLAD that I'd left it empty and especially that the paintings I bought in Luang Prabang were just a little to long to fit. During my ride, the suspension travel put the wheel up against and, eventually, through the tube!
YIKES!
Okay, it was a good thought with bad placement. There really isn't anywhere else to put such a tube, so I'll devise another way to carry the tools on a trip into the boonies. Maybe placed in a pack that I strap to the rack behind the seat? That's the standard practice, probably because it works. Hey, I tried, right? The good news is that all it cost me was US$2 worth of PVC.
It will be better for most of the areas around Dà Lạt because of all the hills and roads with less-than-optimal traction/stability. My new friend Eric also has an enduro and has promised to take me to some of the areas that he and his friend ride, so I'm looking forward to that.
As I explained in an earlier post, most Vietnamese people can tell the date of the three previous generations of ancestors' deaths more readily than the birthdays of immediate family members. This is because they believe that the quality of the ancestor's afterlife is at least in part determined by the size of the party in both people and food given every year to celebrate the ancestor. Hau's time this morning is very valuable and I am honored that he is taking some of it to deliver my motorcycle to me.
I was right to be excited; the DR-Z is great!
And pretty, if you like yellow :-) It's not my first choice, though the graphics Hau helped me add make it more tolerable. There will certainly be no valid, "I didn't see you" excuse!
When I first saw it, it was covered in flat black wrap
and I've never been a fan of the blacked-out look... especially when it's less than well-done. I did have to keep the fake Mobil 1 sticker, though
I like the bike a LOT more now, even though there is an issue I need to resolve on my next trip to HCMC... while the right side is fine, the left side graphics do not align properly from panel to panel.
Hau was pretty sure I would object, though in the hope that I'd been here long enough to accept it, he let it slide. We talked about it and he has promised to make things right. Do you remember the phrase? Say it with me, now...
"It's Việt Nam!"
Even though it is the same engine displacement (400cc), because it is an enduro (combination street/off-road) it is a totally different feel than the Honda Steed... and I like it! It sits up a LOT taller than the cruiser and although the higher center of gravity takes a bit of getting used to, I rode around the streets of HCMC enough before leaving for Dà Lạt that I feel comfortable enough to tackle the 300km ride.
Hau did a great job of getting it ready and even added something that I came up with... a 10cm PVC tube mounted opposite the exhaust that will hold tools--a panier of sorts.
Okay, it was a good thought with bad placement. There really isn't anywhere else to put such a tube, so I'll devise another way to carry the tools on a trip into the boonies. Maybe placed in a pack that I strap to the rack behind the seat? That's the standard practice, probably because it works. Hey, I tried, right? The good news is that all it cost me was US$2 worth of PVC.
It will be better for most of the areas around Dà Lạt because of all the hills and roads with less-than-optimal traction/stability. My new friend Eric also has an enduro and has promised to take me to some of the areas that he and his friend ride, so I'm looking forward to that.
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