Friday, April 14, 2006

Soviet Space Program Building


As promised. I bring to you the ultimate in state of the art space research facilities. Featuring functional looking tubes and pipes climbing its out structure, a round bit at one end (which could possibly house a rocket!!), a smaller round bit above it and an even smaller round bit on the very top, this challengingly sky blue building isnt for the weak minded! Just imagine what sorts of signals are being sent and recieved by the modern lookng antennae mounted on the top. . . And what sort of complicated theta encrusted, eplisom soaked formulae are being derived within those top-secret walls! Theres no way its empty save a few passed out govi full timers who drank six bottles of govi brand voddy too many in the caffeteria at lunch time!

Thursday, April 13, 2006

My Favorite Workmates

This is Bac Long. Bac = Uncle, Long = Dragon. Hes good fun. He is the Table tennis champion of our institute. Everyone plays sport in Vietnam or does some exercise before or after work. And Bac Longs forte is the table tennis. They pull the table out in the foyer after work.

This is Em Hanh. Isnt she cute? shes so shy she cant actually talk to me in the first person. Shes a biologist. I cant say too much about her becasue I dont really know anything else!

The Workplace

Heres the view from my office window, we are on the 5th floor, but its got 7. You can see part of downtown hanoi off in the distance.

Heres the amazing institute of geography. Its so great that it didnt all fit in the picture, theres a cool bit on the top of the right side that has a great big antennae with dishes and aerials hanging of it. Its VERY scientific looking. I'm actually off to Pocket Pen Holder street to get me a few pocket pen holders just so I can live up to the scientific prestige of this building. Its got nothing on Soviet Space Program building, which I will show shortly. Once I get some post grad qualifications, I will search for a volunteer position to work in Soviet Space Program Building.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Introductory pics

As promised, here are the piccies, nice huh? The black background was chosen to ensure proper light balance for the pic.. hate it when the background makes the pic look too dark... This first one is is sheet metal street. I cant remember the Vietnamese name.. but I think it refers to an old 11th century dynasty poem, titled "you dont need Barnsey playing on the stereo to work sheet metal"


This is a night market.. folks everywhere...lot of choags.. s you might imagine...



This is the view from one of the hotels I was staying in... as you can see, its all pretty cramped.. things tend to go up, apposed to out. Hanoi is one of the few cities where you can build a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom, 2 loungroom, 2 kitchen house on 20sqm.

Introduction

I've been just over 3 weeks in the 'Nam. Charlies close... well.. hes everywhere.... selling me pineapples and bits of sugary bread on sticks and motorscooter rides and pretty girl massage and and and the list goes on...

Enough of that, I'm writing this for all those folks who love me and want to know whats going on while Simey-Piemy-Slimeys out doing the hard yards volunteer way in Hanoi city. Obviously, some things I'll have to keep a little bit secret so folks dont tie me back to my employers and I get in trouble for dissin' chong Ong chink chinkyface in the Nam, or chardonnay sheryl's sherbet heiffer hump back home.

The weather just got hot. Was cold when I got here.... now its hot 1 week into the wet season hot... hooooOOOoot man. fackn hot. I got full crook from it, too. But I'm well now.... gym experience was interesting.... the sofihotel offered me $15 US for a quick turn on their dinky di hydraulic pump room thing.... I ask if there was a benchpress anywhere and they referred me to a local gym.. Which turned out to be 13,000 VND (about $11 AUS) for a month. .. guess where I work out now.

I got a pad. Single guy stuff... s'ok. More a bout this later. I'll talk about Hanoi a bit.

Its not that big... but fackn packed. REAL packed. C@nts EVERYWHERE Very french very sexy... only no-one local seems to think so, but I'm working on that. Streets are not parallel nor are they perpendicular.... greek mathematics is pure conjecture here... Hanoi is pretty old... not sure HOW old... I'll research it, and we can find out if the Hanoi city planning commitee had the opportuntity for greek philosophers to consult.

So you get lost easy. The streets operate on themes for purchase. Banana street sells bananas. cheap crappy shoe street sells cheap crappy shoes, sheet metal street sells sheet metal products, electrical appliance street sells electrical appliances.

Traffic it mad. No rules. Just get on the road, point the vehicle where you want to go, and dont crash into anything. .. rearview mirrors are not used. Its pretty scary the first time... bit of a walk on coals trick, must have faith... or maybe moses... and the red sea parts.

Signing out for now.

Dinkers.