Dry season ?

Normally it's the rainy season in Ha Noi since a month but as you can see on the picture it's still possible to have huge amount of rain. Hopefully, i have a submarine mode on my motobike (full power & prayer).

Trust 'em

As you may have guess...i'm picky boy and especially about food then i don't often go to eat "com sinh vien", student's rice. Last week, a bit crazy i accepted to go with some colleagues there, actually for a "bun cha" (a 'soup' with grilled pork and 'bun' noodles).

An appetizing bun cha: noodle, pork 'soup' & 'salad'

Despite a cockroach welcomed us, it was really good and really cheap (1$, but quite small) and i even didn't get sick after that!

Often my housemate told me it's safer to eat in the street or buy at markets than going to some supposedly good restaurants. I might tend to try it more often but it's not that easy. Most of the street restaurant have only one dish and... i dislike most of the dishes ><>

After the meal, we went to "ca fe" as usual. I was facing the inside while my colleagues were having some greedy stares at some foreigner girls outside. For some reason they said "2000" or "1000" and i asked why. The answer is : "in Vietnam you can buy handful of Xoi (sticky rice) of different size... '1000'  is small while '5000' is the biggest one" and they added " but you have to take care of the importance of the sheets"... 99% of the time, young vietnamese girls give "some" help to their breast.

Finally, we went for some serious foot massage... altogether in a room so no possibility of bonus ;). It was a really nice and cheap place; the masseuses were laughing all the time with my colleagues (50% of the time was about me...).

Conclusion: even though you are very picky and relunctant like me you have to trust your local colleagues/friends to try new (possibly disgusting) things!

... next entry might be "Don't trust 'em". ;-)

MSM Hanoi

A while ago i found a document called "MSM in Hanoi" and forgot about it but finally i read it (the doc can be found at unaids or some refs): it has not many useful or interesting information but some confirmations.

Men holding hands at a prevention meeting*

For the common people there is no gay people in Vietnam (or just the north? ^_^ ) or at least people never talk or think about that. The first point we see/feel is that there is no harassment on the plu community.

For example, whenever i go out with my bf we try to avoid places where he may meet friends but as long as we keep quiet no one would ever think of us as a couple. An even better example is a vietnamese girl friend of mine: she saw me many times with my bf and many times we left the party together and she still thinks we are both singles. In addition, she's been studying abroad for sometimes and probably know about plu.

The big disadvantage is about STD, particularly AIDS. It may be unknown but AIDS is spreading quite fast in Vietnam, at least in the north, and i'm sure of it as a friend was working on the subject last year. Thus AIDS prevention is developing, finally!, but only towards female sex workers... not for MSM or young people "being young“ or people having affairs etc.

As i usually say, Vietnam is moving very fast and i guess that this is very likely to evolve in less than 10 years, would it be early enough? No idea... It's so complicated to get any opinion about heomosexuality from my vietnamese friends or common people...

*: i stole (sorry 'bout that) the photo from a photographer blog. In contrary to what i say he took part in a project about MSM and aids prevention, his post about it is very very interesting and has some strong photos.

Classic situation

... I guess.

Friday night, it's party time with acquaintances and friends, while the latter know for me the former don't. No problem, the alcohol and the beat are flowing and two girl friends start to play with me.... dancing sensualy with me, opening my shirt then offering me drink by putting notes there (not down there!).

Great, great night! Although, a visiting friend of one of the girl doesn't seem to enjoy so much (coming from euro capital nights to Hanoi "evening parties" is not so hot).

The real good invited dj (Affecta)...compared to the resident one

The next day, i have plan for dinner with people like us, friends of my bf. The girl (C) sends me many sms to come to massage with her and her friend (D) then for dinner, then for party many times. I finish by answering "sorry i got a private life too" (more politely). Then i receive a sms from D like "let's get a drink without girls"... I check with C if i should understand correctly which she confirms but she cannot say much as she is with D and some friends.

As a kind  hearted person i make the two groups meet for some drinks at a normal place but it's getting late and just me, my bf, C and D go somewhere else to have a last drink and then get home.

And here comes the fun part:

I receive an sms like "sorry i didn't know the whole story about you, sorry for sending these message before".... OMG! He was interested in me!!!

That's a first time for me! I mean a westerner looking at me. Well, i learnt a few things:

• I am really innocent
• I am not that bad ??
• It's funny to piss girls (C wanted to get D for a few years now and because/thanks to me she knows she can't.)
• When i let my crazyness shines on the dancefloor some may like it \o/.
• Girls can get very bitchy when they know it's safe to play with a boy :D

Be right back

I finish my bear and i come back ;)

(damn work....)

Water sport

or being prepared to live in Ha Noi, the city of 1000 lakes.

(Sorry for such a bad title ^_^)

Well, Ha noi has not anymore 1000 lakes but there are still plenty of lakes. For example, there are 3 lakes near my home.

Thus Hanoi is a water city which means that when the rainy season comes, comes the problems (well now the season just ended, woohoo!).

By problems i mean:

• If you have a non-pro appointment and it's even slightly raining don't ever hope the person to come (90% of the time from my experience so far).
• Learn how to drive under heavy rain with a neat "raincoat', which often means putting your foot in the middle of the motobike to avoid "splashs" from cars and other people.
• Learn the submarine mode! It's a special mode of the vietnamese motobike but hard to get.  Sometimes, you'll need to drive right in the middle of water with a depth higher than your gaz exauster. The only way to succeed is to take a run up, go max power and pray!

What happens if you fail...push your motobike in the dirty water...

Nevertheless there are a few reasons to like the rain:

• The city gets quiet (almost)
• The temperature falls down greatly (and yes rainy season is also hot)
• I love the rain

The end is near!

It's getting more and more difficult to find lubricant in Ha Noi. Before i could go to Vincom, then i had to go to some westerner shops, now i have to go to the pharmacy and explain it in vietnamese! I will soon need to go to some dedicated shop like condomviet.

Maybe i should let my dear bf do that? ;)