The streets are a constant roar of from the motorbikes and other traffic. There is a primitive form of advertisement that occurs in this constant roar. In Nha Trang I heard a car coming from many blocks away. By the time it was two blocks away it was already deafening, clearly above the 90 db required to cause hearing damage. I retreated into the store and covered my ears as it continued to approach. The car was mounted with two huge 5’ bullhorns that it was using to spew out the deafening message. After it passed by the second time I realized why I had not seen anything like it in the US. It is highly ineffective advertisement and they would have been fined for disturbing the peace or something.
In the places speakers are installed such as theme parks they like to use one large speaker and blast the noise instead of separating the delivering into multiple locations of smaller volume.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Vietnam-Pollution, Trash
When I arrived at about 11 PM I was taken to a restaurant. There were paper napkins, vegetable, bottle caps, cans and all other sorts of rubbish on the floor. I have seen two or three places like it the US and have turned around and walked out the door. I even dare to say most, of the restaurants in here are like this. In one place I even saw a pet bird about 2 feet from (and above) the food. Birds are infamous Salmonella (food borne infection) carriers.
I would see not only the customers but the shop employees dumping trash on the floor. Servers would pop the cap off a drink straight onto the floor. Cooks would drop finished beverage containers onto the floor.
When one leaves the city you will see trash all over the roadside, from my observations this is the fault of both the travelers and the residents. They even throw it into their water supply.
My initial impression was that the people had to know what was going on and the long term effect, but they simply didn't care. In my quest towards understanding then was more focused to determine if it was a sense of resignation or if it was something else. As I watched overall behaviors I start to think that for many people this is how it has always been, perhaps that they do not even understand that there could be something better if the environment was cleaner.
I would see not only the customers but the shop employees dumping trash on the floor. Servers would pop the cap off a drink straight onto the floor. Cooks would drop finished beverage containers onto the floor.
When one leaves the city you will see trash all over the roadside, from my observations this is the fault of both the travelers and the residents. They even throw it into their water supply.
My initial impression was that the people had to know what was going on and the long term effect, but they simply didn't care. In my quest towards understanding then was more focused to determine if it was a sense of resignation or if it was something else. As I watched overall behaviors I start to think that for many people this is how it has always been, perhaps that they do not even understand that there could be something better if the environment was cleaner.
Vietnam - Pollution, Air
Vietnam - Pollution, Air
One of the first things that will hit you when you come here from the US is the exhaust fumes and other air pollution. While it is very similar to what I have experienced in the other 6 Asian cities I have been to the difference for me was that there was escape in this situation. My initial reaction has been that these are poor countries that can not afford the expenses of pollution control on their vehicles, factories and other habits. I also figured that people may get used to it too. I still think both of those points are still pieces of the puzzle and have expanded beyond that during my time here.
I spend about 6 hours on the back of a motorbike during my trip to the Cu Chi tunnels and then down to Ben Tre. To add to that the driver was also a smoker so I got a bonus dose of pollution. There were many fires burning near the roadside, I believe that these are because there is no trash disposal. At the farmhouse in Ben Tre they had an annex kitchen that used an iron stove that burned any fuel available. That fuel may have been coconut leaves, husks, stems, various vegetation or possibly even trash. The problem was that the design was poor and did not provide enough venues for the smoke and gases so a good portion of it went back into the house. The next day we went around on motor bikes again and finally returned in private car that a cousin arranged for us. Unfortunately the car was not properly sealed so the exhaust was coming in the back of the car for all 3 hours. When I got back to Saigon there was a heavy smoker in the room next door, 3 feet away. We were separated by a sliding door in each room. So the whole room smelled like smoke.
By this time my senses were fried, I could not smell or taste anything except pollution. I think this validates my initial impression that people especially smokers do not even really notice the pollution. These 3 days of severe air pollution exposure would also mark the start of my health failure, which I never recovered from while in the country.
One of the first things that will hit you when you come here from the US is the exhaust fumes and other air pollution. While it is very similar to what I have experienced in the other 6 Asian cities I have been to the difference for me was that there was escape in this situation. My initial reaction has been that these are poor countries that can not afford the expenses of pollution control on their vehicles, factories and other habits. I also figured that people may get used to it too. I still think both of those points are still pieces of the puzzle and have expanded beyond that during my time here.
I spend about 6 hours on the back of a motorbike during my trip to the Cu Chi tunnels and then down to Ben Tre. To add to that the driver was also a smoker so I got a bonus dose of pollution. There were many fires burning near the roadside, I believe that these are because there is no trash disposal. At the farmhouse in Ben Tre they had an annex kitchen that used an iron stove that burned any fuel available. That fuel may have been coconut leaves, husks, stems, various vegetation or possibly even trash. The problem was that the design was poor and did not provide enough venues for the smoke and gases so a good portion of it went back into the house. The next day we went around on motor bikes again and finally returned in private car that a cousin arranged for us. Unfortunately the car was not properly sealed so the exhaust was coming in the back of the car for all 3 hours. When I got back to Saigon there was a heavy smoker in the room next door, 3 feet away. We were separated by a sliding door in each room. So the whole room smelled like smoke.
By this time my senses were fried, I could not smell or taste anything except pollution. I think this validates my initial impression that people especially smokers do not even really notice the pollution. These 3 days of severe air pollution exposure would also mark the start of my health failure, which I never recovered from while in the country.
Vietnam- Traffic
Navigating traffic here can best be described as continuously playing a slow motion game of chicken. There are thousands of motor scooters at any intersection, mixed with cars and trucks. The motor scooters pay very little attention the stop lights, the cars sometimes stop for them and trucks usually obey them. They have crosswalks painted but no one pays attentions to those either so the pedestrians enter the fray at their peril. I wonder why they waste the money on the paint (the labor is really cheap so they probably don't care about that). Put that amalgamation together and you will end up with a real mess when a couple of cars or trucks get caught in the middle between lights.
About 1% of the vehicles drive on the "wrong side of the road" meaning they are driving counter traffic on the same side that the traffic is traveling in the other direction. When one attempts to turn in a vehicle or cross the street on foot it is a matter of slowly continuously moving across the street. The hope is that people will go around you because it is very rare to actually find an opening in the traffic to cross the street. A few people will use the hand like a policeman's stop sign meaning that they have no intention of stopping, please don't run into them.
What saves them is that the traffic only moves at 30 km/h here. That is slow enough for people to stop. On the highways is that the max speed is 50-80 km/h depending on the size of the vehicle. Ironically the larger the vehicle is the faster it is allowed to go. This makes road trips very slow.
About 1% of the vehicles drive on the "wrong side of the road" meaning they are driving counter traffic on the same side that the traffic is traveling in the other direction. When one attempts to turn in a vehicle or cross the street on foot it is a matter of slowly continuously moving across the street. The hope is that people will go around you because it is very rare to actually find an opening in the traffic to cross the street. A few people will use the hand like a policeman's stop sign meaning that they have no intention of stopping, please don't run into them.
What saves them is that the traffic only moves at 30 km/h here. That is slow enough for people to stop. On the highways is that the max speed is 50-80 km/h depending on the size of the vehicle. Ironically the larger the vehicle is the faster it is allowed to go. This makes road trips very slow.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Vietnam-Homecoming
A few minutes into the flight from Saigon I can feel the effects that the air processing systems are having on the air. My sinuses start to dry up and clear out the congestion that the wet polluted air that had inflicted on me. I could breath again! They say that smokers start to repair lung tissue as soon as they stop smoking. It may have been partially psychological but I think that the drier cleaner air really did help. I am usually a healthy creature but that environment completely wrecked my system.
24 hours after leaving tropical Saigon I arrive at the CVG airport to be greeted by flurries, no luggage (which I won't get before tomorrow), and no taxies even after I call for one. We soar home at the wonderfully not congested highway as speeds the awesome highway speeds of the Cincy. I live in the northwest of downtown (technically I don't live downtown). As we roll into the outskirts of downtown there are only a handful of cars and no pedestrians roaming around in the cold. This is a drastic contrast from the extremely noisy 30 km/hr bustle of Saigon.
There have been times when I had thought that a few more people\shops right by my house. I am now very happy that the revitalization of downtown is happening half a mile from my house. I appreciate more than ever that there are relatively few people and noise in my area of town. Sure that revitalization could easily spread over to my area but that will be a few years, by then who know I might have a need to become a surbanite.
I arrive home to a 45 degree house and can see my breath. That is the maximum temperature you should have a refrigerator at, it is also a fairly safe temperature to make sure you pipes don't freeze in the basment. It's good to be home.
24 hours after leaving tropical Saigon I arrive at the CVG airport to be greeted by flurries, no luggage (which I won't get before tomorrow), and no taxies even after I call for one. We soar home at the wonderfully not congested highway as speeds the awesome highway speeds of the Cincy. I live in the northwest of downtown (technically I don't live downtown). As we roll into the outskirts of downtown there are only a handful of cars and no pedestrians roaming around in the cold. This is a drastic contrast from the extremely noisy 30 km/hr bustle of Saigon.
There have been times when I had thought that a few more people\shops right by my house. I am now very happy that the revitalization of downtown is happening half a mile from my house. I appreciate more than ever that there are relatively few people and noise in my area of town. Sure that revitalization could easily spread over to my area but that will be a few years, by then who know I might have a need to become a surbanite.
I arrive home to a 45 degree house and can see my breath. That is the maximum temperature you should have a refrigerator at, it is also a fairly safe temperature to make sure you pipes don't freeze in the basment. It's good to be home.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Disappearing guest
In the freshly fallen snow this morning I saw a set of paw prints leading up to my front door. The last paw print ended about 3 inches from my front door. No other tracks could be seen on my staircase, surrounding bushes, flower pots etc. They did not look like bird prints so I ruled out flight. I wonder where that animal went and how it got away without leaving any prints.
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