My Lil’ Saigon

Or is it a call for help?

Either way… I’ve just recently started working a lot more. 30 hours of teaching, plus a assistance ship at Wildlife At Risk (a NGO here in Southern VN). All of the projects I’m involved with concern Marine Conservation, and are in their fledgling stages.

Let me tell you about the projects.

1. Mapping/Monitoring of Endangered Species in MPA’s of VN.

-Title is a bit misleading at this point, we aim to use GIS or WORLDMAP to map the distribution and density of endangered species. Staring with Con Dao MPA (currently being developed). A little rough around the edges at this point, since I’m completely void of any experience in this field.

2. Fishermen Surveys/Additional Training of Fishermen

-Surveying fishermen to get supplemental data for conservation purposes in Southern Vietnam (materials, socio-economic, etc), and training fishermen in skills that will allow them economic opportunities while reducing dependence of fishing, therefore reducing fishing pressure.

3. Eco-Resort for Long-term funding

-A new conservation model of sorts. Use land that would normally be paved over for a traditional resort. Keep it green. Use green techniques of energy, local foods, etc etc, and make it a profitable business. Use profits to fund conservation projects. With the amount of marine resources available in VN, this could be a very excellent opportunity to make a model funding source for future conservation.

4.RARE conservation training

-Improving the marketing potential of Conservation in Vietnam. RARE conservation aims to put some business sense in the people who want to promote conservation.

That’s the basic information. They entail much more than I’ve written but basically we’re trying to approach the conservation from a little different angle. Creating awareness, leading to concerned citizens and tourists, bringing attention to projects that are happening in VN. For more information, or if you have some ideas, please contact me.

Coffee is addictive. Coffee is tasty. Coffee can be made out of poo?

Well not really. Ca Phe Chon is traditionally made out of coffee beans that have been passed through a palm civet (Con Chon in vietnamese) and then brewed. Trung Nguyen, the Vietnam equivalent to Starbucks ( by number of stores, not style of store), the weasel poo coffee has been brought back to popularity. Not by actual civet poo though…. by artificial enzymes that simulate the process. Trung Nguyen has artificial poo.

Today I drank some. Tasty indeed. At 10x the price of my normal cup of coffee, it was a bit expensive, but then again, I usually get mine from the street corner. The ca phe chon was dark, heavy, chocolaty, and quite good. Also , it made me very jittery for about 4 hours. Meaning it was pretty damn strong too.

I’d really like to have the real thing, but for now, I’ll probably have Trung Nguyen Ca Phe Chon anytime I’m feeling for a strong cup of coffee.

I’m pretty sure I’ve been inhaling a large amount of particulates the last 3 or so weeks. The sky has been grey for almost 2 weeks solid now, and the sun rarely breaks through. When I drive I feel like little things are pelting my face ( except when I’m in a traffic jam, then I feel like I’m being smoked with a fine sulphide-apple wood).

I haven’t seen any articles on it, but I’m almost positive that the increase of truck and ship traffic, in addition to more cars and factories have contributed a huge amount of particulates to the city area. I don’t remember the skies being so grey last year,  but maybe I’m wrong.

Either way… Tet is coming up again, and food preparations are already under way. In the kitchen here, there are currently some sweet onions under construction. One of my personal favorites, it is funny because in the states sweet onions are used as garnish for drinks, but here it is another side dish. Yummy. I think I’m gonna take a lot of pictures this year of all my favorite tet foods.

Well… favorite until the 4th day, when I’m feeling a little porked out.

2007 is gone. My blog failed terribly. I hope that this year I will write more, post more pictures, and generally have a more “social” year.

Just as a reminder to all.. my pictures (on the right side) are open to the public and I wish all of you could look at them.. and leave comments!

Happy 2008 from Vietnam. My Lil’ Saigon hopes to see you more often in the future.