A visit to the tailoress, and other news
04/29/2009
Ms. H. wanted me to have something special made to remind me of Vietnam, and recently took me to her tailoress for a fitting. You can find her shop on a very old street filled with lots of potholes. The area has seen better days, but in the middle of the grim environment is this one colorful shop. The tailoress took all kinds of measurements, wrote them in a spiral notebook, and then showed me books with pictures of clothes until we found something I liked. After discussing necklines and a few other details, Ms. H. and I departed. Tonight we went back to try on the finished garment, and as you can see here, the tailoress did a lovely job. What a sweet and thoughtful gift to help me remember my time here, as if I'd forget!
It's raining again this evening, but was pleasant this morning when I walked into the city for breakfast at Chopsticks and to pick up a few groceries. While eating I read an English-language paper that someone had left behind, and decided to share a few of the highlights with you because they reveal more of everyday life here. The downturn in the economy is having an impact on Vietnamese workers on many levels. Day workers in Hanoi, for instance, were earning $3 to $4 per day before the economic slowdown, and now they are lucky if they find work 50 percent of the time, at lower pay. Many of them have wives in the countryside who cultivate several fields of paddy rice, earning from $59 to $118 per harvest. In the north I believe you can get 2 rice crops per year, while in the Mekong Delta you may be able to get 3 crops. The economic downturn threatens educational prospects for children because their parents must remove them from school (remember, there is no free public education here) and send them to work as maids and laborers in the city. As you can easily see, when male and female workers lack education, skills, and farmland, they have limited options.
Vietnam is a country in which over 70% of the population makes its living from agriculture, yet another article noted that there are very few works of literature dedicated to rural life. This is because authors have been afraid to write about rural life because it would mean exposing problems. One of the few who has tackled this theme is Le Luu (born 1942). His new novel is Thoi Loan (Time of Troubles).
While in Vietnam, I've been very conscious of energy conservation (not because people are especially conscious of the environment, but because energy is such a precious resource here). The newspaper noted that Vietnamese electrical shortages are worsened because of the hot weather and low levels of water in the reservoirs in the north. I have experienced several electrical outages while here, which can be very frustrating, but of course have had similar experiences in the U.S. during a storm.
As you know, I occasionally use a xe om (motorbike taxi) to get around. Currently anyone with a motorbike and 2 helmets can be a xe om, but the Ministry of Transportation is considering a new law requiring them to be licensed and to wear a uniform. This could be potentially nice for the tourist because they would look more professional and you would have a greater sense of trust in a registered driver. As they have found out in Thailand, where xe om drivers must register and wear a vest, it is very difficult to enforce the law and some drivers simply wear false vests.
After visiting the Old Quarter of Hanoi last week, I was interested in the piece about a government plan to relocate some people from the Old Quarter of Hanoi to newer housing about 8 kilometers away. Evidently there are 84,000 residents living in 4,341 houses in the Old Quarter, and as many as 75 percent of these houses are in such delapidated condition that they risk collapse. People are reluctant to move--not just because they don't want to leave their homes, but also because the Old Quarter is where all the tourists are, and moving would affect their livelihood.
Okay, that's the news for tonight. It continues to rain, and tomorrow morning I'm off to the Central Highlands!
