http://soyansays.com Rub your tummy and pat your head. Soyan didn't say... Sat, 27 Jan 2007 18:39:48 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Talk about making lemonade when life hands you lemons. In Ha Long Bay off the eastern coast of Vietnam, an entire village floats on water. One room wooden houses sit atop a framework of 2X4s tied together with rope, all kept afloat by big blocks of styrofoam wrapped in blue ... http://soyansays.com/2007/01/26/styrofoam-floats/ After 2 weeks in Vietnam, we finally worked up the courage to eat at the street side food stalls. We set out with determination, along with a nice guy we met on a trip, David Kim. We figured we would have acclimatized to the local bacteria by ... http://soyansays.com/2007/01/23/food-stall-hopping-112107/ Although I am woefully behind on my blog – which would leave people to think that I am still in Vietnam somewhere - I am happy to report that we have returned to the States, safe and sound. The flight home is not something I would recommend to anyone actually needing ... http://soyansays.com/2007/01/23/and-im-back/ We signed up for a trekking trip through the hills of Sapa in northwest Vietnam, to take in the scenery and to see the traditional way of life of the ethnic minority groups, such as the H’mong and Dzai. (Check out Jonathan’s photos) Sapa seemed overrun by western tourists, and we ... http://soyansays.com/2007/01/06/talk-to-the-hand/ Forget the piece of flimsy, tiny paper shoved into a cardboard holder. Now this is a Diploma! In the central courtyard of the Temple of Literature, Vietnam’s first University built in the 11th century, are 80 of these stone stelae mounted on the back of turtles, erected for each graduating class. ... http://soyansays.com/2006/12/26/written-in-stone/ Arriving in Hanoi felt like we jumped in a time machine that zipped us back 25 years. As soon as we left the gates of the modern international airport, we were surrounded by rice paddies, with people diligently working in fields, actually wearing those classic conical straw ... http://soyansays.com/2006/12/14/zen-and-the-art-of-dodging-motorscooters/ I felt like someone had put my head inside a drum and started to pound on it. I had spent a sleepless first night in Hanoi, battling with Jonathan for the barely large enough sheet, listening to the incessant honking of motorscooters on the street, hearing the clanking of the airconditioner, ... http://soyansays.com/2006/12/09/good-morning-vietnam-whether-you-like-it-or-not/ Ten years ago, I visited Hong Kong with my parents, a place I had not been since my family moved when I was 3 years old. I found it crowded, noisy, inhabited by rude people busily rushing to and fro in a skyscraper jungle. My overwhelming impression was ... http://soyansays.com/2006/12/07/welcome-back-to-hong-kong/ I was positively giddy to be in Hong Kong. Not only did I fluently speak the local language (Cantonese), but I spoke the second most spoken language, English, even better! Ask the guy how to get to the city? No problem! Wittily chat with the taxi driver on ... http://soyansays.com/2006/12/03/talk-the-talk/ The world sometimes feels like a small place. What are the chances I would know someone who knew someone who lives in Dhulikhel, Nepal? And that I would get a thourough tour of the almost completed Basic Sciences building of the Kathmandu University medical campus? My friend Aimee, who ... http://soyansays.com/2006/11/30/gross-anatomy-amidst-rice-fields/