Life in Ottawa continues to treat me well. I think my lack of major bouts of loneliness and existential angst has kept me from posting more often. In the time since my last post, spring has come. I think I have appreciated it a bit more after a real winter... Actually, to mark the occasion, I had a party in early April. The party was good, although not quite on the same level as the Chinese New Year party a few months before.
My spring life in Ottawa is not much different from my winter life, only minus the snowboarding, and plus the ability to spend time outside. The Economists: Dining and Social Club continues to go strong, the barbeque has been getting lots of use, the bike is out, and I have been drinking beer on patios. Actually, it has been a good spring.
Work has been quite interesting lately. In the middle of May, I went to Vietnam for a meeting with ASEAN. It was a lot of work to prepare for everything, and it was a fair amount of work on the ground in Ho Chi Minh city, but it was a very interesting experience. Most of all, I was surprised by how much of the meeting was scripted. In the weeks leading up to the meeting, I had gathered briefs and talking points from other divisions in the department and put them together for my DG. In the end, there was one single document which contained pretty much everything my DG had to say in the meeting. From the way that everything proceeded, I had the feeling that our counterparts were similarly prepared. I suppose this makes sense in that it makes everything run more smoothly, but it was a bit surprising none the less.
I stayed on in Vietnam for a few more days to do a bit of travel. It has been a long time since I had really traveled. Two years since I had been to Asia, and almost as long since I had been to a new city. The experience reminded me that I love exploring. I got lots of pleasure by just walking around the crowded streets of Ho Chi Minh city, getting lost and getting myself found again.
The city its self is quite exciting. It is very much Asia, with the people, shops, humidity, scooters, etc... I was also surprised at the extent to which it did not seem communist. There were very few (I only found two) communist style apartment blocks, and no grand communist style boulevards. Somewhat like other cities in Asia, the city's scale was based on the shop house, but since land was expensive and the economy was developing, the former shop houses were transformed into very narrow five to eight story buildings. There was even very little in the way of large condo or office developments.
The other striking feature of the city is the scooters. The streets are chock full of them, everyone seems to ride one. In fact, one of the easiest ways to spot a tourist in the central areas of the city is to look on the sidewalks, as the locals are almost invariable in the streets on their scooters. Interestingly, while the abundance of scooters makes for slow traffic, as they are so maneuverable, the traffic never actually stops. This is an important distinction from other traffic-filled Asian cities.
While in Vietnam, I also managed to go to a nearby beach called Mui Ne. It was very beautiful, and although it was more developed than I was expecting, it was still quite reasonably priced. The beach there also reminded me of all of the other beaches I had been to in SE Asia - Koh Samui, Tioman, Bintan, Pengor, Rai Lay, etc... I became nostalgic for those days... especially because I was there alone... After an early and lonely night, I woke up to find that there was a large group of young European expats who were doing internships in Ho Chi Minh city staying at the same bungalow place as me. From there on, my beach time became more interesting with beach volley ball and playing boules with some French people. The whole thing really brought me back to my Singapore exchange, only now I was just a tourist, looking from the outside in... I wonder if I will ever get to be an expat... How is it that I am already so nostalgic for days gone by?...
My spring life in Ottawa is not much different from my winter life, only minus the snowboarding, and plus the ability to spend time outside. The Economists: Dining and Social Club continues to go strong, the barbeque has been getting lots of use, the bike is out, and I have been drinking beer on patios. Actually, it has been a good spring.
Work has been quite interesting lately. In the middle of May, I went to Vietnam for a meeting with ASEAN. It was a lot of work to prepare for everything, and it was a fair amount of work on the ground in Ho Chi Minh city, but it was a very interesting experience. Most of all, I was surprised by how much of the meeting was scripted. In the weeks leading up to the meeting, I had gathered briefs and talking points from other divisions in the department and put them together for my DG. In the end, there was one single document which contained pretty much everything my DG had to say in the meeting. From the way that everything proceeded, I had the feeling that our counterparts were similarly prepared. I suppose this makes sense in that it makes everything run more smoothly, but it was a bit surprising none the less.
I stayed on in Vietnam for a few more days to do a bit of travel. It has been a long time since I had really traveled. Two years since I had been to Asia, and almost as long since I had been to a new city. The experience reminded me that I love exploring. I got lots of pleasure by just walking around the crowded streets of Ho Chi Minh city, getting lost and getting myself found again.
The city its self is quite exciting. It is very much Asia, with the people, shops, humidity, scooters, etc... I was also surprised at the extent to which it did not seem communist. There were very few (I only found two) communist style apartment blocks, and no grand communist style boulevards. Somewhat like other cities in Asia, the city's scale was based on the shop house, but since land was expensive and the economy was developing, the former shop houses were transformed into very narrow five to eight story buildings. There was even very little in the way of large condo or office developments.
The other striking feature of the city is the scooters. The streets are chock full of them, everyone seems to ride one. In fact, one of the easiest ways to spot a tourist in the central areas of the city is to look on the sidewalks, as the locals are almost invariable in the streets on their scooters. Interestingly, while the abundance of scooters makes for slow traffic, as they are so maneuverable, the traffic never actually stops. This is an important distinction from other traffic-filled Asian cities.
While in Vietnam, I also managed to go to a nearby beach called Mui Ne. It was very beautiful, and although it was more developed than I was expecting, it was still quite reasonably priced. The beach there also reminded me of all of the other beaches I had been to in SE Asia - Koh Samui, Tioman, Bintan, Pengor, Rai Lay, etc... I became nostalgic for those days... especially because I was there alone... After an early and lonely night, I woke up to find that there was a large group of young European expats who were doing internships in Ho Chi Minh city staying at the same bungalow place as me. From there on, my beach time became more interesting with beach volley ball and playing boules with some French people. The whole thing really brought me back to my Singapore exchange, only now I was just a tourist, looking from the outside in... I wonder if I will ever get to be an expat... How is it that I am already so nostalgic for days gone by?...
