Working hard and the cat

Policeman hard at work

Over the past few weeks I've been working pretty hard which means I've not been up to that much interesting stuff. I've picked up lots of extra teaching hours which will last until the end of July when the semester finishes. I'm working 7 days a week until this time but Its OK as its my choice and I quite enjoy the work. It's also good as whilst I'm working hard I'm not spending money so I'm saving a nice bit of money. I have two weeks off after the end of July so am already looking at my next trip. I will probably be to the north and / or central Vietnam. 

Gardeners hard at work

I'm still playing football twice a week and darts. Both are good fun. We had a work social yesterday and which had a raffle with some excellent prizes. I won a voucher for some posh tea at this shop called 'Operation Tea' I shall look forward to going to cash that one in.

Pictures this week are just random ones I've taken at various points over the past month or so. Rainy season is here and we are getting some great down pours!

Shifty looking man

Probably the only news work mentioning is the cat is back to its old tricks. Since it can't get into our house its taken to dumping in the corner of our porch. I've found two to date. Fortunately they are outside the - what I like to call - walking zone so I took the decision to leave them and see what happens in the hope that some sort of magic fairy would clean it up. 

I'm pleased to say this worked! However it turns out it was our cleaner who cleaned up the mess. This made me feel a bit guilty as although we pay her the going rate its not nearly enough to deal with things like this. Plus it must have been the first thing that greeted her as she pulled up outside our house. It's not what you want first thing in the morning.

The sugar cane industry

The one and only sugar cane man

I've been very busy at work this week so have nothing new of interest to report.

One thing people are fascinated by and that I frequently get asked about by people who read my blog is 'sugar cane man', seen in the picture to the left doing his rounds. This chap goes around the city selling raw sugar cane from the back of his bicycle. It looks like tough work but I used to see him lots which means there must be a big demand for the stuff. This has led many people to ask me questions. Who buys the sugar cane? where does he get it? what happens to the sugar cane?

typical sugar cane retailer

Due to these questions, over the past several months I've been researching the sugar cane industry to get some answers.

Well, it turns out that sugar cane man sells his raw sugar cane to the numerous sugar cane stalls across the city. The picture to the right is of a typical sugar cane retail outlet. Notice the sugar cane retailer happily posing in the right of the photo.

What happens is they buy the sugar cane and put it through the machine which crushes it down to a white liquid called sugar cane juice.

Sugar cane consumer

You can see the rotating arm on the left side of the sugar cane machine above.

The sugar cane juice is then stored, mixed with ice, orange juice and sugar to make a refreshing drink. It retails for about 25,000 VND ($1.25) for a cup.

This is then sold to the sugar cane consumers as demonstrated by me with some sugar cane juice I had on monkey Island recently.

The locals here love this stuff. It is quite nice but pretty sweet.

typical sugar cane farmer

The only question I can not answer is where sugar cane man gets his sugar cane from. I know that sugar cane is grown by the sugar cane farmer as shown in the picture to the right. but I'm unsure as to whether sugar cane is purchased directly from the farmer or some type of intermediary such as a wholesaler. I'm not sure how to find this out.

I could ask sugar cane man but he doesn't speak any English and was not happy with me posing in a photo with him when I saw him last.

So just to summarise. We can see below the sugar can supply chain which gives us a good idea as to how the industry works.

The sugar cane supply chain

As you can see the only missing gap is the uncertainty of the step between the sugar cane farmer and sugar cane man. I'll ask some questions and see what I can find out. As always, I'll let you know when I know.

Mui Ne - ILA's annual outing

View from the restaurant

I've just got back form a trip to  Mui Ne which was an annual outing provided by my school ILA. We left HCMC on Monday morning for the 6 hour journey to the coast. There was a total of 6 coaches full with staff and support staff.

I must say the school looked after us very well as the 4 star hotel we stayed in was possibly the best I've visited.

I shared a room with two other teachers that had a sea view and its own private pool. (See the video below).

Gardens at our resort

The gardens at the hotel were beautiful in addition to having its own private beach. We had lunch upon arrival and after a little rest there was beach games organised throughout the afternoon. I played volleyball, where my team lost in the final which was great fun and other silly water / beach games. One game involved trying to protect a bucket from having balls chucked into it whilst having your leg tied to another person. Again I got to the final and lost.

BBQ men hard at work

Beer and food was provided. In the evening we had a bar-be-cue which was probably the best I've ever had. Fresh fish, chicken, kebabs and rice dishes.

Sadly it was only an overnighter and we had to come home the next day. I didn't get to see much of Mui Ne so its definitely a place I will go back it. It was great to spend some quality time with my teacher buddies.

Garden at the resort

I'm going to be very busy for the next 8 weeks. I'm working everyday which is OK (it was my choice). Then I'll get two weeks off work and go on another trip. I may well come back to Mui Ne then as there are some cool things to do however I do really want to see the north of Vietnam at some point.

It's still pretty hot at the moment but I'm not feeling it as much as last year. Also rainy season has arrived so we are getting some pretty impressive downpour which are like walking under a shower.

The video above is of my hotel room at the resort in Mui Ne. I could have happily stayed their all week.