RMIT Fun Run 2015

Yesterday was the RMIT fun run. Its an annual 5k run organized by my University. I've been sort of getting back into my running lately which is tough as its so hot all the time but nevertheless Ive been persisting and this is my first run since leaving England nearly four years ago. 

Since I've been in Vietnam I have noticed an increase of running events, its gone form none to about 10 per year across Vietnam. These range from 5km runs to marathons. This event was scheduled to start at 7:30am in the RMIT University field and go around a riverside place just over the road from the University.

When in Vietnam and someone gives you a time it's always a good idea to check if they mean 'real time' or 'Vietnamese time'. An event starting at 7:30am in real time is 7:30am, in Vietnamese time this is anything between 7:40am and 8:30am. As it happens this event was in Vietnamese time and it started at about 7:45am. A delayed start is never an issue in England, when your in the tropics however its a little different. At this time of day you can feel the temperature rising by the minute. By the time it started I think it was already in the early to mid 30s.

Anyway, my goal was to get around without stopping and I achieved this. It took me 32m:00s which is a lot slower than the last one I did in England which took me 22m:30s. Its not a bad first event in Vietnam. I did find out after that it was in fact 6k not the 5k advertised, one of my friends used his running sat nav on the route so this make my time even more agreeable. On a further note about the heat, I really can't think of another time in my life when I was hotter that on this run. It was crazy hot and much of the route had no shade. 

Anyway it was a great start to the day and something I'll be doing again next year.

Darts update - weeks 1 - 4

So, its four weeks into the darts season and I'm afraid to say its not looking very good for the Tavern team, After four matches we are bottom of the league having only won one game. 

As you can the league table is not looking very good. One consolation is that its very close. All the teams are good and pretty evenly matched. Another good point worth noting is the match we did win was against the team currently top of the league. We also comfortably beat them.

We've got to go to some different bars which was been nice. It's just not that nice getting crushed every week. How have I played in the first four matches? Not that well. I lost my first two matches and was bottom of the individual stats out of about 50 players! Fortunately I won the next week and got some 100's to knock up my points tally, I lost my fourth match but at least I'm not bottom any more. 

I'm not practicing as much anymore due to my studying commitments which when combined with a lot better players means its going to be a tough season. However, its still good fun and I'll keep posting updates every few weeks.

This week is a cup match, bring it on!

Vietnamese Wedding

This past weekend I attended a Vietnamese wedding. One of my English friends, who I worked with at ILA, got married to his Vietnamese girlfriend. Since we worked together he has moved back to the UK and she is going with him but he came back to Vietnam to get married. I also stayed with him in London when I went home for Christmas last year and we both support Arsenal so he's a pretty good mate.

Anyway, the good news is that I was specially selected for the gig in an usher style role, like at the Cambodian wedding I went to a few years back and as you can see above this meant I got to wear a really funky gold outfit with matching hat.

The wedding was in the riverside town of Can Tho in the Mekong Delta, about three hours drive from Ho Chi Minh City. We needed to be up early for the wedding on Saturday morning so a group of us caught a bus on the Friday evening after work. 

The way it worked is that in the morning the usher party had to be up early to carry trays bearing gifts to the bride's house. You can see the tray I had to carry in the first picture and if you look carefully you will see it is a cooked piglets carcass. We caught a bus from our hotel and at precisely 9am we had to walk down a street carrying our trays which we then handed over to the bridesmaids (see below). 

After this we are invited into the house by the brides parents. The groom then went up stairs with the other guests we then waited downstairs for them to have the ceremony. 20 minutes later they came down and were married!

After this, at about 11am, we went and got changed into smart-causal wear and attended a celebratory lunch at the hotel where they were staying . There were about 200 people there and an expectation to drink lots to which I happily obliged.

It was a fantastic day and experience. Something really different and a privilege to be part of. The golden outfit was nice. Despite being a bit tight and giving me a man cleavage it had some slits down the sides to allow air circulation and was surprisingly comfortable. The actual name of the costume I was wearing is an Ao Dai. It's the Vietnamese traditional dress and if you would like to read me click on the link below.

More information on the Ao Dai

After the lunch we went back to Ho Chi Minh City. It was a long journey after such a heavy lunch but I got some sleep so it was ok. On the Sunday evening we then had another party at a hotel which involved more drinking and eating. Again great fun. It was a fantastic weekend.

Nha Khoa White Star Dentist, Ho Chi Minh City

I've been away from England for over three and a half years now and since leaving I've not been to the dentists. I'm pretty good at looking after my teeth, brushing twice a day and flossing daily, but this is a long time so a trip to the dentist was long over due. Understandably I've been putting off going, mainly because I'm in a developing country and I don't really know what to expect although I've heard good things about dentistry here. Anyway, one of my friends had recommended a place so I decided to take the plunge. The place was Nha Khoa White Star in district 1. 

I'm please to report that it went very well. The staff spoke English and had good customer service. Also amazingly after three and a half years I only had one small cavity. The place was clean with modern equipment as the picture shows below. The best bit was the price. I got my teeth scrubbed, checked, polished and the cavity filling all for the equivalent of £18.65. 

Like I said the service was good and they didn't rush. Totally It took about 40 minutes. I'd definitely recommend them and I will be going back in six months.

Return of the Saigon International Darts League - Spring Season 2015

Tonight sees the return of the Saigon International Darts league. As you may remember last season was one to remember as my team, the Tavern, won the division three title and as a result have been promoted to division two. If the couple of preseason tournaments are anything to go by its going to be tough this season however we have some new signing in the team who are apparently pretty good. This means I will have dropped down the throwing order so need to be on my toes so I don't loose my place and get cut from the team.

I've not been doing much practise so I need to get back into it. It may be tough tonight but luckily we are at home so I can go along early and get a good hours practise in before the games begin.

I'm not sure if I will be providing a game by game review this season. I might do one every two matches but we will see. There are 14 matches in the season.

I've added the first four weeks of fixtures and you can keep up to date with it on the website on the link below. I'm hoping to get 100 points again this season, obviously the matches will be tougher so I'll keep the same goal as last season. Also winning half of my games will suffice.

Link to the Saigon International Darts League website

DELTA Module 3 - starts today

Back safely in Ho Chi Minh City and have been back at work for a week now. Fortunately I didn't catch malaria, dengue fever or any other nasty disease from all those bits I got over TET. Also the journey back was a lot easier than the journey from HCMC.

Starting the third part of my teaching qualification today. This should last about three months. This is different to the first one I did as its coursework rather than an exam. I think I'll prefer this to the first one which was three hours of exams.