Antidote to Burnout

Long time no post....

Virtual Doug recently presented several potential reasons for his not posting for a long time on his blog.  Missing the muses was one of them.  I have definitely missed the muses over the past month and a half.  My last posting was just prior to leaving for San Francisco, and now that I have returned to Ho Chi Minh City, I am relaxed enough to get back to the blog.

Doug concluded that he had "stopped observing the world", and I heartily agree that observing the world is perhaps the major impetus to most blog postings.  That is certainly true of Doug and his blog where there have been more interesting observations and profound conclusions about life per inch of posting than any other blog I read (over two hundred a day, not all of whom post daily).

In my case though, I have been accumulating photographs and ideas for blog items, but I simply have not had the desire to write the posts.  Writing is not a natural activity for me -- I really have to work at it and edit many times.  So it does take the prodding of the muses to keep me writing, and when they take a holiday, I stop writing.  And the holidays do take a lot of psychic energy, time, and attention.

Now that the Christmas season is over and I am back in Vietnam, the Tết season is upon us, and it requires some of the same psychic energy, even though I am not directly participating.  The logistics of surviving these long holidays in Asia are a major part of the time and attention taken away from other desirable pursuits.  Of course there are also the emotional benefits and cultural experiences gained from observing these holidays that outweighs all the stress in the end.

This year, I have been invited to the family home of a Vietnamese friend of mine.  We will be taking a long bus ride to the hills of Dắk Lắk Province in central Việt Nam, around Buôn Ma Thuôt, where the famous rich coffee of Việt Nam is grown.  I hope to capture many good photographs and observations, but I don't know that I will have internet access while out in the country.  If not, there will be another couple of weeks of no posting, and thereafter a potential flood of postings.  I am looking for the muses to be back inspiring with a cattle prod.

FPT's bandwidth limitations in Vietnam

Vietnam's economic growth is clearly outpacing its ability to get supporting infrastructure in place.  The increasing traffic jams are evidence of the lack of highways and the need for mass transit alternatives.  New housing developments and industrial parks are located out of the city along narrow country lanes that can't support the increased car and truck traffic.

Closer to home, the bandwidth available from our internet service provider, FPT, has been steadily decreasing over the past couple of months.   I notice that a few of my neighbors now have computers, and they have probably hooked onto the network.  As more and more neighbors buy computers and internet hookups, the service will continue to decline unless the service providers increase capacity.  FPT seems to be slow in doing so.

Kevin over at the blog SaigonNezumi.com just wrote about his frustrations at the the lack of bandwidth in the same neighborhood over the past couple of days.  I am thankful for his voice here because I was beginning to believe this was my problem.  We had called FPT for service, and they came over and were mystified why we clearly had a connection to the internet, but could not bring up a webpage.  They suggested that we needed to buy a new modem.  If they are having widespread bandwidth problems, and I assume their other customers call for service, wouldn't they have the smarts to figure out they had a problem and were honest with their customers about the problem and what FPT planned to do about it?  They either lack the smarts or are dishonest with their customers.  Neither reason speaks well of the future of this company in a country that is becoming increasingly sophisticated about good service.

Mixing blogs....

I have been struggling lately with the idea of starting a second blog to focus on design and business issues in Vietnam.  Conventional blog management wisdom says that one should focus on a niche market and build up brand identity.  Noodlepie was the prime example of this type, focusing almost solely on Sai Gon street food and drink.  Pieman rarely if ever posted personal information on his blog.  Of course his success rode largely, in my opinion, on his lively writing style, which is its own niche.

Many expat blogs in Viet Nam are personal chronicles or observations of life in Viet Nam, which is another niche market.  Those looking for information on expat life in Ho Chi Minh City will surely find it in blogs like Charvey in Vietnam and It's the Final Word.

I have tried to make my own blog my means of communication about life in HCMC to my relatives and friends back in the USA, and I would like to continue towards that goal.  Along the way, I hope I also contribute some different perspectives on Vietnamese culture and society.

At this point in my expat life though, I have much more to say about design and business in Vietnam.  But I cannot find the time and energy to feed two beasts at the same time.  So I am going to start breaking the rules by mixing business and design issues with Vietnamese cultural and societal issues.  Hang in with me while I sort out how to please two constituencies in one blog.

And we think we are the most active bloggers in Viet Nam...

While Charvey and The Final Word were dutifully chronicling the Blog Summit of the three most active HCMC bloggers held last night, I took advantage of my wife being away to head down to the Saxn'art Jazz Club afterward.  I got there just in time for the beginning of the first set featuring the virtuoso Vietnamese saxophonist Tran Manh Tuan.  Trained at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, Tran mixes creative contemporary jazz sounds with traditional Vietnamese music, and is a great showman.

Back at the Blog Summit, charvey in vietnam (Chris Harvey), The final Word...in Saigon (Jon Hoff) and I gave credit to noodlepie for increasing traffic to our young blogs by including us on his Vietnam blog list.  But it is interesting to note how quickly a local English-language blog scene changes -- the stars of last year have moved on:  noodlepie left Viet Nam for France after 8 to 9 years here.  No Star Where returned to the U.S.  The rice bowl stopped posting last February.  Down and Out in Sài Gòn and Diacritic remain in Saigon, but post infrequently nowadays.  And the most thoughtful blog of all of us, Virtual-Doug, has returned to the U.S., but continues to compare Vietnamese mores with American life.

In Hanoi, there has been a slowing of English-language blog postings, with Target Vietnam and Xe Maybe not posting for a long time, and even the prolific food bloggers Stickyrice are slowing down.  HanoiMark returned to Canada but left for us valuable archives of his observation of social mores.  Our Man in Hanoi continues to grace us with his thoughtful and heartfelt commentary, but he has announced his leaving next spring.

I keep qualifying these blogs as English-language blogs, because we expats sometimes forget that there should be many Vietnamese-language blogs out there too.  So while we three expat HCMC bloggers meet for a very staid dinner and conversation, noodlepie informs us that over a hundred Vietnamese bloggers met in Hanoi recently for an "offline party".  Be sure to view the YouTube video offered at noodlepie's posting -- we expats are so restrained compared to these fun-loving Vietnamese, who seem to have no inhibitions towards performing for each other.  noodlepie picked up the video and chronicle of the event from the Elmoooh's English-language blog, but Elmoooh also writes a Vietnamese blog that has more videos of the Hanoi Bloggers event.  Elmoooh describes the event as

"After laughing-guts-out kinky ticklish games in the morning, we headed for lunch before coming back to the everyone-knows-what-it-is "section" Karaoke."

Whoa!  Am I out of it or what in my old age?  Can anyone translate that for me?  I want to get invited to that party next time.  No ticklish games with Charvey and Jon for sure, and no unmentionable karaoke, either.

Looking for expat bloggers who pose at experts...

The "A Rice Cracker?" posting here three weeks ago engendered ongoing contributions of comments regarding these fairly controversial issues.  Chris of the blog Charvey in Vietnam came in a little late yestersday, though, and posed a challenge to antagonists to present evidence of expat bloggers felt to be presumptiously posing as experts in a foreign location or culture.  Since this is an important direction in this thread of issues, I want to elevate it out of the relative obscurity of the comments to that posting and bring it forth in this posting where others might more easily see it and respond.  Here is the challenge:

Ok, so I've read this comment thread as well as the posts and comments in several (but not all) other blogs. I'm still confused though.

There's a lot of talk about how some small number of expat bloggers claim to be absolute experts on Vietnamese society. Obviously that's bunk. But I haven't seen one citation of this phenomenon. Could someone point to a representative post make the "expert" claim and then makes an erroneous generalization? [emphasis added by layered]  It would be good to get an unfiltered read on what all the fuss is about.

Thanks,
Chris
Posted by: charvey | 24 September 2006 at 12:44 AM

Chris, the practical point I think I learned from this exchange is that the problem is generally one of omission -- one doesn't at the outset qualify one's position to offer viewpoints of a culture not his own. In addition, bloggers (especially travel bloggers) tend to make generalizations that may not apply to an entire country or culture. I am constantly having to remind myself that the remainder of Viet Nam and Vietnamese may well be quite a bit different from what I observe in HCMC. You have lived in Washington, DC, and I in San Francisco. I think we both know that we cannot characterize America or Americans based on our experiences in those two cities.

There was an interesting interview of the noodlepie blogger in the blog Shortcut a few days ago, wherein Graham Holliday ("pieman" of noodlepie) states "I feel I have gained a real insight into the country and the people, both the good and bad. I don't think I wasted my time there. It's been educational in many ways. And of course, I learned MASSES about the food." I believe him because I know he lived in Viet Nam (both HCMC and Hanoi) for 8 to 9 years. But I am sure there are many Asians (my wife included) who might say that it would be impossible for a caucasian to ever understand an Asian culture, including its food.
-- Mel
Posted by: layered | 24 September 2006 at 09:58 PM

I couldn't disagree with you more, Mel. Although I have not lived in every city in America, I *can* make characterizations of America and Americans based on my experiences living there nearly all my life.

I also disagree with what seems to be the fundamental thrust of this thread -- that anyone living in another culture (i.e. western expats in Asia) cannot really get a sense for that culture.

The Graham Holliday quote you cite is utterly innocuous: "I feel I have gained a real insight into the country and the people, both the good and bad." I don't see him claiming to understand everything about Vietnam. He's saying that he "feels like" he has made "real insight" into the culture. And why shouldn't he? He lived there for 8 years!

Regarding whether it's impossible for a westerner ever to "understand" Asian culture (or an Asian to "understand" western culture) depends on how you define "understand." If you define it as "have identical thoughts and beliefs as a native" (a crazy high bar) then perhaps understanding is in fact impossible. If you define it as "getting a good sense for, learning the reasons behind certain customs, adopting local mannerisms (for example here in Vietnam, receiving a card with both hands) then yes, understanding is quite readily available with some effort.

Of course, a stranger in a strange land should think twice before making sweeping generalizations and presenting them as absolute truth. But I don't think we need to pour on massive disclaimers before rendering an opinion. As long as an opinion is presented as such, I just don't see a problem.

I enjoy reading raw, unvarnished opinions and impressions of bloggers of all stripes and nationalities. Keep those posts coming!

Posted by: charvey | 24 September 2006 at 11:16 PM

Chris, OK, I agree with you that the Graham Holliday quotation is innocuous -- maybe not "utterly", but at least "fairly". My concern is for others who will disagree on principle that a non-Asian cannot possibly begin to really understand Asian culture. I agree with you that we need to hear from these people, if there are any -- I may be overly concerned.

I shouldn't use locations like Washington, DC, then as an example of a place different from the remainder of the USA since I have not lived there (although I have visited my older daughter who lives and works there several times). But I know that as one who lived in San Francisco for over thirty years, I find it hard sometimes to understand the remainder of America and Americans. It takes travel to other places (like my annual trips home to Montana) to remind me how interestingly different San Francisco and its citizens are from mainstream America. The point is, I have to remind myself of this difference and seek out ways to better understand America, whether that be more diverse media and blog sources, or bettter yet, travel and discussions.

Chris, since we're kind of hidden here in this old thread of comments, I am going to copy our latest discussion to a posting today, in the hopes of drawing a response to your original challenge to cite some specific blog examples of expat experts.
thanks,
-- Mel
Posted by: layered | 25 September 2006 at 12:23 PM

Looking to global voices beyond my postings...

The value of any blog often lies in the comments available at the end of each posting.  It is the interaction between blog author and readers in the form of reader comments that amplifies and clarifies the author's ideas expressed in the blog posting.

The posting below on "A Rice Cracker?" is a prime example.  Click on the Comments button at the bottom of the posting and you will find 13 comments that offer far more than than the original transfer of ideas I expressed in the posting itself.  Many of these commenters have much more developed ideas than I have about this subject, and many of them write much better than I do.

This is why I love writing and reading blogs so much -- I especially respect and enjoy good writing and insightful ideas, even though I struggle at both myself.

For a moment in time here online, I have met some new friends with ideas to compare with mine.  Even though we may not meet again online for a long time, they have helped me to clarify my ideas, and I have learned a little bit about them, although it is such a small sampling that there is no way to picture these new friends accurately at all.  It helps to point the way, though, to their blogs where a better but still fuzzy picture begins to emerge about a person.

As more and more foreigners (both tourists and expats) flood into and multiply in Viet Nam over the next few years, these topics will become even more important.  Many of these new foreigners will be insensitive to the Vietnamese society and people, which will lead to misunderstandings and resentments.  Therefore discussions like this might help a little bit in providing resources to tourists and expats as they prepare to travel through or live and work in Viet Nam.  Mark just published an article on the Harvard Law School blog Global Voices (Vietnam page) that summarized  for us the sensitivity and humility foreigners bloggers should consider in observing and writing about Vietnamese life.

I give thanks to Mark for writing his article and for him and all of the commenters on my posting below for enriching our understanding of these ideas and for the beauty and intelligence of their writing.

A Rice Cracker?

D. has posted a provocative thread of ideas on his blog VA to VN entitled "Everyone's an expert" (5 September 2006).  He points us to the website Ethnically Incorrect Daughter, published by what he describes as a "conflicted Vietnamese adoptee."  He writes,

"One of her posts spoke about how some ex-pats return from a stint abroad with a greater sense of "understanding" of the foreign culture than they truly have obtained. It was a riff off of this post from What Happened to Your Hair? These two posts stirred within me a latent impression of a few of the expat discussions on blogs and forums. It seems everyone thinks they're an expert - be it from two weeks or two years in a foreign land, all the while living high on the hog......It's wholly presumptuous to think that you've done anything other than scratching the surface of a culture and a society when you don't (1) speak the language (2) look like a local - even a fat V.K. doesn't cut it - and (3) earn a living like everyone else. It's great that you've used your passport, it's great that you've learned to order beer in a foreign language. But, for god sakes, realize that hundreds of thousands of other people have done this - they're called immigrants. They just don't blog about it."

D.'s link to the posting on the blog What Happened to Your Hair? is entitled "The Rice Cracker" on 26 August 2006, written by Kev Minh of Seattle -- here is an excerpt:

"What is it with white American males who travel to a foreign country and come back presuming they "know" a whole culture? Are we to believe that these men are outfitted with an osmosis/camouflage gene that allows them to travel to a foreign country and soak up its essence and blend into the native surroundings in order to fraternize with the locals? Then, they return home, book and movie deal already in hand, to write and speak extensively about their exotic adventures and proclaim their expertise in the field? Of course, I'm being facetious, but do notice that I am denigrating a certain annoying characterstic called "White privilege". In the White privilege paradigm the tendency is to speak one's mind as if it were the bible-truth, without reservation or qualification, and convince oneself that apologies and concessions are for weaklings."

Well, that thread of ideas has certainly caused me to reflect on my own motivations and identity as an American blogger writing about my observations in Viet Nam.  Here's my starting point:
1.  I am a white American male.
2.  I have been in Viet Nam now for seven months, but have not yet returned to America, so that makes me an expat at this time.
3.  I don't speak the Vietnamese language or any language other than English, but I am currently trying hard to learn Vietnamese.  It appears that this is going to take a very long time, but my current intentions are to live in Viet Nam for a long time.  In the meantime, I can definitely order beer (bia) in the Vietnamese language.
4.  I definitely don't look like a local, but I have made a choice to live among locals rather than the expat areas of Ho Chi Minh City.  My Chinese-Vietnamese wife looks like a local, but the locals recognize her easily (I don't know how) as a Việt Kiều (an overseas or returned Vietnamese).
5.  We do and don't earn money like the locals -- there are many Vietnamese real estate developers in this rather closed market here, and we are trying to compete or work with them.  Typically, developers work for nothing until an income stream from their projects comes online.  For us, it appears that this will be several years from now if all the risk factors fall my firm's way.  In the meantime, we live off savings.  Therefore we try to live at the same economic level of our Vietnamese neighbors.
6.  I don't have a book or movie deal in hand, but I do enjoy publishing my experiences and observations in my blog.

I definitely feel that I have achieved some understanding of the circumstances and culture of Vietnamese life, and I enjoy offering my observations for the possible benefit of those who will follow me in the coming investment rush to Viet Nam.  But the longer I am here, the more I realize how much more I have to experience and learn.  I have come to understand that it would be presumptuous to think that I have done anything other than scratch the surface of the Vietnamese culture and society.  But I want to try to understand as much as I can.  My real fascination with Việt Nam is its people and their friendliness, and with their culture and approach to life.  There is much for me to learn here.

So do I stand on "White privilege"?  Preya raised a similar question last March in her blog Dreaming of Hanoi.  My answer then, as it is now:

"If one grants that a westerner's base motives for going overseas are at heart a search for validation of western culture over other cultures (even if this is mostly subconscious to us), then the opposite might be gained in the course of living in an overseas culture -- we learn things about other peoples and their cultures that open new perspectives and appreciations for us.  What we learn strikes out what we thought we knew or hoped we would find.  Ideally, the new balances out the old preconceptions.  I am not saying this is true for everyone who visits overseas cultures, but I am striving to make it true for me."

Yes, I do tend to offer my experiences and observations on my blog without enough reference to "reservation or qualification".  I assume too often that most readers will read my "about" and "essential" postings to understand my privileged background and put my postings in the context of that background and current stated intentions.

But I think Sume of the blog Ethnically Incorrect Daughter has a good solution -- she wrote in a comment to Kev Minh's posting: "Why not take them head on, pick their opinions apart, point out the flaws and show them for the experts they're NOT? At the very least, make it known that their's is not the only opinion out there."

I might not like it, but I hope I would learn from the experience of others challenging the gross generalizations to which I know I am prone.  I hope that these challenges would come from Vietnamese people themselves.  I attempt to ask questions and try out my ideas on the Vietnamese around me, but they too reflect a limited cross-section of the population and culture.  I am sure I could learn a lot about Vietnamese life and culture from reading Vietnamese blogs if I could read Vietnamese.

As for immigrants not blogging about their experiences, I suspect there are some that do.  We need to find them so that we can better understand what they think about their adopted land and people, and thus we learn about ourselves as we meet them.

Keeping up with the world...

Living half-way around the world from your roots requires adaptation to the local culture and economy.  Nevertheless, you do not have to leave everything you are accustomed to behind.  Here are the joys of modern technology that bring my roots to me as needed:

1.  Using Skype, I keep in touch with my business partner in the USA every day.  The easy conferencing ability of Skype allows us to bring in other parties as necessary.  We talk with my inlaws in China and L.A. almost everyday, using the Skype conferencing ability.  I am still working on my side of the family to get on Skype.
2.  Using AIM and MSN Messenger, I chat with my younger daughter daily, friends in Bahrain and China, as well as some local Vietnamese business people who are more comfortable typing in English than speaking over the phone.
3.  Using iChat, we do video conferences with my older daughter in Washington, D.C.
4.  Using my IPod + iTunes, I keep up with my favorite musicians.
5.  Using online radio streaming, I listen to my favorite world music broadcasts weekly -- Tangents on San Francisco KALW 91.7 every Saturday night 8:00 pm to midnight Pacific Daylight Time. (Sunday morning my time), and Charlie Gillett's Sounds of the World every Saturday night 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm British Summer Time on BBC London (I can listen anytime because they archive each weekly show right away).
6.  I don't miss my favorite daily and Sunday morning comic strips because I can reach them every day on the internet.  I also keep up with my favorite newspapers daily, as well as English-language Vietnamese papers.  I get Newsweek Magazine weekly online.
7.  I can make sure I stay financially solvent back in the USA through on-line banking and brokerage.
8.  I indulge in what my wife calls my need to brag daily through my TypePad blog, and post my latest photos on the blog as well as Flickr.

I know that my blogger friends will find the above rather commonplace, but all of this thrills me every day, considering I went to school in the pre-calculator days of the world.  And of course all of these technologies are heavily used by young Vietnamese every day with the possible exception of online banking and publicly accessible blogs.

Life is Good...

I am back in the game with my new ADSL connection to my house.  No more internet cafes until we travel out of town.  We have actually had it for a few days now, and I have been too busy catching up with the world to write new blog postings.

Kudos to the FPT company for great customer service and fast installation of a line into my house.  Regular readers of the Xe Maybe blog will recognize this Vietnamese company as the company where Russell of Xe Maybe works.

Meeting Virtual Doug and MGB in Hue....

We have been traveling the past week on a business trip to our potential resort construction site in Quy Nhon, a city on the east coast of Viet Nam midway between Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City.  We also went to Da Nang and Hoi An south of Da Nang to visit resorts and get a sense of the competition.

Since we were up that way, we decided to drop in on Virtual Doug and the Mystery Guest Blogger (MGB) in Hue.  I have written before about how the blogging community is a real community even though we might not ever meet in person:

• What arises in the give-and-take of blog postings and comments is the development of "community".  This is what I am most thrilled about as I continue posting to my blog, reading other blogs that influence me, and especially, contributing comments to other blogs and receiving comments on mine.

• I may never meet personally most of the bloggers in my new community (and that community is constantly morphing into new sizes and shapes), but for fleeting moments, I feel a very direct relationship with each of them as I read and contribute to the discussions in this community.

In this case, Virtual Doug and I had resolved to meet sometime in person, and our business trip gave us the opportunity.  Doug and his wife MGB were very gracious to us, and we thank them very much for the two dinners we had with them and the conversations we had.  They introduced us to Mr. Cu and the Mandarin Cafe and his beautiful photographs.

We appreciate the volunteer work they are doing on behalf of Vietnamese people in Hue.

Blogging Community

Virtual-Doug posted a very captivating piece on relationships in Vietnam, based on a series of dialogues  between buyer and seller.  Doug's point was that commercial relationships in Vietnam (and the prices you pay) are based on repeat business and tending of the personal knowledge between the buyer and seller -- health, weather, family, etc.

I know that most of the readers of this blog (family and friends) don't normally read blogs and may not be familiar with the click-throughs necessary to get to deeper levels of the discussion.  The comments at the bottom of each posting are an opportunity to either contribute your insight to the discussion, or read the contributions of others that enhance the ideas in the original posting.

If you click on the comments button under Virtual-Doug's posting on relationships, you can see that the discussion went off in two or three directions based on his idea of relationships, moving towards "cultural capital" and "community".  Doug's insights on relationships were thus enhanced by others' contributions.  These comments also provide important feedback to the blog author, resulting in new ideas and inspiration to continue blogging.

What arises in the give-and-take of blog postings and comments is the development of "community".  This is what I am most thrilled about as I continue posting to my blog, reading other blogs that influence me, and especially, contributing comments to other blogs and receiving comments on mine.

I may never meet personally most of the bloggers in my new community (and that community is constantly morphing into new sizes and shapes), but for fleeting moments, I feel a very direct relationship with each of them as I read and contribute to the discussions in this community.

I encourage my family and friends to follow the links to other blog postings and try contributing a comment here and there.  I believe you will be quickly drawn into this community yourself -- it takes a lot of time, but it is worth it.  Send an email to me if you need any help with posting comments.

Acknowledging My Inspirations

I have added a list of "Influential Blogs" to the left on this website acknowledging the blogs that I read regularly and that I looked to as examples for design, writing style, photography, and content.  I have a long way to go to match the achievements and success of the authors of these blogs, but they remain my inspiration and I will continue to improve my own blog as I learn from them over time.  In particular, both noodlepie and chez pim has been my favorite blogs over time because of the elegant design of their websites and the style and quality of their writing.

I hope my readers, many of which I know will be new to blogs, with click through to these influential blogs to get a better sense of the diversity of interesting blogs that are available to them.  In particular, Chez Pim celebrated "Blog Day" on 31 August with links to a lot of very interesting and different blogs.  If you really want to explore, try out her links.