East Eats West

MySon Champa Temples in Vietnam

A good one hour drive from Hoi An one can found MySon, a Hindu-temple site built from the 7th until the 12th century. The Champa kingdom was beside Angkor, Siam and and the Burmese kingdom the predominant culture controlling vast areas. They fought incessantly with the Khmer and they also alternated between Hinduism and Buddhism. MySon is surrounded by lush green hills and the Ho Chi Minh Trail was not far away so the area is still littered by UXO (unexploded ordnance). The three much depilated structures are similar in style to some Angkor Buildings. The temples are built out of bricks. Myson is not as impressive as the three others major temple sites in South-East Asia of Angkor in Cambodia, Borobodur in Indonesia and Pagan in Myanmar. It is still worth a trip while being in Hoi An.

believes gold to be undervalued. For more pics click here.

While travelling my Hotel is my Castle

Being on the road for a long time means frequently changing rooms and hotels and the quality of the travel experience is heavily influenced by the hotel room and the sleep quality. The hotel or guesthouse becomes your second home and we all like nice homes! I still remembered when I embarked on my first South-East Asia trip that I was uneasy about what kind of accommodation to expect: I heard of noisy rooms, dirty bathrooms and theft. Now after years of travelling through Asia I can say that all tastes can be satisfied: from the rock-bottom budget traveller’s ten-people dorm to the non-plus-ultra beach resort. South-East Asia is the incredible versatile when it comes to accommodation and some of the world’s best hotels and resorts can be found here: e.g. Four Seasons Bali, Sukhothai Bangkok or Metropole Softiel Hanoi. Being on the road for so long and on a modest but not rock-bottom budget brings me mostly to guesthouses. In most South-East Asian countries one can find decent guesthouse for as little as 10$ with a standard room and good hygiene.

So what do I look for in accommodation? The location is always important for easy accessibility to restaurants and sites and for night time noise. The backpacker rule states that one has to at least check-out three accomodations before making a decision but sometimes it is hard to convince drivers paid on commission to drive around to different hotels. And being close to a major traffic way means mostly trouble: one night in Hoi An I got woken up at 4am by the locals getting up and speeding to work on their noisy motorcycles. Then obviously the room should be clean and with basic amenities: I often find bathrooms lacking in ventilation and tidiness. Depending on the season and location air-con or a fan are essential and some hotels even provide mosquito-nets for an undisturbed sleep. Very cheap accommodation mostly attracts a younger crowd and an after-party party in your neighbour’s room might keep you sleepless for hours! TVs can be a mixed blessings: In Luang Prabang I stayed in a nice guesthouse only to find that my neighbour was retired, an early-raiser and nearly deaf. He made sure I never missed BBC World at 7am each morning! Having a TV with BBC World and Deutsche Welle on the other hand helps to stay updated and Goga, Alex and I are somewhat addicted to watch the car-show Top Gear on BBC. Last but not least the hotel staff can make or break a stay. Good staff with honest and accurate information, like we had in Hanoi at the Hotel called “Youth Hotel” is paramount. Haggling is widely spread but sometimes you just want to be sure the deal is honest and you get what you paid for (e.g. flight tickets).

Currently I am staying in Hoi An, after changing twice hotels, at the pleasant Hai Au Hotel in a big, clean and quiet room not far from the centre for 10$ a night. This hotel offers a perfect deal of location, room, amenities and service. Sometimes it is worth to invest a bit in looking around for the best deal. One way of doing this is by using travel-websites (see my links on the left hand-side).

Enlightenment

“Enlightenmen t is like the reflection of the moon in water. The moon does not get wet and the water is not separated.”

In Zen water represents mind: when mind becomes pure and clear and is not contaminated by thoughts and emotions, it reflects a perfect image of everything around it. It sees the world, the true nature of things, without distortions. (Excerpts taken from the Book Zen in your Gardens by Jenny Hendy, picture of Kyoto Zen Garden)

The luring Power of Textile Abundance in Hoi An

Hoi An in

Vietnam

is first and foremost famous for its marvellous UNESCO-protected old town with the charming feel of old-days Indochine. The Chinese and odd Japanese structures in Hoi An date back to the 16th and 17th century. Some of the traders, especially from China, settled down in Hoi An and started small business. These former traders nowadays still uphold their generation-old trades and skills. Because of those generation-old skills Hoi An is also famous for its beautifully hand-made silk lanterns with flexible bamboo framse and the hundreds of tailors who produce in one or two days or even hours tailor-made dresses, shirts, pants, suits and shoes. With silk lanterns starting at less than two dollars and most tailor-made clothes being cheaper than 50 dollars tourists quickly start on a shopping binge.

True to the Asian concept of “copy and divide” most tailor-shops look very much the same with samples of their wares standing outside together with hand-written signs with quotes from satisfied customers. Also the sales rep, mostly girls, phrases from “have a look” to “hello, do you buy clothes” are very much the same. Inside the shops’ drawers and closets are nearly breaking under the huge cotton and silk samples. Most shops just take the measures of the clients and send them to dedicated tailors working in and around Hoi An. Walking around Hoi An one’s gaze ultimately rests on the many designs and dresses on display and it slowly dawned on me that the concept of abundance in the display of goods (called “Warendruck” among retailers) that creates the urge to buy (also seen in modern-day shopping malls) must have been invented by the Chinese traders.

Eclectic Fusion Food at the Mango Room Restaurant in Hoi An

For most Europeans the combination of sweet and spicy flavors in one dish is strange and foreign. I vividly remember when I first had fresh pineapple with sugar and chili and the first taste set my mouth on fire! Too quickly this unusual combination gets qualified as too spicy and therefore unpleasant. In most Asian cuisines, Thai and Vietnamese in particular, the delicate mix of different sweet and spicy flavors is essential and has its own distinctiveness. Spice brings out the flavor in many foods, giving it a spin and challenges traditional expectations. After getting used to the combination of spicy, hearty and sweet flavors in one dish one starts to discover different shades of spiciness and slowly starts to appreciate those unusual combinations. Some spices for example burn on the tongue, others in the mouth and some even in the throat and the stomach way after the meal. With a huge variety of different Asian spices from different chilies and peppers (the Cambodian for example have their own very tasty Pepper) a skilled cook tickles one’s taste buds and creates a true firework in one’s mouth. Duc, the cosmopolitan Vietnamese owner and cook of the restaurant Mango Rooms in Hoi An, comes up with surprising combinations of flavors and creates a wide panorama of taste sensations unheard of in the Europe. Here are three creations of Duc: Number one is called Asian Sins Noodles with Shrimps - Quick wok-fried local rice noodles cooked “al dente” with Vietnamese ginger, pepper, brown sugar, juicy tomatoes, onion slices and fresh-water shrimps. Even my travel companion Alexander Drews, a self-proclaimed pasta-lover, was startled by this extraordinary combination! Creation number two called Salsahsimi was Sashimi Tuna Steak with Mango Salsa – Tuna steak quickly fried on the outside on a spicy-sweet Mango Salsa bed with rice noodles on a pepper-dressing served with soy sauce and Japanese Wasabi. And for desserts I had crispy Mango-Wontons with coconut droplets served on a banana leaf and chocolate sauce – a heavenly delight!

The Mango Rooms restaurant can be found at 111 Nguyen Thai Hoc or send them an email: mangocafe@yahoo.com

The Future of the Global Workplace

In an interview with McKinsey Quarterly online (see Link below) Jeff Joerres, chairman and CEO of Manpower, talks about the future of the global workplace that faces a rapidly aging workforce in the West with outsourcing pressure from the East. Both everywhere the search for talents is back on again.

Joerres states that companies in recent years have become very lean and squeezing costs and headcounts. Now if they run into problems they quickly run out of staff and talent and the company comes to a halt. Therefore temporary employment is on the increase, not in order to squeeze insurance costs, but to keep pace with growth. Put differently: after laying off talented people for over years now they face a new talent shortage. For big companies temporary staff is nowadays about workforce optimization not cost cutting. According to Joerres technology is also driving the skill requirements: being a webmaster was hot a few years ago and nowadays programs can do the job. Staying atop of the game and improve your skills is crucial. The problem is that most big companies are so lean the have not the time to retrain their employees. Joerres sees one solution in having the government creating incentive for retraining, especially for the older workforce. Additionally he thinks that more flexible work schedules have to be used. Joerres also points out that in laying off people and the constant change employees feel more disenfranchised from their companies and creating a company culture is the challenge for CEOs and HR today. He also feels that for the Fortune 20 companies outsourcing (what he calls labor arbitrage) is completed and it is back to find and nurturing talents.

For China the biggest challenge is to find qualified line managers. Multinationals in particular look for talent but so far their efforts have been frustrating. In addition local companies start to compete with multinationals for talents. In India finding talent is apparently less of a problem then the attrition rates. There are also huge differences between different Indian cities when it comes to skills and culture. Joerres think the biggest mistake a company in Asia can make is to have a expat management team in place and do not get locals on board: you have to invest in the locals.

Read the interview here

Comments on the Thai Justice System II

Thank you Krasin Pongtornpipat for further elaborating on the Thai Justice system. Again his comments are very enlightening. Read his comments here.

Comments on the Thai Justice System

Krasin Pongtornpipat made some very interesting comments about my blog entry The unruly Law in South-East Asia. I would like to remark that foreigners publishing books about the Thai Justice and Prison system are clearly biased and do not represent the majority of cases. As Krasin points out many times cases are handled properly according to the law and my two articles might represents extreme cases. Every justice system makes mistakes but a democracy should make sure that there are enough check and balances to discover such mistakes.

Nevertheless the quick death penalties handed out to the fisher-men who supposedely rapped the tourist a few weeks after the crime casts some doubt about the legal system, at least in extreme public cases like this.

Read his comments here:

http://easteatswest.typepad.com/east_eats_west/2005/12/the_unruly_law_.html

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Rice Paper Factory in Hoi An

On my back from Eric’s workshop I saw rice paper drying in the sun. I stopped and got invited by the owner of the shop to have a tour of his small and ancient Rice Paper Factory. His family has been producing rice paper for spring rolls for over four generations and still his mom sits besides the fire and produces hundreds of round rice paper wavers every day. They deliver the wavers to all Hoi An restaurants and produce 150kg a week of rice paper. On the compound of their factory is also the ancient family house in traditional Hoi An built and over 150 years old. Besides producing rice paper the family owns a nice traditional resort next door with over forty rooms. Regardless their now considerable income the extended family (he has nine brothers and sisters) still live in the humble ancient house and a simple newer structure next door. I was impressed by how proud the family is of their ancient trade and I got a glimpse why fresh spring rolls taste extraordinarily good.