Monday, October 13, 2008

Wind, rain and haiku


Woke up this morning to gale force winds and rain - not good for butterfly watching! Lien, the principal investigator, took us instead to visit the local school where we caused a bit of commotion with screams and shouts of "Halo" and "Nice to meet you" from the school kids clamouring around us like we were celebrities! We were invited up to the principal's office (a long time since I've been there!) for tea and he told us a bit about the school. The emphasis for Vietnamese children is to study english and business then on to university level as it is these skills which can help get them a job the easiest. School sizes are small because of the population of the region, (600 people live in Tam Dao village) but they still do not have enough teachers.

The next plan was to visit the local waterfall but with the wind still whipping up a gale and the rain still falling steadily Lien decided the walk would be too dangerous and we were left to our own devices until lunch. So what do you do when it's wet outside and nothing to do? A couple of team members decided to have an international haiku contest with Japanese, Russian and American versions. Lisa managed to top everyone's with a particularly naughty limerick which cannot be repeated on here, but I will publish Steve's haiku about butterflies as soon as I can get him to recite it to me again...

1 comment:

criticaldee said...

Been meaning to read your blog. First, had to change back to my proper Blogger ID. Food sounds interesting, assuming you've taken lots of photos, was amused reading about your close encounters with bugs. Sounds like you have full repellant gear. I can sympathise somewhat as I found it annoying in India taking anti-malaria medication and spraying myself with DDT.

My tips for flying: don't drink any alcohol, drink heaps of water or juices, as soon as you enter the plane and sit down adjust your watch for the timezone you're about to enter into and think as though you're in that timezone already. I find good earplugs or album can put you off to sleep for short periods. Expose yourself to sunshine upon arrival.

Back in Melbourne they just announced the St. Jerome's Laneway Festival Lineup which is fantastic. It is now the must attend festival for the summer. My picks: El Guincho, Four Tet, Daedelus, Stereolab, Girl Talk & Architecture in Helsinki.