A Little Bit About This Place

Tam Dao

Tam Dao is located outside of Hanoi which is the capital of Vietnam. This area was designated as a nature preserve in 1977, then changed to a national park in 1996.
The altitude in the village is about 1300m or ½ mile in the air with higher mountains surrounding us. We are above the clouds.

The village that we are staying in was originally built as a getaway from the very hot and humid Hanoi for the French when they occupied the country. However, after the Vietnam pushed the French out, the locals tore down all the villas and turned it into a tourist town for the people of Hanoi and other tourist. They come up here to relax, walk around the village, and go to the small market, café’s, and sing karaoke. It’s funny when I go to bed and I hear over loud speakers in the village people singing songs in Vietnamese to Richard Marx. In the market they sell little trinkets, cobra wine (yes the cobra is in the bottle) and scorpion wine. There is a crop here that is called chayote (pronounced kind of like coyote) that produces a delicious fruit and even better greens that seems to dominate a large portion of the market.

Outside the small village is the forest which is about 50 miles in length and looks like the shape of a caterpillar. It is home to a number of species some of which I think you all will find interesting like spotted panthers, cobras, and monkeys (like Mrs. Timken). But Lien said that they are too scared of people so they are more up in the north while the village is in the south of the park.

The Vietnamese government is trying to build another road into the heart of the forest which is relatively flat. They want to build another tourist village there to attract foreign investors and bring money to this poor country. However, if this is done, it will affect the health and populations of many rare species of insects, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians that live here. Lien is working hard to convince the government that this is not good for the forest. But I don’t know how successful it will be. That’s why we’re here, to aid Lien in gathering data to help determine the ecological health of Tam Dao.
Weather
We are currently in a monsoon. I would like you to take a minute and look up monsoons and report back to me the basics of it. Then we will compare and contrast your knowledge and my experiences. Until then you are going to have to wait in suspense.

Accomodations
I am staying at the MiMi hotel in the village of Tam Dao. It is a cute place with a mixture of French architecture and Vietnamese. Ms. Peters and I share a room which is lovely because we are like two peas in a pod.

If you want your clothes washed while you are here they wash them in a bathtub out back by stomping on them in the water and then hanging out to dry.

Roosters wake us up at the crack of dawn and they roam freely about the village as do many many dogs.

Currently, we do not have any power it has been out for about five hours now and is typical up here due to limited energy sources.

The shower is quite an interesting experience as well. There are no shower curtains and the shower head is a hose and at waist level so you have to kneel in the tub.

Bugs are abundant and upon arrival Rachel (Mrs. Peters) and I found an enormous moth in our room. We deemed him our pet but he died shortly after. The spiders are quite large as well and Mr. Bucs, the other teacher, made the one in his room his pet.

Food

I have had some of the best food I have ever had in my life since I have been here and I have never been crazy about Asian food. We are fed three meals a day. Lunch is the largest meal with an average of 8 dishes laid out on the table to pick and eat from. I’ve gotten quite good at the chopsticks. Example meals:
Breakfast: Cheese and bread, Green tea.
Lunch: Tofu, chicken, wild mushrooms and shrimps, the fruit of the chayote, chayote greens steamed with garlic, French fries, a soup, rice (which always come out last) and then a dessert usually watermelon or dragonfruit.
Dragonfruit is hot pink on the outside and it bumpy. When you cut it open the fruit is white with tiny black seeds in it. It doesn’t even look real but it is delicious, kind of similar to kiwi in texture.
Dinner: Just about as varied in dishes. A lot of the same food cooked in different ways. Ms. Peters and I are both vegetarians and are not having a problem filling our bellies.

I do plan on posting about the work that we are doing with butterflies. There is so much to tell you I think that I need to break it down into sections. Like I said before, technology is VERY limited up here and will do my best to keep in touch with you all.
It is my understanding that Mrs. K will not be at school on Monday. So I will call you on Tuesday. Remember that Lien, Viet, and Anh are going to speak with you. Please reread the prior post and come up with two questions for each person. Here are some guidelines:
Lien- questions pertaining to his butterfly research and the area.
Viet- he is a teacher. Something to do with schools and teaching.
Anh-His work for the Vietnamese government. I found out that he was a entomologist (bug guy) and conducted studies on many different insects in various regions of Vietnam. See if you can get his age out of him, he keeps playing with me and says "it's secret".

Love you and miss you all,
Bethanne Winzeler