Is giving money a bad idea?

Everytime I go to visited my village, before I left I always gave the kids (around 40 of them) some cash – not much between 5,000 to 10,000 ($0.31 – $0.62) each. Last time, right after I gave them, they brought out a pack of card and start gambling with the money. I thought hmm, maybe I should have given them something else? But the next question is what? School stationery, lollies, clothing? But it trigger to think about the famous phrase “If you give a man a fish he eats for one day, if you teach him how to fish, he feed his family for life” …or something along that line.

The people there lives such simple life. Their daily activity involving waking up at 6 in the morning to attend to their farm work. When it gets a bit hot around 11 and com home, eat sleep until 2-3pm and go back to do some more work until the sun set. Kids enjoy activities such as player soccer, jumping robe, running around chasing each other, climbing trees… so what can I give them to improve their life?

Postcard from Kleang (Soc Trang)

I was fortunate to be able to go and watch the dragon boat/tuk ngo during the oc-om-bok festival in Kleang (Soc Trang) on the 24th November 2007. Here are some photos, enjoy!

The crowds are all over the river bank with standing room only. I would estimate around hundreds of thousands.

Teams are practicing preparing for the race.

The team turning around prepare for the next race.

Head of the boat for team 19. I couldn’t remember which temple it was from.

Visiting Reunification Hall

It was interesting to visit the Reunification Hall Dinh Độc Lập formerly known as Norodom Palace. There is so much history in there and I’m sure many important decisions were made by both France and the Republic of Vietnam Government.

During the tour to the basement, there were war rooms with many maps hanging on the wall. One of them is a map of Cambodia and a map with the population list of all provinces in Vietnam. Back before 1975, there were only nearly two millions people in Saigon, nowadays some estimated up to 10 millions people.

Afternoon nap at the office

At this time of day, people at my office are having their afternoon nap. I’m not used to having a nap during the day, even if sometime I do sleep during the day I would feel more tired. But people here find the most comfortable place to sleep whether it’s on the couch or their seat, or two seats put together…they nap away and I walk around trying not to make noises.

Although I must admit, seeing people having a nap makes me feel kinda sleepy too. I don’t think I can get up if I do go to sleep though.