Noodles in Vietnam

bye bye vietnam – hello malaysia!

plemaitre — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 14:36:34 +0000

sorry guys, after 2 fantastic years in Vietnam, we moved to http://curryinkl.wordpress.com!

2 days left…

plemaitre — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 02:52:22 +0000

gig at YEN cafe

plemaitre — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 11:37:17 +0000

Recently Joan (the only painter-cook in the Philippines!) had the opening of her exhibition at YEN cafe, and she asked Anneleen and I to help her out. Anneleen was hosting the event, presenting Joan (how they met in the Boxing club etc) and her paintings. I had great fun playing a gig with Carl and David. Too bad it was our first and last concert, as we’re leaving hcmc next week…

chris, time to come over for a business trip!

plemaitre — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 11:04:38 +0000

ready for kl!

plemaitre — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 11:03:08 +0000

After two months of house sitting jobs on different villas, we’ve been camping at Kirsten & Ron’s place (thanks for that guys!), awaiting our move to KL. Our very last stay in a 100% Vietnamese neighbourhood!

2nd house sitting

plemaitre — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 11:02:55 +0000

turkish strings

plemaitre — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 14:59:58 +0000

This is again one of those unbelievable hcmc stories:

Some of you might know that since Anneleen and I visited Istanbul some years ago, I have developed this strange passion for the Saz (=Turkish lute – even the Turks that I’ve met find this bizarre and old fashioned). Prior to our move to Vietnam, I took music lessons from Emre – one of the greatest young Saz players – for 1 and half years.

Recently Stijn (a Belgian guy who moved to hcmc not long ago) and I just knew we had seen each other before… so we were stupefied to find out we once met at Emre’s course, as he was also one of his pupils!! How crazy is that?? I think in Brussels there are just 3 or so non-Turks playing this thing… Anyway, I was really happy to find out as he lent me his instrument and I realised how much I missed playing it…

Lately, Lydia was looking for musicians for the album she’s currently recording with Linh (her husband-producer, he’s a famous star in Vietnam! ), so she asked me to help her out with some strings… Check out the Vietnamese section in your record store soon!

Farewell VP

plemaitre — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 05:33:53 +0000

As Anneleen and I are moving to Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia next month (Yes we say goodbye to Vietnam… more about that in a following post!) I left my job at VP last week and invited the whole Planning Team for a farewell diner.

Needless to say it was again a very Vietnamese evening with BBQ, Hot Pot and above all a lot of beer…

This is what happens after 6 Heineken and 63 Tiger beers:

Ever had to pay 4,5 million in a restaurant?

When in Vietnam, marry as the Vietnamese do…

plemaitre — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 04:44:48 +0000

One of the highlights of the Vietnamese wedding is the so-called Wedding Album, usually prepared one month before the actual wedding celebration. That’s why on every given day you’ll find plenty of couples in wedding costume, spending the whole day shooting photos along the Saigon River, in front of the Cathedral, in the park, in the rice fields or on the beach, depending on the budget.
Naturally, after almost two years in Vietnam we absolutely needed our very own VN Style Wedding Album!

Enjoy the kitschy video, made by the photographer. You’ll probably find it as hilarious as we did

WEDDING CEREMONY+DRINK

plemaitre — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 03:51:53 +0000

After the official wedding in June, it was time to also celebrate our wedding in a spiritual way, last Sunday in Dieu Phap Pagoda here in Hcmc. It was a lovely ceremony (luckily both in Vietnamese and English) divided in 2 parts; the blessings and the ‘recommendations’ by the Head of the Pagoda.

After the ceremony we were asked to distribute lucky money in the elderly home linked to the pagoda, as the freshly married couple is required to perform a good deed on the wedding day. And as that day was Buddhist Parents Day, there happened to be a Vietnamese TV crew around who approached us for an interview, which was shown on TV that night… we’ll try to find a copy of that one!

We ended the day with a cosy wedding drink with Anneleen’s parents and friends in Mekong Merchant, a restaurant in District 2, beautifully decorated by Anneleen…

And we keep on celebrating… see you for next wedding party in December somewhere in BE!

Click to view slideshow.