'Belief in God brings order and discipline to sexual relationships'

So went the contention at a Multi-cultural event held recently in Belfast. It is unsurprising that those intellectually inclined towards achieving agreement on how others should behave in their personal lives should pick up on such an issue. Having only 140 characters of knowledge on the proceedings I am unable to fully comment on anything beyond the choice of title, but will attempt not to let this stop me.

It can be assumed that this is a secular vs religious question that reflects positively on those of faith. The 'holier than thou' position is not so often associated with carnal activities but seems to come through all the same in offering faith as a means of salvation both here on earth and in 'heaven'.

Harm reduction advocates appear to have come to the conclusion that the ill effects of promiscuity and other 'indulgences' should be treated with humanity and compassion without stigmatising the cause of these effects. Agreement however, on the above mentioned contention will not remove the need for humanity to deal with the effects of 'disorderly' and 'undisciplined' sexual relationships (although it may reduce the occurence). It will however impact on the ability of human beings to empathise with the 'self-inflicted' suffering of others.

It leaves me asking the question that Selwyn Black asked my own dear first lady;

'Where is god in all of this'

conflict junky

“If you’re under 25 and you live on a sink estate in Lurgan, Craigavon, Derry or Belfast you have a romantic view of the Troubles and no memory of just how fucking awful it was.” so runs the unattributed comment in last week's Economist

I am not sure how useful it is to counter this undoubted truism with a quote of my own.

"If you're of any age, and you are enfranchised anywhere in the world, you have a romatic idea of disenfranchisement, and have no idea of how just how fucking awful it is."

The article itself refers to those who have become bored of daytime tv, clearly indicating that it is not just the young that are susceptible to the allure of violence. The 'fundamentalism' of others would also support this transgenerational disaffection. So it is not just the young and ignorant that are involved.

Effective strategy is absent, remarkably similar to pretty much all the other conflicts in the world and references to lack of community support indicate a validation of violence if it existed.

As an individual, enfranchised by a collective of systems that chooses violence as a means of furthering its objectives, it is impossible to moralise with regard to those that choose violence as a means of furthering their own. I write this upset that the erstwhile Economist feels that the moral approach offers suitable journalistic coverage of this issue.

Another way please...

symposia

There is a mug in my parents cupboard with 'Avoid Symosia, for they involve much chatter and idle talk' on it. I always liked this mug, and not just for the use of plurals ending in 'ia', and tend to try to avoid places where the chat is time filler rather than the purpose.

So, perhaps a surprise to find myself in the last week, going to one symposium after another and trying to make some sense of it all. Interesting as the subject matter might be, it is often hard to maintain the attention any particular presentation deserves as it does into ever more detail about the methodology used to bring about conclusion that most people seem to generally agree with already. So on Reproductive Commodity Security, National Health Programming and HIV Prevention and Care, I am now more knowledgable than I was at the start of the week, but not so clear on what all the experts were doing there other than informing ignoramouses like myself. Ostensibly I was there to network, and did so with all the capriciousness I could muster, the levels varying significantly.

The next week will be the same, as will the week after that. Its not a lifestyle I particularly desire, but it is better than being in the office, and it's hard to look ahead to a working life of this and all the associate trappings.

But in fires like these are the destinies of big world works forged -

World Aids Day

In the lead up to World Aids Day, I am reading no end of analysis on the particularities of this epidemic at a as it works its away from host to host. Most notable was perhaps the US context where the 13 southern states appear to have no workable strategy on how control might be exerted other than the exhortations of abstinence coming from pulpit, soapbox and media outlets. The burden falls disproportionately on the poor, and those of colour and those attempting to introduce harm reduction measures are more likely to be arrested than thanked.

Vietnam handles the situation rather differently. It would appear to acknowledge the problem, accept the funding, and then like everywhere else struggle to communicate preventative measures to hard to reach groups, notably adolescents, migrant workers and the more well known at-risk-groups such as the commercial sex worker and the man that had sex with the man. Issues are discussed calmly without the rhetoric associated with the less fulfilled cleric and rational ways forward are proposed.

But with the best will in the world, it seems hard to connect the intellect with the animus at certain times of life, and only a certain amount of education will ever get through on the glorious subjects of safe and shooting.

What to do then - increasingly harm reduction strategies such as an anti-AIDS pill (pre exposure prophylaxis) and Vaginal Gels (microbicide) are being researched as methods that can reduce the risk in situations where the tradtional methods are not being used - i.e. needle sharing and unprotected sex.

The potential effect is that in reducing possibility of contagion, we offer less safe methods of catching HIV to those particularly at risk.

The probability game when played with issues such as this becomes more and more complex, and it might be said that this is likely to decrease inhibitions than increase them when they might be particularly useful to you.

bon chance mes amis

on being listless

While not many are aware that a cure for listlessness involves little more than writing down all the things that are wrong (or indeed right) one after another, it is easily demonstrable in the literal if not metaphorical context.

So it falls often to the blogger, to note his achievements and to share them with the good people, that choose to read these words as opposed to all the others that litter the superhighway. Failures could also be listed but the world might appreciate being spared my failure to be plucked from obscurity to lead the global revolution against cronyizm and any number of other things that I occasionally aspire to.

Life in Hanoi is pleasant for someone like me and I intend to keep it that way.

let's go

Weekend

And the Friday feeling draws with no shortage of things to do. The social life is up and running in earnest and the weekend looks set to be fairly decent.

Tonight a Hong Kong school friend arrives in, which will no doubt involve no small amount of revelry.

The tomorrow, I pick up a motorbike from an aussie mechanic who runs a bike workshop for street kids. Then head for Indian food, then a UN party, then an Indian Embassy party and to top it all off I have a 8:30am meeting on Sunday with the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations. Will be interesting to see what's on offer with at the 'welcome drinks'.

Then on Monday night the Irish Embassy is having a do for the Hanoi Gaelic Football team.

Things could be worse.

FECT - The are at least a few million motorcycles in Hanoi

And I intend to ride at least one of them. Looking out the window at the traffic streaming past, it would be easily thought that joining such an activity would be something for the feebleminded. In fairness, taking a motorbike taxi is probably somewhat similar in terms of risk, and not having only oneself to blame might well lessen recovery time.

I was told that I should try walking across one of the very same roads with my eyes closed to prove just how well the traffic here copes with all sorts of things flying from one direction or another. I don't think I will do this, but no doubt, not acknowledging oncoming traffic makes it clear that if you are not moving then clearly they should. That'sa fair bit of trust to put in a fellow human being, particularly when choice is limited by all the traffic around them. There is a skill to walking across the roads too no doubt, that makes it easier for the driver.

A fatality counter is up on one of the hotels. I am yet to see it, but the TOTAL CARNAGE signs in Donegal spring to mind. Wish me luck, and if you want a hair raising ride, I am not to far away from Hanoi airport.

Surreal

It's always nice to walk out of work and straight into something good. Last night the Cha-cha-cha class was pretty much that. So into an empty room I walked, the door closes behind me and a middle aged man dressed in a polo shirt, jeans and white trainers puts on some happy hardcore at full blast and proceeds to get 'clean on it' as the expression goes.

The nineties were not without the legends that peaked too soon and were to be seen dancing alone on the dancefloor while everyone else waited for the main act to come on. This guy resembled that very type and went at it hammer and thongs. I nodded the head to the beat and tried to look cool, for reasons I can't really explain.

A few other people arrived and joined in the fun, all shaking it like a polaroid picture. The Cha-cha-cha class proper was a good bit more sobering, but the warm left one thinking that this particular experience might well be enjoyed with ease.

Truc Bach Lake

So today, I brunched with a few Vietnamese friends in an Indian Cafe overlooking Truc Bach Lake. The Goat Vindaloon would need to be pretty good to outdo the fame of this particular area of Hanoi as it is where Senator John McCain parachuted in having had his bombing mission shot down by the North Vietnamese Army. The place is quite serene these days, though there is a statue to commemorate this event in particular and the American/Vietnam War in General.

In stark contrast comes the Hoa Lo Prison, or as it is more commonly known, the Hanoi Hilton. This was where the Commander of all US Forces in Vietnam was first housed when following his capture. The place is grim in the extreme. First built by the French in 1796, it housed political prisoners opposed to the French presence in Indo-China. Treatment was harsh, conditions appalling, guillotine in evidence and numerous testimonies to this pervade the exhibitions.

What follows is an about face, as the treatment of American pilots shot down during the war is then portrayed as being rather different. Games of basketball, football are depicted in photographs, cigarettes from the Red Cross shown in glass cases, and healthy looking men posing for the camera upon their release are all to be seen. Propaganda is in evidence no doubt, and it does not take too much searching to find evidence of ill-treatment of Americans but one can't help feeling that the alignment of propaganda and practice made a considerable impact on winning the world's hearts and minds in a genuine way.

Prisons remain however, something the world does not seem to stop building despite all our claims to civilization. Those in charge of Git'mo, Abu Ghraib etc might do well to learn this lesson.

Wine at Vines

An expat staple of Hanoi would it seem be the wine tasting on Friday nights at an off license just around the corner from my Hotel. For the price of a fiver 8 half glasses of a variety of wine are yours accompanied by a few canapes etc. There are more than eight wines, plenty of people and noone talks about wine.

The people you talk to give you tickets that they are not using. The owner gives you tickets. Incentives to leave aren't really there. When they finally come the entrance ticket is exchanged for a bottle of wine.

The weekend would appear to have started there.

No Sex please - we're British

But twas not to be as the fair air was o' so rocked at the Ambassador's reception in the Royal Club of Hanoi by by conversation that would be unlikely to be thought acceptable in the homes of our own dear Queen.

By some accounts, it does seem to happen rather a lot. One particular gentleman, despite having his heart set on enjoying the meagre hospitality offered to the full, vowed that he would never return to the land of his birth. Full of foreigners apparently, unlike Vietnam, that is full of Vietnamese (women). Sexual harassment is relatively unheard of here - this is a good thing apparently, as is the lack of rules.

The attitude was not unlike that held by erstwhile espousers of the Abrahamic faiths in declaring that 'man is man, and woman is woman' but recommended lifestyles based on these conclusions diverge rapidly at this point.

A later conversation involved an open telling by a local of an encounter with a chinese prostitute; in female company. I was expected to object as we heard how the shackles of oppressive chinese imperialism had been thrown off by this very act, and indeed how much the experience had been enjoyed by both the oppressor and the oppressed. I did remark that paymasters are rarely criticised but it was clearly not the moral indignation required of one working in part on gender issues.

Here the elephant in the room is at least worthy of remark - but pushing it up the stairs will take more than a bit of moral indignation.

Yesterdays

So when a friend of a friend picks you up and drives you all over town looking for a second hand bike during the fair on madness of a Hanoi rush it does well to return the favour. The opportunity fell at his sister's cafe where a live band was playing along to whatever people wanted to sing. I was asked and the reluctant exhibitionist in me obliged.

How peculiar that this would be preceeded by my kindly host informing me of the Vietnamese for 'yesterday', 'today' and 'lover', and furthermore that the suggested song was 'Yesterday' by the Beatles. So I stands up and says 'Chung toi co khoe khong' 'How we all doing' to mixed reactions, and further bemusement as I say 'Hom Quay, toi co ngoi yeu' 'Yesterday I had a lover' 'Hom Nay, toi khong co ngoi yeu' 'Today I don' have a lover'. - Lennon had no better prelude than this.

But then again he did sing it better.

It ends and a heckler from the crowd shouts out in English 'Are you Single'. Not knowing the word for single, I simply repeated 'I don't have a lover'. Bewilderment descended on the face of the deep and meaningful persons assembled. I said it again.

Penny drops.

'Are you singer' was what was said by the pretty girl with the rock lobster looking boyfriend. Comment from the compere was to the tune of, 'next time it might not be such a disaster'.

Does it pay to self-aggrandise - we shall see.

Couchsurfing

To surf, to couch, to surf per chance to enter into a fairly easy going world where everything seems to work.

A CC'd email to a random selection of registered couch surfers in Hanoi led to a rather nice little night out. Picked up on a tidy little scooter and driven through the city rush hour by a diminutive young KPMG consultant to be taken for noodles, ice cream and coffee was great. She even dropped me home.

Apart from having the biggest helmet in Hanoi, the experience was straightforward enough - and emasculation by means of riding pillion comes highly recommended.

street wandering

So a new city, Saturday night, few crisp notes in the back burner and a hike into the big bad city. Hanoi has a big lake, I had reckoned that there would be no end of culture teaming down from the shop fronts to the waters edge, and so I set about walking round it to see what craic could be had.

Prudence dictated that neither phone, nor wallet was taken and in the event of robbery, the shoes could probably do with replacing in advance of the Ambassador's reception. The lakeside certainly didn't have Bobby George at the ochy, and apart from the odd schmoozing couple was bereft of life. So forays were taken into the city, sense of direction at the ready and an unvalidated theory that the sky was brighter above the lake than elsewhere. I found myself wandering through back alleys as the streets turned and I needed to return to the landmark lake.

It was rightly different to those late night wanders from the Culturlann to the Ormeau, and the bunch of guys I met hanging around on the street corner thought no more of 'what I was looking at' than I did. They called me over, sat me down, lined up drinks and food and a conversation of smiles, rude gestures and excess ensued. Some craic was had before I picked up the bill, they tipped themselves into a taxi and I carried on my way.

robbery like property is theft

Angus, thongs and perfect blogging

Stealing a ten year olds homework isn't something I am in the habit of doing, but then again neither is flying to Hanoi, and so to do both on the same day could be viewed as auspicious if not simply careless. The homework can be sent back, and then so can I, but one will take less than the other, and so I stay in Hanoi to see what the wonders of the world have to offer.

Craic began in earnest with a middle age Norweigian who sat down next to me on the aeroplane and told me that he did 'hot werk in platforms'. Charitable as my thoughts are when directed at persons of this background, I did assume the worst, but an individual of deviant occupation he was not. Turned out he did 'hot work on platforms', oil rig platforms of all things and while YMCA might still elucidate the scene, the type of tents he was pitching surrounded a welder at work. The purpose being to snuff out any sparks before the gas fields of the North Sea were ignited. This as it turns out is remarkably similar to the recommendation of the use of prophylactics as contraceptives and the conversation rambled on from there. Associated activities are necessary but dangerous and require the use of equipment made to the highest standard. We got along grand discussing issues as diverse as the global sex trade, the Arab-Israeli conflict and the importance of taking care of the elderly.

We also drank the same drink, the whisky and beer ordered, and ordered again promptly had him fast asleep with his head resting on my shoulder just as the second round arrived. Having made friends I thought this was ok, and as payment set about finishing his drinks when my ranneth dry. Waking up hours later the guy never spoke nor looked at me, must have been hoarding his for later on, but in fairness his rolling about in his sleep would have knocked them over some time before.

Rest of the trip was unremarkable.