the greener side

Extreme, Gaia-loving living in the Bay Area

Even around Halloween, I don't wish upon my worst enemy the hell of looking for a place to live around San Francisco. By the way, please explain how this city has an equal number of dogs as children, when landlords of overpriced properties seem to shun either creature. Good luck finding a one bedroom outside the Tenderloin for $1400, which is more than half the monthly paycheck for anyone lucky enough to have a middle-class salary here.

You might be stuck finding a place to share. This is a great way to boost your self esteem sense of humor. Many, many potential roommates specify persnickety dietary regimes you must respect to share a kitchen, from run of the mill veganism to the primal diet. If you're going to shack up with strangers, you may have to put up with a perplexing array of rules, such as only cooking fish in the iron pot on third Thursdays, or agreeing to give up the living room on Sundays so housemates can practice various rebirthing sessions or orgasmic breathing exercises from the friendly cult down the street. The challenges persist even if you move across the Bay. This is probably the most interesting Craigslist post I've seen yet:

$1250 3 joining rooms available in new Goddess Temple (oakland piedmont / montclair)


Seeking 2 women looking for a live/work spaces starting November 15th!

We are in the beginning stages of creating a Mother Earth Temple in the Piedmont area of Oakland. We have secured a very large house on Oakland Ave. that is beautiful.
...
The Vision: The temple will be a sacred space and a community of individuals who have a strong commitment to the celebration and honoring of the Earth Mother in all her forms. Included in her many names are Gaia, Danu, Pacha Mama, Bhumidevi, Chibirias, Cybele, Terra Mater, Hu-Tu, Changing Woman, Demeter, Sita, Tlazolteotl.
...
If you are interested, please write us telling us a bit about yourself, including your relationship with the Earth Mother...

Like it's not bad enough that you already have to sign a blood-ink contract bequeathing your firstborn daughter to the property deities to get a room. Didn't anybody watch "Pursuit of Happyness" or read this article?

Speeding in Saigon

Update: I finally uploaded video stuff to this post. Home now, but connectivity was too spotty where I traveled in Vietnam.

This is not speeding, actually, since Bao Anh is a cautious driver as far as Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City goes. You may feel that crossing the street is a game of roulette. Step into the flow of traffic, maybe with a hand outstretched, and it magically parts for you. Helmet laws are coming into effect by the year's end (see the billboard, right? I wish I could buy one).

By all accounts, traffic and air pollution in urban Vietnam have worsened as more cars have taken to the road since the nation's acceptance into the World Trade Organization in November dropped prices. Vietnam's GDP is growing at the second-fastest rate in Asia, just behind China. People are earning more money. Those who can afford cars and new cell phones every month will splurge. Cars cost double their sticker price due to taxes. Four wheels may be a show-off status symbol, but motorbikes are faster for most commutes.

Nobody here is pedaling to work out of any desire to be "green" and save the planet. They're just getting around the best way they can afford. Bicycles are still widespread, used by students and by workers to deliver perilously-balanced loads you'd be arrested for in North America, from bananas to bricks to granite for countertops for so much new construction (Think San Francisco's insane? Real estate here rises about a percent a day). You'll see the occasional electric bicycle, but forget about biofuels. You might spot the rare Segway every few months; a few are parked in front of Nguyen Kim electronics megastore, which is making a gazillionaire out of its 30something namesake.