Why more people should eat dog
Its nearly midnight and I can’t sleep tonight, its not the heat and its not the rain. It’s a minor war going on out in the street. The perpetrator is an expat, probably a German or East European judging from the accent and war broke out with an enormous crash as he took something heavy to the steel panelled gates of one of our neighbours. This was followed by much screaming at the top of his voice, all of it in John Cleese accented English with a common theme of “shut the f***ing dog up!”
Last Saturday night, at the end of our party, the hard core retired to one of the balconies, where after a few drinks I pointed out to them the normal background noise to our neighbourhood. The small dog with a penetrating bark like someone hacksawing metal without lubricant and which goes on for hour after hour after hour after hour throughout the night. This dog can bark without breathing and does it with such rhythmic consistency that I’m not the only one who has mistaken it for an industrial machine working overtime. Once aware the assembled party goers were unable to blot out the sound. They began to stab themselves in the head with forks, stuff empty beer cans in their ears and hatch elaborate plots to kill the f***ing dog. When the last ones left the dog was still only just getting into its stride.
For my part I’ve adjusted to it pretty well. Its become one of those familiar sounds to go to sleep to, like the ticking of a clock or your partner’s snoring.
The German has obviously not adjusted and having reached the end of his tether has gone in search of the dog. He has now succeeded in creating total bedlam.
The number of active voices outside has grown to about ten, I’ve just wandered out onto one of the balconies and whilst I can’t see any of the action I can tell where it is from the number of our neighbours who are out on their balconies observing, they are there in force. The Vietnamese love a good street argument but I suspect the high level of interest is because the German has a lot of sympathisers.
Voices are getting louder, the noise of the dog has been drowned out by the German’s threats and the dog owners responses. Voices for and against the demise of the dog can now be heard in both English and Vietnamese and every time the dog’s yap rises above the melee something heavy hits the steel gate which is now sounding like the Rank movies gong, but louder. The German sounds as if he might be foaming at the mouth and the opposition are obviously wilting under the onslaught. I can hear some acknowledgements that the dog can be made to be quiet. Anger is going out of the German’s voice to be replaced by reason, he only wants to sleep, he has to work, he’s reached his limit, the dog is driving him crazy (obviously).
Silence falls, for a few minutes. Then the dog starts sawing again, the Rank gong plays the finale to the 1812 overture and the German is back in full frenzy, the cacophony of voices erupts again and then slowly subsides. Now total silence, it looks like the show is over. Total, absolute, silence. I can’t sleep!
Postscript – absolute silence lasted less than an hour, then the dog started again. The German didn’t come back so it looks like the dog won and I can go to bed now.
Last Saturday night, at the end of our party, the hard core retired to one of the balconies, where after a few drinks I pointed out to them the normal background noise to our neighbourhood. The small dog with a penetrating bark like someone hacksawing metal without lubricant and which goes on for hour after hour after hour after hour throughout the night. This dog can bark without breathing and does it with such rhythmic consistency that I’m not the only one who has mistaken it for an industrial machine working overtime. Once aware the assembled party goers were unable to blot out the sound. They began to stab themselves in the head with forks, stuff empty beer cans in their ears and hatch elaborate plots to kill the f***ing dog. When the last ones left the dog was still only just getting into its stride.
For my part I’ve adjusted to it pretty well. Its become one of those familiar sounds to go to sleep to, like the ticking of a clock or your partner’s snoring.
The German has obviously not adjusted and having reached the end of his tether has gone in search of the dog. He has now succeeded in creating total bedlam.
The number of active voices outside has grown to about ten, I’ve just wandered out onto one of the balconies and whilst I can’t see any of the action I can tell where it is from the number of our neighbours who are out on their balconies observing, they are there in force. The Vietnamese love a good street argument but I suspect the high level of interest is because the German has a lot of sympathisers.
Voices are getting louder, the noise of the dog has been drowned out by the German’s threats and the dog owners responses. Voices for and against the demise of the dog can now be heard in both English and Vietnamese and every time the dog’s yap rises above the melee something heavy hits the steel gate which is now sounding like the Rank movies gong, but louder. The German sounds as if he might be foaming at the mouth and the opposition are obviously wilting under the onslaught. I can hear some acknowledgements that the dog can be made to be quiet. Anger is going out of the German’s voice to be replaced by reason, he only wants to sleep, he has to work, he’s reached his limit, the dog is driving him crazy (obviously).
Silence falls, for a few minutes. Then the dog starts sawing again, the Rank gong plays the finale to the 1812 overture and the German is back in full frenzy, the cacophony of voices erupts again and then slowly subsides. Now total silence, it looks like the show is over. Total, absolute, silence. I can’t sleep!
Postscript – absolute silence lasted less than an hour, then the dog started again. The German didn’t come back so it looks like the dog won and I can go to bed now.
posted by Marvin.. at Monday, September 11, 2006
3 Comments:
What a great blog you have here! Somehow, I am awfully skeptical that nobody else is commenting.
Best wishes from Chicago, U.S. I'll be following your adventure. Thanks for letting me!
Hi marvin,
I just finished a 2 ½ year stint with VSO in Nepal as a management advisor; now find myself in sri lanka with another INGO. Barking and snarling dogs were a topic of much conversation amongst vsoers in Nepal; most of us learned to get accustomed to it—either that or you have many, many sleepless nights… it always amazed me how the roaming packs in my neighbourhood came to life just as the city was going to sleep. They lazed peacefully in the sun on cold winter mornings after a bevy of nighttime activity…
Some of my adventures are documented at: http://david.comfrey.net although I didn’t always keep up with my postings very well due to some technical glitches out of Nepal. First electricity; then blog. I should have a new one up in sri lanka soon.
Look forward to reading more of your posts.
Cheers,
david
Hanoi is a beautiful city that is losing a lot of its charm fast - in the last three years, a lot of its old buidings have been torn down to build new ones. We can't be critical about preserving history, as we Westerners ourselves did the same thing in the name of progress.
Mot, hai, ba...
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