Betel and Areca Nuts

When I was in Hoi An, I saw an older lady with dyed brown teeth. My younger brother asked me about this.

I remembered our grandmother had the dyed brown teeth. It had something to do with stuff that they chewed. It seemed like they were chewing tobacco, but it’s not. They are betel and areca nuts. The women teeth are dyed brown so they wouldn’t get stained. I don’t remember ever seeing my grandmother chewed betel and areca nuts. I read somewhere that in some culture, the teeth stained red or black indicates marriage ability or coming of age.

According to the legends, this custom was popularized during the Hung Vuong Era, and closely follows the famous fairy tale of the "Story of the Betel and Areca Nut". A quid of betel consists of four materials: an areca leaf (sweet taste), a betel bark (hot taste), a chay root (bitter taste), and hydrated lime (pungent taste). The custom of chewing betel nut is unique to Vietnam. Old health books claim that "chewing betel and areca nut makes the mouth fragrant, decreasing bad tempers, and makes digesting food easy". A quid of betel makes people become closer and more openhearted.

A quid of betel makes people become closer and more openhearted. At any wedding ceremony, there must be a dish of betel and areca nut, which people can share as they joy the special occasion. During festival or Tet Holidays, betel and areca nut is used for inviting visitors and making acquaintances. Sharing a quid of betel with an old friend is like expressing the gratitude for the relationship. A quid of betel and areca nut makes people feel warm on cold winters days, and during funerals, it relieves the sadness. Betel and areca nuts are also used in offerings. When Vietnamese people worship their ancestors, betel and areca nut must be present at the altar. Nowadays, the custom of chewing betel remains popular in some Vietnamese village and among the old.

Memories of Thi Nghe

It’s so strange how a certain scent can trigger a sense of nostalgia. While I was in Hanoi, I stayed at this hotel that served breakfast on top of their roof. I was enjoying the view when a breeze blew by. I could smell the plants next to me. I could not identify the flower, although it reminded me of flowers from a kumquat or a jasmine tree. It was this scent that instantly brought me back memories of my childhood. It made me think of Tet and my mother’s mother (ba ngoai) house.

Back then, before we deflected in 1975, my grandmother lived in Thi Nghe. I vaguely remembered it being down the street from a graveyard. We had a cemented front yard with a koi fish pond in the front. Sometime, my father would bring back some of those water plants from Vung Tau. I was told that there used to be some kind of fruit tree in the yard, but the neighborhood kids would climb it so my grandmother had it cut down and put a covered roof over the front courtyard and a high fence.

In the courtyard of my grandmother's house, we also had a swing that could seat several people. Enter through the front door and you would first see a huge room with black & white tile floor. Close to the front door is where we would park our Vespa. I think the Vespa was a light blue color. There were also bicycles and other types of motorbikes. The front room is where we would receive guests. It was sparsely furnished, but included an armoire type of cabinet. The top of this cabinet is used as an altar for the ancestors. There was also a large dining room table in this room. This is where my brother and I would celebrate our birthdays.

In the next room, we had a bed. Cots could also be setup at night. I remembered having to hook up the four corners of mosquito netting and screw them into the four corners of the cot. Then we would have to take a newspaper into the cot and tuck the mosquito netting under. We would proceed to swat all the mosquitoes that got in the net, so they wouldn’t eat us alive.

Through that room, we have an open area. This was where our maid would kill the live chicken that we had fatten-up for Tet. There was also a large and tall ceramic tub that holds rainwater. There were stairs to take us upstairs, where an additional room was used as a bedroom.

Further behind the open patio area was where our maid lived. There was a kitchen/cooking area, a separate area for showering/bathing and a separate hole-in-the floor type of bathroom.

Memories spent with my grandmother. Memories of when my uncle took me to school on his motorbike. Memories of the trees-lined Duy Tan street – I think there is a song written about this street. I don’t know if Duy Tan street is still has the same name. My father had an architect friend who lived on this street. He had a really nice and fancy house and I use to love to visit it. Memories of going to the big market with my mother and wanting her to buy me one of those clear plastic bracelet with sparkly stuff in it.

I often wondered if my old school is still there. A small Catholic school – Notre Dame des Mission. We had Vietnamese lessons in the morning and French in the afternoon. Even though I was not Catholic, you had to go to Mass every Friday morning in school. There is a public school just a block down the street from my school. If any of you reader out there knows what happened to this Catholic school – I’d love to hear about it.

These are memories that I hold dear...
It is the reason that I still feel such strong ties to Vietnam even though I no longer live there.

Magazine feature

There is a huge bookstore close to my house - Barnes & Noble. They are a large bookstore chain. I like going there and just have a latte and sit on one of their cushy chair and look at home magazines. I just love reading home decorating magazines. Some of my fav magazines are Southern Accents, Traditional Home, Elle Decor, Architectural Digest and Coastal Living - just to name a few. So I came across this month Traditional Home and there is a beautiful house in there. Immediately, it reminds me of Vietnam. So I skimmed the article and realized that it was a house in Vietnam! This family is from France and they have decided to live in Vietnam. They have a house on the Saigon River, a little bit outside Saigon. The home owner has a store in France and one in Vietnam, specializing in embroider linens. The picture made me missed Vietnam - a little homesick. One of my friend is traveling Vietnam right now as we speak. Wish I was there. May be in a few years... I will visit again.