Top things we will NOT miss
Vietnam is a fantastic place to visit - and we'd recommend it to any of you reading this. We would certainly visit again, but until then there are some things we will not miss:
9. Lin from Hoi An who shadowed us for 2 days to come to her tailor shop in the market. After making a vague promise to visit the 1st day, we were shocked that she spotted us on day 2 and began to follow us again. She was the catalyst for us to begin speaking in German and Russian.
8. Having to divide by 16,000 in order to do mental currency conversions and figure out how much in $USD something costs.
7. Being on the lookout to avoid chicken, eggs...or anything that might have chicken or eggs in it. Okay, we lied in an earlier blog - most places have no chickens, but many do still offer it on the menu and in Hoi An and even outside HCMC we saw them in people's yards. We just didn't want to worry anyone by telling that part earlier (that's you, Mom!).
6. The inconsistent state of public restrooms and having to carry a supply of toilet paper and hand sanitizer with us whenever we left the hotel.
5. The cacophony of honking from vehicles in Hanoi - it starts before 6:30 am there and doesn't end until late in the night, usually 10:30.
4. The benzene smell from the moto-bikes (mostly in Hanoi) that makes you forget what fresh air smells like.
3. In museums, propaganda about "the American devil" - it wasn't completely unexpected, and in some ways might be understandable, but it was still pretty intolerable in some exhibits. Despite what the reader boards at the Hanoi "Hilton" prison stated, we don't believe for a minute that our POW's were treated as "guests".
2. Being verbally (and sometimes physically) poked and prodded to buy whatever the person is selling. Having every smile from us met with "You buy from me?" which really makes you want to stop smiling at people - or, as we did, dust off your high-school/college foreign language skills to end the conversation and make them stop following you.
1. The heat and humidity - and more critically, the volume of sweat they produce. To feel clean at mid-day is something we look forward to once again.
9. Lin from Hoi An who shadowed us for 2 days to come to her tailor shop in the market. After making a vague promise to visit the 1st day, we were shocked that she spotted us on day 2 and began to follow us again. She was the catalyst for us to begin speaking in German and Russian.
8. Having to divide by 16,000 in order to do mental currency conversions and figure out how much in $USD something costs.
7. Being on the lookout to avoid chicken, eggs...or anything that might have chicken or eggs in it. Okay, we lied in an earlier blog - most places have no chickens, but many do still offer it on the menu and in Hoi An and even outside HCMC we saw them in people's yards. We just didn't want to worry anyone by telling that part earlier (that's you, Mom!).
6. The inconsistent state of public restrooms and having to carry a supply of toilet paper and hand sanitizer with us whenever we left the hotel.
5. The cacophony of honking from vehicles in Hanoi - it starts before 6:30 am there and doesn't end until late in the night, usually 10:30.
4. The benzene smell from the moto-bikes (mostly in Hanoi) that makes you forget what fresh air smells like.
3. In museums, propaganda about "the American devil" - it wasn't completely unexpected, and in some ways might be understandable, but it was still pretty intolerable in some exhibits. Despite what the reader boards at the Hanoi "Hilton" prison stated, we don't believe for a minute that our POW's were treated as "guests".
2. Being verbally (and sometimes physically) poked and prodded to buy whatever the person is selling. Having every smile from us met with "You buy from me?" which really makes you want to stop smiling at people - or, as we did, dust off your high-school/college foreign language skills to end the conversation and make them stop following you.
1. The heat and humidity - and more critically, the volume of sweat they produce. To feel clean at mid-day is something we look forward to once again.
posted by ToddV at
8:18 AM
