It's the Little Things...

Here’s a few peculiar things, in no particular order, that I’ve noticed so far about Vietnam…

1.) The mayonnaise tastes different here. In the US its vinegary and eggy and luscious (yes, luscious), whereas here, it’s sweeter, denser, and not nearly as pleasant. I’m dying for some good tuna salad or deviled eggs, but even Hellman’s uses a different recipe here, it seems.

2.) The Vietnamese don’t trust you enough to carry bags into stores. In some cases, they will ‘allow’ you to walk in with your purse or handbag sheathed in an impenetrable, high-tech, anti-theft device (a plastic baggie). In most cases, however, they make you stow it away in a locker before entering the store! It gets pretty annoying after a while.

3.) Cloth is expensive here. I can get a big bag of shrimp for five dollars, but a decent bathroom towel is almost twice that! The cheap ones crumble to bits (like most cheap items here) as if they were produced by the Oceania Victory Corp. (blatant 1984 reference).

4.) People here drive like absolute maniacs. The rule for crossing a street is as follows: pedestrians yield to cars, weave between (aka dodge) motorbikes, and trump bicycles. Don’t even think about riding slowly in front of a taxi - the driver will honk incessantly at you until you either move out of the way, or he becomes impatient and swerves into oncoming traffic to get around you. This is no exaggeration.

5.) Sunday is apparently ‘stuff-burning day’. All around the city, for miles in every directions, large bonfires emit thick, noxious fumes into the air. I found this out the hard way, when I hung some damp clothing outside, only to come back a few hours later to find it smelly and crispy from the dense haze which had enveloped the city.

6.) Meat is hard to come by. We’ve cooked meat in our apartment only once in the time we’ve been here, and it was chicken (bleh). Beef is outrageously expensive and mediocre, and pork is hard to find. There is an open air market down the road from us that has a few prime cuts of beef out in the open , under the sweltering sun, absorbing all of the delicious car fumes… Mmmm. I was horrified to see liver and tripe out in the heat, considering the fact that they spoil incredibly fast under such hot, wet conditions… the Vietnamese must have iron stomachs, because there was no way we were touching that stuff, even if we were paid to.

6a.) On that same train of thought, veggies are not expensive. In fact, they are plentiful and cheap. Avocados, an expensive delicacy in the US, are common and inexpensive. Cucumbers cost basically nothing. Bean sprouts, green beans, daikon, cauliflower, and broccoli can all be had for a mere pittance. I’ve eaten more veggies in the past week and a half than the previous month and a half before coming here. I'm not complaining, but man, my T-bone hankering level is at a solid 7.5 out of 10 right about now and steadily rising...

More to come soon...

Until next time,
Mike