Greetings from Vietnam
Well, today is Day 3 in Vietnam. I thought I'd blog and let you guys know how things have been going so far. It's been really interesting. I'm really glad that we decided to come here. Arriving in Hanoi was no problem whatsoever. What really surprised me here was the humidity (must be around 80%-- it's actually raining right now). The temperature has been moderate. I actually got cold today and had to use my spring jacket.
I have been surprised by the Vietnamese people. The travel guides I have read all stated that they would be very pushy. The only pushy people so far are the pedicab drivers, fruit women and booksellers...oh and the restaurant employees. For the most part, everyone leaves us alone.
It's still weird that US dollars can be used here. We haven't figured out the exchange rate yet, but our guess is that it's around 15,000 Vietnamese Dong to $1. But everything is sooo cheap here...breaking a $20 here is like breaking a $100 on a value meal at McDonalds. Luckily I figured this would happen so I didn't get any bills over 20s--- though the airport people tried to give me 100s!!!
Another weird thing - it is winter here. So while I walk around in a skirt and t-shirt, the Vietnamese are wearing scarves, hats, and jackets. They look at us like we are insane-but hey, I'm guessing most of them have never seen snow.
We have already seen multiple Korean restaurants and most of the TV channels in our hotel room are Korean channels. I find this both odd and entertaining at the same time. This morning we watched the Vietnamese version of The Price is Right...it was funny.
French is still commonly used here, even though French occupation ended after the First Indochinese War in 1954. Many of the signs are still in French. There are also French restaurants and "Ici on parle francais" can be seen at many stores. Luckily, I have yet to need my spoken French (which is pretty horrible, but I can still read and write fairly well).
Things I have found here that aren't readily available in Korea: Colgate toothpaste, Tide laundry detergent, Red Bull, a lot of liquors, Tang (though only orange), Clinique beauty supplies, and Juicyfruit and Doublemint gums.
The air is surprisingly clean - considering everyone rides mopes (and I mean everyone). I'm not sure of the current population, but in 2000 Vietnam had 80 million people.
Vietnamese appears to be difficult to learn how to speak. It has 6 tones, a ton of consonants & vowels & there are dipthongs (combos of 2 vowels) & triphthongs (combos of 3 vowels). Haven't learned how to say anything yet, which is sad.
The fruit is amazing. Pineapple, papaya, mango, multiple types of bananas, starfruit , and things I don't even know the name of, can be found everywhere. Carambola, durian, green dragon, jackfruit, longan, mangosteen, pomelo, rambuttan, star-apples...those are the names of the fruits I have never heard of before (taken from a Vietnamese phrase book). Oh, and a heads up...Vietnamese wine is NOT WINE!!!!
Ok, that's all I have time for right now... hope you are all well!
I have been surprised by the Vietnamese people. The travel guides I have read all stated that they would be very pushy. The only pushy people so far are the pedicab drivers, fruit women and booksellers...oh and the restaurant employees. For the most part, everyone leaves us alone.
It's still weird that US dollars can be used here. We haven't figured out the exchange rate yet, but our guess is that it's around 15,000 Vietnamese Dong to $1. But everything is sooo cheap here...breaking a $20 here is like breaking a $100 on a value meal at McDonalds. Luckily I figured this would happen so I didn't get any bills over 20s--- though the airport people tried to give me 100s!!!
Another weird thing - it is winter here. So while I walk around in a skirt and t-shirt, the Vietnamese are wearing scarves, hats, and jackets. They look at us like we are insane-but hey, I'm guessing most of them have never seen snow.
We have already seen multiple Korean restaurants and most of the TV channels in our hotel room are Korean channels. I find this both odd and entertaining at the same time. This morning we watched the Vietnamese version of The Price is Right...it was funny.
French is still commonly used here, even though French occupation ended after the First Indochinese War in 1954. Many of the signs are still in French. There are also French restaurants and "Ici on parle francais" can be seen at many stores. Luckily, I have yet to need my spoken French (which is pretty horrible, but I can still read and write fairly well).
Things I have found here that aren't readily available in Korea: Colgate toothpaste, Tide laundry detergent, Red Bull, a lot of liquors, Tang (though only orange), Clinique beauty supplies, and Juicyfruit and Doublemint gums.
The air is surprisingly clean - considering everyone rides mopes (and I mean everyone). I'm not sure of the current population, but in 2000 Vietnam had 80 million people.
Vietnamese appears to be difficult to learn how to speak. It has 6 tones, a ton of consonants & vowels & there are dipthongs (combos of 2 vowels) & triphthongs (combos of 3 vowels). Haven't learned how to say anything yet, which is sad.
The fruit is amazing. Pineapple, papaya, mango, multiple types of bananas, starfruit , and things I don't even know the name of, can be found everywhere. Carambola, durian, green dragon, jackfruit, longan, mangosteen, pomelo, rambuttan, star-apples...those are the names of the fruits I have never heard of before (taken from a Vietnamese phrase book). Oh, and a heads up...Vietnamese wine is NOT WINE!!!!
Ok, that's all I have time for right now... hope you are all well!
posted by Elissa @ 5:56 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home