Things to see and experience in Vietnam (according to my friend, Lisa).
- conical wearing hat ladies
- public nose picking
- flying cockroaches
- daily thundershowers that usually started right when we were about to leave the house
- durian and avocado smoothies
- horribly springy beds
- salons and massage parlor
- motorbikes (millions)
- babies on bikes
- teenage drivers, riding three or four to a bike, without helmets, weaving wildly through traffic
- karaoke lounges
- excellent international cuisine
- smog
- tiny ants
- tiny clothes
- tiny people
- maddening traffic
- parents and their children who they allow to run wild, screaming in all manner of public places
- public urination
- pho (Vietnamese noodles)
- poorly made products
- street side coconut selling lady
- Vietnamese bureaucratic hoops that make me want to pull my hair out
- vibrant neighborhoods, all so full of community, character, and life
- pig ear, hoof, snout, intestine, stomach and all other unidentified parts sandwich lady
- rats
- bun thit nuong (cold noodle salad)
- pushy xe om (motorcycle taxi) drivers
- tropical fevers that leave you sweating at 103.5 and don’t go away for a week
- massive trash pile on the sidewalk by our apartment massive trash pile on the sidewalk by our apartment.
- stinky, grey water canals
- copious numbers of sidewalk fruit stands and vendors.
- delicious, plentiful, always fresh fruit.
- street food vendors and all your delectable, ridiculously cheap wares.
- cyclos and good luck to the drivers.
- ou dai (traditional Vietnamese dress).
- mystery meats.
- fresh baguettes
- bargaining at the markets (or almost anywhere else).
- sappy Vietnamese teen pop.
- babies, babies, babies.
- pregnant women (half the city is pregnant).
- hilarious choreographed song and dance performances on TV and at every big event.
- hot, sticky weather.
- ugly clothes – you know who you are Rhinestone Bedazzled Jeans and half see through women’s shirts.
- ladies at the market who laugh at me (in a good hearted way) when I try to speak Vietnamese.
- incredibly difficult language that we utterly failed to learn
- to the flailing ladies in the park (strange Vietnamese aerobics classes)
- Vietnamese gyms, with your hula hoops, stretching sticks, and very comfortable lounges.
- sweetened condensed milk.
- Vietnamese coffee – the strongest coffee in the world.
- sugar, the Vietnamese use you far too often and in quantities no teeth should be subjected to.
- to feeling like a freakishly tall giant.
- small children crossing or riding bicycles on busy streets by themselves.
- seafood hotpots.
- district-wide, day long electricity blackouts.
- paydays where you get an envelope filled with a thick wad of cash.
- kids slowly riding several bikes abreast too involved in your conversations to notice that you are blocking all traffic.
- getting candy for change from the grocery store – who wants a 200 Dong coin anyways?
- inquisitive stares from children and old people alike
- friends from all over the world
What do you think?
