Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Impressions on Vietnam

Vietnam is a tiny bit of a culture shock compared to the modern big cities of Tokyo and Hong Kong. Just kindling. It's a huge culture shock. 

When we first arrived, I could already tell that it was more laid back (our taxi driver was driving 50 km/h), and less modern and developed than Japan and Hong Kong. We then got into mid-town Hanoi, and the streets were the busiest and craziest streets I've ever seen in my whole entire life! First of all, there were no traffic lights and no crosswalks. If you want to cross the street, you have to just walk confidently and the motorcycles will just go around you! It was kind of scary at first, but then I got used to it, and now we're pro street crossers! Not really...! 

The one big thing I noticed about Vietnam is that it's very noisy. Even though Tokyo and Hong Kong are really busy, the streets seem quite and calm. On the streets in Vietnam however, it's crazy town! A lot of people sit on the streets and relax with their coffee and newspaper. They sit on these little short stools and the women (the men are usually the ones who are sitting and relaxing), bring food out to them. It's all very laid back, and the culture is very traditional. 

I also like the food. The Vietnamese pho is so good! Vietnamese dishes have lots of rice and noodles. The meat they use the most in their cooking is pork. When they buy the pork from the markets, they use pretty much all of it (ears, feet, hands, liver, kidney, head, stomach...). Like Japanese food, Vietnamese food is very simple and delicious!

So far, I love Vietnam and I can't wait to go to Cat Ba (another part of Nothern Vietnam) tomorrow and go swimming! Bye!

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