I’ve been here a month now and have had a chance to experience some of the culture, meet new friends and try the delicious food.
THINGS I LOVE
Ladies load up their bikes with the most beautiful bouquets of fresh flowers.
1) Fresh flowers!
2) Pop-up markets with fresh produce. There’s one at the end of my street every morning around 6 am.
The most amazing fresh produce every morning.
3) Cheap transportation. My monthly unlimited bus pass is 200 VD or $10.
I take a bus daily to the college.
4) Caphe Sua Chua – rich coffee mixed with yogurt on ice. Yum!
Yogurt and coffee and ice. Better than a milkshake.
5) Architecture – Ancient Asia, meets French colonial, meets modern.
Fantastic styles and colours.
6) Exercise – I walk around Truc Bach Lake early every morning and the streets are filled with people doing Tai Chi, line dancing or playing hacky sack.
Early morning Tai Chi.
7) Fruit: had a mangosteen to die for today. Also enjoying the dragon fruit and pommelos.
Fresh dragonfruit!
8) Afternoon naps – can’t do anything else in this heat!
9) Made in Vietnam clothing stores – these carry all the seconds from North American brands like Zara. Very, very cheap.
10) Clean ice for drinks. It is all made in a food industry complex. People buy it by the bag and even street vendors use it.
Getting ready for a cold drink with clean ice.
NOT SO MUCH
1) Congestion, never seen so many motorbikes. Very few traffic lights.
Yuck.
2) Garbage. Vietnamese just toss it by the roadside. On the the upside, many Vietnamese women (and some men) are hired to pick it all up. A make-work project?
Clean-up patrol.
3) Heat. Nuff said.
I wanna go here! Whale Island resort in Central Vietnam.
