We are in Saigon(Ho Chi Minh City officially now).
And in terms of culture, customs and everyday life, it is somewhere between Delhi and Kuala Lumpur,which not too bad if you are starting touring Asia, which is piece of cake when you have been to India before.
Crazy busy, but not crazy dirty, the traffic is horrific - you can not imagine the number of motorbikes that flood the streets after dawn - but as least there are traffic lights (although only some people follow them and only sometimes...). Almost nobody speaks English (and that was really surprising, especially in Saigon) but everyone seems to be selling something to tourists.
And, if in Varanasi you could hear "boat Madame? very cheap boat!" every ten meters, in Vietnam you hear like 100 times per day "motorbike Sir? where you go? motorbike!". Yes indeed, there is no difference between sir and madame here and yes, they don't walk!!! You can hardly see anyone walking at all!!! and when you manage to hand-signal ask for directions, they always say "far, far, motorbike", even if it turns out to be couple hundred meters away...The physical activity of locals is confined to exercise the chop sticks...and you can't even justify it with heat, as even though it is hot,it's nothing like in India, for example.
Anyway, Vietnam is also a paradise for broth-lovers, which is me!!! Obviously, I won't even dare to compare it to my Mummy's lovely cooking, but still. They have it here is a beef version, not chicken as I know it, and by us it's basically called beef noodle soup...(but this name does nothing to the locals and usually you need to point your finger at a soup, noodles, beef, meat balls, prawns and/or anything else you want to be added to your soup). And, they eat it everywhere and all the time, for breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper and snack...
and, no matter where you eat it, which is mostly on a street or little local stalls, you don't get sick! (so far, thank you my gens for my tough stomach - touch wood though...)It tastes good - again, if you like broth - costs you $1 - $1.50, and as we figured it, Blondie can survive on 2 a day...cheap, nice and healthy! despite that, no weight loss observed so far...:-((((((((((((((
And, in Vietnam you cool yourself with amazing iced coffee!!! There is only a choice between iced black or white(not easy to explain, as the word "milk" definitely doesn't sound like milk in Vietnamese at all...)but it is gorgeous...thick and creamy, with a full coffee aroma in a nose and the palate...and it is really refreshing...so, Blondie's diet now consists of beef noodle soup and iced coffee...(and occasionally yogurt to top up the calcium levels, washed out by occasional bottles of beer...) And, it might be probable that the condensed milk in the coffee compensates for any possible weight loss resulting from the only-broth intake...
to be continued....in the evening...
And in terms of culture, customs and everyday life, it is somewhere between Delhi and Kuala Lumpur,which not too bad if you are starting touring Asia, which is piece of cake when you have been to India before.
Crazy busy, but not crazy dirty, the traffic is horrific - you can not imagine the number of motorbikes that flood the streets after dawn - but as least there are traffic lights (although only some people follow them and only sometimes...). Almost nobody speaks English (and that was really surprising, especially in Saigon) but everyone seems to be selling something to tourists.
And, if in Varanasi you could hear "boat Madame? very cheap boat!" every ten meters, in Vietnam you hear like 100 times per day "motorbike Sir? where you go? motorbike!". Yes indeed, there is no difference between sir and madame here and yes, they don't walk!!! You can hardly see anyone walking at all!!! and when you manage to hand-signal ask for directions, they always say "far, far, motorbike", even if it turns out to be couple hundred meters away...The physical activity of locals is confined to exercise the chop sticks...and you can't even justify it with heat, as even though it is hot,it's nothing like in India, for example.
Anyway, Vietnam is also a paradise for broth-lovers, which is me!!! Obviously, I won't even dare to compare it to my Mummy's lovely cooking, but still. They have it here is a beef version, not chicken as I know it, and by us it's basically called beef noodle soup...(but this name does nothing to the locals and usually you need to point your finger at a soup, noodles, beef, meat balls, prawns and/or anything else you want to be added to your soup). And, they eat it everywhere and all the time, for breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper and snack...
and, no matter where you eat it, which is mostly on a street or little local stalls, you don't get sick! (so far, thank you my gens for my tough stomach - touch wood though...)It tastes good - again, if you like broth - costs you $1 - $1.50, and as we figured it, Blondie can survive on 2 a day...cheap, nice and healthy! despite that, no weight loss observed so far...:-((((((((((((((
And, in Vietnam you cool yourself with amazing iced coffee!!! There is only a choice between iced black or white(not easy to explain, as the word "milk" definitely doesn't sound like milk in Vietnamese at all...)but it is gorgeous...thick and creamy, with a full coffee aroma in a nose and the palate...and it is really refreshing...so, Blondie's diet now consists of beef noodle soup and iced coffee...(and occasionally yogurt to top up the calcium levels, washed out by occasional bottles of beer...) And, it might be probable that the condensed milk in the coffee compensates for any possible weight loss resulting from the only-broth intake...
to be continued....in the evening...
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