snaps & scribbles | vietnam ::
:: see below for some photos and anecdotal (sometimes random) notes from a recent trip I took to southern Vietnam. This was only my second time in Vietnam, so please correct me if I got anything wrong. Thanks. // AjS
snaps ::
scribbles ::
- Vietnam is really two words and should be spelled Viet Nam.
- Pepsi not Coke.
- I have never seen stores selling caskets before. In Vietnam such stores are all along the roadside. It’s very sad to see a stack of children-sized caskets ready for the sell.
- There are a lot catholic churches in Vietnam.
- Vietnamese cemeteries are above ground and beautiful.
- Warrior sneakers and Tiger beer are the only Chinese brands I noticed in the Vietnamese market.
- Pho is of course never better than in Vietnam.
- Motorbikes not cars.
- Vietnam has some of the most interesting signage, particularly government propaganda anti-smoking, and disease awareness signs.
- Vietnamese people don’t stare, at you in fact, you’re lucky if they look at you at all.
- Some local fishing boats look like teacups floating in the water.
- In-store / shop / home Buddhist shrines have flashing neon lights.
- Quite a few people speak Mandarin. More than I would have expected.
- Samsung and NOKIA seem to be market leaders in the hand set space in Vietnam.
- A few KFC, no McDonalds. A good thing.
- WIFI internet access is fairly readily available in HCM city. The fastest internet connection I’ve accessed in years in in the HCM city airport courtesy of Vietnam Airlines.
- Vietnamese coffee is still the best coffee in the world to me.
- Automobile horns are different…they are considerably louder, at a higher pitch, and more annoying.
- Buildings are tall, skinny, and deep.
- Motorcycle helmets is a good industry to be in.
- “Same same.” is a full and proper sentence in Vietnam.
- Unlike the most of the rest of East Asia, Karaoke is not a very big deal here.
- Barefoot.
- Limes, not lemons.
- Bugs are bigger here.
- What’s the point of the last 3 zeros in local currency?
- The Mekong River is very muddy.
- The Vietnamese, like almost every country I’ve ever visited (accept Germany) appear to be quite patriotic.
- There is no subway in HCM city, although I understand that is going to change soon.
- Although the official name is apparently HCM city, most local people still seem to refer to it as Saigon. Saigon sounds much better, but
- HCM was a pretty interesting guy and probably worst have a big Vietnamese city named after him.
- A lot of graffiti tags, but couldn’t really find and proper pieces.
- There is an odd and very obvious surplus of older Western men with badly done arm tattoos running around this country.
- Palm trees and coconuts.
- To my great delight, 8bit Nintendo is still played by the average Vietnamese “gamer”
- The Saigon River-front in downtown HCM city reminds of what Shanghai must have looked like in the late 80s or so.
- Bread appears to be a pretty standard part of local cuisine…unlike most other East Asian countries.
- Petro not gas.
August 15th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
ha, actually not viet nam-related but tiger beer is notnotnot chinese.
August 15th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
@ wl, thanks for the response. You’re right. I knew that too…not sure what I was thinking with that note. It’s Singaporean, yeah?
// AjS
August 16th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
haha. yup singaporean. btw the old-school pho bowls with slightly wavy edges are lovely.
August 17th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Wow – I really must make a trip to Viet Nam at some point, once I either learn a bit more of the language or grow up and get over my stupid language phobia.
Regarding the number of Mandarin speakers: I’ve heard that it’s actually educational policy that the oldest child in a family will be educated in English, the second-oldest in Mandarin, and the third-oldest in French. (Arranged, I guess, in order of how badly native speakers of the languages fucked the Vietnamese over?) Can’t confirm this, but it’s interesting if true.
As for bread being a standard part of Vietnamese cuisine: I’ve always thought that Vietnamese food represented a powerful argument in favor of being colonized by the French.
August 27th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
As far as Chinese brands go, I feel like I saw a lot of Chinese-made motorbikes/scooters among the millions that swarm everywhere around Vietnam. Could be mistaken, was a few years ago I went there. I feel like I rented a chinese brand motorbike at one point. I loved Vietnam, and was amazed and surprised that I got no shit at all for being an American. I mean the U.S. fucked up VN at least as bad as Japan did China, no?