Vietnam travel journal, part I

[jenova]

All right, so as previously mentioned, I went on a trip to Vietnam in November. Looking at it now, I feel like we really didn't do much touristy stuff, overall. XD; Maybe... Just not to the same extent as when we went to China or Japan. I suppose it's more like, we didn't do a lot of sightseeing -- we certainly did a lot of walking and shopping

Comments

[syverce]

This part of the trip sounds terribly exciting, but then Ha Long appeals to the nerd in me. As to the other guests on the boat, your description reminds me much of E talking about the hostels he stayed in.

[jenova]

Ha, I thought you might like the Ha Long bit XD I wonder what the bay looks like from the air...

Vietnam is generally quite inexpensive so there are lots and lots of young backpackers there -- mostly from Europe but some from this side of the pond, too. On the other hand, lot of the older tourists seem to be Australian (they aren't so far away, after all).

[syverce]

Oh, but it already sounds like E couldn't possibly eat there. He lived on nutella and cheese and bread (and beer) in Europe (and Maoz but I had to look up addresses for him), and I know most east Asian cultures have a good deal of traditionally vegetarian dishes but we'd need a damn good interpreter to know what was prepared how.

[jenova]

Not sure of E's requirements, but when the vegetarian food is done *properly*, as it should be for religious reasons, it's made without, y'know, lard, meat stock, etc. It is even supposed to be cooked in different dishes.

But yeah, in your average restaurant, I'm not entirely sure how "safe" things would be. That being said, there is probably an easy way to ask if something is vegetarian, using whatever word(s) are generally used to describe the religious-vegetarian diet. XD;

[charnia]

I have a milk allergy that used to be life-threatening, and I'm sure still could be if I tested it enough (also allergic to eggs and every ruminant I've ever tried, though only mildly). It can be frustrating enough just going out to eat, and the idea of traveling somewhere where I don't speak the language and hospitals aren't always close at hand is kind of scary. But I bet China/India/Southeast Asia would be a lot safer than most other places, since so much of the cooking doesn't use dairy at all.