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;

Interesting Travel Report :)

[maradeux]

Is there a special reason that you visit Asia quite often (cause you mentioned you've already visited China and Japan)? Looking forward to the next episode. :)

Re: Interesting Travel Report :)

[jenova]

XD Sort of a combination of good prices for travel, and interest. I'm half-Vietnamese, and I studied Japanese in school... China was a bit less relevant, but the price for the tour was good. ^_^; I think that's it for a while, though, going to stay closer to home this year. ;)

[jenova]

Heh, I forgot to mention at the outset that there will be a lot of talk of food ;D Aside from this seafood nonsense, it was one of the best aspects of the trip ;D

[jenova]

Ha, speaking of umbrellas, they have those too ;) That is, people riding on their motorbikes while carrying their open umbrellas. ;) (Or somewhat more safely, though funnier -- the passenger holding the umbrella for both.)

Heh, since it's the communists running things over there, the war is their awesome victory. ;) I didn't get any impression of strong anti-Americanism, though. People outside of the tourism industry (that includes hotel staff and the people who work in the big markets XD) don't seem to speak much English. The kids learn it in school, but I don't think they get a lot of practice, y'know? ;) That being said, lol, I had a few interesting moments with some of the young ladies running the market stands, who asked about certain idioms (like, "is 'never mind' like 'no problem'?").

[jenova]

The travel was really awful T_T Just sitting on the long flights is bad enough (of course I got up a few times during, but still...), but on the way in I had this god-awful headache, and on the way back I actually got sick as we were closing in to land T_T (which never happens to me -- was sick for the next day too, I suspect a stomach bug...) I guess it was worth it overall, but ugggh.

But yeah, actually being over there was great XD

[jenova]

Hahaha, that would be brilliant. XD (And no more crying babies 2 rows behind, woo~)