The Vietnam Experience

I apologize for no activity for the past month. I was distracted with other things. As promised I will tell a little more about my travels this summer. About two weeks ago I got back from a trip to Vietnam. I got to experience a lot of things there like eating pho’, drinking road-side coffee, visiting war museums, nearly getting killed while crossing the street and among other things.

I discovered a lot about the country while I was there. Vietnam embraces a whole lot of religions, mainly Buddhism and Hinduism. I even encountered a cathedral and a Baptist church as well (I did not expect to see either). One friend told me that at the heart of it all was ancestor worship. Just about everywhere I went whether it was a store, hotel, restaurant, temple, bus and even at the corner of the street there was an altar with a picture or a statue of a deceased relative with incense, fruits and drinks sitting in front of it. The people worshiped many deceased people in various ways. Some were bigger and more prominent than others. There was one that I visited that honored an ancient king of Vietnam, and another for Ho Chi Minh, the man who began the socialist party in Vietnam that now governed the country.

After ten years of living in the Philippines I thought that nothing would surprise me about road conditions, but I was wrong. Cars, taxis and buses make up about thirty percent of total driving. Everyone else is on a motorcycle. Every time I tried to cross the street, I’m sure there was someone contacting a group of his buddies on a motorcycle saying, “Look! A foreign pedestrian! Let’s make him dance!” and like that I would barely escape with my life. I even had to watch my back because some had the tendency to drive on the sidewalk.

Like many of my experiences in another country one of my favorite experiences is trying the food. One of the thematic dishes of Vietnam was a noodle dish called pho’. I even went to the restaurant where Bill Clinton ate pho’ during his visit in 2000. But the best dish that I had was something called bo ne, which was described to me as a Vietnamese fajita. It was probably more western influenced, but it was delicious. The server would bring a skillet with beef and an egg cooking on it and you would mix it up and stuff it in a loaf of French bread. Another bold experience was trying their coffee. It was about the strongest coffee that I had in my life. Every coffee place I went to I had a choice to drink it black or try it with sweetened condensed milk. I am not a fan of condensed milk, so I tried it black. It was way too strong for me to finish.

Overall I think my trip to Vietnam was a great experience. In more ways than one, I felt like it was a place where someone could learn to be courageous and try new things. If anyone asked me if I would ever consider living there I would probably surprise them by answering yes.