Five reasons why I'm becoming Vietnamese & 5 reasons why I have a long way to go

So I know I have a lot of news to catch up on, a couple of Vietnamese weddings, some minor flooding during my trip to HCMC etc etc. But here I would like to list the top 5 reasons why I feel I am slowly turning Vietnamese and the 5 reasons why I have a long way to go.

Top 5 reasons why I'm becoming Vietnamese

5. I no longer get angry with people who push into queues in front of me. The Vietnamese just do not wait in line. It's something I have come to accept. So now I just hold my ground. Though this has resulted in some bruises.

4. I choose Vietnamese coffee (and often Vietnamese food) over Western coffee any chance I get. I am well and truly addicted. I tried to quit and lasted less than a week!

3. I choose to get my hair washed using the traditional Vietnamese concoction of special leaves, cooked til they are burnt and lemon juice, over conventional shampoo and conditioner.

2. I wear a full face silver motorbike helmet.. with Hello Kitty stickers on it!

1. I now notice (and often stop to admire) different colours and styles of motorbike helmets and colours and makes of motorbikes.


Top 5 reasons why I have a long way to go

5. The almost complete lack of footpaths still frustrates me as I am someone who enjoys walking a lot. Motorbikes, childre, food stalls etc fill every available space.

4. I'm still not comfortable with the constant noise. The Vietnamese love everything at top volume, which means many a morning I have been woken up with drilling, welding, Celine Dion, Aqua/VengaBoys mega mixes etc.

3. As a rule I do not find Vietnamese men attractive. I feel this makes me less Vietnamese.

2. I cannot seem to refrain from counting the number of people on motorbikes. The most people I've ever seen on the back of the bike was 5 (but that included some children).

1. I still need to learn how to ride a motorbike. I thoroughly enjoy riding on the back now, but it's not enough!

Stay tuned for more visual updates soon.

greetings from HCMC

And so it begins. I have arrived in HCMC via Hanoi for the 2nd Asia Pacific Injury Prevention conference. Hanoi was full of learning and 5 star luxury. After having arrived in my far more basic accomodation in HCMC I am left wondering where my bathrobe and complementary slippers are.

First impression of Vietnam though... its crazy but the people are very friendly. The traffic is mental. Constant horn-honking which I have decided is more about saying hello or letting someone know you are there rather than as something that should be reacted to. Also not many seatbelts (sorry Dad) and I have only seen one sign regarding speed limits in the time I have been here.

Crossing the road is an art form, there are pedestrian crossings however its really optional for motorbikes if they want to stop for people, cars never will. At first my instinct was to run across the road to get out of people's way, however, as counter-intuitive as it may appear, you need to walk slowly across as motorbikes will usually swerve to avoid you. But there is traffic everywhere and arriving in HCMC in peak hour, it took over an hour to travel about 20km from the airport to my hotel.

Today was spent performing orientation, walking around the streets, sorting out roles and responsibilities and plane tickets. Tonight there will be a dinner with some of the current AYADS, including two of the girls from my intake that I met in Canberra.

I also managed to meet up with all of the Hanoi based AYADS whilst there for the conference. We went for some French food and I enjoyed my first beer, delicious!!! Also the coffee with condensed milk is amazing and I can see that this year is going to do nothing to stem my coffee addiction.

Well that is really all for now, just initial observations really. After the conference and learning more about drowning prevention I am incredibly motivated to achieve some amazing things whilst I am away. Hanoi this month alone, has experienced 500+ mm of rain, 5 times the average rainfall for the month and around 40 people have drowned. But this is something I will be working towards minimising.

Please comment and let me know you are reading. Hair Watch 2008/09 (or should that be Puff Watch???) is coming soon as will the rant and rave list that I will steal from Mike's blog.

Keep in touch

Amy