Fifty Reasons to come to Vietnam
We have only been here for eleven days and we already know that we want to return to this wonderful country. Here are (almost) fifty reasons why you should come here too:
- Random people saving your life by just grabbing your hand and leading you across busy rush hour Saigon roads
- Brutally strong and deliciously sweet 45 cent coffee served with condensed milk that drip brews in front of you
- Big steaming bowls of hot Pho – that says it all…
- Tours around the country in old US Army Jeeps
- Hundreds of perfect spiral shells littering the beach
- Deluxe suite hotel rooms for $14
- Smiles everywhere you look
- Custom fitted and hand made dresses to your wishes for a fraction of the US price
- Delicious food you can eat without contracting some deadly disease
- Handmade leather shoes – be the coolest dude in the office with your snake leather brogues (are you listening Phil Sexton?)
- Strangers that come up to you in the street, pat your belly and say “Happy Buddha”
- Toilets on the boat
- Cows with lumpy backs
- Fruit sellers wearing woven pointy hats
- Beautiful old houses
- Boat rides with Captain Mien
- Amazing markets full of just about everything
- Fishermen
- Foreigners wearing pointy woven hats
- Proper motorbikes for hire everywhere
- A human powered Cyclo (psycho?) ride across town
- Street vendors with fake East London and Australian accents ……..“Ello darlin’/It’s a bonza deal mate”
- Very questionable public electricity
- Everything you buy on the street is on “Happy Hour buy two get one free” sale
- Affordable and efficient overnight train rides all over the country
- Stir fried morning glory greens with garlic
- Hand tailored jacket with silk lining made in two days
- Getting your shoes shined on the street corner
- Getting an old school haircut, razor shave and beard/eyebrow trim and rather scary ear cleaning for about $5
- Decent roads that don’t shake your body to bits
- Millions and millions of motorbikes EVERYWHERE! (none of which “Uncle” Phil or any self respecting motorcyclist would consider powerful enough)
- Trash vans that play a little 8 bit Nintendo style tune to let you know they are coming down the street
- Tracking down “Miss Forget-Me-Not” and getting her to make you and your friend a custom hand made silk kimono
- Stunning scenery
- Beautiful temples decorated with broken beer bottles and cracked crockery
- Dried sweetened coconut shavings that taste divine
- Lanterns in the streets at night
- People that are as cute as “Hello Kitty”
- Workers in the rice paddies wearing woven pointy hats
- Fresh and fried spring rolls
- Pineapple pancakes and hot banana fritters on the street
- Vietnam propaganda posters for sale
- Overloaded motorbikes
- $4 manicure/pedicure
- Photo oportunities on every street corner