Just the Facts

The Pool overlooking the beach

Sitting by the pool for the morning hit the spot for us.  We spent our last morning in Danang looking out over the pool at the China Sea, watching the waves crash and catching up on some reading.

Now we are in Hanoi and as a teaser, I will tell you that it is the prettiest and most unique city we have seen so far, totally unexpected, but I will address that tomorrow since we just got here and haven't gotten a proper look around.

So, since it was a quiet day and not much to report, I thought I might mention a few other facts about Vietnam that have surprised or interested both Quinn and I and keep us busy talking and wondering about.

The tiny black spot in the middle is a water buffalo,
sorry that's the best I could do...maybe another pic
later...

Money: First, the currency in Vietnam is the dong.  And, it turns out that about 22,000 Dong equals $1.  When I first got here and exchanged a hundred dollar bill, we received nearly three million dong in return.  So, that was easy, we are millionaires.  And, it sounds like the dollar would go really far here, but a bottle of water at the pool today was 45,000 dong (a little over $2).  Only a few water bottles might just wipe us out.

Water Buffalo:  Water buffalo are nearly everywhere in the rice paddies that line almost every road we have driven down.  They are a companion to the farmer, who spends many hours with their water buffalo working in the fields.  Our guide tells us that in the countryside, the water buffalo is considered a part of the family.  If you ask the farmer how many children he has, he will reply, "I have x number of children and 1 water buffalo."

Face Masks:  Women cover their faces with masks not only for health reasons over here, but especially to ward off the sun's rays so their skin stays light.  Phong reminds us that we all want what we don't have naturally, so fair skinned people in much of the world want to be tan and here, women pay lots of money to keep their skin pale.  Most women on motor scooters wear long pants, long-sleeved shirts and socks and even gloves as they zoom along in the 95 degree heat.  So, they get a good steam bath it seems while they travel; two for one.

This woman is eating river snails
she just gathered in the morning
for  snack

Plumbing and Refrigeration:  There is no indoor plumbing in any of the houses outside the city (and some within).  It is just not done.  Most families have a well, must boil their water and have a sort of outhouse outside.  What is most interesting about this is that even the newly built houses are like this.  Secondly, even if a house has a refrigerator, they only use it to hold fruits...not meat.  The women shop twice a day for their meals and so leave out their fresh fish, chicken, beef or pork all day.  They purchase it in the small villages from the market stalls where the meat has not been refrigerated either.  We walked through the stalls of a remote market and there was really no off-putting smell of rotting meat even though big hunks of chopped meat were lying around, so I agree, it is probably fresh...but still I would not want to eat it.  Especially since it has been in the upper 90's every day we have been here.  (we haven't been sick yet, but I am afraid to ask if the meat in the hotels is refrigerated either, what I don't know is best).

Occupation:  Phong tells the history of the Vietnamese by a litany of those who have occupied this country.  The Cham, the Chinese, the Thai (Siam), the French, and the list goes on. (Which is to say, I wish I could remember all the stuff Phong tells us, because I know there were more occupiers, but my memory can only hold so much.)  Anyway, I find this interesting because I wonder how this history has affected the social consciousness of these people.  I think it has.

Dogs:  In South Vietnam, they keep dogs for pets/protection, most of the pets look like some variation of the Shiba-Inu (not sure if I am spelling that right) that my brother- and sister-in-law own.  In North Vietnam, some people keep dogs for pets but the word on the street is that if your dog gets outside unwatched, he may be served up for dinner at your neighbors house. We have passed about five dog restaurants already in Hanoi.

Danang is famous for it's marble

I guess that's enough info for today.  I could go on and probably will if I were to be asked about things when I return home.  (Fair warning.)  But I will leave off today saying that we are now in the oldest city in Vietnam, Hanoi, which means "City on the Water," for the many lakes that are here.  More to come tomorrow.

Quinn still has a dry cough (we think allergies, her throat itches like crazy) and we fall in bed pretty exhausted every night from our brains taking in so much plus Quinn is tired from the Zyrtec and me from my Dramamine.  Our stomachs seem to be okay, just a little rumbly now and then, but all is well.  We have a few more days in Vietnam before we head to Laos, and the next days promise to be beautiful...Halong Bay soon.

What an adventure.