Passing Thoughts: Vietnam Edition

Currently, I’m on a train between Da Nang and Nha Trang. I’ve been in Vietnam now for roughly two weeks and it seems to me that it’s about time for me to do another Passing Thoughts entry, so here is my first one for Vietnam.

Food: As always, this is an important topic for me and, of course, this can be broken into several categories. Generally, however, I’ll write a little about the food. I have had very little western food since I’ve been here. What I have had is a lot of rice noodles.Whether it be in Pho or Bun or sautéed or fried, I have had rice noodles galore. In Vietnam, it’s not uncommon for people to eat them three meals a day. I’ve enjoyed them, though I have to say that the food here hasn’t been nearly as spicy as it was in southern China and I do miss the heat. You can get chili paste, though, and there’s some delicious chili sauces with garlic and onion that add quite a bit of flavor to the dishes.

Food, Part II: The other food of which I’ve had quite a bit since I’ve been in Vietnam is spring rolls. I’ve had them steamed, fried, I’ve rolled them myself, I’ve even fried them myself. I’ve had vegetable spring rolls, chicken spring rolls, pork spring rolls – okay, I’m beginning to sound like Bubba. I’ll just say that there are a lot of spring rolls here and most of them have been outstanding, especially if the sauce is good.

Food, Part III: Another thing that I’ve noticed here is that the bread in Vietnam is particularly good. It’s pretty easy to find baguettes and they are crisp on the outside and soft in the middle.I have to assume that it’s because of the French influence in Vietnam.

People: I have to say that, as a group, the people in Vietnam may be the friendliest that I’ve ever met. I’ve had meals by myself in restaurants and more often than not, somebody will come over to me while I’m eating and start talking to me about Vietnam or the United States or any other topic. And, on top of this, I’d have to rank Vietnam with Argentina and Italy as far as the places that I have visited that have had the most beautiful women. (And, no, I still have not visited Brazil.)

Vietnam War: As you can imagine, the topic is still very fresh here. The Vietnamese lost 3 million people during the war, and that’s just the official count. I have heard that there are still another 300,000 people still considered “missing.” Here, the war is known as the American War. (Makes sense, since every war here is a “Vietnam war.”) I guess that the level of bias that you hear here depends upon the story teller and his/her own story, but I have heard a lot about the atrocities of war since I’ve been here and it has altered the way I view the war, both from the perspective of an American and from the Vietnamese perspective. Most of all, though, I think that it has inspired me to learn much more about this period of American/Vietnamese history.

United States: Both here and in China, there’s been an odd phenomenon involving the following conversation. Local Person (“LP”): Where are you from? Me (“Me”): The United States. LP:Where? Me: The United States. LP: (Perplexed look of person who has no idea what I’m talking about.) Me: America? LP: OOOHHH. America. It seems that, despite the desires of nearly every South American I’ve ever met, the United States is better known as America here rather than the United States.

Okay, I guess that’s enough for my passing thoughts at the moment. I’m sure I’ll rip off another Passing Thoughts entry before I enter Cambodia. Later.