Retrospective: 2 years in Vietnam
Published: 2024-07-05I don't think I had ever flown into Ho Chi Minh City at that time in the afternoon, or maybe from the the direction that I did, when I returned from the UK last month. The angle of the sun reflected off the rooftop solar-panels and water storage tanks so as to produce intense pulses of light, making it look like paparazzi flashes from a city welcoming me back, raising the anticipation of what lay behind the airport gates. The scene should of course have been familiar to me, but after a week in the sleepy streets of Southport, Lancashire, perhaps it had taken just enough of my memory away that when I stepped out into the throng of people crowded in the humid air outside, and then navigated through the sea of motorbikes on the streets, it still gave me a thrill similar to when we had first arrived.
After 2 years in Vietnam, we had to leave. Onward to Sydney, swapping Bánh Mì and cold lotus tea for pies and flat whites, swapping a little bit of the unknown and unstable for well-planned reliability. And, being June, swapping shorts and sunnies for jackets and beanies. So I thought I would put down my experience in Vietnam in a few paragraphs so that I can remember it better, as well as maybe pass a little inspiration on to others.
Energy
If I had to describe Ho Chi Minh City (or typically still called Saigon by the locals) in a single word it would be 'Energetic'. You can see and feel the energy flowing through the streets, often with activity on every metre of road and footpath. It's an energy I have only seen in one other place - Delhi, India about 20 years ago. Perhaps it is simply because of the 10 million people that live there, or that it is the 6th largest economy in south-east asia. But it is an energy different to anywhere I've lived before.
Almost everywhere you can see the busy-ness that afflicts the city, and at nearly all hours of the day and night. Having ridden a motorbike there for a year, I knew to avoid the extra-busy times just because it was too overwhelming for my poor western-ordered brain to handle. If there is one thing I learnt it was that the best way to ride 'safely' was to ride like a local and throw all my western driving experience away; the fastest way to get in an accident would be to ride like a westerner. But even with this knowledge, there were times of the day I tried to avoid!
I loved the energy of the street - everywhere you look, something is happening. Whether that be people queued at a 'Bún' stall for noodles, or a Nước Mía stall for sugar-cane juice, or a giant pot-plant being delivered on a motorbike, or in fact just about anything from bunches of flowers to washing machines to 100 balloons, families on the back of a motorbike (6 was the record - above) or just off to the park with their 2 dogs (yes, on a motorbike of course). The hustle and bustle was not hidden in offices and department stores - it was around me all the time.
Food
In my original Vietnam post, I commented on the popularity of toothpicks and ice in beer. I still regularly get toothpicks when getting take-away, but now I've embraced the ice in the beer. As long as you get one of the big cylindrical chunks, then your beer will stay cold in the hot air and the beer won't go watery, partly because of the size of the ice and partly because you tend to drink it quickly. Another plus is that Vietnam is not short of a brewery - there are plenty of commercially-brewed beers and a very healthy boutique brewery ecosystem as well, which is more than can be said for when we were in Malaysia.
I've tried plenty of food since I first wrote about Vietnam, and am constantly amazed at the diversity that I'm sure we won't find once we land in Sydney. The regional variety is also amazing - with most provincial cities having their own local dishes or some twist on another. Of course there is your Phở (noodle soup typically with beef, pronounced "fur" with a little bounce in it), gỏi cuốn (fresh spring rolls), bánh xèo (crispy pancake) and bún thịt nướng (noodles with grilled meat and fresh herbs), which you will find in a typical restaurant.
But there are also amazing dishes like bò kho (a hearty beef-and-vegetable stew), bún đậu mắm tôm (Noodles with a selection of meats and vegetables which you wrap in rice-paper and dip in a pungent sauce) and thịt kho trứng (caramelised pork belly with eggs, which my kids totally loved with good reason). Now when I go to a Vietnamese restaurant, I will be on the lookout for these, especially my favourite: Bún Chả Hà Nội.
Drinks
Everyone probably knows about Vietnamese coffee, and the Vietnamese seem to love their coffee. The sweet and bitter flavour of cà phê sữa đá (traditional iced coffee with condensed milk) was an amazing way to kick-start my day, but you have to be careful where you get it from. Different vendors have different ratios of milk to coffee, some being very overpowering, and some vendors use a very powerful coffee that they brew overnight and really knocks your socks off. I managed to find a couple of places with coffee that was 'just right', for between about $1 and $2.50.
You can also get western-style coffee - I was amazed at the level of care that some of the high-end coffee places take when preparing a western coffee - from cleaning equipment between brews to measuring the coffee down to the gram. At one place I even saw the barista taste the espresso like a bartender would. And the price for this craftsmanship? Still under $5.
Coffee may be what Vietnam is 'known' for but there are so many other drinks on offer. From fresh soy milk to sugarcane juice squeezed on the roadside (Nước Mía), to fresh juices (fresh orange juice for $2 anyone?) and a variety of teas. On of my favourites was 'nước mơ muối', a sweet-sour apricot juice. Very refreshing.
Travel
It frequently amazed me how many great beaches and resorts there are around Vietnam. It seems to be a hidden gem, from the popular tourist beaches of Phú Quốc island to the buzzing bar-fronted beach in Đà Nẵng. Plus there are many other attractions such as the longest over-water cable-car in the world (on Phú Quốc, going to a remote water park) to the 'Golden Bridge', held up by two giant hands at Bà Nà Hills.
But for general sight-seeing, there are the floating markets in the Mekong Delta, the picturesque city of Hội An, the amazing islands of Ha Long Bay and the cool forest climate of Đà Lạt. There are also places we didn't make it to like the northern hills of Sa Pa, the picturesque river town of Hà Giang and the world's biggest cave "Hang Sơn Đoòng".
Mixed in with Temples, Pagodas and a rich history, there seems to be a little bit of everything.
Language
Vietnamese is hard, it is true. I seem to have been one of the lucky ones who managed to handle most (but not all) of the pronounciation OK. After 2 years of lessons and practice, I could have a decent conversation in a few contexts (travel, food, taxis), but there were still words which tripped me up. The most common example is probably dứa, dừa and dưa, all pronounced like "yooah" but with different tones. Saying the right one depends on you being served a pineapple, a coconut or a melon.
However whenever I am asked about how difficult it is to learn Vietnamese, I always compare it to how difficult it must be to learn English with all its rules and exceptions. Vietnamese has no verb conjugations or tenses, so no 'go', 'goes', 'gone', 'going' or 'went' (???). Vietnamese only has 2 types of plural, so no 'mouse and mice', 'goose and geese' or "child and children". Vietnamese also has one sound per written letter or letter combination (although some of those are a bit tricky to say), so no "bow and bow", "close and close" or "wind and wind". English is hard... don't even get me started on 'i before e...'.
Looking Forward
Now we are in Sydney and settling in for a while. A few realities are hitting hard (goodbye cheap eating), but there is plenty to get excited about (clothes that fit and street drainage). But we will miss Vietnam. We are sure to go back. I just hope I remember to order a coconut instead of a pineapple.