Product Descriptions

I always love reading the back of products in Asia. Here's a fun one I read today on the back of a pack of lotus seeds:



In case you can't read the small writing it says: "The product is manufactured from the modern technology chain, assuring the foods hygiene safety and obtaining high crispness and sponginess, but always maintaining natural colour and flavour of fresh ripen fruits and especially the chemical substance is not used in the process of production."

Who knew something could be spongy and crispy!

Serenity Now

Hanoi is a busy city. There's tons of traffic. Incessant honking. Vendors screaming out the sale of their goods and a billion other noises that could give one a brain numbing migraine. However, the beauty of this city is that there are so many places that are quiet and serene. One of the things I love about my apartment is that the only noise during the day is from birds chirping and my neighbors praying.

Recently I started tutoring a girl that lives on the far side of West Lake. The girl's house is right near the lake which -- on this side of the lake -- is one of the quieter places in all of Hanoi. I've been showing up at the girl's house twenty or thirty minutes early every time so I can go to the lake and read a book and soak in the silence. Here's a video of one of my favorite spots in Hanoi:

No Playing Games

Picture this scene:

A girl comes up to a boy and says, "My friend likes you and was really sad when I told her you had a girlfriend."

If this happened in America you would picture this being a side conversation between two people. Perhaps you would assume this conversation is taking place at a middle school or in a university cafeteria. Regardless of where this conversation is happening, again, you would assume it is just between the boy and the girl.

Well, this morning I was the boy and one of the girl employees at my gym was the girl. However, there was just one little difference from our assumption -- the aforementioned friend was standing right next to both of us, smiling from ear to ear. As flattered as I was, I just thought this was a great example of how many Vietnamese girls don't play games. One thing I love about Huyen is that from Day 1 we never played games with each other. This is a stark contrast from dating in America and well, I think it's a breath of fresh air.

Breastfeeding

Do women breastfeed in public in America? I feel like I've seen it in some movies but I can't remember ever seeing it in person. Well, in Vietnam I've seen it in person a hell of a lot. Many mothers here have no shame when it comes to whipping out their boob and letting their little one have a drink. I've got countless stories of being in awkward situations with women and their exposed breast. However, I'm writing this blog because this morning, when riding my bike home from the gym, I was eye to eye with a woman's breast and a baby's lips. As I was riding my bike a bus pulled up besides me. I turned my head and BAM right in the window was a booby. This woman was on a public bus, with a window seat, driving on a busy road yet had her child sucking away. I'm not complaining but frankly Vietnam traffic is dangerous enough without having to be distracted by breasts!

White Socks

I may have written about this before but I can't help myself from writing about it again.

There is no bigger fashion fopaux to me then someone wearing a suit with white socks. Call me a snob but I just think it's ridiculous. Every day I see guys wearing really nice suits that look foolish once their bleach white athletic socks peak out from their pant legs. Well, last night I was waiting at a traffic light when this guy pulled up:


I told Huyen why I was taking the picture and she agreed that it looked really silly to wear white socks with suits (she is in the sock business so she knows what she's talking about). However, Huyen told me that some Vietnamese guys think that by showing their white socks it gives off the impression that they are wealthy because they have brand new sparkling white socks. Lets chalk it up to a cultural difference.

Teeth, Teeth and More Teeth

One of the odder things about the Vietnamese dentist's office was that there were plaster models of teeth EVERYWHERE. Teeth, like in the picture above, were on every available shelf and in every glass cabinet. I asked Huyen to ask one of the employees what the teeth were for and apparently they were just decoration. I mean, I guess it goes with the theme of the place but frankly I found it pretty creepy.

Dental Hygiene?

You have to watch this video! I put this in the top five things I've shot in Vietnam. Watch the hygienist in the background as he cleans the AC unit with the air-blaster that goes into people's mouths...

This takes dental hygiene to a new level:



Huyen, sorry for showing a video of you getting your teeth cleaned!