Mattman |
03-15-2015 11:33 PM |
Keith, your incredulity towards other countries and your inability to understand foreign exchange rates are very funny, for a guy who has traveled outside of America occasionally. I wasn't sure if you were hamming it up, when you told your guest that his country of 1 billion people should just divide their currency by something to make it a USDollar.
If this is your approach to India, Vietnam would figuratively make your head explode. Quite the opposite to when America last visited Vietnam in great numbers, where the head explosion-thing was literal.
While we do not have any religion or custom - based behaviors that would stretch your comprehension, like animal reverence or death/imprisonment for public shows of affection, this place would be SO off your scope. USA it is not.
- The currency - the Dong - is 21,500 to 1 USD. So a trip to the supermarket to buy $50 of groceries would be over 1 million Dong. (snigger "he said Dong")
- All animals can be eaten.
- Public urination is commonplace and nose-picking seems almost compulsory.
- Saigon, a city built for 1/2 million people, now has 18 million people and over 12 million motorbikes. All motorbikes appear to move in random direction. Population of Vietnam is 90 million, the majority of whom are rural.
- The language, although it uses western letters, is almost impossible for westerners to speak.
Most expats who live here love it, so despite the short-list above, it has a lot to commend it. There is almost no "inner-city" crime, although bag-snatching is becoming common, the climate is pretty good - warm to hot, all year round and the people are very friendly. There are beautiful beaches, wonderful countryside and interesting cultural history. Unlike some countries, the indigenous population (which is a combination of regional tribes and cultures from right across Indochina) has not been wiped out by settlers.
If any listeners are coming this way, I am happy to provide advice on where to go, in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
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