First Impressions

I know that I said that next entry to come will be about Hanoi, but this weekend I will probably go there again (as incredibly as it sounds, visit!), so I will leave the Hanoi entry for after the return, when (for sure) I will have even more things to say about that incredible city than now.

And now to this entry itself:
Last week, while participating in a cultural exchange workshop (why and how will be explained at the given time), I was asked to point out what had been my first impressions about Vietnam. Realizing that they would make for a very interesting entry, I wrote them down. More or less, the order of appearance is cronological, as I noticed them after my arrival:

- Heat: Absolutely, heat is the first thing you notice when you arrive at Vietnam in Summer. Well it's not only heat. It's heat and humidity together, that come on you like a slap on the face and make you sweat by every pore of your skin whenever you are not near a fan or an air cooler system. And the worst thing is that, unlike in Spain, it cools almost nothing after the sun is gone, or even after storms. So, if you are planning to visit Vietnam on Summer, I really recommend that you live your jackets at home and fill the space with short trousers and t-shirts.

- Traffic: I realized how crazy traffic is in Vietnam already in the taxi from Noibai airport to Hanoi City. And I mean it, it's fucking crazy. Usually, the width of a 2-lane road without margins will be occupied with a line of motorbikes/bicycles/donkey-pulled-carts on each side and two bigger vehicles (say cars or trucks) struggling their way through in the middle. As nobody ever looks the rearback mirrors, all this chaos is controlled by horning: If you are behind somebody and you want to pass, horn. If you want them to notice you are there, horn. If you suddenly want to stop in the middle of the road, it's ok, but horn. That is why in most vietnamese cities (at least the ones I have visited so far) the most common sound you'll hear on the street is, of course, horning.

- People: Yeah, after traffic; the airport was too full of travellers, so I didn't really noticed the difference until I was in Hanoi. Some stereotypes are true. Yes, they are little. In fact, after having lived for three years in Germany, I had quite a "feeling little" sindrome, but as I arrived here, it totally dissapeared. Still, there are bigger people than me here, but not many. And yes, they smile a lot. I don't know what to say about this, but it is great anyway.

- Architecture: Although most of the country is under construction, the style in which houses are built, even the new ones, is rather interesting. Probably due to some issue with the prices or the availability of the ground, most houses are very tall and thin. I will go over this topic again when I find out a little more about the reasons, so I won't extend myself anymore on it now.

- Food: Com, Com, Com, or what is the same, Rice, Rice, Rice. Well, I guess that it is similar to the bread for us, but rice is really in each meal here. However, rice never comes alone, and his companions are usually very tasty: Fish, pork, vegetables, tofu, egg, lamb... everything goes. But of course, cut into small pieces to make it possible to eat it with chopsticks. Tip: Unless you pretend to expend a fortune in "western" restaurants, you'll better practice with the chopsticks at home if you pretend to visit Vietnam, because a fork is a rare item here.

Of course, there are many other things which grabbed my attention (schedules, music, social issues, etc), but the entry is quite too long already, so I will leave them for future posts. Of course, the above opinions are first impressions, and therefore still subject to change.

Let's see with what I am surprised next.