Day 7 - People & Food

Travelling with my mother has proved to be a bit overwhelming at times but overall, I'd say we're getting along pretty well. It's been a VERY long time since I've spent this much time with her... in fact, I haven't lived with her in over a decade (with the exception of a 4-month co-op work term back in 2004). She is not the most active or physically strong person but I think her sheer excitement has energized her on this trip.

On this leg of the tour (4 days in Northern Vietnam), we've been fortunate enough to meet some very generous and fun people. My Vietnamese is not the greatest but I'm managing OK on my own. I met a couple of friends and while we departed on separate vehicles tonight, we managed to get each other's contact information. I met a woman named Ha and she is on the tour with her 82 year-old grandmother. If you saw how fast she moved, you'd be amazed. I keep staring at her because she reminds me of my own grandmother...in ways, I feel like my own grandmother is very much here with me in spirit, making sure that my mother and I are OK. Ha's grandmother is putting my mother to shame...you should have seen my mother's face when we got to the temple in Yen Tu and Ha's grandmother said to my mother, "Let the kids go up - there's no way you and I are going to make it up those stairs. Let us old people stay together." LOL My mother actually got so embarrassed that she was being compared to an 82 year old that she put her hat on and walked off the bus with me...only to be discouraged by the cobblestone steps and eventually went running back to the bus.

I was sad to leave the bus this evening after dinner as everyone continued on to Sapa. It was bittersweet because I know that there wasn't any way my mother could have climbed up the hillsides in Sapa but I know that Danang is going to be beautiful too.

You've probably wondered why I haven't written anything about the food here on the tour... well, it's because I haven't been too impressed with it. We've been eating in nice restaurants and it's a lot of the same thing because we are all sharing together. I don't think I've come upon a dish that has been spectacular. The one thing that my mother's been impressed with is the coffee (...but of course, it's the same in Saigon too. (@Dean - in case you don't know already) The way that Vietnamese coffee is made is fairly simple... Brew your favourite strong coffee and add about two tablespoons of condensed milk. Stir. If you want Vietnamese iced coffee, follow the previous steps and then add ice. :)

Condensed milk is used in a lot of Vietnamese drinks - including the fruit shakes. My favourite fruit shake is the avocado shake (or Sinh tố bơ) It's basically an avocado, ice and condensed milk blended together. I know for some, avocado isn't the first thing you think of when you want to have a milkshake but if you like avocados, this is definitely something you have to try. It's delicious!

I've been really careful about eating fruit here in Vietnam - although it's very delicious, I've been told to watch out for worms. Today, our bus made a stop at the street market for people to jump out and buy fruit. You could get a kilogram of lychees (a plastic bag FULL) for 6000 dong, which is about 30 cents. It was cheap for a reason!! The vendors let you taste the fruit before buying but they will give you the best looking fruit to taste and pack your bag full of the spoiled ones... the entire tour group learned this the hard way! About 20 people got off the bus, bought a bag full and then discovered that half of the lychees were spoiled as the bus drove off and it was too late to complain. My mother was hilarious... she carried the bag back with us to the hotel and then offered it to our taxi driver. He turned it down! Heck, even HE knew that the fruit was no good!!!

I did, however, have my first beer in Vietnam today - I'm surprised that I've last this long with my mother without having to consume alcohol but here it is...It was ordered for the table at dinnertime and boy, it went down pretty nice. Also, when you're drinking beer in Vietnam, the people here like to add ice to the beer to keep it from getting warm (not necessarily to water it down) and they like to touch glasses before every sip. I managed to to figure this out later, when I had already finished my entire beer and the other tourists were still on their third sip! My mother said something under her breath that sounded a little bit like, "I can't believe you're drinking with the men...you must have had some practice!" LOL

I'm ready for bed as we have to get up at 5am tomorrow to get to the airport for our flight to Danang...nite nite!