[Disclaimer: Any of my past professors would want me to tell you that I know wiki-anything probably isn't the best source of reputable information. However, it is quick and compact and a good place to at least start my quest for Vietnam knowledge. So here we go.]
1) Currency:
Vietnam's currency is the dong. Bills are available in denominations of 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, 10000, 20000, 50000, 100000, 200000 and 500000 dong.
[ok, I knew that already, but I felt it important to share...and can you imagine...anyone got change for this 500K bill?]
2) RELIGION:
There's a religion called Hoa Hao.
[I had no idea! Turns out it's a Vietnamese Buddhist sect.]
3) CITIES:
Da Nang (Đà Nẵng) - major port in central Vietnam.
Ho Chi Minh City (Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh) - Vietnam's largest city and the economic engine of the south, formerly Saigon (Sài Gòn)
4) WAR:
"US economic and military aid to South Vietnam grew through the 1960s in an attempt to bolster the Southern Vietnam government, escalating into the dispatch of 500,000 American troops in 1966 and what became known as the Vietnam War - although the Vietnamese refer to it as the American War."[I found this interesting as an example of difference in perspective, and I wonder about other differences in how our cultures view one another, and the war.]
5) HOLIDAYS:
"By far the largest holiday of the year is Tết, also known as Vietnamese New Year, which takes place between late January and March following the unisolar Chinese calendar. Visitors also stand a good chance of being invited to join the festivities, often involving large quantities of food and candy (for women and kids) and alcohol, karaoke, and gambling (for the men)."
6) TRAVEL:
There's a train system called the Reunification Express.
[Love how this sort of sounds like a Sesame Street train...Hey kids! Let's hop aboard the Reunification Express!]
more travel:
"Once you get the hang of it, it's actually great fun to find yourself walking unafraid through a deadly sea of swarming vehicles and people, suddenly feeling like part of the normal flow in this otherwise foreign land - many visitors find waiting at traffic lights quite boring upon return to their home countries.[Deadly sea of swarming vehicles? Really, wikitravel?]
7) LANGUAGE :
"Vietnamese, spoken by most of the population, is a tonal language and definitely not easy for Westerners to master."[I've already heard how this can lead to some unfortunate faux pas in translation. One word, depending on tone, can have multiple meanings. Certain numbers and certain body parts, for instance...that can't be good.]
8) SHOPPING:
"You can bargain on practically anything in Vietnam. Most merchants will start off charging foreigner prices, which you can easily bring down by a minimum of 10%, or more if you like bargaining."[This is most excellent news.]
9) FOOD:
[It should really be no surprise that this is the longest one...]
"Food sits at the very epicenter of Vietnamese culture: every significant holiday on the Vietnamese cultural calendar, all the important milestones in a Vietnamese person's life, and indeed, most of the important day-to-day social events and interactions - food plays a central role in each. "
"Many Vietnamese dishes are flavored with fish sauce (nước mắm), which smells and tastes like anchovies (quite salty and fishy) straight from the bottle, but blends into food very well. (Try taking home a bottle of fish sauce, and using it instead of salt in almost any savory dish -- you will be pleasantly surprised with the results.)"
"Vietnam's national dish is phở, a broth soup with beef or chicken and rice noodles ( a form of rice linguini or fettuccini). Phở is normally served with plates of fresh herbs(usually including Asian basil), cut limes, hot chilis and and scalded bean sprouts which you can add in according to your taste, along with chili paste, chili sauce, and sweet soybean sauce."and probably my favorite part:
"If you like seafood, you may find heaven in Vietnam."
10) SAFETY:
"Vietnam is very keen on bolstering foreign tourism, with severe punishments for crimes against tourists, violent crime against foreigners is rare."[Isn't that nice to know?]
That is where I'll leave you for now! I hope you enjoyed the mini-lesson. More to come...
Sarah
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