summing up

*Everyone answers the phone “Hello.”
*Only foreigner restaurants have menus - everyone else just knows. And if it has a menu in English, chances are the prices are twice that of which a normal Vietnamese would pay.
*Therefore, the cheapeset food can be had sitting on a little plastic chair on the sidewalk.
*It’s cheaper to pay in dollars. The exchange rate is 15,900 dong/ 1 dollar, but everyone calculates with 16,000, even the airport when you pay departure tax.
*If you’re going to have clothes made, give yourself three days. Sure, the tailors are good enough to whip something up in one day, but it won’t fit like you want it.
*Vietnamese women don’t dye their hair like Thais and Japanese do. In the countryside, the women have long, beautiful jet black hair.
*Fresh spring rolls in Vietnam seem to be like sushi in Japan - everyone foreigner thinks they are the staple food, but in fact, they are not.
*There are at least 150 motorcycles for each automobile on the road. In a thirty minute walk around the city, I saw a total of five cars.
*The souvenirs are exactly the same all over the country, but depending on where you are, the prices are different.
*The service people wear the Ao zai traditional dress, but all the normal people wear outfits that look like pajamas, comfortable and cool.

Overall impression:
Vietnam was nice. The countryside and Halong Bay were beautiful, the food was good, and it was very easy and cheap to get around wherever you wanted to go. Unfortunately, the moto and cyclo drivers were incredibly annoying (in the cities, I was saying “No thanks” every three steps), and I always had the feeling I was being lied to. That isn’t to say, I didn’t always appreciate the help and service I recieved. There were a few hotels and restaurants who cheated me with extreme enthusiasm, and I was happy to pay them for their energy. There were also the bright spots like the boy at the lake, one small restaurant in Hue, the Halong Bay boat, and my hotel in Hanoi. I did enjoy my trip because I like to see things I have not seen before, eat foods I have never eaten, and bargain using sign language. Next time, though, I’m bringing a friend. Who’s coming with me?