Remember my 'Do's and Don'ts' entry shortly before we left fro Vietnam? It was a really good thing that I read that book prior to our visit. MANY of the things in that book I got to see and experience first hand, and actually, it took some of the shock away to allow room for other things I didn't expect. I've heard people come back from overseas mission trips before saying it is just too much to process, to comprehend, that your senses are overloaded with information. I do believe that is true. Here are just a few things we encountered that I thought you might enjoy:

Was I able to keep up with my healthier eating?  Pretty close. Most meat items were caught, killed the same day, and most produce was grown in small scale farms. Everything was fresh..although you did need to make sure to go to market earlier in the day to avoid meat spoilage. Any sweets we had were different. They use sugar cane in everything, not the crystallized sugar we use.

Did I find any favorite foods/drinks? I loved the steamed rice, all the different rice noodles, and the grilled and fried meats. They have a sugar cane drink that is really good, and one of my favorite drinks was like a homemade sprite...they give you a cold bottle of soda water, afew slices of lemon or lime, and a glass of ice with sugar (that cane sugar) at the bottom. It was fun to make and the citrus and soda wasn't too bad for a queasy tummy. And I love a Veitnamese french bread sandwich...minus the peppers.

The strangest things I ate... By far the strangest was the eel. Just like fish, but a little slimy. Deerhunter and Eric fought over eyeballs at most fish meals. Eric is Vietnamese and will et just about every part of every animal he is served...the fatty fish floating 'bladder' and all. DH also ate a pidgeon, fried head and all..that grossed me out.

The french influence..was something I kind of already knew about, but didn't realized how prominent it is. I knew my Vietnamese friends loved French cake and pastries. Fresh french bread was sold everywhere. All the bakeries had french cake. The men sit around at cafe's and drink 'cafe suda', which is coffee and condensed milk poured over ice. There are many words that the Vietnamese have adopted from the french. I also learned that the French eliminated their 'picture language', like what the Japanese and Korean have, they don't have it because the French ordered it eliminated..pretty sad. But I did notice that they take great pride in neat handwriting.

The influence of technological advances...there is an odd dicotomy here. Depending on where you live, you may be in a hut, a partly brick home, or a 3 story solid home. That does not dictate what kind of access you may have to technology. Most everyone has one cell phone, if not 2. Most homes do not have computers, but there are internet cafes all over the place. In the internet cafes you will find primarily young kids...some teenagers. Most of what they do online is chat and play online games. we went to some intersting cafes. One was about half hut, the other was missing all the letters off of the keys. They are dusty and dirty, and the computers are old. In one visit we had and electrical fire start...that was our adventure for the day. I found it sad that the cafes are being used that way. I saw not a single adult in there using a computer for work, or a single young person using it for research.

The wide array of toileting facilities...I didn't realize how much I appreciated a good potty until this trip. Western toilets are hit and miss around Vietnam. The city gives you the best shot of finding one, but it doesn't guarantee the condition. Potties are not of great importance in Vietnam, because men pretty mauch take care of their business wherever they see fit. Even in the city, though, you may run across a bathroom with the infamous hole and balancing bricks. And a potty doesn't necessarily mean what you think it does. There were times where necessary parts or paper products were missing, or there was no door, or there was a chicken coop full of baby chicks where your feet should be. Hot water is a luxury, and water pressure too.

Driving...Deerhunter has always gone on and on about traffic in Vietnam, so I knew this would be an adventure. Luckily we had Driver Guy on our side. He's a paid driver who is at our beck and call the entire trip. I found out with most clients he sleeps out in his car and eats ramen noodles. Not with us. We've used him over the past few years and we treat him like family, seating him with us at restaurants, letting him sleep where we are staying...don't tell, but we even sent him home one day to spend time with his family. And really, he's more like a personal assistant..you name what you want to get done or what kind of food you want to eat, and he's on it and takes you where you need to go..he even haggled with us while souvenir shopping AND cooked us a meal....he's really close to making a decision for Christ....sorry! BACK TO THE TRAFFIC...horns are for multi purposes...to signal 'get out of my way', 'I'm passing you', 'I'm here', and even "Watch out because I am making a left hand turn from the right hand lane'. Turn signals are used differently too.  Lines on the road are just suggestions. Lights..some matter and others don't. If you get into a scrape with someone, you settle up right then and there. The helmet law is new, so almost all adults are wearing them..no kids. Oh yeah, there is no limit to how many people or how much stuff you can put on your motor bike. I saw as many as 4 or five people and many bikes with 100's of pounds of stuff. It was amazing. This trip our team only saw one dead person on the road and a couple of accidents, which is amazing considering how they drive and how many people are on the roads at once. And one connection- the way they drive on the road is very similar to how they walk through the markets...no personal space, they will even nudge you out of the way or poke you to get you to move.

Entrepeneurship is king... everybody and their brother has a business of sorts. Most people don't work for companies. They sell goods at market, or drive around to sell them. If they have a business, it is most likely in the same location as their home. I didn't get a good picture of this, let me try to explain...most shops are open air in the front. In most cases the first thing you would see would be parked motorbikes, then their shop or business, then just past that you would see hammocks or a bed/table and a 'disco buddha'...as home business operators ourselves, this was a totally different take. Oh yeah, and if your business is part of your home, that really proves out in the Vietnamese way of sleeping anywhere thre is a hammock or flat surface. My first night we passed a casket business, on the sidewalk was casket..casket..person sleeping on lawn chair..casket...casket...another person sleeping on lawn chair. And did you know the seat and handlebars of a motorbike make for great REM sleep?

..that's enough for now...there's so much more, but I know you have better things to do right now than sitting at your computer...like sleeping on your dining room table, maybe?