Last night, me and a couple fellow football fans experienced what I thought was the most challenging task of the trip so far: finding a way to watch football. Not the football they care about here (soccer), but “American football”.
We began by walking around the city after dinner in an (more…)
Reflecting on the past two cities that we have experienced, Hanoi and Hoi An, the similarities amongst the people and culture are becoming more apparent to me as opposed to the differences that I was previously so intrigued by. Yes, the two cities are very different in terms if size, population, (more…)
Two weeks into our trip, we now have a much wider understanding of the Vietnamese culture and how it relates and differs from city to city. In these short two weeks we have spent time in the capital city, Hanoi, and the rural villages of Halong Bay, Danang and Hoi An, (more…)
As we travel through Vietnam communicating with the locals has become easier. Using hand gestures and their knowledge of English I can get a couple points across. It is harder though when it comes to transportation. The places I want to go are in English and the translation doesn’t always cross (more…)
While I felt that the tourism industry was booming in Hanoi, it can’t compare to that of Hoi An. The streets are lined with tailors and gift shops just waiting to be filled with the Australian, European, and American tourists who have travelled to Hoi An ready to spend money. The (more…)
I talked about this a little bit already during our last group discussion, but I thought I would expand on the idea/topic. We all know that Vietnam is very different than America in many ways. One of the most noticeable ways that the two countries are different is the people’s work (more…)
Consider the following three observations.
(1) The trip to Halong Bay: At the end of our time in Hanoi, we rode a bus to the breathtaking Halong Bay. Our destination was only about 200 km from Hanoi, but it took us about four hours; so our speed was about 50 km per (more…)
Let’s begin with some facts. According to the CIA Factbook, the Vietnamese economy can be divided into three sectors: Agriculture, which contributes 19.7% to GDP; Industry, which contributes 38.6% (18% from manufacturing); and Service, which contributes 41.7%. And according to index mundi, state-owned enterprises – which cross the three sectors mentioned (more…)
Going to a Vietnamese hospital was one of the most eye opening experiences so far in this trip. To start, I have never had an IV before so it was kind of a freaky experience to be doing it in a foreign country. Second, it was done in a pretty open (more…)
Time. As we wrap up our time in Hoi An, our group had a discussion yesterday about three different themes of our trip thus far. During this discussion, the value of time in Vietnam versus the value of time in the United States was brought up. This subject raised a lot (more…)
Follow
