Vietnam The Learning

Ok so crossing the road in Saigon (Ho Chi Min City, whatever you prefer to call it) is an issue. There are Tourist Police that are there to help you, which we were lucky enough to find on the first day as we were overwhelmed when we came to a road that was ,insanely busy. There are not many crossings & if you happen to find a Zebra Crossing, don't be fooled into believing this is a safe place to cross because believe me IT IS NOT..!!

The trick to crossing the road is this...... Just step out off the curb & keep walking, believe it or not the traffic will just go around you, it's that simple! (absolutely terrifying the first time). If you have any doubts & cannot find the Tourist Police, (they are dressed in green but he way) just find a 'local' & cross with them! We are pro's at it now & believe that crossing the road in Saigon is uniquely & totally safe once you have learnt how!

Mad traffic...!!!

Food is cheap if you choose not to eat in the hotels & eat where the locals do. I could feed my family of four (or three & a half..!) for $11 Australian dollars, drinks included! You can buy a can of beer at the corner store for less than one Aussie dollar - how good is that?!!

Just about all Vietnamese know english, they learn it at school, but they can read & write it better than they can speak it, and will hand you a pen & paper if the language barrier gets difficult!

Two things you should know about our language differences. Firstly 'Yum' in Vietnamese means I want to 'take you to bed' RIGHT NOW (if you get my drift) When we visited a sweet factory I had the packing ladies giggling as we tasted the sweets & I showed my appreciation "Hmmm Yummm" we were all amused by my faux pas...!!!

Secondly please don't cross your fingers in public. It may mean good luck to us, but in Vietnam it means 'Lady Bits down below'...!!!

Yet another photo for our little Celebrity 

The Vietnamese don't like their skin to be dark, they cover themselves from head to toe as fair or white skin is attractive to them. Unlike us who will risk our health &  wrinkles for the sake of a tan, oh how I wish we thought fair skin was attractive!

Celebrity Charlie even made it into a wedding photo!

 As mentioned we took Little Miss Charlie only two & a half with us. Now this is a 'need to know'  if you are traveling with your white european young-in's...... Vietnamese LOVE children, particularly fair skinned children.  Charlie got almost celebrity status the moment she stepped off the plane.! It was very hard to shop with her around. We got stopped constantly, they just wanted to touch her, smell her, kiss her & photograph her, which all seems a bit weird now I'm writing about it, but it was perfectly acceptable at the time & Charlie was totally safe.  In fact if you are thinking of traveling to Vietnam with small children I would suggest that you use a harness to keep them close to you (we never use one at home),  otherwise our experience was one of total safety. Charlie even received the odd gift from admirers! 

In Vietnam we found the people sooooo friendly. they truly are beyond beautiful......