A few more observations

Almost all tourists here are European and Australian, and some Asians (Japanese, mostly). We have met or seen very few Americans. Still, English is the widely-spoken language, beyond Vietnamese of course.

We’ve been able to log onto Facebook here, unlike in northern Vietnam. No idea if north-south has anything to do with it.

You’ve no doubt heard in the news about flooding in this part of the world the last few months.  Hoi An, where we are now, is located on a river adjacent to the South China Sea. Yesterday at high tide some of the streets were flooded up to 8-10 inches, though it was easy to walk a block or two away from the river and avoid any problems.

The flooding in Bangkok where we’re due to arrive in a week has led us to inquire of our airlines and the tour company that arranged our drivers here whether we should change our plans, and if so, what our options are. Daughter Mackenzie has kept us supplied with updates from sources in the U.S.  So far the international airport in Bangkok is fine and expected to remain so. Our Bangkok hotel is located on one of the rivers that is flooded, and we’re unsure whether we may need to stay elsewhere.  Meanwhile, we’ll continue to monitor the situation but have not changed our plans.

Last night’s dinner supplied our first experience in being cheated by a local. We were brought (and charged for) some dishes we did not order; we thought they might be “side dishes” (not), and when our bill came it had two problems: prices for some items were higher than quoted on the menu, AND the final tally was 1.15 million dong instead of 830,000 dong – supposedly an innocent mathematical error, but taken with the other two problems, we believe was intentional.  Lesson learned: if food courses are brought that you didn’t order, send them away; check the bill carefully for accuracy on each item as well as correct total addition. 

It has rained HARD, though briefly, several times in the last few days – not like rain in Seattle which is usually light and lasts much of the day.

We don’t feel we have an honest grasp of how people here feel about Americans. In the north we were told Vietnamese people “don’t look back” as they’ve had such a difficult history for thousands of years, thus at some point or another almost everyone has been an “enemy”. They focus on looking to the future and re-building.  We’re unsure, however, everyone (except at the restaurant last night) remains friendly and polite toward us, always, although here in Hoi An there is more of a feeling that the tourist is a commodity than we’ve sensed elsewhere.

Hundreds of times since we’ve arrived, Cathryn, Lynn or David has blurted “Watch your head, Bob!”  He is extraordinarily tall by Vietnamese standards (6’ 0”), so doorways, ceilings and things like tarps tied over alleyways in the markets are often so low that even the rest of us have to duck our heads, whereas it’s just down-right hilarious to watch Bob duck and crouch his way through.