Food, languages and doing nothing

Everyone wants to know about the delicious food in Vietnam.  Partly because of TV shows like Anthony Bourdain and the like.  He eats street food.  I don't. I have seen those livers and chicken parts sitting in the sun for 5 hours and I don't care how much hot oil they fry in, I don't want to take that chance.

However, everything I have eaten has been delicious.  The first day I was here, I had a bowl of pho and it was quite good.  That night I had two beers in the upstairs bar overlooking the street and what the menu called "Foccacia" but was just a thin pizza crust baked until crisp in the middle and slightly chewy on the ends with olive oil and salt.  It was delicious and the perfect thing to eat with a beer.  The next morning I had breakfast at the hotel, quite good, and no dinner.  I listened to my stomach and it said NO, so I obeyed.  Yesterday, another good breakfast and dinner in a local restaurant.  Here's what I had: a shot of Johnny Walker, one beer, four fresh spring rolls with pork (which were quite porkish) and yellow curry with rice and sauteed baby bok choy.  It was really good and the total came to under $15.  Seriously.  This morning an even better breakfast (bacon and eggs rolled up in a huge crepe) and I just came back from the upstairs open-air bar and a bowl of a yummy rice concoction and two beers and the total was 200,000 dong, less than $10 US.  

So not only is the food good, it's friggin cheap as well!  If you had to hide out for a while on the cheap, this is the place to do it.

It is confirmed: I am the de facto English teacher of many young, in-training English speakers.  I cannot sit on a bench in the park without being accosted by kids who need to practice their English.  I know I am not the only one, I see it happening to others, and it is rather amusing.  The kids are so serious, wanting to know about my life, what I do (I lie about that all the time) and how I like Vietnam.  But when I ask them questions, like do you like American TV or do you drink beer, they get all giggly and the truth comes out.  They would sit there with me for the entire day if I let them but after about 30 minutes my butt is sore and I need to move on.  When I tell them I have to go, they have the sad face for a second, but then they smile and say goodbye and seek out their next victims.

While I know I should be out seeing all the museums and doing all the cultural stuff, today I did pretty much nothing.  Walked a lot, yes, but I spent a lot of time in my room and in the park reading a book.  It felt good. Part of vacation is vacating, and that is what I did.  It's one of the reasons I like going to a country that speaks a language I don't know.  It means I don't have to pay attention, (well, except when crossing the street) and I don't have to be in anyone else's moment. 
 
I have been to many countries but the people here are probably the nicest I have ever encountered.  Not the people on the streets, but the service people, the ones that wait on me or tidy my room or man the front desk. And they are beautiful as well.  I am not sure I could live here (the jostling factor gets tiresome) but if even a little of the nice factor carried over to other parts of the world, we would all be a little bit happier.  

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