Experience in Vietnam

  Everything is first for me. My first airtravel, the first country I've visited, my first exposure to the world-though not so far from Thailand. It was fun and meaningful.

I thought Thailand roads are very dangerous. I've changed my mind when I went to Vietnam. I wouldn't even dare to cross the road due to motorbikes in all areas and they do drive fast.

This is Vietnam's famous “Ban-mei”. It’s the first Vietnam snack I've tried upon arriving. It's like a sandwhich with fried pork filling. It tastes good, maybe average because I came from the land of streetfood. Anyway, I've grown to like Ban-mei during my short stay there. 

 Most Thai food is spicy so it's not a surprise that I've eaten spicy noodles from Yakami shop almost everyday since I've arrived in Dong Thap. This is my first dinner when I arrived at Dong Thap. This shop became my hang-out place with the other Thai student and their noodles became our go-to food as it tastes like Thai noodles. It also reminds us of home.

 Homecooked food anywhere you go are always the best. They served this during our welcome party and I felt like I'm just around my neighborhood in Nakhon Sawan. This helped me become more comfortable with the new people I'll be with and the new environment I have to be for a month.

I had this for three weeks and I never got bored with it. It's probably because its similarity with a Thai meal or maybe because it's the only meal I feel safe eating. This might be one of the things I missed in Vietnam.

 I'm grateful for many things I had there. Some of which are the activities they have organized for us such as the three-session culture night. Aside from the fungames, i met new friends from Vietnam and Laos. The teachers from these two counties are very nice and kind. They've always made our days in Vietnam more fun especially during those times when we travel, eat, and play. It is worth remembering.

The Mango festival is quite a surprise. It’s one week holiday where the Vietnamese people close all shops to participate in whatever activities the municipality organized. Unfortunately, this left us with nowhere to buy food for five days so we ended up cooking our meals - somehting we seldom do in our lives. We also had to wake up early, go to morning market and buy ingredients for our foods-something we rarely do.  It was fun but challenging.

We take the bus from our dorm to the school. I and my friends have trouble communicating with the bus driver everyday because we don't understand each other. We've come up with several solutions such as showing the written note from our Vietnamese friend, showing the picture of the school, trying to speak Vietnamese and calling for help from our Vietnamese’s friends to talk to them. With all these efforts, we still failed. The driver still doesn't know where to drop us off. In the end, one of the Vietnamese professors talked to the driver and explained our concern. We just made sure to catch the same bus with the same driver everyday so we don't get lost.

It's not just riding the bus problem that we face evryday in Vietnam. Ordering food is another challenge. We just choose random food from the menu because we can't explain our preferences. Whatever is served, that's our meal. I've also learned “jee-aei” and “gam-ngern” which are endearing words used to call someone and thank someone, respectively.