During my time here I am continually amazed and in awe of the things that Vietnam can manage without.  On the other hand there are things that they can’t do without that may surprise you.  Firstly I will start with the things that they can do without for periods of time:

• Electricity – it is amazing.  I have been places where the power is out but you wouldn’t know it, life carries on.  We were in the Me Kong and the power was out of Sunday and it was called “Sunday Blackout”.  We still have breakfast and lunch and went on a cruise.  In Australia if that happens, it is very hard to get anything done.  They do a lot of cooking by charcoal and gas and computer systems do not rule the world here.
• Tables – they have this great ability to squat, so they don’t require work benches like we would to fix printers, motorbikes etc.

• Chairs – because they can squat, you see people waiting and eating in the squatting position.  If I did that I would fall over or my legs would give out.
• Refrigerators – It defies logic here.  All the street food doesn’t have refrigeration so meat sits outside for most of the day.  You get ice out of an esky (Chilly Bin) for your drink
• Cars – motorbike rule the road here.  The Government makes it very expensive to own a car here.
• Proper shoes – flip flops can be used for everything, even construction.
• Books – you don’t see people reading books here and I haven’t seen a library yet.
• Sun glasses – even on the motorbike few people wear them
• Toilet paper – there is a hose beside every toilet that they use.
• North/South/East/West directions – I have asked many people if district X is north of here and I get blank stares.  It is not a common way to give direction here.
• Traffic Laws – you only need to stand and watch the traffic to work out there are very few rules.
• Seat belts – people hardly ever wear them and there are no child seats.
• Mattresses – The girls that live in the room next to me sleep on the tiled floor.  I sleep on a foam mattress which is about 10cm thick.
• Sport – sport is not played at school where education is the key and they also don’t have fields.  Children don’t play team sports like we do at home.  The only sports I have seen played regularly are badminton and soccer. No one talks about sport during the week at work. it is not an important part of people’s lives here.
• Chocolate – I know, I can’t believe it.  They don’t have the reliance on chocolate that we do, hardly anyone eats it so that makes it harder to get chocolate here, but don’t worry I know where to source it from:)

Now, what are the things that Vietnamese people can’t do without:

• Karaoke – yes these bars are everywhere and it is the most common thing to do than going to the pub.
• Love songs – they love them here
• Fish sauce – it is almost in every food
• Sugar – same as fish sauce.  I have had pasta that has tasted sweet.
• Condensed milk – the famous coffee here uses sweetened condensed milk.  People love it here and most foreigners do too.
• Coffee – There are coffee shops everywhere, but the weird thing is you can only get drinks, no food
• Motorbikes – need I say more.
• Selfies – yep, taking photos of oneself is very popular here.  I watched two girls waiting at the airport for 30 minutes take photos of themselves.  There are photo shoots happening all the time
• Rice, noodles, fish – it is everywhere
• Sun protection – especially women are into protecting themselves from the sun.  Now it is not for the reasons you would think, protecting against skin cancer, it is remain as white as possible.  That is seen as more beautiful here.

• Ice tea – every restaurant that you go to you get ice tea or “trà đá”.  I love it, it is cold and thirst quenching.

• Face masks – the reason to wear this is two fold, air pollution due to all the scooters and protection from the sun
• Tooth picks – they are always on the table.  My father would love it here because of that.
• Plastic rain jackets – couldn’t live here without them as normal jackets are too hot and heavy.
• High heals – I am continually amazed at the high heals that women wear here especially if you see the condition of the foot paths.
• Socks with flip flops – yep, you have a space for your big toe.  Also seen women wearing stockings with shorts

• Ice – trucks and motorbikes ship ice around.  Because they don’t have much refrigeration, this is critical.
• Knock-off/pirated clothes, software – love it