Last week in the South was a broadening experience for me. My idea about and what I saw in Vietnam was radically changed by my experience in the South. Previously, I knew Vietnam was not a monolithic culture. I knew there were differences in accents and traditions between the different regions. The Vietnam I fell in love with is the North, particularly Hanoi. First of all, Southerners don’t know how to make café sua da. Rather than using sua to sweeten coffee, Southerners use coffee to flavor their condensed sweetened milk- it’s really just liquid candy, not coffee at all. I had so much of it that I lost my obsession with condensed sweetened milk permanently. I know we went to tourist areas, but the South was too Westernized for me. From the way the youth dressed to the music I heard at cafes, the places was just a depressing reminder of the hell I escaped several months ago. I can think of several more differences between the North and the South but when it comes down to it, they are just justifications for a feeling in my heart. Hanoi is my home. “Saigon” is just too American for me.
I enjoyed Phu Quoc- it was a tropical paradise... but the Central trip was far more enjoyable for me.
wow, so they made sua cafe for u, not cafe sua, rite :P Anyway, Saigon is a big city and we stayed there for just 3 days, what we observed might not be a real Saigon. Come back there next time, maybe you'll have a different feeling ;) (but i do agree that i love Hanoi more :D)
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