Top 10 Things I've Learned About Vietnam

I struggled to keep this list at 10. I think within our first 3 days in Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon), the list was already at 10. It's been a while since I've done a "big trip" so maybe I've gone soft. Maybe I've grown too comfortable with my "first world problems"... nothing like a good dose of Asia to remedy that. So here we go:

1. Street crossing is an act of faith (which Katina never had) and skill (which Katina never learned).
2. You will be molested within your first 24 hrs of arrival in HCMC, regardless of gender. Take a deep breath, and move on.
3. If you thought New York City was hectic, try the Binh Tay market in Cho Lon. Think swarms of locusts let loose in Costco.
4. No matter how many times you say "no beef, no pork", you will inevitably still bite into beef and pork. The seafood had pork... the vegetables had pork... the pumpkin flowers were stuffed with beef. It's like navigating a mine field. God bless the good people of Hue and their Buddhist, vegetarian eating ways.
   
5. Pagodas and tombs are like giant Escher paintings. From the outside they don't look very big, but on the inside they are warped space-time continuums that will suck hours out of your day by keeping you in a looped reality.
6. You will likely be quoted 4x the real price for anything. You can bargain them down to 2x, then just accept the rest as your tourist tax. It will only be on the order of $1-2 anyway. The bargaining is good-natured if you shoot them a wink and a smile.
7. Be careful what you wish for when seeking the "authentic" Vietnam experience... especially when it comes to thing like oh, massage parlors, small town restaurant serving thit cho (woof woof), and snake wine!
   (Despite my own self proclaimed food adventurousness, I had to pay homage to the Colonel not once, but twice on this trip. Katina is forcing me to mention at this point that she fearlessly attacked the street food and did NOT succumb to the Colonel. I will politely interject here that some of us have certain dietary restrictions of a beefy/porky nature).
   
8. Freshly made warm coconut candy, O... M... G...
   
9. Just because the pharmacist "seems like a nice sweet old lady", doesn't mean you shouldn't read the drug labels (or in our case, stare blankly because the ingredients are unknown, the distributor is Vietnamese and there was something not quite right about the Panadol label).
10. The food is amazing
    The sights are incredible
    And the people are warm and welcoming. All in all... a good trip!