A moment of reflection

It was the 9th of April last Friday, which isn’t really all that exciting but it does mean that I have been in Vietnam for just over 3 months! At our pre-departure briefing one of the organisers told us that if we can survive the first 3 months, we’ll be able to survive the full duration of our volunteer placement. So I’ve passed that milestone, though not with flying colours, there have been times of homesickness and frustration, but I reckon I’ll be able to survive the rest of the year (I hope...).

Survive maybe, but there are still a few things about Vietnam/Soc Trang that I am not used to, some of which I will probably never get used to. They are:
- Cold showers...brrrr!
- The crazy traffic. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to see honking your horn as an expression of right-of-way!
- Vietnamese chocolate and white wine. It is edible/drinkable, but nowhere near as good as a block of Whittakers or Green & Black Organic chocolate or a good Australian or New Zealand sauv blanc.
- Brushing my teeth with bottled water. I always forget and use the tap water, you’d think the terrible taste would be a permanent reminder...
- Public spitting. Need I say more?

So that I don’t sound too much like a negative Nelly (I don’t know who this Nelly is, or why she is so negative, but having a name like Nelly can’t be helping), here are some of the lovely things about this place:
- The people. They are generally very friendly and are always ready to give you a big smile. The little kids in particular are very cute and will run up to you to say “hello, hello!”
- The food (apart from the chocolate that is). Food is very cheap here and there are some awesome dishes at the restaurants. Fried squid, prawns, seafood hotpots, fresh spring rolls, fresh baguettes, beef noodle soup, tropical fruit....I could go on and on.
- The scenery. There are some really beautiful places here, outside of the town and city centres that is. When we have a weekend in Soc Trang we often go out exploring the countryside on motorbike. We’ve ridden past countless rice paddies, water buffalo dragging ploughs through the fields, fruit and vegetable plots, coconut plantations, wooden boats cruising the canals and so many unexpected temples.
- Travelling. Since I arrived in Vietnam, we have been to a lot of different towns in the Mekong Delta, we’ve explored HCMC, we’ve been to Cambodia and, next week, we are off to Singapore then Malaysia. We are also planning on exploring the rest of Vietnam (i.e. everywhere outside the Mekong Delta) and maybe more of South East Asia once our volunteer assignment is over. I’m not used to being able to visit a different country so easily and cheaply but we may as well make the most of it while we are here!