Good morning Vietnam: Hanoi and Halong Bay

During my exchange I travelled a lot in Asia and in Taiwan itself. I'd like to talk about my trips in Vietnam, Japan, the Philippines and Hong Kong (giving also some advice about food and accomodations) and after that I will introduce you the major cities in Taiwan such as Taipei, Kaohsiung, Tainan and Kenting.

VIETNAM
I went to Vietnam in January (it was my second trip out of Taiwan, the first one was the trip to the Philippines but I want to introduce Vietnam first because it is the country I liked the most as it is really different from what I imagined).
We landed in Hanoi and we had 1 night and 2 full days to visit the capital. We stayed in "Hanoi 3B Hotel", a really cozy and cheap hostel (10 euros per night, breakfast included) located in the old quarter of the city.
Vietnam is much more developed than what I expected: when you walk in the city center you feel like being in a European city because there are a lot of foreigners, bars and pubs, nightclubs and people speak English quite well (at least better than in Taiwan) but at the same time you can really see the real Vietnamese life: traffic jam, people eating in the street and washing the dishes always in th street, something similar to tuk-tuks ("open-air taxis"), women with the straw hat bringing baskets with food and bicycles with flowers. It is really a mix between European and Asian culture.

Hoàn Kiếm Lake

Day 1: we decided to start our city tour from the Hoàn Kiếm Lake (lake of the restored sword), which is one of the major scenic spots in the city and we also visited the small temple and the museum. After that we went to the "Hỏa Lò Prison", a prison used by the French colonists for political prisoners and later by North Vietnam for US prisoners during the Vietnam war (it was sarcastically known to American POWs as the "Hanoi Hilton").
We went for lunch in a typical Vietnamese rastaurant (they eat in really small tables, some of them are made by bamboo and they don't have proper chairs but stools; you can find spoons, napkins and chopsticks in the table already laid) and we paid around 3 euros for the main dish and a cup of tea; Vietnam is reaaaaaaally cheap and convenient! Its currency is Viet Nam Dong and 1 euro is about 24000 VND. You can eat for a maximum of 4 euros (also in the city center) and in Hanoi we can find the cheapest beer in the world, served in the famous "Beer corner" for 30 cents (10000 VND); also accommodations are usually cheap and for a European-standard price you can find a luxurious hotel in Vietnam.

After our lunch we had a small walk in the city center, we saw the Cathedral from outside and we also saw a lot of shops selling the famous "Kopi Luwak coffee", considered the most expensive coffee in the world because it is made by part-digested coffee cherries eaten and defecated by the Asian palm civet.

Beer corner

We went to a coffee shop to try Vietnamese coffee which is really good! It's soft and creamy and there are quite a lot of types of coffee in the bars around Hanoi. We went back to the hotel to relax little bit and than we decided to have dinner in a fancy restaurant: we ordered roasted duck with orange, Thai rice and and appetizer of mixed vegetables with a cup of tea, all for 6/7 euros and after that we went to the Beer corner but there were too many people and no space to sit so we just walked and than went to sleep.

Day 2: we decided to spend the morning visiting the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, his house, the One Pillar Pagoda and the Temple of Literature. All the spots were in the same area so we just had to walk from a place to another but those "attractions" were quite far from our hostel so we tried the famous "tuk-tuk" (typical from Thailand but really popular also in Cambodia and Vietnam) which is a trycicle with a seat, driven by a local man. It is a really good idea if you don't want to stay in a taxi and you want to experiment this open-air life!

tuk-tuk life!

One Pillar Pagoda

I really liked both the One Pillar Pagoda (an historic Buddhist temple) and the Temple of Literature which hosts the Imperial Academy, Vietnam's first national University.

Bún bò Nam Bộ

At lunchtime we came back to the old quarter and we wanted to have the "Bún bò Nam Bộ", Hanoi's typical dish: stirred beed vermicelli with vegetables, fried onion, roasted peanuts and bean sprouts. Gnam gnam!

In the afternoon/evening we didn't do too many things, we just walked and bought souvenirs for family and friends. Hanoi is a really crowded city, full of tuk-tuks and motorbikes and shops everywhere! 

egg coffee

street bbq!

We finally decided to go to  Giảng Cafe in order to try the typical "egg coffee", a Vietnamese drink traditionally prepared with egg yolks, sugar, condensed milk and coffee: it is made by beating egg yolks with sugar and coffee, extracting the coffee into the half of the cup followed by a similar amount of egg cream (it is a kind of liquid tiramisu, and it is really really good!). We had it in this coffee shop because it is the most famous in the city and the historical one.

For dinner we decided to try the barbecue in a street restaurant close to our hostel: chicken, beef and pork served with different types of vegetables and Hanoi beer! We alo had our shoes cleaned by a street seller for 1 euro hahah.

kayaking in the Bay

Vietnamese flag

Day 3 and 4: we stayed in Halong Bay (UNESCO world heritage site since 2000) on a two days and one night cruise-boat with other 15 guys, all from England, Canada, US and Australia. Unfortunately we didn't find a nice weather but we still had a really good time. In the cruise we all had twin cabins with private bathroom and a view on the Bay and also the main hall had a lot of windows so we could see the amazing landscape! We also did some activities such as one hour of kayaking and some of the boys decided to dive from the terrace deck but it was freezing! We also had a party on the night because it was a "party boat" :D and the day after we learnt how to make Vietnamese spring rolls.

The Bay is really big and breathtaking! There are rocks everywhere and we could also see a beach with palm trees! It was a really nice experience.

CULTURE CLASH: RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FOOD AND PEOPLE IN TAIWAN AND IN ITALY

Food is one of the most important things of our lives: It is first of all a primary need because it provides nutritional support for our body (food contains fat, sugar, carbohydrates and proteins, all things we need to face the day) but it is also a “way of life”, which means a way to enjoy life itself and at the same time stay with people and build relationships. Food is also one of the most important topic people talk about: it is seen as a pleasure of life and we always point out the importance of eating healthy and eating well (what's better than a delicious lunch or dinner?)

We all love food because, in a certain way, it is an essential part of our culture; every country has its own typical dish, typical spice, typical drink and everywhere we go we can find local and exotic restaurants. In Italy, for example, we have a lot of pizzerias and restaurants where we can eat pasta, spaghetti, pizza and all the other Italian typical dishes but we also have a lot of foreign restaurants, especially Japanese, Chinese, Brazilian, Thai, Indian, Mexican and many others; I also think about all the Italians restaurants we can find abroad (here in Taichung, in my street ,there are at least 3 or 4). We can really understand the importance of food culture in our lives and how people usually like to change food habits an try new dishes and new tastes.

For that reason, I think that food can easily create relationships between people in any contest of life: in family and friendships, in a dating or in a marriage, at work... It is really common to meet each other for a lunch or a dinner together, or even for breakfast. Friends often meet to eat in the school cafeteria, or they usually have a pizza on Friday night before going out; two people who are dating may have a romantic dinner in a fancy restaurant; work colleagues and classmates can decide to have dinner together in order to strengthen relationships out of the everyday environment of school and work. We can also notice how some of the most important events are created around food, such as the banquet during a wedding (as well as the wedding anniversary) and some national festivals and tastings.

I'd like to focus on the main differences about food and people relationships between Italy and Taiwan because, by the time I'm here, I've noticed some of them.

In Italy, our “food culture” is really strong and every meal is really important for us, especially dinner which is considered the “family moment”, we usually give a lot of importance at it as well as breakfast and lunch; in some countries (like in the US in the UK) people would have a fast lunch with a sandwich or an hamburger because they don't really care too much about it, but in Italy we would never have something like that because, when it is possible, we try to enjoy every single meal with a good pasta and a nice conversation.

As I mentioned before, we can build relationships in many different contests: sometimes we like to enjoy breakfast at the bar with “cornetto and cappuccino”, or maybe with an American breakfast such as pancakes and coffee, whereas dinner is the most important meal and we usually stay at home with our family because it is the moment when we talk about our day and discuss about family issues. When we decide to have dinner with friends we usually go for pizza or sushi (they are the most popular restaurants nowadays), whereas if we have a date with someone or we simply want to go our with our fiancée we usually choose a fancy restaurant with a proper dinner and dessert and we drink wine to create atmosphere and make the dinner more romantic; the most important thing for us is that we like to enjoy the moment, talk and make jokes so when we are in company we always spend around 1 hour or more together. It is really common in Italy to start with a “primo” (which is usually pasta, soup or risotto), than a “ secondo” (fish or meat, with vegetables) and we end up with fruit or dessert and than coffee; it is not always like this and we can skip one of the dishes, but this sequence is really important for us and it takes time, so that's one of the reason why meals are quite long and we need to enjoy them.

In Italian culture we also have meeting which is called “aperitivo”: we usually meet in a bar with our friends around 18.30/19 and we drink wine (prosecco or other types of sparkling white wine) or spritz (a typical drink from Veneto, the region where I am from, which is made with prosecco wine, aperol or campari and sparkling water) and we have it with some chips or other types of pretzels. Aperitivo is a way to enjoy time before having dinner and it is really popular among young; the first “happy hour” took place in Milan in 1980 and sometimes, in the big cities, a normal aperitivo can become “apericena”, which is a mix of aperitivo and dinner, drinking wine not anymore with chips but with a big buffet of pasta, pizza, sandwiches, cheese, ham, fruits and desserts.

About food and people relationship I can also mentions the “sagra”, a local festival that usually takes place in villages and small towns and sometimes also involves historical pageants and sport events. The sagra is always dedicated to some specific local food and the name of the sagra usually includes the name of the food: we can find the “sagra della polenta” (polenta is dish of boiled cornmeal from the North of Italy), the “sagra del radicchio” (a vegetable from Treviso, a city in Veneto), the “sagra dell'arancino” (a stuffed rice ball with meat and beans or with ham and cheese, typical from Sicily, in Southern Italy). Those types of festivals can also include olive oil, wine, pasta, different kind of pastry, chestnuts and cheese. In my hometown for example there is a specific sagra called “gnocchi a tutta birra” which literally means “a lot of gnocchi” (a kind of dumplings made with potatoes eggs and flour) but this is a play of words because “birra means beer and in this sagra the main dishes are of course gnocchi and local beer, and sometimes there are also local bands who play live music.

Talking about Taiwan I can notice a big difference in the food culture, compared with my country. Taiwan is the country of Night Markets and street food, everything here is really cheap comparing to Europe and I realised that not everyone has a kitchen at home (I live in a residence with a kitchen, but some friends of mine doesn't have it): I think that the majority of people barely cook and they often get take away food because all the street food restaurants are really fast and convenient. In my opinion, food culture here is not as strong as it is in Italy because people always eat outside or get food (and tea) to take home, so it is quite common in Taiwanese culture to go out for lunch or dinner, alone or with friends, and this is why almost every Taiwanese stays in the restaurant not more than 10/15 minutes, just the time to eat and than go, and they usually never stay longer to talk and have a chat.

Really popular here are the Night Markets: I think those are the real places where Taiwanese people usually meet and go around to eat together, because they are always full of people and the concept of night market is to go to the street food stands and order some snack or something small in order to be able to get different types of food.

Anyway, it is not always the same because sometimes, for a family dinner or for a date, I think it is more common to go to types of restaurant where it is possible to stay together and enjoy the meal (usually western or fancy restaurants and hotpot places). I remember once I went to a have hotpot with two Taiwanese friends and I tried for the first time the double hotpot to share (half spicy, half normal) and it was really interesting because I usually have my own hotpot: it was a really nice dinner because my friends told me that they like to share food when it is possible, especially when they invite foreign friends, and around Taiwan there are more and more places where the main concept is to sit around a table and share many types of food (I had the same also during my trip to Penghu Island, we were a group of 10 and we shared 10 different dishes between seafood, soups, rice, dumplings).

In conclusion I can say that we can really understand how food is important in every culture and how it is able to connect people in many different way; sometimes food also let us learn about other countries and I think is is the main things when we want to build a relationship with someone.

TABOOS

I have been leaving here for almost 4 months now and, during this period of time, I got to know some of the major taboos of this country.

For example, when I went to a restaurant during the first week here in Taichung a friend told me that, when eating soup noodles, we don’t have to cut them because cutting noodles symbolizes cutting your life, so it basically means “death”, and you don’t have to put your chopsticks vertically in the bowl of rice because it resembles the ritual of incense-burning which also reminds to death.

Another taboo is about the month of July because this is known as “the Ghost Month”: it is thought that, during this period, ghosts would come to Earth and it is better for Taiwanese people to avoid travels, weddings, surgeries and taking pictures after dark. Food and incense are offered to the spirits to avoid them visiting homes and spirit paper money is also burnt and offered to them.

It is better not to use a red pen when writing someone’s name because this color represents blood; writing someone’s name with a red pen may bring this person to a serious accident.

Another thing I noticed is that for Chinese and Taiwanese people the number 4 is seen as a number of bad luck; this is why, in many hotels and hospitals, the fourth floor doesn’t exist.

TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM

Transportation system in Taiwan is really convenient: city buses, taxi, trains, high-speed trains, long-distance buses, MRT...

easy card

In Taichung the city bus is reaaaaally convenient; there are a lot of buses every minute or every 5 to a maximum of 10 minutes and they run until late (I think until 23/23.30 and than there are night buses every one hour) but the best thing is that they are free within 10 km! This means that I always go to the university for free, and when I go to the city center or to the airport I spend around 2 to 5 dollars (about 10 cents). We don't have to buy any ticket for the bus because we pay with the easy card: this is a must have in Taiwan because with this card you usually pay buses and MRT in Taipei and other cities (and sometimes you can also pay the taxi) and you can buys things in convenience stores so it is really useful! But when you use it in the bus be careful: there is a machine close to the bus driver, you have to scan the card when you get on the bus and do it again when you get off, so the machine "knows" how many km you've run and see if you have to pay or not. If you forget to scan it, you will be charged the entire run of the bus (which is 20 dollars, around 50 cents).
Long-distance buses are really convenient too. There are a lot of different companies: HoShin, Ubus (which is basically the Taiwanese "flixbus"), Kingbus, Aloha and they all provide a toilet and phone chargers on board. They are comfortable and always ON TIME! Price is usually between 150 and 250/260 NTD (4 to 7 euros).
Also taxis are affordable here: when we go to clubs we always go by taxi and it is really cheap. For example, for a 20 minutes ride in a group of 4/5 people we usually spend around 50 to 120 NTD dollars each (3/4 euros each), and there are a lot of taxis everywhere! In Taichung there is also Uber so sometimes we use it when there are no taxis available.
I can't speak a lot about high-speed trains and MRT because I didn't take them so much.. I just took the high speed train Taichung-Kaohsiung once to go to Kenting (a seaside place in the south, really nice and with amazing beaches) which was really comfortable, big and clean; and MRT is also really clean and not crowded comparing to Europe (you pay with the easy card and depending on where you have to go you will be charged from 16 to around 50 NTD).