Some funny observations from Vietnam

So, as I mentioned in the last post, I was in Vietnam for a week recently.  It being my first time, I was extra observant of what was taking place around me.  I thought I would mention a few things that I found interesting.

1) I am really tall in this country.  Now, I am only 6 foot which is like average for the United States, but in Vietnam I was doubling some people's height (picture attached).  Also, the door knobs were literally at my knee caps and the shower head in my hotel was at my nipples!
2) They love taking pictures and once it gets started, everyone needs a picture with you.  Sometimes I would just ask if I could take a picture of something like how they brewed their herbal medications and they took that as an invitation for everyone to get in the shot.  By the end of the day my cheeks were hurting from all the smiling.  Definitely very friendly people.
3) You can put anything on a moped.  I do not know how they do it, but they hold conversations with other bikers as they drive next to each other.  They will text and motor along.  They would have whole families (most I saw was 5) on one scooter (the kids were the ones without the helmets).  I saw whole cooking apparatus set ups strapped down.  I saw them carrying 10 foot lengths of PVC.  My ultimate favorite was the guy balancing a 50 inch flatscreen on the seat behind him with one hand while maneuvering his bike with his other.
4) When you commit to crossing the street, do not break stride and probably best to not look at the oncoming cars and scooters.  They will adjust to your pace and come within inches.  If you hesitate and adjust your speed/route, you risk getting hit.
5) Everyone apparently gets up at 0500 and goes for a swim in the ocean at the crack of dawn.  I would awake and look out my window with the sun rising (picture attached) and there would be hundreds of people swimming in the ocean.  Everyone else would do calisthenics exercises on the sidewalk.
5) I rarely ate Vietnamese food in Vietnam.  We just kept picking restaurants that were top ten on Trip Advisor and never scored a bad meal.  We had Greek (twice), Indian, Italian, American BBQ (Vietnamese couple who grew up in SoCal), German, Russian (brewery with Russian grunge cover band) and pretty good pizza to boot.