More Vietnam Prep

On Saturday my husband and I went to the movies (this is a big deal for us) and then to Barnes & Noble after. So why is this Vietnam prep? The movie was "Tropic Thunder" (in a guilty pleasure sort of way, thought it was hilarious, and minute for minute more profanities than "Slapshot") and at B&N picked up a copy of the Lonely Planet guide for Vietnam and a Vietnamese-English translation/language structure book.
The Lonely Planet guide is great - a concise but fascinating intro to Vietnam's history, great photos, and a street map of Da Nang! To be honest, I probably should have started here with my preparations!

Crossing the street in Vietnam - adventure #1

It looks like our first adventure may happen as early as stepping out the door. This is what one of my team members found on You Tube:

Since traffic lights don't exist in Vietnam, I suggest that we take a lesson on street crossing prior to departure.

Demonstration from tourists:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_C8Q4vBUp8Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlyOom0bwwY&feature=related

Based on the demos, I've learned that you simply take a deep breath, close your eyes and hope you get across in one piece. <grin>

This also seems to validate the other advice on not bothering with an alarm clock (and being an early to bed person may require ear plugs)

Are we there yet?

We're now 4 weeks away from our travel to Vietnam, starting our projects on Canadian Thanksgiving. It looks like I will get to Da Nang very early on Oct 9, so I'll have two days there to look around and get acclimatized before we start our assignments.

There is a team in Vietnam right now (the "Vietnam1" team). One of their comments was "don't bother with the alarm clock as the horns, motorbikes, cars, and other street noise are just FINE at waking you up!"

Apparently the rooms, while mostly clean, are also home to several creepy crawlies (no snakes though, thank goodness). We now have a hotel mascot. I'll leave it up to Vietnam 1 to name it.

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