Trip impression from someone just back from VN (fwd)

[AnHai Doan <anhai@cs.washington.edu>]

>From avsl:

After almost 12 weeks my wife and I are back in the US.  
Found out something I'd not know about US customs, you can't 
bring pork (cooked or fresh) into the US.  The "nem" went 
into the burn bag.  We ate the last mango and mang between 
Newfoundland and New York, so there was no fresh fruit to be 
confiscated.  Everything else (dried banana, dried fish, 
rice paper, coconut candy, dried shrimp, and the gooey 
banana/ginger "stuff") made it in OK.

Going in, VN Immigration was overworked, but polite and 
efficient.  VN Customs was also polite, and reasonable, and 
listened to the explanations for what we were bringing in 
for flood relief, the school, clinic, and the photo 
voltaic/solar electric (dien mat troi) projects.  There will 
be separate posts on the projects.  

VN Immigration was also helpful when it came to extending my 
visa for the third month.  They also took time to explain 
how to get a no  or lower cost, charitable non government 
organization visa for next trip..

Some more good news:  The bread is still warm, crunchy and 
delicious as it comes out of the bakery oven in HCM, 700 to 
1000 VND depending on size.  Try to get that price in the 
US!  The cheapest roll in our local supermarket was more 
than .30 US$ when we left.  (Who knows what it is now.)

As some kind person in Australia corrected me about six 
months ago, taxis are definitely plentiful in HCM, and 
certainly less expensive than in the US.  What a change from 
spring of '94 when we were last there.

Also, thanks to the same kind Australian, I looked and 
shopped at the supermarkets.  I saw products from Europe, 
Australia, the ASEAN countries, Canada, and the US.  Even 
the "Cho Vuon Chuoi", across from the mini hotel/guest house 
we stayed at in HCM, had fresh fruit fro Australia, New 
Zealand and the US.  There were supermarkets listed for HCM, 
Can Tho, as well Ha Noi and Ca Mau (neither of which we 
visited).  One of the supermarkets provided a better, more 
detailed, receipt than I can get in the US.  Fixed price 
stores are increasing too.  I found a couple of wonderfully 
jumbled, "oriental style" fixed price stores in HCM  More on 
shopping, including addresses, comments, and 
recommendations, in another posting.

Both prescription and non prescription drugs, are available 
in a greater variety than I saw in 1994.  As other posts 
have advised, check the expiration date.  Most of the non 
prescription drugs seems to be Australian, or British 
products manufactured under license in Hong Kong or 
Singapore.  There are tow solutions, on of which I 
recommended before.  Bring your favorite with you (to which 
my Australian corespondent took exception to), or compare 
ingredients.  The only one I know for sure is Panadol and 
Tylenol are the same (acetaminophen).  I did not see any 
child or infant dose packages.  (That doesn't mean they are 
not available, it just means I didn't see any in Vung Tau, 
TP HCM, Tra Vinh TV, Hoa Minh in Chau Than TV, Chau Duc DT, 
Long Ho VL, TP Can Tho, or Cai Rang Chau Thanh CT.)  My 
suggestion is take a couple of strong spoons to crush adult 
size tablets for dividing them into child doses.  That's a 
little more sanitary than the bottom of a beer bottle and 
the table top.  Ask your doctor for their favorite formula 
for determining the correct children's dose. 

Another big change since 1994 is television, especially in the 
country.  In '94, the country people (down river from Cai Rang, 
in the Chau Thanh district of Can Tho province) had battery 
powered monochrome TV's.  My family's area got network 
electricity about six months ago.  No color TV's with VCR's are 
not unusual.  I've seen more than a few bamboo and palm leave 
houses with fluorescent lights, a color TV and VCR, and a bamboo 
mast with antennas pointing in three different directions.  On of 
the task I did for my family that had a long term happy effect 
was to straighten out and improve the TV antenna system.  They 
are able to receive 7 channels that I was able to find, and at 
least 3 of them reliably.  Just like the rest of the world, 
there's a fight to see who gets the remote control so they can 
channel hop during commercials.

I'll be doing posts on the mini/super markets, the school, flood 
preparations, solar electric (including putting the clinic SE 
system <which now has network electricity> into a war widow's 
house) and a visit to a village on an island at the mouth of the 
Co Chien river between Tra Vinh and Ben Tre provinces that has 
100 SE powered homes and stores.
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