shortish summary and generated thoughts on China & Vietnam

I've been home already for more than 2 weeks. I managed to live through illness (caught some nasty virus/flu), got back to work in a new wonderful office, were thrown right back in to fight with the construction people at my apartment and started a full new season pretty much the same week. So lots has been going on, hence the delay with the summary and final word. Majority of people have also requested a short version and overview of my trip - i'll be preparing that within weeks as well.

Things I will not miss:
- all the ugly snorting noises they make right before spitting, spitting by the way takes place everywhere. there are "no-spitting on the floor" signs up, but then they find bottles or other containers so they will still go through with the whole procedure only it will not land on the floor.
- all the ugly noises they make when eating, they eat with their mouth open and that is not helping with appetite at all
- extremely awful smells all over the place, well mainly on the streets, but also in certain eating areas and other public places. smell would be produced of rotten foods laying around in blazing sun or people using walls instead of toilets or general pollution in all its "wonderful" formats. in short: it is dirty-dirty-dirty there, just filthy :(
- the difference in manners in general, understanding on what is polite and what is not is so very different from Europe/Americas and other places I've been at. I can't see myself getting used to that, I try to understand, but it does not come easily.
- their inability to stand in line. such a common sense thing for the rest of the world, but not for Chinese people - strangest thing :)

Other things that I sorta enjoyed for a short period of time and someday when I get to experience them again I'll get this wonderful feeling of recognition:
- walking in the heat, having very high moisture percentage, there is no breeze and you are soaked from head to toe basically immediately. that was kinda neat :) I've never experienced anything like that before.
- explaining something for another person who does not speak any language that you do, so there is no common language, neither of you understands the other person. but after some mutual drawing, pointing on the map, saying words in English very slowly, looking up some similar phrases in the travel guide and reading facial expressions it all gets magically figured out :) seriously, this was amazing how the understanding always somehow appeared. true, more than once we were actually guided to a wrong direction :) but generally we were able to understand each other somehow, usually it took extremely long time - but it did happen.
- unexpectedness. as the American guy in Shanghai said: everything that can go wrong will go wrong in China in the worst possible way one can imagine. and he was definitely right. it adds this magical not-knowingness, can give you nightmares, but that is part of the thrill.

Now are the things I will miss for sure:
- experiencing rapid growth and change. it was visible everywhere in China and even in Vietnam, but in smaller quantities there. rapid growth in China stuck out most for me in big cities, things happen fast there.
- Hong Kong area. it was great, it was absolutely great. in Hong Kong I had the feeling that this is where everything happens, this is the center of the world and if you are not here you are nowhere at all. it was just so busy and multi-cultural, experiencing the vibes there just blew my mind. I want to return there and be part of it.
- nature of Vietnam: Halong Bay and Sapa were wonderful. I have heard great stories about beaches in Hue and further south - I'm sure I can't even imagine the beauty there.
- I have to say the food :) I liked the kitchen there, even more than in Peru - I think. Food was generally very good, variety was huge and it was mostly good and very enjoyable.

Compared to Peru - China and Vietnam are a lot safer for travellers. Apparently the charges are very harsh and there consequences are bad for your whole family - I got the impression that there is not that much crime around.

Education system seems to be quite a bit different in China (I don't know the story of Vietnam in that matter). Students are taught to remember facts and "think" alike (which means to think like majority does and not think like individuals, or at least it is not suggested to stand out with your own ideas).

Infrastructure was kinda impressive to me in China. For such a huge country it worked without delays or any major hassles, it was organized quite well and seemed to go like clockwork. I hope they get Maglev going longer distances soon enough :)

Allright, that is pretty much it for a short summary. Any questions are more than welcome and will be answered within.. umm.. say a week :)