VS HO CHI MINH (1)

Today, I came back from Ho Chi Minh city to Japan.
I stayed for three nights there. It was my first trip to Viet Nam.
The main purpose of my trip was for attending a business meeting. I could enjoy the meeting itself, and, in addition, I could enjoy to see a lot of people from many Asian countries. Of course, the culture of Viet Nam was also enjoyable for me.
This trip was very impressive for me.

I stayed in Park Hyatt Saigon. It's a five-star hotel, located in the center of Ho Chi Minh city. Very gorgeous! It wa very lucky for me not to pay the hotel fee. My business partner paied everything for me. Not only for the hotel fee, but also for all meals, drink, taxi, and so on. I was treated very much. Maybe too much!
I don't know when I became such an important man?
Certainly same as other developing countries in Asia, the living cost in Viet Nam must be cheap. But, same as other countries, five-star hotel are exception.

Before going to Viet Nam, I heard that the trip to Viet Nam is veru popular in Japan. I didn't know that, so I had no idea of the reason.
In this trip, I thought Vietnamese is similar to Japanese. If my impression is right, I can understand why Japanese traveler like to go there.

I ate a lot of foods there. Viet Nam food is very healthy and light.
Compared with Chinese food, it's less oily.
Compared with Thai food or Indian food, it's less spicy.
The original rice noodle, Pho, is very easy to eat. It's like Japanese noodle.
The food preference of Vetnamese is, I think, similar to Japanese.
May because of such a healthy food, the body shape of Vietnamese is very good. I didn't meet fat people there at all.

One day, I joined a dinner cruise on Saigon river.
This river is wide and long. It's clean and peaceful. The view form a ship was very nice. This river must be a symbol or an identity for Vietnamese. I was very impressed.
Now it is summer and a rainy season there. That's why it's very humid. But the great river brings cool air to the city, so I felt comfortable. Actually I thought it's more humid in Japan when I reachd Tokyo today.

(To be continued)