Hello everybody and welcome back.
Last Sunday was the final day of Tết. But due to the Corona Virus it still feels like the vacation has continued in Hanoi. Everyone stays at home. Most shops and all schools are closed, just like during Tết. The usual traffic jams did not come back. Even the air pollution has been low as you normally only see on the first two days of Tết. A weird vibe for sure. Some people have jokingly said Monday was a second Tết New Year Eve. And yeah, in times like these, a bit of humour helps passing the days.
These last two weeks I stumbled upon futuristic drinks, the world of vakes and how Vietnamese shirts are stepping up their game as thought leaders. Let's get into it.
Hà Giang's Liquids
During the Tết vacation me and my girlfriend made use of our precious days off by driving into the mountains. This time we went to wilderness of the Hà Giang province. The area is quite famous in Vietnam, but not yet as touristic as Sa Pa.
Going up, higher and higher, plateau after plateau, it was difficult to really imagine how high up we were. This next one for instance, was waaaay higher again then the one above.
But the high mountains were not the only curious aspects of this area. The drinks were quite interesting as well. For some reason, there was a plethora of fake Vietnamese Red Bull brands in this area. Here are some of these Vakes.
Red Spear. With.. lions?
Some Red Saola.
And the next company must have thought: "hmmm, what horned animal is more powerful than a bull?"
Deep advertisement voice Rhino-S! Made by Slam Super Stream
Personally I'm not really an energy-drink-guy. I keep it at water mostly (besides the occasional rượu and bia of course). Now we all think of mountain water as clean and pure. But in Vietnam they are going a step further.
Let's go fully automatic.
Into a Vielosophical Vieture
I have posted a lot about the Vietnamese tendencies of wearing sad shirts. But these times need more creative thinking. And as a result Vietnamese philosophy, new ideas and critical thoughts are all over the place.
Working on some possible vaccine formula's perhaps. Maybe one of the readers can do the numbers letters on this one?
The Vieture is now!
Funny Football Fans
Speaking of the future and lions. It looks like this guy knows more than we do. After a cartoon version, and a renewed animation, now a real life version?
Vietnamese Ingenuity
Let's end it with some of these creative thoughts put into practice. Readers of my blog know how important lakes are in Hanoian culture. They are used for all kinds of leisure activities, like fishing and swimming. Or like me, to jog around. Some also use little boats. The other day when I was running something curious caught my eye.
I stopped and looked again. That was not one of the usual boats.
Gotta give it up for creativity.
At the moment people are quite paranoia about hygiene. Which, to be fair, could be better sometimes over here. Dù sao, people don't wanna touch public spaces anymore. Which creates new interesting constructions.
And with simple jet effective solutions like these, I am sure the người Việt will overcome this time of crisis.
Giữ an toàn và khỏe mạnh. See you next time!