The power of... milk.

In the book 'Blink' (blink) by Malcolm Gladwell which I recently read it said that statistically  those who are CEOs are on average over 6 foot tall (for men), and in Vietnam this is reflected by the strong belief in the power of milk. There are these milk shops everywhere in town, TrueMilk is one of the biggest chains selling only one product, guess what it is!

Happy Pancake day!

I organized a pancake day for charity and we played loads of Spanish music, I especially love Shakira in Spanish and this song by Los adolescents:

Question : Do people like this song if they don't like to dance? I have a friend who doesn't like dance songs because he doesn't dance, but even if you can't sing surely you listen to songs with words. Hard thinking going on right now!

This pancake endeavour wasn’t just because I felt in dire need of some carbs though, it was to raise money for the charity Helping Hands and so in honour of this event I would like to devote this post to the charities my school supports and problems throughout Vietnam.

The Cancer hospital:

The cancer hospital was my first ever project last year and it was really upsetting to see so many sick children. We brought them  toys and games which they appreciated so much and we blew bubbles and drew pictures with them.

Thuy An orphanage:

At Thuy An your eyes really open to how a LEDC (less economically developed country) copes with those suffering from disabilities. Since families don't have the knowledge, money or support they leave their children here. We learn about the different conditions such as cerebral palsy and downs syndrome and each time we visit we interact with the children through play, massage (which helps stretch out their limbs) and walks in the push chairs. My most recent charity project involved purchasing a washer and a dryer in order for all the nappies and clothes to get cleaned quicker which will hopefully help the carers a lot.

 I bought a washing machine and dryer with help from family friends, thank you everyone!

This child is sooooo sweet!

Here's the crepe recipe for you to hold your own day. We sold 100 total all of which we made ourselves (a giant bowl was required for that much batter!) and even though it took us a lot of time both to organize and prepare I really think it was a worthwhile event.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/basic-crepes/Detail.aspx

Look up

This post will mainly be photographs so I apologize for that but hopefully you will find it interesting anyway!

Tube houses are seen everywhere and I imagine are a little inconvenient for putting in furniture. Older people are on the top floor of the house so as to be respected by the rest of the generations of family but the main reason the houses are like this is because of the tax which was placed on Vietnamese houses. The law states that you pay tax on the amount of metres of house which are on the pavement so to avoid taxes the Vietnamese decided to build their houses tall and long.

The Embassy district is where all the ambassadors live quite close to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and here we see a lot of this ochre yellow colour and there is a large French influence. The French influence is very much seen throughout Hanoi (due to their occupation of the country before Independence was declared by Ho Chi Minh) with many shutters, intricate iron work and house numbers exactly as we see in France.

In town you will most likely be gazing at all the products sold in shops rather than stopping to look up however if you do then you'll undoubtedly spot something interesting. People generally sleep upstairs and have their business running underneath.

(all taken by me or my mother)

Beautiful?

In Vietnam beauty most often is also an indication of your status therefore long fingernails and white skin are very popular amongst richer women, these mean you do not spend your time working in the fields. All of the creams here have whitening formula in them like those used in Elizabethan England, however thankfully these don't have the active ingredient mercury which destroys the skin! These chemicals interfere with enzymatic processes meaning that the body cannot properly produce melanin which makes your skin get darker, therefore a whitening effect is achieved.

Feel free to tell me if I'm wrong here since I didn't really understand the information I was finding on this topic! (treehugger)

I also got a free arm massage which was EXTREMELY painful! (taken by my mother)

(taken by me)

(taken by me)

(taken by me)

Vietnam is a great place to spoil yourself with beauty treatments since for us everything seems so cheap, typically I can get a pedicure for between 1-3 pounds sometimes less. Many people choose to experiment with western hairstyles and it's really strange to see an Asian Justin Bieber look-a-like walking along the street. As well as the Western salons there are also street side places where the mirror is affixed to the wall precariously and the scissors are a little less than sharp, I personally do not trust these people with my hair but I've heard for men it's fine.

(taken by my sister)

 My patriotic nail design!

My friend Natalia got her hair chemically straightened, a lengthy treatment which in the States typically costs more than 200 dollars to have it professionally done. Here it was 50, and she looks so different! This weekend I'm trying out highlights which could turn out disastrous but if no one sees a picture of me for the next year at least you'll know why!

(taken by my mother) They are very subtle but the whole process of having my hair in foil like that which you roast a turkey with was quite entertaining!

Getting sick

When the weather's more miserable than me at the end of 'Titanic' people are suceptible to illnesses and don't I know it! My biggest disaster was a rock flying into my eye whilst cycling which scratched my cornea meaning I could barely see. SOS held me down as I screamed and squirting water into my eye so later on I went to the Vietnamese hospital where treatment was far better and they prescribed 15 eye drops per day!

A Vietnamese hospital which looks a bit more modern than the one I found myself in (taken by my mother).

(taken by my mother)

I got glasses to complete my 'invalid' pirate look! This is definitely not my most attractive period.

(taken by me)

In all the time I've lived in Hanoi I've seen around 2 ambulances and managed to snap a quick picture of one of them. I think they look quite quaint really old fashioned like the ones in England, but they are rather slow so I wouldn't want to have to call one!

(taken by me)

The street side pharmacies are also really cheap although it's hard to tell how well made the drugs are so usually we buy ones which are manufactured by French or English companies. I suppose the fact that you can buy any type of drug here (apart from the illegal ones - those are round the corner!) is rather dangerous since people generally think they are more sick than they actually are so tend to diagnose themselves with some extremely dangerous disease.

Tip (from my mother) - Only take antibiotics if your body absolutely cannot fight off the illness since you can become resistant to them.

The Asian anti-ageing device!

Birds nest soup in a can (Birds)

There is a legend recounting the story of a King who fell ill and fled to a deserted island where he happened to eat the nest of a swallow. This left him feeling invigorated and revitalized so he could return to his rule .

Served in a bubbling broth , or canned for those on the go. Researchers claim there are a multitude of health benefits including lowering rates of cancer, higher calcium absorption and wrinkle busting collagen. Will this be the next anti-ageing break through? I think I'll just stick to sun cream and moisturizer.