The Incredible Oddness of Being (In Hanoi).

It's the little things. Like figuring out how they do money here. It takes adjustment, usually so minor you don't even think of it in the moment. It just becomes part of the way you automatically live life. Like finding tequila or triple sec. Hanoi has lots of little liquor stores, and they all have a very slightly different selection of stuff, so we had to visit dozens in different parts of town to find one that sold tequila, still haven't found triple sec, but a different store had Cointreau which works.

And so it goes. There are very few supermarket type stores that carry lots of different types of goods, so shopping is a long and often tedious process. Finding contact lens solution was the same. There are no drug stores as we know them. There are pharmacies on just about every corner, but they sell mostly just drugs, with a small unpredictable, very idiosyncratic selection of other sundries. But no contact solution. It took us weeks to figure out that contact lens solution is only available behind the counter at the storefront optometrists' shops (quite a few of them, once you know where to look, just as there are small dental clinics on just about every block). Also, it's almost impossible to buy anything Apple-compatible. It's all PC here. There's apparently an Apple Store in Ho Chi Minh City, but none in Hanoi so far. Yet a lot of my students have iPhones. Go figure.