Foods and water

Vietnameses eat always with chopsticks. In the traditional gastronomy, the Japanese say that "nature is normative ", as for the Chinese: "the man improves nature", the Vietnamese says that the man live in harmony with nature. We find this philosophy in the Vietnamese cuisine: the harmony between Yin and Yang (vegetables or cereals and meat), which makes a collection of more than 500 dishes from the North to the South. These dishes are fine and rich in vitamins but do not contain much calorie. You will find that the Vietnameses eat much, but they are thin and resistant. In the large cities: Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city, you will find easily exotic restaurants : Europeans, Japanese, Chinese if you want to change the taste.

Famous specialities (appreciated very well by the tourists)

Pho - traditional dish whose receipt has been invented for more than one hundred years, originating in Hanoi, where the best are still found.

Nem is a simple and popular dish: all the ingredients are wrapped in rice papers and fried.

Cha Ca: Several spices raise also the savour of fish such as the Coriandrum, mint and dill.

Banana flower salad : it is made from banana flower chopped in very thin slices, mixed with several spices and meat.

+ Vietnam is also "a paradise" for the lovers of the fruits, you can taste all kinds of fruits during all the year. They are good and cheap.
+ There are several mineral water marks in plastic bottles which received the technical assistance of Évian or Vittel.

Post and communications
1. Services providing stations:
- Service of accelerated transport (EMS). The latest deadline for delivery of 24-48 hours.
- By EMS service, the communications are connected to about thirty country.
-Mandate service of express payment being carried out in less than 24 hours.
- Interfloral service : Handing-over upon customer’s request , wishes or condolences, flowers, money, or postal parcel.
2. Telecommunication services
- International telephone
- Mobilephone (domestic and international)
- Telefax (fax)
- Cardphone
- Electronic mail (E-mail) which is very popular in the cybercafés in the cities.
3. Useful telephone number

101	Service for trunk calls
105	Service of radiomessagery in English
114	Fireman-sappers
115	Medical urgency
106	Service of radiomessagery (information)
116	Telephone directory
107	Service of radiomessagery in Vietnamese
117	Telephone clock
1080	Socio-economic information
118	Test of the telephone ring
110	Service for international calls
113	Police
119	Telephone break-down mechanic
1088	Information in the social fields
171 + 00 +	telephone via Internet (VOIP) - useful to save your pocket money
178 + 00 +	telephone via Internet (VOIP) - useful to save your pocket money

Local time (GMT + 7)

- The shift schedules between Vietnam and:

- France = 5 summer-time and 6 hours in the winter earlier

- Thailand, Singapore = 0

- China = 1 hours earlier