got milk?

There are obvious things that make me homesick:

• images of my nieces and nephews on skype
• my niece telling me to hurry up and come home for Christmas
• messages from friends telling me stories of their adventures (and missing their friend/wingwoman)
• messages of encouragement and enjoyment from my stupid blog posts
• messages of concern from family and friends when they haven't seen me on skype, instant message, social media, or blogging in awhile

However, there are also things that on a daily basis, one takes for granted until it is gone. Bangkok is somewhere in between the developed and third world countries. It's got all the amenities of Western lifestyle at emerging market prices. Surprisingly, these are the things that Bangkok made me realized that I miss:

• speed and fast cars - the expressways and wider streets as well as less motorbikes/scooters enable cars to go faster than the 20-30 mph in Vietnam.
• lines/queues - people actually respected this concept rather than squeezing into every nook and cranny that they could in order to get in front of you.
• mass transit - getting a taxi to get around town gets old, and sometimes I just want to be an anonymous person in a crowded car to people watch without having to sit in traffic.
• sweet fruit - there are mangos and all sorts of tropical fruit in this region; however, Vietnamese tend to eat the more sour/bland type fruits, dipping them into chili/salt or chili/fish sauce concoctions rather than eat the riper/sweeter version of such fruit.
• chains - we have KFC, Subway and Dominos, but the regulations, market protection and/or access to supplies, including distribution channel and infrastructure, have increased the entry costs for businesses like McDonald's and Starbucks. Gosh, I sure miss the Mickey D's french fries and sundaes.
• quietness - if you don't pay close attention to the words, the intonation of Thai is very similar to Vietnamese. Yet, it seems as if Vietnamese have a tendency to talk over their counterparts, resulting in everyone raising their voices trying to outdo each other. This makes for a very loud elevator ride. Thai people seemed to have a gentleness about them from their helpfulness in the outdoor markets to their tone of speech.
• array of entertainment - HCMC has a number of bars, restaurants and clubs that can keep a girl's schedule pretty busy; however, there are times where I miss having a nice lounge or places for pure entertainment such as Broadway shows, musical/variety shows and the typical red light district that is for both genders. I haven't found the Patpong of Vietnam yet.

A friend asked me this week if there are things that I miss to put in a care package. I have a wicked sweet tooth so like to bake rather than cook. I insisted on finding a place with an oven, which is not common here. I always hated the taste of milk. Growing up, mom always made us drink a glass of milk every day before going to school, claiming that milk (despite the short genes that I inherited from both parents) would make us grow. We tried everything from chocolate milk to strawberry powder to make me tolerate the taste. Yet, I still would try to find ways to not have to drink it, including pouring the glass of milk that my mother had set out before she went to work down the drain, of course until my brother ratted me out.

So it was a bit ironic that the first thing that came to my mind of what I miss when my friend asked the question was fresh milk. The pasteurized milk with shelf life of multiple months just doesn't taste the same with cereal. My baking recipes also would need to be adjusted - all of a sudden it makes sense why my friend Rae had a tough time with making cupcakes, cookies, etc. while living in France where they also had the shelf milk. I'm going to have to find guinea pigs for eating my creations while I experiment with the local ingredients in my American recipes.

Factoid: Lack of access to lactose products like dairy products has resulted in more than 95% of those in Asian countries genetically being lactose intolerant. Luckily, I can still enjoy my ice cream cravings; however, there are times where I wish my mother would accept her lactose intolerance and not subject us to the repercussions. 😜