Vietnam Vignette: "Vegetables"

Dalat, Vietnam, 19th of March, 2011 - I thought it was only in Beijing, China that our hilarious adventures with language differences would happen (you can refer to my previous blog entries entitled "Once Upon a Time in Beijing" if you are so inclined to read about our language gaffes).

I should have known better. 

While Chinese is indeed a language easy to muck up due to untrained ears,  Vietnamese is also a trap for the unwary visitor, especially with so many tones to watch out for. 

But would you believe, the worst is actually English? 

Over a hearty breakfast in the refreshing bite of cold Dalat air, our usual Asian practice is to share the food between us.

Along with plates of warm baguettes, simple omelet, fried eggs, fresh fruits and such breakfast fare, there were two big bowls of fragrant and hot pho on the table.

There were six of us, and the soup needed distribution but we had no extra containers for individual soup servings.

One of us called the server.

"Could you please bring more soup bowls?" quickly asks one of our companions, gesturing to the soup and to us gathered hungrily around the food.

The hotel server declined with a gentle shake of her head. "I'm sorry but you didn't order any vegetables."

{Well, yeah...that's right we didn't actually pre-order any vegete-bowls...}