Southeast Asian cuisine may look similar to dishes back home, but the flavors are quite different. 😋

Here are some surprises:

1⃣️ Seafood is relatively inexpensive 🦐. I didn't see as many seafood snacks in China's snack streets, and the portions here are quite generous.

2⃣️ The noodles are delicious and cheap‼️ A bowl of seafood noodles costs only 15 RMB! A bowl of beef noodles costs 12 RMB!

3⃣️ Unlimited supply of ice water 🧊. Southeast Asia is hot, and locals drink ice water. Luckily, I love cold drinks.

4⃣️ Coffee: The sea salt coffee in Picture 9 is really good! Even someone like me, who doesn't usually drink coffee, likes it. Legend coffee from Vietnam is also good and can be a nice gift for friends.

Some things I'm not used to:

1⃣️ Various cooked foods paired with raw vegetables, like raw perilla and fish mint, which I'm not used to eating.

2⃣️ The dishes at the street stalls look similar to those back home, but they tend to be more sour and spicy. Even with the various sauces they come with, it's still a bit challenging to eat.

3⃣️ Hygiene issues. If you tell the staff there are flies in your dish, they'll calmly remove them for you. Perhaps due to the climate, locals are used to flies. I had to nervously pick out flies and continue eating for the next few days.
Overall, after the initial novelty wears off, you'll start to miss Chinese food.