The dry, impossibly hot season has returned to Ho Chi Minh City (the South), meanwhile in the North, people are struggling over the excessively hot and humid weather of Ha Noi. As a foreign student coming from a usually cool to extremely cold weather for an internship in Vietnam, without any experience in dealing with this type of heat, how would you tackle this? That’s why you need to read further because we are providing you tips on how to stay sane during the hot weather of Vietnam.
Keeping yourself hydrated during your internship in Vietnam. Source: Fraser Health News
Living in a place with two seasons can be disorienting for people who spend most of their life in regions with four seasons where the weather becomes a sort of time-tracking mechanism. In Vietnam, the days seem to blend together for months on end, simply because each day is the same as last. This year, due to global warming, the weather is getting worse and worse for Vietnam in terms of the heat. However, Vietnamese has some tricks on their sleeves to get you over this annoying hot weather, (hopefully) be more effective and enjoy your internship in Vietnam.
1. Heat relief drinks:
How about a coconut for a hot summer day. Source: phununet.com
Vietnamese people have a variety of drinks that is supposed to help you relieve the heat. This ranges from common drinks like a fresh icy cool coconut juice straight from a coconut or sugarcane juice to more sophisticated drinks like salted lemon juice and herb drinks. Coconut is everywhere in Vietnam and they’re usually cheap, you might get addicted to it and refuse to drink from the packaged coconut juice you get back home. The price for a coconut is around 1 dollar and the vendors usually prepare out a small hole for you to drink with a straw. Coconut juice is great to have when you’re thirsty and dehydrated as they’re fairly sweet and very refreshing. Coconuts have a host of nutrients that separate it from simple water. It’s rich in potassium, has electrolytes and sodium, and has sugar which helps with low blood sugar.
Sugarcane juice cups like this are very commonly found along the main streets in Vietnam. Source: dienmayxanh
The sugarcane juice is often drunk with a bit of kumquat or pineapple juice to balance the sweetness, it is a great drink for the hot summer of Vietnam.
So… what is exactly salty lemon juice? Salty lemon juice actually comes from a special type of lemon that is made by a special lemon that is pickled in a liquid of salt and water. In hot weather, it’s particularly important to replace your sodium levels as you sweat it out. The reason behind this is pretty simple: you can’t absorb water if you don’t have enough electrolytes to compensate. When this happens, you’ll feel like the water is going into your body and then directly out of your pores, it tastes thick and gel-like, and you’ll receive none of the normal benefits of drinking water… in fact, it can dehydrate you! The taste of salty lemon juice might not be your most favorite thing but it sure does help with tackling the extreme dehydration from sweating in the sun.
Salty lemon juice, a healthy and cool drink for the summer internship in Vietnam. Source: tinhthong.vn
What about herb drinks? People in Vietnam call this “nuoc mat”, “cool water” because it is supposed to help cool down your body temperature when it is hot outside. The water is made from boiling a mixture of different plants. It doesn’t taste sweet but sugar is often added and it has a brown color.
Ingredients for a cooling herb drink Source: mangdoisong.com
2. Cooling soups:
Vietnamese usually calls for cooking cooling soups during summer to help ease the bad experience from the heat. These soups often include ingredients like cucumber, melon, green beans, and carrots. There are plenty of these types of greens to choose from at your local market or supermarket and these soups are very easy to make. For lunch or dinner, just make a broth with grounded pork or pork bones and add in melon or cucumber or carrots to make soup and you will have a delicious refreshing soup for yourself to enjoy. The Vietnamese also have another unique type of dish prevalent in the hot weather: “che” or sweet soups, you might see street vendors with carts full of different bowls of beans and jelly. These treats are called sweet soup and they are a sweet bean based dessert that is accompanied by different types of jelly. This is a favorite snack of the both the young and old in Vietnam because its refreshing taste helps relieving the constant heat of Vietnam’s weather. The suggestions above coupled with a positive spirit will hopefully get through this cruel weather and make the most out of your time working and travelling in Vietnam.
Sweet soups, a delicious and cooling dessert for hot weather. Source: diadiemanuong.com
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