7 little-known facts about Vietnam

The country’s actual name is not Vietnam as in a single word, it is actually Viet Nam and is only observed as a single name in English-speaking countries.

The Vietnamese government, together with the United Nations recognize the country’s correct name as Viet Nam.

The country is popular for having one of the best street foods worldwide, which doesn’t require excessive waiting or queues.

One can walk into any street and readily purchase hot, tasty and healthy food that even supersedes the that of fast food restaurants. Most chain restaurants just fail in Vietnam.

It's popularly believed in the country that poisonous snakes possess herbal or medicinal contents, which makes snake wine a popular folk remedy.

It's often used as a medicine to elevate potency or virility. Anyway, it's illegal to export this snake wine from Vietnam, so one might have to travel down there to give it a try.

The country has over 45 million registered motorcycles, making it the most common and dominating mode of transportation over trucks, cars, and the likes.

Hang Son Doòng is said to be one of the biggest natural caves worldwide. It was concluded to be the largest known cave passage by volume in 2009.

The name of the cave is interpreted to mean cave of the mountain river. It was opened to tourists in 2013. This three-million-year-old cave passage is regarded as one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

The five-pointed star on the flag signifies the five major classes in the Vietnamese society: workers, peasants, soldiers, intellectuals, and businessmen, while the red field represents the blood lost during years of crisis and war in the nation’s history.

The art of puppetry is quite common and widespread in Asian culture, but the introduction of water makes Vietnamese water puppetry uniquely distinctive.

The marionettes are crafted out of wood, which is then lacquered. The performances take place in a large waist-deep pool, as opposed to dangling the strings of a puppet.

The shows are usually accompanied by a traditional Vietnamese orchestra, which involves vocals, wooden bells, cymbals drums, horns, gongs, bamboo flutes, and a type of monochord.