Xôi Nước or Trôi Nước

If you can read VNese, here's an explanation for the difference between those two words.

For those who can't read VNese but still want to know, just in case there comes a time when he/she needs to impress a VNese boyfriend/girlfriend, I can offer a simple explanation here.

Both are names of a type of VNese chè. Chè is a general name for a very common VNese dessert, usually made of the basic ingredients glutinous rice and tapioca. Some will have beans, coconut, coconut milk, mung beans, and gelatin. Some chè are eaten cold or with ice, some are preferred hot. Xôi nước is usually eaten hot. It's a chè that consists of big sticky rice balls, stuffed with mung bean on the inside, floating in a sugary, gingery sauce. According to the link above, it was a southern VNese invention derived from the northern version called bánh trôi nóng (now called trôi nước here). I don't know why I am explaining all this because I don't even like chè.

Xe ôm is what most VNese here call the motorbike taxi. If you're by yourself here without transportation and need to get to a place really quick and cheap, just flag down a xe ôm guy, tell him where you want to go (usually in VNese), negotiate a price, put on a helmet (he'll have an extra one for you if you don't mind the sweat and fleas from other people), hop on the motorbike behind him, and off you go. Xe means vehicle, and ôm means to hug. Supposedly, on a xe ôm, you may want to hug the driver for safety or else you may fall backwards if the guy goes really fast or jerks suddenly. Here in Da Lat (and maybe other places too), a lot of people use the term xe thồ instead. Thồ means to carry/pull a load. So, you can either be a passenger and hug the driver (xe ôm) or a cargo and be carried (xe thồ) and not have to hug the driver. I have yet to see a female xe ôm driver.