Getting accustomed to life in Vietnam...

Trip Start Feb 14, 2005

Trip End May 06, 2005

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Flag of Vietnam Hue, Vietnam
Wednesday, March 2, 2005

(Peter) Now that we've spent over a week in Vietnam, I've started to notice little things here and there that we've had to get used to. I've tried not to see things as right or wrong or good and bad, but instead, I've just tried to accept what I see as a different way of life.

First, there's the constant "touting" by the locals. To be honest, I was not familiar with the word "touting". I actually first read it in our Vietnam Lonely Planet Guide. (I guess my Hugo Reid elementary school teacher left this out of my vocabulary list.) Anyway, for those of you that are not familiar with the word either, it means to promote a product or service. By the way, this happens in other 3rd world countries, as well. Basically, everywhere we go, we are constantly bombarded by taxi drivers, cyclo (3 wheel bicycles) drivers, restaurant owners/employees, hotels owners/employees, motorbike riders, and any other local that has a service that they are selling. They are usually somewhat aggressive in trying to get us to purchase their services.

Although sometimes it has been tough to walk through a city or market, it's really hard to blame someone for trying to make a living. This is their livelihood, and I assume that sometimes a sale is the difference between putting food on the table that night or not.

Second, the locals here appear to be very aggressive and pushy in nature. From driving through traffic to jumping in the front of lines to yelling out demands at any moment, the Vietnamese can seem very rude in the eyes of foreigners.

In Danang, waiting for the train to Hue...

However, this is just how it is over here. It is not a matter of people being rude, it is a means of functioning. In the major cities in Vietnam, the pace is so fast, if you don't keep up, you really do get left behind. It is very similar to people from New York city. People from NYC have that perception of being rude, obnoxious, and pushy. They are really not all bastards, like I used to think. It's just that they have to be aggressive to literally get things done over there. Similar to other Asian cultures, in Vietnam, if you are not aggressive, you'll never get to the other side of the street or be able to make that lane change or get an order taken at a shop counter.

There are other things, such as how dirty it may seem to tourists, the fact that locals get a different price than tourists do for many things, and so on.

Although I'm having a little trouble trying to figure out what I'm saying, I think I wrote this journal entry because of the television show, "The Amazing Race". The Amazing Race, for those of you who haven't seen it, is that reality show that has couples going all over the world solving clues and completing tasks in a race to a finish line. Every time I watch that show, there are contestants that are criticizing the different cultural aspects in the countries they visit. A lot of it may be the pressures that they are feeling during the race, but nonetheless, the show constantly promotes these contestants as ignorant Americans that are narrow-minded.

Now that I have a chance to experience some of the similar cultural activity that those in the Amazing Race have experienced, I will not be making the same mistakes. Lifestyles are not the same everywhere you go. Just because things aren't done the same as they are done where we come from, it doesn't mean that they are wrong (or right). Things are just different and that's something that we have to get used to during the next 2 and half months...