Vietnamese habits

Dear readers,

As I mentioned before, I have given a plenty of travel advice lately. It has made me think a lot of Vietnamese habits as I have been trying to explain how this country really works. I have long gathered my thoughts and notes, trying my best to analyse this country. So here we go !

The Vietnamese people hate the sun. This is even laughed at in Laos and Cambodia, much darker Asians. The Vietnamese take covering themselves to a whole new level, it is truly funny. It is nearly impossible to find skin products in this country that don't contain bleach.

There is no question too bold to ask. Not many days have gone past when I wasn't asked about my relationship status or other similar invasive topics. They don't understand the concept of physical boundaries either. You can easily see boys cuddling at school, holding their hands on each other's bodies. As I was shopping for my Ao Dai, I felt absolutely violated by the shop keepers as they were huffing and puffing around me shouting 'tay' and poking me to places no shop keeper has business in. There is no shame in pointing and staring at people, especially western people.

The country is still extremely communist. ''Attention'' my primary school assistant shouts when I walk into the class and the 8-year-olds greet me with a Nazi salute. All schools have their own 'school exercises'. This is a series of weird hand waving all students partake once a day during their break time.  It is still forbidden to discuss politics and religion with anyone, and you really want to mind your words when discussing famous Vietnamese people.

Vietnam has no bins. All litter is literally thrown on the streets where a group of older ladies gather and sort it into wheelbarrows. It is truly bizarre, throwing trash out still bugs me. In the start, I would always walk around with my trash looking for bins.

There is no such thing as originality. I tell my students to come up with a free topic to discuss in the next class and they all 'come up' with the same one (also reeks of laziness). There are a certain amount of Vietnamese traditional dishes; they are all made the exact same way, they all cost the same, no matter what shop you got to. No clothing shop or restaurant advertises themselves as unique or even tries to have something unique. People eat in the same place everyday. And nothing wrong with that, Vietnam has some yummy food.

Of course, when discussing food I need to bring up the meat culture in this country. Now, I have been a vegetarian for four years but even if I wasn't before, I would have surely become one upon arrival to this country. Firstly, eating dogs and cats is delicacy. Dog meat is eaten with crab meat sauce which stinks miles away. They say that two bad things make a good combination. No part of any animal is wasted. The meat is not parted into different files or ribs or anything, the entire animal is chopped into chewy, bony pieces that simply make me sick.

In restaurants, all meals and drinks are ordered a few at a time for the whole table. One person ordering a meal for themselves is unheard of. You can just simply join a dinner party, dig in and then pay your share at the end. If the food runs out, you simply order another dish. Beers are sold in jugs so just bring your glass around and pay 10 p at the end per glass.

All waiters and waitresses wait right by you once you have requested a menu or your bill. The western habit of slowly thinking, reading the menu or collecting money in peace from all parties does not exist. I guess it is because all the food is the same so people are expected to know what they want. Also, I believe that it is a custom for friends to pay for the dinner in turns.

There is a two - two an a half hour lunch break every day. The Vietnamese take their lunch very seriously and all the men get drunk on daily basis during this break. After which, they nap for an hour and start their day again. Their alcohol tolerance is so low, they get drunk very easily.

Like in many other Southern Asian countries, all things, especially money, is passed from one person to another with two hands. The words 'thank you' and 'please' are rarely used, the locals often laugh how 'tays' overuse these words. The students still bow their head when they are passing you or apologising something.

Security is ridiculous. This is something that does really annoy me, it is so unnecessary. You are not allowed to take any of your own bags into shops, you must check them into lockers. In case your wallet is in a tiny bag, it will be wrapped and sealed into plastic as you enter the shop. In clothing stores the assistants follow you so closely they sometimes even bump into you. Most of the expensive goods in shops have an alarm, batteries and wine etc. Once you are through the till a security guard will check your receipt and bags before stamping the receipt and letting you go. Small shops will even staple the receipt onto the bag.

I have discovered that it is possible to transport anything on a motorbike. I have seen fridges and washing machines, families and pigs. It's a shame that I am always driving so it's hard to snap photos but I'll be driving around with my go pro and hopefully, I'll be able to evidence some of the best ones later. I have even managed to transport somethings that I never expected; two rice cookers and a bunch of people. Nothing compared to the genuine locals but getting there.

It's okay to pick and poke anything, especially in public places. Next to my friends' front door in a stall that cleans people's ears on the street. Disgusting. You can often face a person at a dinner table sitting with their legs on the seat, picking their toe and finger nails. Most people are constantly picking their teeth (dental care here is nasty). Poking other people is not uncommon either.

And finally, it's all about them squats. Street restaurants have these cool urban chairs that are plastic and made for midgets. Toilets are either holes on the ground or disgusting. Sometimes it's really hard to drink enough water because it seems to be as hard to find a toilet as it is to find a bin. Squat, squat, squat away.


Anyways ! I hope I have shed some light on a few interesting Vietnamese habits.

Love,

Mira

A night out with prostitutes

You know, sometimes your find yourself in a situation you never imagined being in. And it all kind of feels surreal and crazy. Well, this is a post about my night out with some prostitutes. It will be very honest, so my apologies for those more gentle readers.

I was lured out by a Vietnamese friend, begging me to go sing karaoke with him. I thought it might be nice to try something new so I agreed. As we were waiting for a taxi, it turned out that we are headed 10 km out of Hai Phong to his home town. We picked up some of his friends on the way there, no one speaks English. We arrived outside this dodgy karaoke place in the middle of nowhere and were escorted to our private room. The room has no windows, is furnished with massive black sofas and a drinks table. Turns out that the boys always gather here because it is a safe place to take drugs in. Which were plenty; right from the door platefuls of powder were circling around.

There were about ten Vietnamese boys and one girl in the room. No one really paid attention to me so I happily took over a corner to observe things. The karaoke, and the boys, lasted about 5 mins. After this the room was dimmed and the boys were so high they were busy taking naps after one another. Needless to say that I don't have the habit of snorting things. After the lights went out, the girl disappeared for a minute and came back with a lot less clothes, boobs three times the size they were before and three half naked friends.

I guess thanks to the amount of powder in the room, things escalated quite quickly. The bizarre drum and bass blasting was so loud the sofas were shaking. Some of the boys were still fast asleep while the others were busy taking their tops off. No one (but my friend) had said a word to me. Sitting in the corner feeling like a high class prostitute no one could afford occasionally getting blurred confessions from my friend about all things between the Earth and the sky.

Luckily, another friend of mine joined me so we could retire in our gossip corner in peace. Turned out that the girls were 18 and the boys were nearly 30. Four girls on ecstasy entertaining ten, mostly married, older men. Watching this grinding show was quite an experience. Eventually, we decided to leave them to it and left home.

Once in a lifetime.


More stories in the future !

Mira

Travel tips

Hello lovelies and happy mid-week,

Recently, I have been asked a lot of traveling advice. I would just like to tell you all not to be shy and ask away ! Share with your friends and family, I am more than happy to share my experiences and try and help everyone to have the best possible trip.

Mira 

Vietnamese celebrations

Happy women's day !! :)

I hope you all have a very blessed, beautiful day.


Time after the holidays has gone quickly balancing between work and different celebrations. I partook in my friend's wedding, staff retreat in Hanoi, recently celebrated two birthdays and today, women's day. In my opinion, Vietnamese people take their celebrations seriously, and I love how giving flowers in so common in this country.

The wedding was fun, though, it reminded me of a TV show. It was in a huge hall, filled with lights and flowers. The wedding couple spent most of their time on stage taking pictures while a (too) loud commentator was babbling away in Vietnamese. No one really paid attention to the couple or the show that was going on, everyone was busy eating and drinking vodka shots. The presentation on the stage was a bit weird and quite unclear (at least to us foreigners). The wedding couple starts taking their wedding pictures a month before the wedding in countless of different locations and dresses. The funniest part for us 'tays' is how common it is to take pictures outside shopping malls, in front of expensive fashion outlets.

The annual staff retreat took place in Hanoi this year. We performed a dance that I choreographed and enjoyed some drinks together. It was a beautiful, sunny day so we spent the rest of the afternoon drinking beers by the river. It was great to see the girls I worked with in Ha Long again!

Birthdays were absolute madness. My best friend turned 28 so we had a cake made, ordered some flowers and loads of drinks. We took her out for live music, followed by some dancing at a club. It was so much fun and she seemed to really enjoy it. We continued to the other birthday, which was a house party. My friends recently moved into a huge mansion so the party was quite crazy, but so much fun. The next day we took our bestie for a surprise amusement park day. There is a very random amusement park in central Hai Phong, with some equipment we didn't dare to try due to the lack of security measures. Regardless, the day was amazing, just what we all needed.

Sunday night was spent in a Vietnamese dance battle, which was amazing, and watching a football game. All in all, a perfect weekend.

Women's day is very popular in Vietnam. Yesterday I received flowers from my assistant and my students. I really had fun in my classes and do think that I have the best of students! I am now planning on popping by my assistants house, her mum just sent me some coffee. Such a sweet heart.

Unfortunately, I have been unable to fully defeat my flu so I am still snoring due to the inability to breath through my nose at all. Hopefully, the situation will be fixed soon... it is truly annoying to be constantly coughing and sneezing.


Anyways, enjoy your day !


Mira