Calm and centred.
Words I could use to describe the Vietnamese people. What initially seemed like chaos has a certain peaceful order to it. People are polite, road rage is practically non existent. People beep their horns to let others know they are there, to say I am coming through, to say thanks. It is not impatience but consideration for others.
That is not to say there isn’t some pushy sales pitches going on, but that is about making a living in a place where the main industry is tourism.
The people, in particular the women, work hard. Many of the young men work hard too, particularly in the tourist industry, however in the older and married men there is a culture of drinking. The men will start having beers in the early afternoon but their wives will keep working sometimes until 9 or 10 at night. When we have talked to some of the young women about this they say it is a problem but it is just the way it is.
Buddhism is the dominant religion in Vietnam and I have noticed that most homes have a dedicated area for worship, often a whole room, even in the smallest houses. This space is immaculate and will only have a shrine/alter in it, nothing more. All the living is done in the other spaces in the house, sometimes in only one other room. I wonder if this space dedicated to worship allows for a clearer head, vision, heart?
From what I have seen pollution and poverty are the main social problems here. Vietnam has a massive population and industry is mostly centred around clothing manufacture and growing rice. Water comes in plastic bottles as do all the convenience foods, with lots of packaging inside bigger packages. Every place you buy something they will put it in a plastic bag and you get the strangest looks when you say no bag. Things are cheap but at what social and environmental cost. Many tourists we have met are just looking for a bargain with no consideration for the local people. It is customary to barter but I also believe it is important to look at the work that goes into producing the goods. For us it is just another dollar but for that person it is so much more.
My take homes are to be kinder to our planet, to people and to myself. I believe travel teaches us a lot about the world but even more about ourselves.
