Things that I have learned about Vietnamese people thus far:
1) They are, overall, the kindest people that I have yet to meet (with the occasional "dick" or two thrown into the mix -I think that it would be unrealistic to imagine otherwise)
2) Vietnamese men smoke more cigarettes than any that I have seen (cigarette related deaths are the #1 killers of Vietnamese men!). When it comes to indulgence in tobacco, they put the Euros and the Aussies to SHAME (not an easy feat, I might add) One possible explanation is this: Average price per pack of cigarettes in Vietnam = $1, while Europe = $8-$9 (AUSTRALIA comes in at an astounding $17!) Vietnamese men, can and WILL do pretty much anything and everything with a "butt" balancing delicately off the edge of their lip. Unfortunately, much like the Euros, they
have no qualms when it comes to ruining someone else's meal with their smoke. (curiously, I have seen very few women smoking in Vietnam. Which leads me to the next point...)
3) Vietnamese women are Bad Ass! Not only are they among the most beautiful women in the world but when it comes to, well....pretty much anything, they get shit DONE! When the husbands are slacking off smoking cigarette after cigarette it's the women that are tending to the children, washing the clothes, doing the housework and running the family business. Vietnamese women can "bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan" - a horrible old-school expression that I have never liked, have never used, will never use again -and for all intents-and-purposes I have no idea what it means. Still, just sayin'....
4) Vietnamese people are terrified of the sun (yeah, this one definitely relates more to women than men - but not by much), and not for the reasons that one would assume. It isn't heralded by fears of melanoma, but fears of darkened skin for vanity sake. Dark skin is seen as belonging to a lower, poorer "class" - farmers and such. The Vietnamese are so obsessed with white skin that they spend ungodly amounts of money on dangerous chemical whiteners to achieve such a goal, and even in the intense heat of summer the greater percentage of Vietnamese people can be seen driving around on their motorbikes covered head to toe.
5) Vietnamese people are both the best drivers and the worst drivers in the world, simultaneously. (I think I've said enough about this in previous posts but to sum it up: I have never seen so many stupid, foolish, bonehead maneuvers performed on motorized vehicles anywhere or at any time in my life. Still though, for every single one of these bonehead maneuvers - oh, and they happen every second - it is countered by hundreds of other evasive, counter-maneuvers performed flawlessly by a hundred other drivers, seemingly without the slightest effort, recognition or animosity...
6) SOME Vietnamese (Okay, one. Two - TOPS) can steal the bicycle that your friend was kind enough to lend you even though you only left it unattended for a moment or two while you went to look for new sunglasses because your old sunglasses had broken and you needed new ones because you were going away for the weekend and you seriously needed to replace them because your eyes had gotten so sensitive to the sun that you really shouldn't go without them, sunglasses, that is, that would be silly and you couldn't find the proper area to park it, the bicycle that is, where it would have been attended-to like they attend to them in saigon because you had only recently arrived in this new city and didn't really understand they way that the whole parking thing worked not because you are irresponsible besides you could actually see the bicycle where you left it leaning up against the side of the building as you had left so many bicycles in a similar fashion all over thailand and laos and it was never an issue and you would have probably used a lock if there was one but there wasn't one, a lock that is, you even remember asking your friend, is there a lock? no there isn't a lock, he replied, who knows maybe you wouldn't have used it if there actually was one, a lock that is, because you were sure that you were only stopping for such a short time, though you would have definitely used the attended parking area if you had found it in spite of the fact that it was only for that short time, kind of funny in an ironic sort of way that you found the parking area, where it would have been attended-to and not stolen, the bicycle that is, after it was already too late, after it already was stolen, all of this happening strangely, coincidentally some might say on the very first day that your friend had lent it to you and even though your friend had assured you that it was a cheap bike and it didn't matter you still feel bad anyway - in seconds flat. (#6 dedicated to author Jose Saramago)
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