Manners?

The longer I am in Vietnam the more I notice more and more societal habits that are very different to Canada and the West in general. Seeing the totally different daily habits around me reminds me of the phrase "taken for granted assumptions" which came up frequently during one of my international development classes. Basically my upbringing in Canada has led me to take for granted a certain type of manners, which is minimally to non-existent in Vietnam. The following is a list of some of the more extreme habits (from my perspective) I've observed.

1. Never waiting in line. I am continually reminded of this each time I patiently wait for a bathroom, the cashier in the supermarket, to order food etc. I subconsciously wait only to realize that my turn is never going to come unless I jostle to the front and make it physically impossible for someone to pass me.

2. Picking one's nose in public. Does this need any elaboration? People just stick their finger up their nose whenever and where ever it suits them.

3. Men and children can pee anywhere. When your kid has to pee sometimes you have very little time to find a bathroom. The solution here? Just pull their pants down and find a grass patch, the edge of the road, where ever and let them squat. Same goes for men.

4. Playing music out loud on public transport. If its a trip of any significant amount of time the bus is guaranteed to be playing some time of music video or at least the radio, yet so many people are compelled to add their own soundtrack by way of an mp3 player or phone. Naturally everyone on the bus MUST be dying to hear your musical selections, especially if they include Gangam Style!

This isn't meant to sound snarky - I can see where some of these habits come from, many families still live communally in small houses so the sense of "private" and "public" isn't defined in the same way it is in the West. Except the lines thing, that drives me crazy.

Travels

Buddha on Marble Mountain, Da Nang, Vietnam

Beautiful tourist trap - Hoi An, Vietnam

Touristy photo with giant wooden fish

Chinese assembly hall in Hoi An

3D mosaic on Marble Mountain

Just moving a buffalo along the beach - Koh Rong, Cambodia

Breathtaking Long Beach, Koh Rong, Cambodia

Long Beach, Koh Rong Cambodia

The Lunar New Year holidays gave me a chance to do some more exploring as well as witness the madness that is Vietnam during Tet. I've been very poor at taking photos, more and more often choosing to simply take the scenery in myself but here are some bits and pieces of my most recent travels.

You know you've been in Asia a while when blasting techno music outside your office at 3pm is only a mild surprise...

Life Pro Tips for Vietnam

Some of my observations after 2.5 months of living in Vietnam, enjoy!

1. It's not important whether or not there's insects in your house (there always is), it's only important whether they will bite you or not!
2. In traffic, size is the most important factor determining in right of way. Therefore: bus, truck and car passes motorbike, motorbike passes bicycle, bicycle passes... people walking, people pushing/pulling large carts, cows...
3. If you have unusual body modifications (such as facial piercings and tattoos) you will be pointed at and possibly touched on a daily basis.
4. Most events start late but if someone's coming to meet you, they will start calling you repeatedly the minute they arrive.
5. The description "same, same" means the two things being discussed are not even remotely the same.
6. People in Vietnam are significantly smaller than your average North American and size of everything (chairs, clothes, ceilings etc) reflect this fact.
7. Restaurant service that would be considered non-existent in North America is the norm, shouting at the waiter is expected and no one leaves tips.
8. The sun is an evil enemy to be feared. Therefore one should cover all exposed bits of skin, typically with face masks, jeans and sweaters in 30 degree heat. If you wear a t-shirt it will be concluded that you are strangely fearless of this evil enemy.
9. Vietnamese people can sleep anywhere, at anytime. It is not considered lazy to nap on the job. Some people, such as guards, have beds at their posts for this exact purpose.

...more to come as I think of them!

Obssessions with Excess

I recently read another article about how much food is wasted world wide: this one stating almost half of all food produced! The article brings up many good points but one that stuck with me is the common cultural practice of serving guests more food than they can possibly eat. This is a practice that can be observed the world over, from Thanksgiving dinners in North America to every dinner party I've attended here in Vietnam, everyone wants you to overeat - and then some!

But where does this custom come from? In North America obesity is already a huge health concern, as it is becoming in many other parts of the world as well but more interestingly to me is the fact that when you state "I'm not hungry" (especially in Vietnam, but I'm sure you, dear reader, have observed this throughout your travels) suddenly your judgement is no good and your word holds no value.

Everyone's been put in those uncomfortable social situations where they have to eat when they really don't want to and are not hungry so why does this practice continue? Why can't we, the advanced people we are, accept that sometimes someone just isn't hungry and it isn't because there's anything wrong with the food or the person offering it but they just don't feel like eating at at moment? I understand that in many cases people do not have much to give other than food and it is a common ground that all humans share - we all must eat, but we have the biological ability to become full as well!

Northern Vietnam

  Some highlights from my two week trip to Hanoi, Sapa and Cat Ba Island.

Christmas decorations in Hanoi

Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum

Visiting a village outside Hanoi

Village outside Hanoi

Trekking in Sapa - terraced rice paddies

Sapa

Cat Cat village outside Sapa

Market in Sapa

Two day trek in rubber boots!

Kayaking in Cat Ba

Our boat in Cat Ba

View from Cat Ba

Visit to a Fish Processing Factory

Today as part of my work, really it was more of a learning experience for me, I had a tour of a fish processing factory. This factory takes catfish raised in captivity in the Mekong Delta and processes them into frozen fillets for mainly the American market but also for South America and Europe. It was extremely interesting and also stomach turning, as I got to walk through the whole factory and see every stage of production.

 1. Conveyor belts move buckets of fish from boats into the factory.

 2. Fish enter the filleting room.

 3. Workers "fillet" the fish, cutting away the head, tail and spine. They are paid based on how many fish they fillet and were working with amazing speed. My supervisor told me that a worker in a factory like this will earn from 2,450,000 VND ($115) to 5,000,000 VND ($236) a month based on how much fish they process and how much fish is exported. This is within the average range of a salary in Vietnam.

 4. Workers further trim the fillets, removing skin, fat etc. They are also paid based on how much fish they clean.

 5. Fillets are checked for quality and imperfections are removed.

 6. Fillets are sorted into "yellow" and "white" as white fillets are more expensive.

 7. Fillets are frozen in a flash freezer within twenty minutes.

8. The final product! Fillets are packaged directly for supermarkets or packed bulk for restaurants. Our guide told us that it takes 80 kgs of fresh fish to produce 40 kgs of frozen fillets but that the other parts of the fish will be used by other factories to make other products.

The experience was extremely eye opening because even though I had an idea of how food processing and factories functioned it was very different to walk through the whole process. I think one of my biggest reflections after this trip was how strange our world food system really is - it is crazy to think of all that fish that is frozen and shipped across the ocean to American supermarkets.