Random Things We’ve Noted

With the exception of many moths, and a couple of small roaches, we’ve seen no bugs. We could have left our DEET at home, at least so far.

Many Vietnamese people who work in the tourism industry always wear “traditional” Vietnamese attire. Otherwise, people on the streets are dressed in Western attire, primarily jeans,  casual slacks or skirts,and shirts of one sort or another.

The level of public politeness is unlike anything we’ve experienced in the U.S. or elsewhere in our travels.  We’ve heard and read that Vietnamese people do not respect  standing in line and waiting their turn, but we have yet to experience this.

There are very few dogs here, unlike in the U.S. where people take their dogs with them almost everywhere.

Far fewer people smoke than we expected, and most hotels and restaurants appear to be “no smoking”, though the restaurant where we ate last night had a few patrons who smoked throughout their meal.

We feel entirely safe from any sort of crime, including the petty theft our Hanoi guide warned us of.  We seem not to be of particular interest to locals when we walk the streets of a city or village. We were told to always carry a purse or backpack on the front of our shoulders, not the back, but this measure feels unnecessary, though we continue mostly to follow it.

At 6a.m. this morning very loud music with a thumping bass erupted in the town below our hotel and continued for awhile. We aren’t sure, but can only guess it is the call to morning exercises, as we observed in Hanoi.

English is the universally spoken second language here, not French, despite the many years of French occupation in the first half of the 20th century.  Travelers from Europe and other Asian countries all seem to communicate with the Vietnamese in English, and Thuy May says English language classes now begin in primary school.

Our Hanoi guide told us that 2o and 30 years ago 98% of the population was illiterate, but the government began providing and requiring primary school attendance 15-20 years ago, and now all of the population below a certain age is literate.

Our Hanoi guide told us about government-imposed population control measures, much like China’s, except here families are allowed two children each. We’re also told the limitation is widely ignored in the rural parts of the country where parents still want to have many children to help with farming work and the government does little or no enforcement.