VietBlog

What is the number one killer of tourists in Vietnam? Surely it must be landmines, poisonous snake bites, or malaria. The answer? None of the above. According to the US State Department, the number one killer is traffic accidents – mostly from crossing the street.

There are a lot of peculiarities in Vietnam/ Cambodia that the average American would cringe at. Bizarre foods, foreign toilets, and other oddities stem from cultural differences. So what is this about crossing the street?

Traffic in Vietnam is chaotic to say the least. And that’s in the countryside! In the city, crossing the street seems impossible. Stop signs and lanes don’t seem to make a difference. And don’t think that just because the directional flow of traffic seems to be established, that it’s uncommon to see a motorbike traveling against the grain, simply darting around the sea of oncoming traffic surrounding it. My first time I had to have my hand held. And even after I crossed, I was still shaking for a few minutes.

Lonely Planet video from the Lonely Planet shows just how chaotic traffic can be, although it’s from Hanoi, not HCM City.

Some other oddities include the food. In a previous blog entry, there was another Lonely Planet video featuring food of Ho Chi Minh City. This video featured the infamous durian, a fruit meant not for the squeamish. While two Southeast Asian natives on the trip, Arnita and Hieu, proclaimed their undying love for the fruit, the rest of us (especially the few who were brave enough to try a taste) were less than horrified by the experience. The spinney fruit is instantly recognizable – not by how it looks, but how it smells. I would describe it as something between dirty diapers, onions, and old feet. The stench is so potent, the fruit is banned in most airlines, hotels, and public facilities. If you can get past the smell, the texture is sticky and warm. But once you chew it, you can kind of taste something sweet and ponder if it’s an acquired taste.

Some other crazy foods we tried throughout our trip included curried crocodile, coconut snail soup, candy made only of gelatin, sesame seeds, and peanuts, squid tentacles, 1000 year old eggs, chicken feet, shrimp heads, tarantula in Cambodia, and fermented fish sauce. And then there was the underdeveloped duck egg.

Angie Miller, a graduate student in social work at WVU’s campus in Wheeling, was the first brave one to endure the duck egg. She also wrote about another odd cultural difference she encountered when talking to Minh, one of the V-riders.

In my family we have this inside joke that when we’re lost we can get back on track with the help of “iron boogers”. I think maybe it has something to do with being able to have a “sense” for direction, but that’s only speculation. Since I’ve arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, I have been sort of disoriented in a directional sense.

One day we were traveling away from HCM City to attend the food festival (where I met my first duck egg) with our hosts – the V-Riders. While on the bus I asked several of the V-Riders which direction we were headed. I was surprised by their stares of confusion and a barrage of “What do you mean?” questions. I explained by asking them whether we were headed north, south, east, or west of HCM City. I reframed my question by asking what direction, if you were looking at a map, would we be headed: up, down, right, or left? Their explanation was that in HCM City there was no need for north, south, east, or west because you would only be confused with the one way streets and fast-paced motorbikes. I guess it is sort of comparable to driving in Pittsburgh in that respect, so I’m not sure if it a cultural difference or maybe an issue of urban life versus rural life.

The conversation progressed to asking for directions. Apparently there are individuals who are the ‘go-to’ persons for questions pertaining to direction within the city. The translation to English is “motorbike huggers.” The name explains itself. According to the V-Rider’s description a “motorbike hugger” knows how to get anywhere you want to go and because of their “skillfulness” in navigating around the city at such rapid speeds their passengers will have to hold on to them -hug them- so as not to fall off the motorbike. I asked how one would know whether the driver was a “motorbike hugger” to which they replied the driver who was parked faced towards the street. My last question was whether the V-Riders had taken a ride with a “motorbike hugger” and all of replied that they were too afraid. So my advice is, when in HCM City ‘steer’ clear of the driver’s sitting on their bikes facing into the street and take a taxi cab instead! They will get you where you need to go just the same. As for which way we traveled from Ho Chi Minh City the night of the food festival – I’m still not sure!

Another oddity is the bathroom situation. Not only is toilet paper a limited commodity – to the point of where if you go into a bathroom at a gas station, you’ll be grateful if there is even a pink, scratchy roll that resembles streamers, but the toilet is something that takes awhile to get used to, as well. Known as the Asian toilet, this bathroom obstacle resembles a porcelain hole in the floor. Though men might find it easy to use, my gender encounters numerous problems when faced with such a device!

There are also cultural differences that become apparent when spending a month in the country. One thing is calling someone over by signaling them with your palm face up is considered rude. Basically it is the same as calling them a dog, since the same gesture is used to call one in Vietnam. The proper way to call someone over is to signal them with your palm facing down. Another difference is one shared with many other countries around the world. That is the rule of personal space. We Americans like to have our “bubble”, but in other parts of the world, including Vietnam, expect to have your bubble violated! Not that it’s a bad thing; people just like to express their feelings with touching.

As you can imagine, this can make standing in line uncomfortable. Well, that’s if there were lines. However, when going to the super market we discovered that whoever put’s their merchandise down on the counter gets rung up, regardless if you have been standing there for an hour!

There are other cultural differences, such as dating rituals,), fashion, and taste in music. While we would be crazy to wear long pants and sleeves in the tropics, it’s the norm in Vietnam. Their pale is as sought after as a good tan here. And while French or Spanish lines in a song here is popular, interjection of an English line in a Vietnamese song (or Korean pop music – a popular genre in Vietnam) is a huge hit. And of course there are the obvious ones like eating lots of rice and exotic foods and using chop sticks. Fire by 2NE1

Some members of our group fell in love with Asian TV and music videos, took to wearing scarves and hair clips, and desperately missed rice with every meal when they returned home. While durian wasn’t necessarily missed (unless you are Hieu!), these cultural oddities became gems. It’s what made our travels so interesting. Now that I am home, I taught my friends how to use chop sticks, bought a bottle of fish sauce from the international section of my grocery store, and wear long pants, and showed everyone Korean pop videos.

But while the differences kept thing new and exciting, the most exciting things were the similarities. The fact that we laughed at the same jokes, loved singing along to the same songs (though they did it mostly during karaoke!), and shared the same dreams of graduating and traveling made Asia seem that much closer to home.