All the small things (part 1)
While travelling we have found that it is all the small things that make us laugh, gasp, or want to cry. Here is a list of a few of the things that have struck me (Stephanie) in Vietnam.
- Pampering products – I decided before we left that I would bring along my organic face cream and rose water misting spray. Every morning after my shower I spray the mist over my face and feel an amazing peacefulness for a moment. At home I dont even think about my facial routine, but here it has become wonderfully luxurious.
- Garbage – People have a different relationship to rubbish over here. There is no collective community pride, so garbage is just someone elses responsibility to clean up. I have seen hair dressers sweep great lumps of hair into the streets, stall owners discard the refuse from preparing food into the gutter (and when you are peeling 50 pineapples in a night that is a lot of peelings), boat drivers throw bottles and plastic bags and food stuffs into the rivers. In restaurants people throw their serviettes and bones from their meat onto the floor under the table. The funny thing is however that each family keeps their own home spotless. They sweep and mop the floor several times a day, usually on their hands and knees!
- Road sense- It is hard to convey just how crazy it is here. It is beyond comprehension, but the funny thing is that there is little fear of the road. Children are allowed to play right next to the street, even as motorbikes mount the pavement to take a short cut. People drive much more defensively and slowly here so they are always looking out for pedestrians and other vehicles. Never-the-less it is scary to see a motor bike approaching a small child and not see their parents jump up to grab them!
- Customer service? – We have been through markets where the sellers grab our arms and drag us in to sell us their wears, and have been completely ignored by others that we have nearly had to tackle in order to purchase something from. We have had sales people shout at us for taking to long to decide what we want and then packing away their goods and giving us the Vietnamese equivalent of the “finger” (I assume they thought we were just wasting their time and had no intention of buying anything, but we are just very indecisive!). We been in restaurants where the waitress stood and watched us eat, grabbing our plates as soon as we were done. As I write this there is a toddler (the store owners I think) who is terrorising everyone one in the internet cafe. He is climbing on chairs, shouting and squealing, sliding out the keyboards and then banging them shut again. A moment ago he came and rub something he was eating onto my back. I thought it was snot at first!! But David assured me it was food. The owner seems in no rush to reign in the little rascal even though people keep turning around and frowning?? (PS He just came up and pinched David because he wanted to sit in his chair!!).
- Sweat – I am trying to befriend the moisture that constantly covers my skin, but no matter how I try I just cant be at peace with it. My afternoon shower has become another luxury!
- My organised husband – David is the Mr Universe of organisation. He thinks of things that would never even enter my head. He works out the money and the visa’s and airport check-in times before I have even considered them. Every time I turn around and say “we need to ….” he says, “yeah, Ive done it”. He is my hero.
- Traffic jams in the foyer -Cars, motorbikes and buses travel and park in the strangest places. I have seen motor bikes riding down shop corridors, mini buses parked in hotel lobbies, and cars driving the wrong way through a round-a-bout.
- Pushing and shoving – It is nothing to shove another person here in Ho Chi Minh City. There are no pleasantries around it either. No need to say “excuse me” or “sorry”. Just shove your way through. In fact there are very few courtesies at all. There is very little acknowledgement of our “thankyou” ‘s whenever we eat or take buses etc. The only folks that are keen to say thankyou are the stall owners at the market when we buy something.
- Old folks – My image of Asia was alway one where the elderly are cared for and protected by the younger family and community members, but we have seen so many old folks that are not treated with this respect. Many we have seen have been carrying heavy baskets on poles over their shoulders, or peddling with younger family members on the back their push bikes, or being shoved out of the way by people carrying heavy bundles (at the chinese market). It is not what I expected at all.
- Conflicting values – I live very much in the moment and what suits me right now at this moment is what I want to do, regardless of what I said I would do at breakfast time. David feels much more comfortable with a planned day. This has lead to some tension and made our holiday a relationship adventure as well as a cultural one.
David, Stephanie, Jordan & Luke Mitchell