The Bizarre of Vietnam. What is 'Normal' anyway?
I have had a blog about the unusual things that are a part of every day life in Vietnam before. It has been almost a year and life here has added so much more to the list. Also, after a year I do not understand any of this anymore than at the beginning. Of course what is considered bizarre to us from the western world is just normal life in Vietnam…
Wearing pajamas as everyday attire for work, play and sleeping of course.
Having a few cigarettes in between sets at the gym.
A dryer (as in a washer and dryer) is a rare thing yet necessary to prevent mold, smell and to actually dry in a humid environment.
Electricity is extremely expensive in a country where everything else is extremely cheap.
Cheese, butter and some chocolate are locked in cases.
Asians pass on the left, Westerners pass on the right. This causes many problems as you can imagine.
When buying something that costs 50,000 dong, it can be said as 5, 50, 5000 or 2.50 depending on who is speaking.
Vietnam is a world of male chain smokers. Woman are rare to smoke unless they are foreign, confident or successful. An average pack costs $1.00.
Sidewalks are not for walking. They are for motorbike parking , street food businesses or chicken coops. Space is a commodity.
It is almost impossible to find lotions for the skin without chemical bleaching due to the obsession with white skin as the ideal beauty.
Finding hair or things that should not be in your food, in your food is not considered offensive. It will simply be pulled out.
Finding an address in Hanoi is like finding a needle in a haystack. Multiple streets going in different directions have the same name and multiple locations having the same exact address.
You will often see the same vendors/stores on the same street selling the same products. One stop shopping is not a concept here yet.
Overall woman dress appropriate and fairly conservative, yet wearing what we consider stripper shoes are acceptable.
Public urination/defecation in a tree well, gutter, beside a car is OK, yet your dog doing the same is not.
A one way street does not mean one way, but any way you want. Also, green light means GO, yellow light means GO and red light means GO. Get it?
After a year of living here, I accept most of these realities. I would like to understand them, but when you have such vastly different cultures you cannot expect the same. I must admit, living in Vietnam makes me realize how uptight we can be, yet when you are raised with what you consider ‘normal’ it is hard to change your perspective.
