Goodbye Vietnam, Forever

As I sit in a coffee shop waiting for my flight out of here, I can’t help but feel relieved. Vietnam has been a trying month as the country is a two way street of tourism. It is hard to escape the tourist trails as people march north from Saigon or south from Ha Noi like ants. You hardly ever get what you paid for and most locals who work in tourism are rude and angry, ripping you off any chance they get and shouting at you if you change your mind and don’t buy their product. Some would quote you ridiculous prices (I mean really, you wouldn’t even pay that in Saudi Arabia) and refuse to bargain, the next stupid tourist will dish out the money. A friend and I were furiously kicked out of a store when we offered a cheaper, more reasonable price. Some are just plain mean and would rather not sell you something or take you where you need to go unless you pay twice as much the local fare. I’ve been yelled at by tour guides and people on the street who’ve bumped into me and have heard horror stories from other travelers who make my complaints seemed childish. On a nightly stroll in Pham Ngu Lao, where cheap accommodations beckon, I noticed a large number of Africans hanging around. I stop and asked two men what brought them to Saigon and got an ear full from one of them. He had never experienced such racism and discrimination, he fumed, and since landlords refused him housing, he had to rent rooms by the night, often time being kicked out without a moments notice. He had been robbed, scammed, mistreated at work, not allowed into restaurants, and stoned by small children who laughed and pointed. The other man was happier for he was seeing the country through the eyes of love with his Vietnamese girlfriend but nodded in agreement as his friend ranted. I have yet to experience racism here as most people find my dreadlocks curious and pick at my hair like monkeys looking for lice. But all in all, I must say, with the exception of the few very nice Vietnamese friends I’ve made, the people here are the unhappiest I’ve ever come across. And to find those few gems, I had to look in the rough, the most helpful being those who don’t speak English and don’t work in anything related to tourism or public transportation. So I don’t think I’ll be running back here anytime soon, unless I get amnesia. No wonder Vietnam has the lowest return rate of any country in Southeast Asia.

Minorities

I have spent the last few days in Sapa, located in North Vietnam and famed for its rice fields and indigenous diversity. There are approximately 24 different ethnic minorities in this area, each with its own language, culture and traditions. The Kinh and Hmong are the most ubiquitous while groups such as the La Chi and Bo Y are disappearing fast. As you walk through downtown Sapa, there are numerous women and children dressed in traditional garments practically begging you to buy their crafts. On a four hour trek to Lao Chai and Ta Van villages, Hmong women follow tourist to pose for pictures for a fee. Some even follow you and ask for money for providing some basic information or just plain gracing you with their company. Once in the villages, one hardly sees anyone farming and the new school buildings are practically empty. Children tugged at you asking for money and some are aggressive and look unhappy. Although inevitable, tourism has done more harm than good. It has commercialized culture and shifted the focus from healthy agricultural communities to the selling of a people. Many traditions are dying off and native clothes are worn only in town when in the presence of tourists. The children are not sent to school where they can find alternatives to tourism and learn to be doctors or teachers thus contributing greater value to society. Instead young Hmong girls can be hired as the play mates of western children, acting as a sort of doll or pet. The first English words they learn are “Buy from me” and “Money! Money!” Sure there is dignity in selling ones craft but there are too many of them selling the same thing. It is impossible to walk ten feet without having someone hound you to buy something, anything. The interaction between westerners and minorities is merely a transaction. There is no mutual respect for culture when one is viewed as something exotic while the other is just a dollar sign. It breaks my heart to see girls as young as five out in the streets late at night walking the streets, selling, or men on the corner drinking and gambling. They seem desperate and unsatisfied. They have modernized for they have learned that money is most important. Oh if only we could go back and remember that family, community, respect is what matters most. They had so much more to teach us than what we could ever teach them but no one seems to realize this as we charge full force towards self destruction. Tourism is the new face of colonization and we are losing our cultures and ourselves as we strive to “develop.”

Price Discrimination

Growing up in the Dominican Republic, I am familiar with the struggle to survive that many people face in developing countries. I was fortunate enough to immigrate with my family to the United States at the tender age of ten. The American dream however, was not all that is cracked up to be. I struggled to learn English amidst discrimination and ridicule. As I travel throughout Southeast Asia, I am forced to confront difficult questions. I am constantly discriminated against, not because I don’t speak English or the wrong color, but because I am a tourist and a person with money and power. At the market I am given inflated tourist prices and a different, more expensive menu when I eat in restaurants. I am made to pay more for the same services offered to Vietnamese and even public transport charges me twice as much for half a seat. It has been confusing and trying for me to go from a person who has been oppressed and therefore wholeheartedly believes in equality to someone of privilege. Why should I pay more for the same exact thing? Besides, the money is not going to the poorest in Vietnam, but to people who already have business and are therefore better of. I worked extremely hard to be able to afford this trip and it’s not my fault that Vietnam is a poor country. When did I suddenly become responsible for the U.S. devastation of Vietnamese society, culture and economy during the Vietnam War? I have my own gripes with the U.S. government to be held accountable for its actions. And unlike all those Vietnamese who respond “U.S. #1” when I tell them I’m American, because when I say Dominican Republic they give me a blank stare, the United States is not perfect but merely good at advertising. With it’s over a century old efficient marketing campaign, it has convinced others, especially those in developing nations, that money grows on trees and the streets are plated in gold. But the fact is, in the angry eyes of the Vietnamese who rip me off, I am a representative of the U.S. and I owe them. I am not a local, I do not speak Vietnamese and therefore I do not deserve the local price because I have not endured what they have. But how can I express to them, many with very limited English, that I too have had similar obstacles to my self determination and dignity? And although I’m relatively richer here, I know what it’s like to be poor. I’ve been poor and in the States, still am. So who’s responsible, accountable for both me and the Vietnamese getting less for our buck? How do we distribute resources and aid in an equitable manner so that the poorer aren’t getting poorer? The responsibility rests on the individual as well as at the state level and although I don’t like it, it’s a doggy eat doggy world and we are all just counting our dongs. I raise more questions than give answers because this is an issue that still muddles my mind and I want you to think, get confused and angry because this is the grueling process that sprouts answers and inspires change.