Labels
Flip over your label, and you will likely see Made in Vietnam on your purple H&M tank, or on the sneakers hugging your toes.
The garment industry is big business here, making the country the second largest exporter of textiles and apparel to the United States, with fabric and materials supplied from China, South Korea, Japan, and elsewhere. (Vinatex, Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group, November 2012)
The garment industry is big business here, making the country the second largest exporter of textiles and apparel to the United States, with fabric and materials supplied from China, South Korea, Japan, and elsewhere. (Vinatex, Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group, November 2012)
The Bali Brand
Ngurah Rai airport welcomes visitors with wafts of frangipani incense and towering Balinese arches. Arriving at night, one is entranced by the scents and shadows of the place, a promise of the exotic.
Contrast this with the lines to queue up to pay the country exit fee of 150,000 Rupiah to the bureaucrat wearing a sporty cravat before being required to spill your personal belongings in the third security check, and you have a pretty decent image the tourist experience there.
I have to admit: I was feeling nostalgic about Bali with my first steps even though I had never before visited. The ubiquitous scent of clove cigarettes set me back more than twenty years when I wrote lengthy letters to my friends who spent part of our youth studying in Indonesia.
Contrast this with the lines to queue up to pay the country exit fee of 150,000 Rupiah to the bureaucrat wearing a sporty cravat before being required to spill your personal belongings in the third security check, and you have a pretty decent image the tourist experience there.
I have to admit: I was feeling nostalgic about Bali with my first steps even though I had never before visited. The ubiquitous scent of clove cigarettes set me back more than twenty years when I wrote lengthy letters to my friends who spent part of our youth studying in Indonesia.
The Promise of Travel Guides
Admit it.
You love travel writing.
Flipping through the pages of Lonely Planet while listening to Rick Steves was not the first step to being wooed by the romance of foreign lands. For many the gateway drug to travel addiction may have been National Geographic with its “exotic” photos of the Serengeti enticing your pudgy ten-year older fingers, your eyes transfixed on the partially clad Maasai jumping high above the sandy plain. Conde Nast features of Southeast Asian beaches, with photos of white curtains swept by breezes draped around a candle lit infinity pools, did not merely entertain you while you waited in the doctor’s waiting room. Such glossy travel advertisements beckon.
You love travel writing.
Flipping through the pages of Lonely Planet while listening to Rick Steves was not the first step to being wooed by the romance of foreign lands. For many the gateway drug to travel addiction may have been National Geographic with its “exotic” photos of the Serengeti enticing your pudgy ten-year older fingers, your eyes transfixed on the partially clad Maasai jumping high above the sandy plain. Conde Nast features of Southeast Asian beaches, with photos of white curtains swept by breezes draped around a candle lit infinity pools, did not merely entertain you while you waited in the doctor’s waiting room. Such glossy travel advertisements beckon.
Hoi An
Nature. Culture. Pride in heritage. Poverty alleviation.
Everyone happy?
Outsiders learn about the rich history and locals benefit economically. UNESCO World Heritage Sites hold the potential to bring these two populations together through the promise of tourism. Yet in a nascent environment, even one open for the last fifteen or more years, things can go askew and the experience becomes incredibly unbalanced.
Everyone happy?
Outsiders learn about the rich history and locals benefit economically. UNESCO World Heritage Sites hold the potential to bring these two populations together through the promise of tourism. Yet in a nascent environment, even one open for the last fifteen or more years, things can go askew and the experience becomes incredibly unbalanced.
Language Politics: Nonwhite and Vietnamese Need not Apply
If the Vietnamese showed the same inhospitality to foreigners as we have done in the United States, I would be surprised. Let me amend that statement a bit. If the Vietnamese showed inhospitality to me as a native, white English speaker, I would be surprised. In fact, it is quite easy for me to stay in my English speaking community in Sai Gon. Like larger immigrant communities in the United States, I can do all my shopping and day to day living, from buying airline tickets to purchasing spices at the local market to visiting the cleaners, in my native tongue. My children have several options of English-only schools, which is far more choice than many metropolitan cities offer in the U.S. Moreover, even when I am trying to interact on a business deal with someone who does not speak English, then a person with some English will be called forward to assist me. In these circumstances, my Vietnamese-English app and a calculator usually help us to finalize the details for the transaction. Even though I do not speak Vietnamese, no one expects me to learn it. Many expats don't.
The Stories We Tell
I live in a place with two names, Sai Gon and Ho Chi Minh City, re-identified after a leader who had four names over the course of his lifetime. Every name signals a period and a position, as silenced subject or empowered citizen. The streets are divided by these stories, of people disposed or ennobled based on their status after 1975, the fall of Sai Gon or the liberation of Ho Chi Minh City. I am not versed in reading the subtle quiet moments that infuse meaning of entitlement, but I know these stories exist and are edited artfully for visiting foreigners.
Cultural Relativism
If you've done some background research on the culture, you may have read that Vietnamese people can be quite frank. The market stall saleslady may state that your feet are too big if she has no shoes above a size 7 (US) on hand. If you are looking haggard, an employee may tell you that you look awful. Just fill in the blank: fat, skinny...anything we may take offense to, but if it seems to fit the occasion, then they will tell you. It isn't all negative either. Someone told me that I had beautiful earlobes, (which I may describe as fairly large), because apparently this shape is a sign of good luck. I've also had a plump gym secretary tell me she could whip me into shape, even though I am pretty sure I am fitter than she. With a healthy dose of cultural relativism, it is easy to laugh at these comments and to take them for what they are: an individual's view of body shape and health.
What's in my Cart?
Imported Food Prices in Grocery Stores
This is a foodie country.
Not only do you see people all over the city streets, hanging out in coffee shops, on miniture plastic chairs, or eating from a stall, it is hard to escape an obsession with food in one's own home. All day, the local cable broadcasts travel, food, and cooking shows.
Not only do you see people all over the city streets, hanging out in coffee shops, on miniture plastic chairs, or eating from a stall, it is hard to escape an obsession with food in one's own home. All day, the local cable broadcasts travel, food, and cooking shows.