The wonders of the rain in Vietnam

The sky has been cloudy for the last week or so. Now we are on a train going from Danang to Natrung in Central Vietnam; the rain places drops of water on the window adding a sober and cold look to the country that we’ve come to know as the greenest and wettest so far.

Our train started its journey 2 and a half hours ago, the small difference in price between soft sleeper and a soft seat has given us the opportunity to afford the luxury of laying down and reading almost every time. The room consists of 4 sleeping berths with old thin mattresses covered by a white blanket and a stinky pillow. The walls are made of plastic and washed out green colored.

The train appears to be old, perhaps amongst the first trains that were built right after the war was over and with an attempt from the government to draw tourism towards the country.

Through the window I’ve tried to find traces of the war, nothing seems to appear, it is like the whole landscape has forgotten the violence it witnessed as if it was washed down by the rain. Most people seem hopeful and happy; they have a beautiful country that has given them some of the most fertile land any other nation could dream of.

Walking through the local markets you can see the broadest variety of spices, fruits, meats, sweets, and vegetables, the good and bad smells mix in the air and “hellos” follow us as we tour the shops. Every where you see there are big amounts of each item, dragon fruit, passion fruit, tangerines, oranges, bananas, every kind of spice and of course different varieties for every type of fruit and vegetable.

In Hoi Ann no one's business was closed by the inundation of the town, on the contrary, this meant an opportunity for the boat stores to get closer to tourists and offer either their products or services, locals lift their goods on their shoulders and set to walk through the 2 feet deep water.

For a while we were afraid we wouldn’t find it so easy to get along with locals, unfortunately some other tourists have given Vietnam a bad reputation for offering poor services and unfriendly attitudes; nevertheless we have found everything but bad disposition from them, people are always willing to help in any way they can and offer a smile to break the language barrier that sometimes separates us.

So far, our trip through this beautiful country has been cheaper than China in every way, mostly because we were fortunate to visit during low season, which is renown for strong monsoons. I won’t deny that I am happy to take advantage of the great picture opportunities that the water has created, roads filled side to side with locals on their bikes wearing colorful plastic ponchos, traditional hats that work as umbrellas, and even danger seekers juggling with an umbrella in one hand and their hand on the bike handle.

Cars are scarce in this part of the world, it is the first time we see bicycles being the main method of short distance transportation carrying more than 1 person at a time, as well as motorbikes sometimes holding as many as 6 persons on them.

Staring party: China

Now that we are far from China, my memories start dispersing into a overall picture that is not exactly what China really is. Like so many other people, we were not appreciative of the spitting, nose picking, and staring; however, China is way more than a dirty and polluted country. Nevertheless, as usual, I have an urge to express my complaints. To begin with, let me start off with the staring issue: If I happened to find a magic lamp with a genius and had 3 wishes, one of them would be “I wish Asians to stop staring”. The truth is that even though they mean nothing bad by it, it can create some of the most awkward and uncomfortable situations ever. They stare while you are talking, while you are sitting, standing, lifting your backpack, walking, eating, sleeping, reading, they just won’t stop. A lot of westerners like to read as a pastime, Asians instead of reading stare! They talk about you while doing it, they laugh, and even take close up pictures without even asking.

One afternoon while we were visiting the Tianamen Square in Beijing, a woman pushed her terrified kid towards us, she didn’t intend to make any sort of request, she just shove her kid in our arms and started taking pictures of the screaming child while laughing out loud. It is until you visit this country when you realize that you are part of a minority in the world. They don’t mind being close to each other, looking over your shoulder to analyze your laptop, ipod, book, notebook, or anything personal that you could be holding on your hands. They push their way everywhere, at the beginning it seemed quite difficult to understand their chaos, until one day I decided to act like them. I started by pushing my way around without no one being bothered; in one occasion, and old woman tried to push her way ahead of me between David and I, but I was in no position to loose my husband in such a crowd so I pushed her away, in great confusion the woman stopped and looked at me with one of the most confused looks I’ve ever seen. The subway is the worse, one day an old man ran into the car throwing himself against my backpack and pushing me around, in response I opposed some resistance and again I received that puzzling look not only from the old man, but from all the people in the subway car. Passing to more positive aspects of their culture, I must say that they are mostly very nice people willing to help and amazingly curious.

I can’t even recount how many times a Chinese person who spoke English approached us while we were having trouble communicating. Young people seem to be forgetting the importance of their culture, but at the same time appear to be more appreciative of values that the western world would consider essential; I don’t exactly view this as something positive, nevertheless is good to see that they are not so eager to exploit natural resources as much as their elders. Most tourist towns have a great charm, the same charm that gets a bit obstructed by the innumerable amount of souvenir shops and travel agencies. Several walled cities still preserve their original walls and architecture. In fact, we were told that hundreds of years ago, Beijing was a walled city just like many of the enchanting small towns we visited such as Pingyao and X’ian. It was almost impossible for us to get out of the beaten track in order to find more traditional Chinese environments, cities with multiple story buildings grow amongst the rice fields, new brick walls extend along the train rails, every single living being is tasted to feed their millions, eyes look forward to explore any opportunity for businesses.