I am back. Home sweet home, Taipei. My city of the moment. It is a good feeling to be back. A place where I know how things work, how to get around. I can speak with the people here in their language and I feel a lot more relaxed.
The trip to Vietnam was great though. I had some less positive experiences, but these were mainly related to the state of developement of that country and its people. The countryside itself is not only beautiful, but astonishing. I still cherish every moment I spent sweating and hiking in the Sapa mountains or relaxing on the boat in Ha long Bay.
Another great thing about Vietnam is the tasty and cheap food. The ingredients were always very fresh and tasteful.
About the service in Vietnam? I figure things were the other way around, the customer, not the salesman or service personell are responsible for the mood. So, as soon as you greet first, are very polite and open minded, the Vietnamese mostly reacted in the same way. But don't try to ask someone for help when you are in a bad mood or feeling down, they will directly reflect on you and this creates a vicious circle.
Whenever travelling to a country or dealing with people from other backgrounds you do of course have to be aware of some historical facts. The Vietnamese people were not actually very lucky in terms of strangers in their own country. They were ruled by either the Chinese or the French and we should not forget the not so long ago war with the Americans.
Now every foreigner is welcomed as being a cash-cow to pay back some of the debts from the past. Which is of course not very comfortable for the individual.
But that definitely is only half of my experiences there. After only about 10 to 15 years of opening to foreigners again, the country is already showing that they are very good at what they are doing. Tourists can already get around really easy and there are a lot of interesting sights in Vietnam to see and discover.
And another plus are the toilets (you may laugh!!!), but I really think that good toilets are quite important for your success of travelling. No one really likes dirty and smelly places, that barely offer any privacy. And in terms of that the Vietnamese toilets set an Asian standard for me. I could neither in Taiwan nor in China find so wide-spread, good quality wash rooms as in Vietnam.
The Vietnamese economy is following the great country at its northern borders and is growing rapidly. I am sure, the next time I have a chance to travel to Vietnam I will not recognize a lot of it any more and will be astonished by the new standard there. Vietnamese people seemed to be, though not really hard-working, yet very eager to reach their goals and they are tricky and smart enough to reach them with not the most effort.
