hey there and welcome to edges of Earth, my name is Brock. I spent about a year and
two months in Vietnam. I both taught English and did a bit of solo traveling
in southern Vietnam. today I want to share with you some of the pros and cons
of living in Vietnam. now if you're Vietnamese and you're watching this
video don't get upset. these are just things that I noticed that
are a little bit different than what we're used to in...in for example, I'm from
America. it doesn't mean that I hate Vietnam. not at all. I would love to come
back! but these are just some of the things that were a bit difficult for me.
so if you're from the West, and you love experiencing different cultures like I
did, you're going to love Vietnam. especially when you get out of the
tourist areas. in the tourist areas it's pretty wild, pretty crazy, compared to
what we are used to, but when you step out of that area, it's like a different
world and I loved it. here are my basic pros and cons of living in Vietnam: I'm
going to start with the cons. number one. the language barrier. now, as I travel,
there's very very few people who speak English. and if they do, it's like a
simple "hello" or "hi" or "what is your name?" or "where are you from?" and then after
that, it kind of, it dies. most of the younger generation know those phrases
from school. but above and beyond that, not very much.
now there were people that did stop me even, in the countryside, and wanted to
talk. as a general rule of thumb in the country few people speak English. this of
course made it more interesting to me because I was able to use my phone and
get close and talk and have a conversation with my phone. so
communication was still a bit slower. if you're not into technology and you don't
know how to use a smartphone to translate things, then yeah, it's going to
be a little bit difficult to get around. while I was living there, I tried to be as
healthy as possible. one thing that I always purchase a lot of in America, are
herbs. different herbs at the store in the form of capsules. now there's so many
pharmacies everywhere. and they have many different medications that you can buy
without a prescription, as well as different herbs that you can buy. I'm an
herb guy I stay away from the medication. but there's different herbs and
supplements and vitamins that I wanted to have while I was there. and I will say
it's particularly difficult. not because the language barrier but because they
just don't have them on their shelves. it's not a thing. some were simple and
basic, like amino acid. and I remember translating 'amino acid'. 'axit amin', right?
in Vietnamese they knew what I was talking about but they raised their
eyebrow and they translated 'why do you amino acids?" and I'm thinking to myself:
'are you kidding?' the core of my existence in your existence from every, hair to
every cell, to everything within every cell of your body, is there because of an
amino acid. so why do I want them? well I want to give my body what it wants in
order to repair and reproduce proper cells. but maybe this is not their way of
thought in their medicine. so therefore, it's not a thing. so things like that. and
I could go.. I could give you this huge list of things that they just didn't
have. from my perspective, the medical system is crazy.
so I read online a while ago, for every 100,000 people in Vietnam,
there's an incredibly small amount of doctors. like Google this stuff. blows
your mind. and I believe it, because as you drive past a hospital, you see lines
going into the hospital.. all the way out. people are waiting in this line that
seems to never end. starting at 4:00 or 5:00 a.m., there waiting for the hospital
to open so they can see a doctor. my recommendation to you is don't get hurt.
otherwise you pay out of your pocket. and you have to pay a lot of extra money to
get to the front of the line. apparently you can cut, you can cheat, if you have
more money. you can skip everybody else who has less money. kind of weird. luckily,
I never had any problems that I needed to visit the doctor for. yay me. but if
you're unlucky, and some problem does happen, be prepared. it can be a difficult
thing. and also some of the logic behind some of the treatment from my
perspective is wild. like there's some things I just can't wrap my mind around.
I've heard stories online and firsthand from the local people in certain
scenarios about being treated for certain problems. and I just can't
believe some of these treatments were used for these type of problems. so again
you can do your own research on that type of thing. just... to me it was wild.
when you go to a hotel, they take your passport. end of story. it
is law. so, don't be offended that this hotel has taken your passport. it just is.
and if you go out and are stopped by the police and they say 'where's your
passport?', and you don't have it... that could be a problem. some countries they
shun upon not carrying your passport. and they can make it a big problem for you.
while in Vietnam I traveled everywhere. I never once carried my passport with me.
both while it was staying in the hands of people in hotels or living in
an apartment, and I would just leave it in my bag
in the apartment. never had any problems. you'd see police they'd smile. sometimes
they wouldn't even acknowledge your existence. but when they did it, was
usually a casual smile or a head nod. it was never an aggressive.. I.. in the
tourist areas, again I've heard stories. out of the tourist areas, they were very
kind, very helpful, very polite. and I was never once asked for my passport. roads
are dangerous. like when I say 'dangerous', I mean dangerous!. basically all rules and
all laws that exist on the road, nobody follows them. just burn that into your
head, forever. just assume that they are going to break that law. assume that the
stop sign is there, and someone is going to go through it. assume that they're not
going to use their blinker. assume, assume, assume the bad thing will happen! chances
are, they're not going to follow the rules. and in some cases, the rules that
we are used to don't even exist in Vietnam. all I can say is, the general
concept of crossing a road is just go and don't stop. as you start to inch your
way across the road, you look in the direction that the cars are coming, only
look at that direction. don't care about the other direction. you just focus on
that direction. and time it so you go... you're walking in between motorbikes and
they zip past you, zip around you. they will see you and they will not hit you.
but if you stop or you hesitate, they now miss calculate what you're doing, and
they will think "oh, I got to go around him this way" or maybe they'll think "I
got to go around them that way" and that causes confusion until the last second,
and then you get ran over. so, once you start walking, just keep walking and you
should be good to go. you get to the middle of the road you then look over
here, and time it for the other side. and you keep going. and if you need to hang
out in the middle of the road, as you wait for the next wave of cars, awesome.
stand in the middle of the road. cars are flying past you. it doesn't matter. this
is normal. so it's a different way of life. it's a different system that they
use. just be aware, it's different. lack of safety laws. this is pretty much
everywhere. I can give you just a couple examples: when you're driving through
construction, there could be huge huge pieces of equipment carrying big bricks
and loads of dirt over your head as you are going under it. and there's no rules
against it. it's just.. 'as I carry these.. this one ton of blocks and bricks, I have
to twist this way. and then cars and trucks are going under my
bucket full of stuff.' and if they hit a bump, if it shakes, and it falls, and
hits you in the head, or kills someone.. I don't know.
maybe there's punishment behind it. but the reality is is there's no safety
involved. and obviously in our countries, there's cones. you have to be like so
many feet away from this activity. in there, it's just you're in it. you're part
of it. you're go through it and around it. you must wear a helmet while
you're driving a motorbike or riding a motorbike. why? because you're an adult.
but you can happily put your children in front of you and behind you on the
motorbike, and they are not required to wear a helmet whatsoever. you can drive
with two adults on a motorbike but you can stack as many children on that thing,
as you can put on. and none of them need to our helmets. so it's an interesting
concept. we and our countries usually protect the children first and make sure
they are the most safe. and this country it was a little bit different. so imagine
that type of logic everywhere. and so everything is very different than than
what we are used to. dirty facilities. this is the biggest con
for me. the concept of cleanliness in Vietnam is different from the concept of
cleanliness in our country. specifically, you must take your shoes off when you
enter. but very rarely do people wear socks, it's always bare feet. so imagine
coming in to tile floor with everyone's bare feet everywhere. sounds relatively
ok until you realize how dirty some people's feet get. people sweat, and the
mud puddles are sometimes left over. people go to the bathroom, which is
called a wet bathroom, which the toilet is next to the shower and everything
inside gets wet. so if someone takes a shower wherever you are or uses that,
water ends up all over the floor you walk in with dusty feet all over. mud is
left everywhere inside, and then you exit the wet bathroom and mud trails are left
everywhere. even though there's a towel on the floor to usually wipe your feet
when you exit, it doesn't always work. mud happens everywhere, always. and then
your bare feet then walk over everybody else's mud. and it's just this thing that
happens. and bacteria and the...wow. so from my perspective, terrible, right? and
literally disgusting. I almost always wore socks just to avoid that. it was
just a...it's just a different thing than what we're used to, that's all. and
another con is, you're surrounded by a lot of poverty. it's like, everywhere.
however, surprisingly enough, there was not a lot of begging that happened. now
I've been to some other Asian countries and begging was just like unreal. it
doesn't stop, no matter where you go. but my experience in
Vietnam was that it was extremely low, compared to some of these other
countries. it does exist. it does happen. be aware. you see the poverty around you
more than people, kind of, bother you with their problems.. type of thing. oftentimes,
when I was in the rural areas, where there was no tourists, the beggars would
go to all of the local people but would avoid me maybe it was a courtesy thing..
maybe it was a language barrier.. I'm not sure the reason behind it. but many times
I was avoided during the begging process. so these are my list of cons. again,
doesn't mean I hate Vietnam. not at all. it's just these are the things that were
very different, kind of in a negative way, compared to what I am used to. now also
there's things that are positive in a different way, that I want to share about
now. my favorite part about Vietnam was the people. now, I'm a people person. the
reason why I travel in the first place is to experience culture, which stems
from people. they were so friendly. now when I landed in Hanoi for the first
time, I must say, this I almost left after a week. I almost got on a plane and went
to a different country because many things that the Vietnamese people do are
very different from the way that we do them - in terms of friendliness and
politeness. and it took me a while to realize that they are really friendly
people. the way they show friendliness, kindness, and affection is different than
we do. and in the first week, I was misinterpreting their kindness. now some
things that they did was very similar to us, and you could immediately see that
they were kind. but other things we would almost think that it's a little bit
offensive. and so my interpretation of some situations were like: 'why are they
so rude?' I don't understand. what I realized is that they're actually trying
to show friendliness. it's just different than what we would normally do. if you
feel that way in the beginning, remember two things. one, get out of the tourist
area because most likely they are being a little bit unkind because all they
want is your money. tourist areas suck, in my opinion. number two, after you've got
out of the tourist area, people still might appear to be a little bit rude.
most likely they're not. your interpretation of them is incorrect. give
it extra time. because their culture is a little bit different than what we're
used to. and I can tell you that once I learned
how they're different, I realize that they're so friendly and they all tried
to show kindness and politeness to me. sometimes you're going to have people
come up to you and want a selfie with you. they're going to say 'hey you'! that's
all they know, but they come up to you and they point to their phone, "ah, picture,
picture, selfie, selfie!" they all know the word 'selfie'. and you say 'yeah. yeah.' then
they swarm you and take like 25 photos and they always say 'one more. one more'.
and it turns out to be like 100 more. but it's all fun. people will
sometimes invite you for food and drinks. you're walking, and people are sitting
drinking beer or drinking coffee or smoking or eating food and they're like
"oh, my god you're a tourist, you're a foreigner. come sit with us and...come"
now they don't say this. it's all body language. they'll say "hey come. by
the way this means come here, not go away. so they want to invite you to have lunch
with them. it's so kind. it's so polite. sometimes people will invite you on a
mini adventure. now this is something that happened from both children and
adults. they'll say "hey you, why don't you come with me tomorrow and we can do this
thing?" you're like 'okay, why not.' if you have time to do these things,
awesome. more power to you. obviously you're if you're on a time limit, and you
have to go back home very soon, pick and choose who you want to hang out with or
what you want to do. but if you're a free bird like me ,awesome. more power to you.
go have fun with anyone. and on many occasions, doesn't matter where I was, if
people were swimming, they would invite you. and this is normally children. there
were times where I went swimming with complete strangers, and it was fun.
it sometimes draws a crowd. especially if you're not in a tourist area, and they
don't see foreigners very often. people kind of come and just watch you swim.
it's a little weird, but all is good. so that's pretty much it. I hope if you are
doing some research on the internet about Vietnam, I hope this kind of helps
a little bit. now there's many more pros and there's a few more cons, of course.
but these are I guess the biggest ones, from my perspective. if you're on the
fence about going to Vietnam, I totally encourage you to go. A) you're not going
to spend a lot of money and B) you're going to get one of the richest cultures
ever. because few people travel to Vietnam. it's not a popular destination
around the world. and so you have the chance to go to a country where the
culture is still so rich and not influenced like people like you and me.
right? tourists. I absolutely encourage you to go. I thank you for watching. and
remember: your time is running out, start living!
take care.