What I learned from Vietnam (Patreon)

I've just returned from my adventure with C-milk to Vietnam, we filmed a heck of a lot and we now have an immense amount of videos to edit which I cannot wait to share with all of you. 

I wanted to share with you what impacted me the most about Vietnam from a non-touristy, non-backpacker, non-travel blogger point of view. 

As someone who has had a lot of experience living in Asia I can see through the initial excitement that most travellers are thrust into when arriving in Asia, be it China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam or any number of Asian countries. The differences between western society is vast (of course to varying degrees), your senses will be bombarded with sounds, sights and smells that are all-together unrecognisable and exotic. The food will either disgust you or amaze you, the seemingly endless crowds of people everywhere, the chaotic traffic, the neon signs, the nightlife and street-food culture are all a fantastic adventure of the senses for those fresh off the boat.

That being said, 14 years of living in it gives you look far beneath the surface novelties and differences. Marrying into a traditional Cantonese family with all of their beliefs, practices, traditions and festivals will give you insight into Asian culture as a whole as these same traditions albeit with a different name or flavour are practiced throughout Asia as they all have common roots.

I therefore present to you my opinion of Vietnam, stripped of any amazement, wonder and excitement that the average traveller may encounter.

Vietnam has hope

China when I arrived in February of 2006 was right in the middle of its economic miracle, under the helm of Hu Jintao, the country was opening up more and more to the west, enticing investment, trade and business. I was therefore thrust into a society on the move, rapidly changing around me as the poor got richer and the buildings got bigger, it looked as though there was no end in sight as money seemed to flow almost freely. This was of course at great cost to the environment as the constant construction and growth in this unprecedented money grab lead to many shortcuts that have had a drastic effect on China's environment (contaminated soil, rivers, horrendous pollution and the like). 

Vietnam is now going through the exact same boom, China is no longer an attractive option for foreign companies to invest in as the prices of labour have skyrocketed, ip theft and government rules put in place to hinder the progress of foreign companies domestically have started to drive foreign investment elsewhere in the developing world and Vietnam is one of those places. The chances of Vietnam going the exact route as China are great, but there's hope that they choose not to. 

When I first got to China, websites like facebook and youtube didn't actually exist or were only just starting to emerge, The Chinese government soon saw these platforms as a threat to their control and swiftly shut them down, there were financial considerations too as it allowed home grown copies to flourish in place and also allowed complete control of the content by the government censors. 

In Vietnam censorship of the internet happens too, but currently Facebook, YouTube and the like are fully accessible and actually used widely by the locals

This is far more significant that you think as this has in essence connected Vietnam to the rest of the world through social media and unlike China that has essentially been blocked off from the rest of the world in their own little echo-chamber intranet that allows nothing other than for lack of a better phrase a massive orgy of tooting their own horns, patting themselves on the back and self-praise of their own society and government (try and criticise the government or society on the Chinese internet and see what happens to you). 

Being exposed to outside opinions and learning to be able to accept the ways, opinions and discourse found elsewhere in the world leads to a more rounded and open minded society and so unlike China who refuses to accept any outside opinion that isn't shining praise, I see a lot of hope for the future growth of Vietnam. I do wish that they would learn from the mistakes of other countries such as China when it comes to unchecked industry however as the pollution in the North is staggeringly bad.

I would like to give a quick mention of the food, but that's simply personal taste. Vietnamese food is awesome and to see street vendors making French bread sandwiches really makes my day.

I want to wrap this up by saying that I see a lot of the positive things in Vietnam that attracted me to China in the first place, many of the things that are no longer present or are being phased out in China, I also see that Vietnam suffers from a lot of the negative issues that I've observed over the years in China.

In short, there is hope that Vietnam will enjoy the prosperity that China has in recent years without eventually turning inward and shutting itself off from the rest of the world.

- Stay Awesome

SerpentZA