Avoid Culture Shock for 1st time tours to Vietnam

"Credit note: I'm sorry the writer of this post as I can not remember the name. I just find this very interesting and valuable for ones those intending to take a tour to Vietnam. If you are by any chance happen encounter this post, please leave comment then I will credit the post...For others, enjoy your reading"
VIETNAM CULTURE SHOCK: LACK OF ENGLISH

“Hello! Hello!”

Those were the first English words I heard in Hanoi. As a "xe om " driver shouted this
greeting to me, I felt reassured that I would be able to communicate easily here.

Little did I know that “Hello” was as far as most people’s spoken English went - at least
on the street.

When I lived in a small city in Japan, I found that most people spoke a basic level of
English. But in Vietnam, the general English proficiency level lags behind other Asian
countries, in large part due to the educational system. And - most challenging for
visitors - there are few English signs.

These obstacles made it a bit daunting to get around. Looking at signs for food, I
wondered what they meant. When I got lost, I desperately wanted to ask someone for
directions.

But as I got used to living in Hanoi, I welcomed the lack of English. The fact that
no one spoke English forced me to learn Vietnamese to communicate with people.
After I started Vietnamese lessons, I was able to say basic phrases and be (mostly)
understood.

But it’s not just about being understood. I’ve noticed that even my clumsy, tone-deaf
efforts at speaking Vietnamese are welcomed with enthusiasm by locals, who view
this as a gesture on my part that I’m open to their culture. When I started speaking
Vietnamese, the woman making coffee in my local cafe - who had previously appeared
nothing but surly - began to give me a little smile as she stirred up my cafe nau. And the
fruit vendor accepted my efforts to bargain VND5,000 (about US$0.50, but it’s a start!)
off a kilo of rambutans.

And the lack of English signs is no longer an obstacle. Now, I see it as an indication that
Hanoi has preserved its authentic character.

VIETNAM CULTURE SHOCK: MEAT

My host placed the thickest piece of pork fat atop my bowl of rice with a broad smile.

In America, I got used to seeing meat in a package: boneless, skinless, fat free. It’s as
if we, as a country, are afraid of encountering anything that remotely reminds us that
we’re consuming an animal carcass.

Vietnam is the opposite. Here, meat comes covered in fat, skin and gristle. You have to
master the delicate art of using your teeth to separate meat from bone.

Historically, this was a country of scarcity. A little piece of fat could go a long way
towards filling your stomach. Today, fat is still the most prized part of the animal. When
my host offered me the fat, he was being kind and generous.

The country’s history of scarcity also explains why meat is served on the bone. People
got used to making do; trimming off anything remotely edible, like skin or fat, would
never have occurred to them.

Even though I knew this was true, it took me awhile to get used to the Vietnamese
way of serving meat. I wished I could trim the fat off my pork and leave the skin of my
chicken untouched. But I knew this would be viewed as wasteful. So I tackled these
pieces - and found that they weren’t too bad.

It can be frustrating to spend three minutes dissecting a hunk of cold boiled chicken.
But I view this as a good thing, a sign that although Vietnam is rapidly moving
towards industrialization, agriculture remains largely local and small-scale. Meat isn’t
a packaged product. It’s a precious commodity - one that comes with all its parts
attached, to remind us what we’re consuming and where it came from.