Vietnam Vital Statistics

Biggest News Item: While not specifically vietnamese, the rising price of rice is making news headlines across south east asia. The price of rice has gone up 30% in the last month. Many countries including Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia have issues export restricitions to control the price of rice directly. This however hurts big rice importers like the Philippines

Billboards: The Vietnamese government is very concerned about its people. There it has many billboards across the country providing and advice and instruction on how to live. They come in two sorts. The first are bright happy pictorial boards advising families to only have to children and how to support the government and by extension the people (sometimes referred to as propaganda). The second are long contractual type lists of do's and don't in public spaces. The latter is mostly found in the north.

Who wears the pants: In Vietnam, its the women, and I mean literally. It is very hard to find a women in a dress. Women invariably wear jeans or pyjama style pants. But this also reflects a practical necessity. The women in Vietnam work and work hard. They run most of the day to day business and do alot on hard yakka on the farm or carrying things around the city. Doing this in a dress is not practicle.

Provincial Borders: When crossing a provincial border in Vietnam is almost like leaving the country. Any car, bus or truck (not motos) has to pull up to a cubical pay a fee and is given a ticket. The vehicle then proceeds 15 meter to the next cubical were the ticket is handed in again. This kind of double handling of tickets is common in Asia. Why they do it, I don't know?

Cars and Motorbikes: You always hear about the amount of motos in Vietnam and Ho Chi Min city. But it is not the amount of moto's that is interesting and is the lack of cars. There are almost no private cars in the cities, only commercial vehicles and taxi. There is still wide spread use of push bikes as well. Nwo Vietnam isn't much poorer than Thailand but has far fewer cars. Could be tax, could be culture? Who knows?

Favourite Pastime: Ripping off tourists. This happens everywhere in Asia, so much so that I prefer to call it a tourist tax (which I have no problem with). What makes Vietnam so offensive is that it is so institutionalised. Restaurants will have a seperate english menu with alternative tourist prices. When you book a bus you will always pay more but all the local gets lunch included, and you ahve to fend for yourself. One tours bus even looked like it was going to refuse us the standard complementary water, if it weren't for the Vietnamese ladies next to us passing the water to us before he could say anything. You are definitely a foreigner in Vietnam and if in doubt check your train ticket.