Hanging in Hanoi

Well, today was our final planned day here in Vietnam, we depart Hanoi tomorrow (Saturday) evening at about 11pm and head for Tokyo. We enjoyed a semi full day today, with a few interesting events that really ended the trip well. The weather also held up nicely so it made for a great way to finish off the trip. We started off the day a little later than usual at around 10 am which was quite nice, and went to some events throughout the day up until about 4 pm at which point we were free to explore on our own.

The first item of the day was a meeting with Lady (yes, that is her name) Borton who works for a peace organization here in Vietnam. She gave us a great talk, first about economic development and the transition from a command economy to a market economy, and then later about corruption in the Vietnamese society. She told us about how when all the rice fields were owned by the government and everyone shared the work and rewards, productivity was really low. People would make excuses not to work, and would not optimally plant rice for example. This was because they had no vested interest in the crop, they were going to get the same share whether they helped a little or a lot. When the government began allowing people to own their own land, production and the economy spiked. Suddenly people were working to feed their families specifically and they could see the results of their efforts. Also many people assisted other families, not due to the desire to share crops, but out of a desire for friendship and kindness. It is truly interesting the significant differences between those two scenarios, and the vested interest factor (at least that’s what I’m calling it) had never caught my eye before.

Vietnam apparently has a vast system of corruption, where to do anything important or get anything important you’re going to have to pay some under the table funds. Simple traffic violations are an easy example. Anyone not wearing a helmet, simply pays off the cop and in return is not given a violation. Or if someone fails their drivers test, which has to be difficult but I guess it’s possible, can pay off the police and get their license anyway. While these are examples of violations there are also situations such as getting paper work for a new business set up where you will have to pay someone for a signature that you should simply be able to get for having all of your paperwork in order. It is a ridiculous system, and there is sadly nothing we can do about it besides talk and complain. In order to get into a position to change something, you have to play the game, and be involved in paying people off, so there’s really not a very bright chance for change.

After meeting with Lady Borton, we traveled to a small Buddhist temple for a vegetarian lunch, which was tasty and filling for a while, but unfortunately that feeling was not very lasting. It was amazing the amount of food we got for only 20,000 VND ($1) per person, it is nothing like the dollar menu in America, I can tell you that much. We visited the Ethnology Museum where we were able to learn about the 54 different ethnic groups in Vietnam. The Kinh (or Viet) people make up the majority by a large margin but there are also many different groups. You don’t really think about there being all of this diversity since everyone looks the same and generally acts the same, but it’s all in front of you if you look hard enough. There were certainly some interesting exhibits on the histories of the people, and different living styles from each group. We were even able to tour some traditional houses from some of the different groups.

After we were set free for the evening, I walked down to a local gaming center, which was certainly a different experience. I walked into a small narrow room, with computers lining each of the walls practically on top of each other and some children playing some games on a few of the machines. I sat down at a machine and paid a small fee of 5000 VND (25 cents) for an hour of computer time. The system came preloaded with several popular games so I fooled around with those for a little bit trying to gain some of the atmosphere. I think the thing that amazed me most, was the amount of children under 10 and on there own here. There were at least 4, and I was surprised to see them here by themselves playing video games. It was truly something you never see in the states.

I also did some wandering around Hanoi in the evening, but I’ll save that for my final post as I don’t want to drag this post out too long for y’all. As I mentioned earlier, we will be traveling home tomorrow, or at least starting our travel and arriving back in Texas on Sunday evening. I probably won’t be posting tomorrow, so stay tuned for a final wrap up Vietnam post on either Monday or Tuesday depending on my work load and jet lag. I hope you have enjoyed reading these blogs as much as I have enjoyed writing them, and I look forward to recapping my experiences in one final entry about this amazing country.