I was in Vietnam for a month, actually my fourth time here. Spending a period of time in Ho Chi Minh, I can now say what I love about Vietnam, and what it taught me, a Japanese.
1. The Street Food is amazing...
I'm a big foodie and I travel to taste many flavors of the world, and Vietnam keeps amazing me with great street food.
Every street has food stalls, and each has its own twist in flavor. I love my cuisine, Japanese food. But Vietnamese food might be the only cuisine I might like better than my home country. When you ask a Vietnamese about how something tasted, they will explain it in such a gourmet way... :)
Street food is what stands out for me and it might be the "practice makes perfect." The food stalls have made their signature dish for many years, almost every day. Chefs will develop and work on many menus, while the food stall people focus on 1 or just a few dishes. Over the years, they developed it to mastery and I'm so amazed at the flavor explosions, and how efficient or creative the taste can be.
My favorites are:
- Hu Tieu Kho: Dry noodles with meat, shrimp, quail egg, shallots, etc.
- Banh Mi: Sandwich using French baguette, usually either with meat or with egg.
- Com Tam: Broken Rice with very well-marinated BBQ pork, marinated daikon/carrots
- Banh Cuon: Steam rice roll which has minced fried pork and mushrooms inside
- Bun Mum: Noodle dish with fermented fish broth. My favorite...
2. Artistic
Another thing that amazes me is how arty Vietnam is. I like to take my time in the same place when I travel, so Hanoi, central Vietnam, and the other countryside towns need to be another time.
But staying in various districts in Hochiminh City, I’m amazed by the different colors, how it's arty coming from nature and from a canvas and how it’s part of your lives.
People paint, draw, and read books a lot in a cafe. How all the trees and plants in the streets help it to become a scenery…
Motorbikes run everywhere, and we have all the street food and chaos, while there are times when I am confused when I am in Asia or Paris.
Talking to the locals, I feel that the Vietnamese are a lot artier than the people from other countries.
It was a great place to be creative, and to think about my life.
3. Open Minded
Vietnamese can be shy, just like a lot of Asians. But they are very attentive and like getting to know you. They like to talk a lot, they chat about a lot of things over great coffee in cafes, restaurants, parties,..
I felt that they're a lot more open minded and would give it a try on things that are new to them. If it works for them, great! If it doesn't, they now have another experience. Why not try. is the mindset I felt from a lot of them.
This leads to how they are entrepreneurial as well. I met so many Vietnamese that has side businesses along with their main job.
I met people that want to become writers, singers, and other artists that won't be very financially stable. One told me Vietnam is still very poor so they need to set up business, which made sense after hearing her tell me. But the fact that a lot of them like to keep their hands moving and will work hard for better lives was something I didn't expect here.
4. The essentials are cheap, while luxury is very expensive
I was surprised by the price difference between the base and the high-end.
If I take a local bus from District 2 to 1, I would pay 6000-7000VND 0.3USD, while I take a grab or taxi, it was 92,000 VND(3.9USD), which is about 10 times.
My favorite price difference was actually health-related, where a monthly gym membership will cost you about 550,000 VND (24 USD) while, if you go to a park where each district would have, the basic equipment is there to work out.
A local was telling me the "gym" facilities in the park are for old people to maintain their health, but every time I went there will be young people. And the fittest people I've seen in years.
Well of course.. The park is open 24 hours, it's close to your home, and it's free. It's a lot easy to be consistent with your workout :) We don't have free gym equipment anywhere in Japan, nor do we have parks suited for working out...I can only think of the wealthy areas in cities, and the countryside.
This was really interesting to me and made me wonder about where to live back home.
5. They know that education is key
Vietnam has been through a lot with colonization and the Vietnam War, and the more I hear their stories, the more I learn that education is so important.
A lot of Japanese businesses had told me that the Vietnamese government is unstable and corrupt, but they manage it in their own way.
If they try to be like Singapore or the U.S. it will not work because Vietnam is simply not. They have their own way. But the people that represent Vietnam need the right education to protect themselves from their wealth being taken away.
It was inspiring to see so many students from a top school in Vietnam work as English teachers for kids. From children to students to adults, I met so many that are eager to learn and study from books in cafes or at their homes. Then they will pass it on to the next generation, which a lot of Japanese talk about, too.
My path as a writer actually started when I was inspired in Cambodia on a business trip, seeing so many studying very hard to learn Japanese.
Japanese are taking for granted that we have access to good education. And the more I travel, the more I am eager to learn new things I don't know about the world.
The bright and the dark is always on the other side of things
In Japan, we have the word "hyori ittai" 表裏一体 which can translate to "the front and the back are together." I saw so many bright sides of Vietnam, while I experienced so many... I would say scams.
It's easy to blame some Vietnamese who smile at you if you are willing to give them money in return. I saw the same thing in Thailand. But we are also to blame, as we colonize their minds to work for us as close to slaves.
I'm sure if you stay in Vietnam for 1 month, you will face some kind of scams. But the developed countries created it, and just like the U.S. lost the Vietnam War, Vietnam is educating itself to have better lives, and better rights.
So I really hope that Vietnam and the surrounding countries don't keep focusing on taking money from each other, and cope to the point where they could trust each other.
Although trust and consistency might sound a bit boring, that's what makes Japan influential considering how small in area or population:)
I look forward to coming back to Vietnam:)
With the good and bad experiences said I absolutely loved staying in Vietnam.
I haven't had Japanese food for 10 months now...
It's an interesting world while Japanese food is getting more popular, the actual Japanese are crazy about Italian cuisine. The grass is greener on the other side... and I guess I'm no different.
I'm glad I came to experience the food culture here, and I love the fact that I found out Vietnamese food is more than pho and spring rolls, and I can't wait to be back in Vietnam to find out more flavors from them.
Follow Ryu Aomi for more to come :)
In this blog, I write about my food trips of the list of countries I want to visit.
I also love to experience how locals live in each destination, and share what I learned.
After closing my travel business in Japan during Covid, I realized I didn’t have the right mindset to sustain the business, and got into Buddhism, mindfulness, knowing myself more.
I realized I wasn’t very materialistic and loved engaging in cooking, nature, and good relationships.
To know more about me, I wrote it here.
Here are the SNS channels I have, but I mainly focus on Twitter at the moment.
I started blogging in Japanese, too! I hope it becomes something useful for those who are interested in Japan and who study Japanese and plan to live there.
These 2 books changed my life.
If things are great, keep it up! You’re in the right path. If things aren’t working out for you, then these helped me a lot.
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Managing relationships are challenging, but it’s a skill you can learn.
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