Second day in vietnam

Second day

Second day started with a trek to three different villages. I learnt a fair bit about the village life today. Firstly, since 1982, the government will tax them about 7-8 USD per harvest per family. Initially, I thought that this is a good deal for the ppl as they get free education, than after asking the tour guide, I found out that most of the money goes to the government pocket and it is actually UNICEF who funds the schools. Furthermore, the villagers do not grow crops to sell, so without tourism dollars, they will have problems paying the tax.

This probably explains the reason why from the moment we got off the bus, there were four Vietnamese local girls, with the youngest about 7 years old, following us throughout the walk (which was about 10km through rocky and muddy terrain). Apparently, they walk up and down the valley so many times in a day that they have to wear a band around their leg to ensure that they do not injure their leg. Anyhow, they carry a basket of their handicraft which they try to sell to us for around 3 USD (which is about double the normal price).

They seemed pretty experienced in this. From the moment we got off, they started conversing in us in English, what is your name? How old are you? How many people are there in your family? It seems pretty sad how they learn an entire new language and sell photographs of themselves just to earn the tourism dollar. All they really want is for us to buy their handicraft, which is actually well made and pretty much worth the money in my opinion. When I look at them, I realized that all of them will never be able to afford a college education; in fact a college education will probably be able to feed an entire village for a many years.

For 20000, the price of a Vietnamese bride, I believe that the entire family does not have to work ever again. Considering how far they will go just to earn 1 or 2 USD, it comes as no surprise that they are willing to go overseas to marry for 20000. Furthermore, if they manage to get a good husband, it is more than likely that their life will be better overseas than in their village, where there is typically no electricity, mud floor and freezing temperatures. What do they have to lose by marrying a total stranger?

The Vietnamese and Singaporean perception of marriage and love is totally different. The Vietnamese have a sort of love fair, where the guys will bring a flute to meet girls at a certain place, something like a primitive SDU. If a guy likes a girl, he can carry her back to her house and keep her there for 3 days, where someone from his family will ensure that she does not escape. Every night, the guy will apply honey to his ears and try to sweet talk the girl into marrying him. At the end of 3 days, whether or not the girl likes him, they will be married. Furthermore, they marry at about 12-13 years old, for 2 reasons. Firstly, there isn’t really anything much else to do around there. Secondly, the guys typically try to marry young so as to get someone to help with the fields. In fact, our tour guide had his first fling when he was 16 years old, and has had multiple flings since than even though he is not married.

Considering how lowly the women are respected in Vietnam, do they actually have much to lose by marrying someone from another country? Granted that if the guy has to go to Vietnam to find a bride, he is probably not an eligible bachelor and might have some character flaws. However, I believe the 20000 the family gets will and the possibility of breaking out of the poverty cycle wills more than make up for it. Every mother hopes for the best for their children. Even a child living under terrible conditions in Singapore will still have free education and government aid, which is more than what they will get in Vietnam.

I am thinking of buying a couple of their handicrafts and bringing it back to Chicago to sell and see how it goes. They have pretty useful handicrafts like a silk sleeping bag, pillow cover and silver bracelets going for cheap prices (1-2 USD). If it is popular, perhaps something more long term will be feasible.