Asian Oddities

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For us, westerners some of the things asians do or don't do may seem a bit extraordinary. Below is a brief list of some of the things I personally found odd and different from what I am used to.

1.- The masks

The very first thing that stroke me when I got to asia was that some people were wearing a mask, masks like the ones surgents wear in an operating theater.

My first thoghts were...pollution and swine flu.

As it turned out, that wasn't the case, well a small minority may use them for one of those reasons but I did ask to one of our guides in Vietnam (I´m always the one making all these weird out-of-the-blue questions to guides and other locals). It seems that it is only or mostly women who wear the masks and that is because in Asia being brown is not attractive, being white is *VERY* attractive...yes, you have read that last line correctly. If you have a white skin and never get tanned on the beach...Asia is your place!!!

Women wear a mask, sunglasses and long sleves and long trousers or dresses. Being tanned means you're a farmer hence you are always under the sun, if you are white/er it means you spend a long time indoors, which means you're either rich or have a good job that allows you to stay indoors most of the day.

Our guide confided in us the little fact that Vietnamese men like Japanese women the most for three reasons. They are whiter, loyal and family oriented.Maria and Susana tried to push the guy to get the girls point of view...so what do Vietnamese girls like then? but the guy either didn't know or didn´t want to tell us.


2.- What´s with the pyjamas

This brought a few laughs during the trip. I think the three of us were really impress with this. People in Asia go out (specially at night) in their PJs...yes that's right Pyjamas and I´m not talking about something that looks like a PJ or just standing by the door at their house. I´m talking about wearing a fully fleshed Pyjama, the real McCoy! men and women go for a strall unashamely in their pyjamas, they travel by motorbike wearing nothing but their classic looking PJs and it is the most normal thing ever for them. In Hanoi, by the lake in the centre every night and morning you can see tens and tens of people exercising in their PJs by the lake.

It makes you wonder, doesn't it? there are lots of questions that spring to mind when you see something like that...do they have a spare pyjama for looking sexy on the street and then another for sleeping in or is it a two in one kind of deal? When they buy their PJs do they wonder how they´ll look in it walking by the lake? I wonder whether they give you one when you join the local gym...


3.- Haggling

This is not a curiosity or a past time you can endulge in when you feel like...no...this is a skill you need to learn and quickly if you don't wanna pay more than what you already pay in Europe. You have to come prepared for this...it's not something that you do when you fancy it's something you have to do all the time...you fancy a pack of chewing gums...well get ready for at least 10 minutes of haggling over the price...you are a forigner hence the initial price may be the equivalent to 2 € for example...I can't tell you the amount of times I past by a shop were I wanted to buy something like a bottle of water and because I knew the work involved in buying it I just prefered to go thirsty...too tired for haggling. On the other hand if you are prepared  for it and rested, it can be quite fun and you can end up with amazing deals. I think the lessons and tecniques we learnt in this trip are worth a post of their own.

A word of caution, haggling on your own is very difficult, going with a partner in crime makes things much easier...they do it too...they always consult with their husband,brother,sister,whatever on the phone to "check" whether they can reduce the price and how much.It´s part of the theater that comes with their haggling tecniques.


4.- Chopsticks

You better learn how to use them back home because when you get to asia you won't have the chance to request a set of knife and fork you'll get a set of chopsticks and off you go mate!

On the 2 weeks we've spent in Vietnam I can't recall any one time where we were offered a knife and fork...it was always chopstiks...so now you know...start practicing if you're planning on visiting Vietnam.


5.- Bribing

Just get used to the idea you´ll do it at some point...or you´ll suffer the consecuences of not doing it. Corruption levels are quite high and western currencies are too strong so as far as they are concerned, we (westeners) are loaded so what´s a few spare dollars to us...when they can live for a month with those few dollars. Sometimes you´ll get people asking you to pay them, other times you'll make the suggestion just to avoid wasting lots of time or some other unpleasent consecuence...

Over here I would really get some problems to get to sleep should I have to bribe someone...over there I didn´t even flinch about it...it just came naturally... and I didn't lose any sleep over it. Everyone  over there was expecting it.