On feeling like a rare species in Vietnam

With friends in Hanoi

After finishing up in Laos and enjoying 5 nights (!!) tubing down the river, making new friends and eating one or two "guilty" western meals, it was time to head to Vietnam to meet my cousin Amanda. When I planned my trip, I welcomed many of my friends to join me and travel for a bit, not really expecting anyone to come to the other side of the world, but I was thrilled that Amanda decided to! Although she only had two weeks vacation from work, I was excited to share the excitement of my travels and of experiencing new things, with someone from home.

We met in Hanoi. After taking a day or two to settle in, conquer jet-lag, and explore Hanoi, we made the decision to go to Cat Ba island to explore Lan Ha and Halong Bay. For those of you who are not familiar, Halong Bay is one of Northern Vietnam's biggest attractions. The bay has huge limestone karst cliffs rising above it, and its beauty and geographical diversity has deemed it a UNESCO world heritage site. Instead of buying a tour to Halong Bay in Hanoi, where it was difficult to judge the quality fo the boat etc, we opted to head to Cat Ba island, the largest island in the Bay, and to explore Lan Ha Bay which we had read was equally alluring (as it was in the same bay) but less touristy. What we failed to realize was that although Cat Ba was less touristy for westerners, it is one of the most touristy places for the Vietnamese (who are all on summer vacation).

The train to Haiphong

In some ways, this was really good. I've grumbled during parts of my trip about the huge amounts of tourists and other backpackers that I've run into. At times it has felt, especially in Thailand, that the entire economy ONLY runs because of tourists. Everyone speaks English, some of the workers seem jaded towards backpackers, and it is difficult to get a real feel for the real, authentic Thailand (or Laos). Arriving in Haiphong, on the way to Cat Ba, and then Cat Ba itself, was not remotely like this.

Haiphong, our overnight stop on the way to Cat Ba, was our first introduction to this. In a city of 1.8 million people, we did not see a single foreigner, and we spent several hours walking around a very packed downtown. People openly stared, pointed, and many people used their only english word -hello -when we passed. When we responded with a cheerful "Xin Chao!" in return (Vietnamese for hello), it was apparently hysterical, and we enjoyed the reaction that it got.

Before

Cat Ba town took some of the reactions our presence caused to an entirely new level. On our first real day, we went to one of the beaches on Cat Ba island. We were quite pleased when we first arrived to find the white sand pleasantly clean and the beach almost entirely devoid of people, save for a handful of other westerners. What we hadn't taken into account was the Vietnamese people's adoration for white skin -this meant that during the sunniest parts of the day, mainly the morning and early afternoon, very few people went to the beach for fear of developed a dreaded tan. However, as the day progressed and the sun went down, more and more people came out until the beaches were absolutely packed. The fist reaction we noticed was in a group of little boys who kept trying to push each other, giggling wildly, into us. Not a big deal, I remember thinking, they're just being silly little boys. Next was a man, who approached Amanda with a camera wanting to take her picture, presumably for her pale, fresh from a Canadian winter, skin. As the day progressed more and more people kept trying to take our photo with or without our permission, would touch us "accidentally", try to shake our hands, or just shout "hello!" at us. It was kind of fun being a novelty at first, but when it didn't stop it became irritating. I turned around at one point, only to notice several people behind me placing their babies beside me to be photographed, without me even realizing it! The men became creepy, the stares didn't stop, and I don't even know how many random photos I was in without my permission. It was a truly bizarre experience.

After

A strange mix of amused and frustrated, we decided to leave the beach and grab an early dinner. I turned to Amanda, and remarked that the next person who tried to take my picture without my permission, would be getting their picture taken as well, without their permission. I had the chance to do exactly this, at a little fruit stand where we ordered a drink. As we were waiting for our juice the 15 year old son of the fruit stand owner whipped out his phone to try to snap a picture of us.

Ha! Busted!

"Oh no you don't!" I said. "You can take a picture of us, but I'm taking one of you as well!"

I went to pull out my camera, and the shocked and suprised look he gave me couldn't be beat. It was if it had never occured to him that things could go both ways! The actual photo turned out a bit fuzzy, but Amanda and I got quite the kick out of it, and definitely shared a repeated laugh throughout the rest of the night. I guess this is what I get when I want to venture off the typical backpacker trail!

 

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