Vietnamese Stories Part 1

Vietnamese Stories Part 1

In my short stay in Vietnam I had spoken to many people, including tourists, to understand their lives and culture in this nearby part of the world with very different society. I shall share with all these stories, but note that I did not ask for their names because I am so good at forgetting names, so I shall give random names.

Of all that I’ve heard, one came as most shocking to me was a taxi driver who have to work 24 hours a day. When I first heard of this from Dan (not his real name), the son of the owner of the hotel I was staying in HCMC, I was having much doubt. The next day, I had a flight to Hanoi and I took a taxi to the airport. The driver was a well dressed man speaking good English which I shall call him Vin. The topic came when I asked whether he had been to Singapore and he replied...

“No, I have not been to Singapore. I have to drive for 24hrs shift in order to provide for my two children. I rest a full day the next day and I continue 24hrs”.

I had to ask him again to assure that I heard it correctly, then I asked why don’t he work on a 12hrs shift and rest for 12hrs. For a Singaporean, it sounds like a fair proposition. Until now, I still cannot comprehend the reason for 24hrs shift.

“No, I can’t. 12hrs is not enough. It has to be 24hrs. After 24hrs, the company (Vinnasun Taxi) pays me about 20-24USD. I sleep a little in the afternoon in my taxi and then I continue again”.

Now, his taxi is a MPV that is spacious and comfortable with very clear metering. If he only earns 1USD per hour after 24hrs, I can’t imagine how other drivers are earning. Its no wonder that many Vietnamese had to resort to scamming the tourist to make a living. I had totally forgiven the first cab driver who ripped me off big time from that point onwards.

“Living here is difficult. A lot of taxi drivers. We earn more if we pick up tourist from the airport, because they travel longer distance. We earn very little from short trips inside city. A lot of taxis wait at the airport, but they don’t allow too much taxis inside. So we are given a number card.”

“If you put 100,000USD in the Vietnam bank, you get 700USD every month. You don’t have to work. The American children here are rich. They don’t work, but they do whatever they want here. It is difficult for Vietnamese to buy their own house. A small apartment can cost up to 60,000USD.”

I think it is safe for me to say that Vin’s income is fully reliant on tourism alone, because within the city there are many form of transportations that are cheaper than a taxi. Every street corners and junctions there are motor-bike taxi where riders can look as young as 18.

“My daughter is 20 and she just finished high school. My son is 18 and still in school.”

I asked whether his daughter is thinking of further studies and whether she has good grades then she could apply for scholarship to ease the burden.

“She is thinking of working to help earn money. Err…*Laughs. Her studies are not that good. In Vietnam, woman cannot study too high because it will be difficult to find a husband.”

To which I jokingly said that she can come to Singapore if that happens because the women in Singapore can earn more than the men. In my opinion, that’s fine with me but I don’t know about the rest.

The young Vietnamese are slowly shedding the old conservative values. Do not think of long sleeves and trousers, people are wearing those in the day time because they are wrapping their skin over the metal body of their scooters under the hot sun. At night, you will see women dressing more casually in shorts. Tons of young men bringing their gerlfriends on a night out and mostly chilling out at the park. I’m guessing their criteria to have a girlfriend is to first own a scooter, with their most fashionable being Vespa.

I must say that I do admire Vietnamese women for their resilience to hardship. It is not uncommon to see pregnant women still working, climbing up and down, or old women selling random accessories in the streets from day to night. Not forgetting that the Vietnamese gerls are Cute~~. Some are pretty, though not gorgeous, but I’m totally up for Vietnamese gerls.

To be continued…

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