HAWN FAWN

As a Chinese-born-Vietnamese, it was difficult to grow up without a lot of preconceived notions about the Vietnamese.  Even though I was raised in a household that was predominantly influenced by Vietnamese culture, I never could identify with the customs and saw myself as solely Chinese.  So, here I was, after a 16-hour plane ride, in Vietnam, where I would be spending the majority of my 20 days in South East Asia.  I was uncomfortable.  I was prejudiced, and I wanted to leave for China right away.

Being boisterous and completely in disregard for other's wellbeing were only some qualities I could not stand about the Vietnamese (based on what I had encountered in Vietnamese people I've come across all my life while in the US).  So, I was completely taken aback when we were greeted with so much hospitality by my father's second-cousin and his family.  Even more surprising was what I began to notice at the multiple stops we made along the course of my trip around Vietnam.  This is just the gist of it, but while in Vietnam, I traveled up and down the entire country from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi, Hoa An, Hue, and Da Nang, to name a few of the more popular places.  As I said, with every stop and with more direct contact with the people, I began to understand this backwards society (from a skewed westerner's perspective).  The people were loud because they were proud of their heritage and what they stood for: in our greedy and comfortable first-world point of view, we only see poverty and a slow pace towards the race to industrialize, but the Vietnamese see tremendous change, and for that, they are resplendent.  Every single household has a trade; either they specialize in some fantastic food, or they are salesman with almost everything to offer.  And, as one of the poorest Asian societies, they have made quite remarkable accomplishments towards industrialization: they have buildings that are tremendous and sturdy and made solely from cement and tile and brick, they've electricity and wifi in even the most remote parts of their countryside, and they have cars! As amazing as it was to see how relentless these people are, it was also heartbreaking.  I came to understand that the Vietnamese weren't mean or vicious-spirited, but just dignified and so strong because they had to be, because they were against the odds in almost everything, and that what I distinguished as rudeness was just their tough exterior.  Here we are, and through civil wars, world wars, famine, and even with the rest of the world leaving us behind in this technological arms race, we are still here, we will always be here, because we are Vietnamese and the Vietnamese are a tenacious people, is what I hear when I look into the darkened-from-hard-labor faces of the Vietnamese.

I know none of this makes any sense to outsiders, but basically, I saw struggles, I saw tremendous uphill battles that this entire nation, with all its people from every generation, has climbed over and conquered, and I fell in love.  My heart broke for them, it beat for them, it raced for them, and I left with much of it scattered in the busy streets of Ho Chi Minh, in the restless markets of Da Nang, in the rice fields of Hue, and all throughout the bison grazing lands throughout Hanoi.