After 6 months of Thailand , I had to leave as my visa expired. From the perspective of a Westerner, the average Vietnamese will come across as impolite, rude and unfriendly. Being a nightly worker, this killed my productivity.
After a few days and talking to fellow guests having the same issue, I asked the staff what was up. I was stunned. What the fuck. My hostel had advertised with their fabulous common room, where you could meet fellow travelers and have a drink. Alright, that happens sometimes in Thailand too, as the classic definition of a hostel is, and the family is usually sweet.
I sat down with my laptop, doing some of my work and talking to fellow guests, when I was shaken up by severe shouting. Stunned, I told him he might want to consider asking that a bit more friendly since I was a paying guest of this hostel. Walking outside, I knew the chaos that traffic can be in Cambodia and Thailand. But they will usually stop or slow down when you pass the street. Vietnamese do not stop or slow down.
They will horn and you have to get out of their way. But they will at some point. Even sidewalks are off-limits. If you survive the traffic, then prepare to get robbed. That made it feel great. How am I supposed to walk around with iPhone earphones on like I do everywhere? So trying to escape the trap, I ventured into District 2 and 3.
But even there I kept running into trouble. The street-food vendors would do the same and throw their buckets of dirty dish water over my legs. What the actual fuck. There seemed to be either some foreigner-hatred here or a total disregard for other people. To keep it positive, I assumed the latter. This seemed to be the modus operandi of Vietnamese.
