Back in the 80’s, when I was 10-ish, a bunch of Vietnamese workmen came to my home city of Sofia, and it was marvelously exotic. Vietnam was a “brotherly” socialist republic back then, and they were contracted to help with construction, as I recall, but I never personally met or spoke to any of the visitors. A part of me regrets the missed opportunity - but hey, I was just a kid back then…
Little would I have expected then that
I and the Vietnamese would cross paths again forty-odd years later, on their home turf, arguably on the other (capitalist) side of the Iron Curtain (in form, if not function).
I’m starting a trip to Indochina, which I know very little about, and I have a ton of questions. Many of them would have been resolved by a quick Google search or an AI chat query.
But why not do things the old-fashioned way and find out firsthand, through touch, taste, and sight?
Here is what I don’t know:
• Is the region’s (street) food as awesome as it’s touted to be? Expectations are sky high, but I’m generally quite self-constrained with carbs - I’m curious if high doses of noodles will agree with me. Was Bourdain right to rate Vietnamese street food above all others? Or will I get the stomach bug randomly just to create the wrong impression that street food there is what people suspect it is supposed to be?
• Is there any residual hostility towards Westerners, particularly American-looking-and-sounding ones like yours truly, in Vietnam? I mean, the war was just fifty-odd years ago – there are plenty of people still alive who’ve experienced firsthand the horrors of battles and bombing. How do you forget that and move on, ever…?
• How will my pale skin and European disposition manage the transition from North to Central to South Vietnam, with some jumps in between, with temperatures shifting from 12 to 35 degrees Celsius and the corresponding amplitudes in sunshine and humidity?
• Are Cambodia and Laos and their people just softer, even friendlier versions of Vietnam’s, or are they very different, standout cultures? I’m expecting distinct vibes and sprinkles of Thai and Chinese influences.
• Will I occasionally be subjected to a barrage of aggressive selling or (relatively) innocent scamming, like I’ve experienced in the Marrakesh Medina or on the Zanzibar beaches? I really hope not, it’s possibly my least favorite thing in the travel universe.
• Will I be able to occasionally peel a layer of the onion, to discover more about what locals value, what they’re really like beyond the tourist-facing façade, and what their real feelings towards the likes of me are? In Japan I scratched this surface once in a few karaoke bars in Kinosaki Onsen but didn’t get to the important layers. I’m curious – and willing – to give it a try.
• Will I even want to do that in reality, though, as the fatigue of travel and the comforts of solitude and self-sufficiency set in over time?
• Can I go through the entire trip avoiding in my writing and social posting the use of travel influencer cliches? If you see me posting stuff like “I’m super excited for the next chapter of my journey…” please send me a cease-and-desist bitch-slap emoji of some sort.
Can’t wait to find out! START!