The Vietnamese psyche

On the southern coast of Vietnam we hit a town called Nha Trang, which is basically the Surfers Paradise of this country (sans schoolies) but it has a lovely old beach and there's some none too shabby scuba diving at some islands less than an hour away. Amazing coral and heaps of fish so that was fun.


But the thing that sticks in my head most was a comment by our dive leader which summed up perfectly for me the attitude of almost every single Vietnamese person I met (involved in the tourist industry that is) when it comes to the concept of lying. We've been lied to only a billion times or so, people will tell you something and then something different thirty seconds later with no shame and then insist that this latter is the truth.


So we're on the dive boat approaching the site and our man comes over and gives me two wetsuits - a long-sleeve and a shorty.
"Do I need to put on both of these? It's a pretty hot day."
"Yes yes, must put on both. Water here cold. Very cold."
"Really? The water's cold?"
"Yes very cold, need two wetsuits."

No worries then, I thought. I struggle into both suits and go over to see how Sarah's doing. Well she's only been given one wetsuit so I wander back to Divey La-rue and ask him,
"So do you have a second wetsuit for my girlfriend?"
"No, only one suit."
"But she needs two doesn't she? You just told me the water's cold here."
"No. One suit enough. The water here warm. Very warm!"
"But about ten seconds ago you told me it was cold. In fact you said very cold. Now all of a sudden it's warm?"
"Yes. Not cold. Water here very very warm."

Transplant this attitude onto every dealing you have with people selling you tickets and tours and things can get very interesting.

Oh here's another one, on our last day in the country I grabbed a bite to eat and a fruit shake at a food stall in the markets and sat down to grub up. I was about to start drinking the shake when the girl serving me made some noises to stop me and hurridly poured and handed me a shot glass of some amber liquid, motioning to my fruit shake glass. So I assumed that before I was to drink it I should pour the shot into it. I thought I better confirm this though, so I mimed pouring the shot into the fruit juice and said, "so I just pour it in then?"
The girl nodded violently and said, "Yes yes yes!"
It seemed odd since the shot looked suspiciously like Vietnamese tea so I asked again and again mimed the pouring of the shot into the fruit shake. Again I got vigorous head-nodding and a cacophany of yeses. Naturally I went one step further in the mime by tilting the shot glass a few more degrees to begin to pour it in.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" the girl screamed at me like I'd just killed her first born and lunged across the counter to stop my hand as the first droplet of liquid hit my shake. Anyone got any ideas about that one?