What concern you the most to live and do business in Vietnam?

Hi ,
Thanks for the opportunity of some input.
Here's a suggestion from Yogi to kick off proceedings.

Try googling " what is Rule of Law"

Once everyone here gets a handle on that , things could be pretty good.

Yogi the erudite bear!

But he's right you know.

..and smarter than the average bare...       ..he knows the rules...     

A school that teaches common sense would rock my world, no more motorbikes parked at right angles to the house in tiny hems.

To be honest, there is such a long list of things that are so easy to fix, but a change in mentality must come first.

Ok,well I have thought long and hard before putting fingers to keyboard on this thread, but here goes:

Firstly, I have always been open minded and open handed when talking about Vietnam and have been accused of being overly Vietnamophile in my thoughts on the place.

So here are some hard facts based on my 16 years of experience of living and working here. I am not going to pull any punches.

1. Vietnamese people think that all foreigners are rich. FACT!
2. Vietnamese people think that all foreigners are stupid. FACT!

OK I am generalising, but generally what I say is true.

Now we come to some nitty gritty: Vietnamese people can't help telling lies. They lie about everything and anything. They tell you what they imagine you want to hear, irrespective of how ridiculous it might be.

It isn't just me saying this. My wife also tells me almost everyday: "don't believe what Vietnam people tell you".

I have a few Vietnamese friends that I have picked up along the way. Most of them are professional people, doctors, engineers and so on. Once you get to know them and they have measure of trust with you they all, without exception say the same thing: Don't trust Vietnamese people. Hell, they don't even trust each other.

My wives family is more machiavellian than a bloke called Putin. "Dont tell sister, but...." Oh and you can say XXX to brother but not YYY. What a convoluted society they live in!

And now we come to the thing that Vietnam is redolent for: Bxxxxt.

There is more bxxxxt per square metre of Vietnam than in the collected cattle farms of Argentina, Australia and the USA.

Example: Guy fitting a wardrobe in my bedroom - WARNING: NEVER, EVER leave a worker alone in any room in your house - I can see that the wardrobe isn't level. I tell the bloke it isn't level. He tells me that the problem is with my eyes, I wear glasses, see? I tell him that the wardrobe isn't level and he tells me that it is the door frame that isn't square.

I go and get my spirit level and prove that the wardrobe isn't level. He asks me if it is "a Vietnamese spirit level". He just couldn't stop bxxxxxg.

Then there was the manager of the Vietnamese bomb search contractor I had working for me in Vung Tau. Picture the scene, it's late afternoon. We are in a meeting with the client.

Client: How many bombs found to date?
Me: 155 - thats the ones that they have reported, but we know that they have smuggled some off the site, presumably to extract the explosives for fishing".
Client: Whats the average depth of the finds?
Me: down to 3 metres but average 1.5 to 2 metres, depending on the ground, for artillery and mortar rounds, deeper for air dropped weapons. The last 500 lb bomb was hit by an excavator at 5 metres depth.
Client, asking the contractors manager: At what depth can you detect a 500lb bomb from the surface?
Contractor: 10 metres.
Me: Bollocks.
Contractor: Maybe not in your country but Vietnam is different.
Me: what magnetometers are you using?
Contractor: Vallon from Germany.
Me: Vallon are made in Austria, not Germany and Gerhard Valon the owner of the company is a friend of mine... just a minute.
I call Vallon in Austria on my mobile phone.
Me: Hallo darf ich mit Her Vallon bitte sprechen?
Me: Hallo, Gerhard, hier ist Matt, wie gehtes ihnen?
Gerhard: Matt? Ach du alte Kartoffel.... Wie geht's ihnen du? (Matt you old potato, how are you?)
Me: Now in English as Gerhard speaks English, French and Spanish as well as German: Gerhard, the UXO clearance contractor here tells me that they can detect a 250 pound bomb at a depth of 10 metres with a Valon magnetometer from the surface, whats your opinion?
Gerhard: Was fur quatch ist das? (what kind of rubbish is that?)We quote a depth of 3 metres detection for 250lb iron cased bombs for our magnetometer in good ground - from the surface. If you need deeper detection you must do borehole search.

That contractor is still quoting 10 metres search depth capability for a standard Valon magnetometer from ground surface, on their website, to this day.

When training Vietnamese staff, the first thing I have to do is to eradicate the bxxxxt  default - and I am not always successful.

True Matt, but there will always be those expats that say it's you and not the locals. I agree with what you said and my VN friends say the same thing.

Matt

The same can be said of Laos too.

colinoscapee wrote:

True Matt, but there will always be those expats that say it's you and not the locals. I agree with what you said and my VN friends say the same thing.

Sure but then there are people that deny the holocaust, others say that the US won the Vietnam war and even that the earth is flat.

You can't deny the truth.

stumpy wrote:

Matt

The same can be said of Laos too.

Yep and Cambodia.

And Indonesia, but I digress.  Great post, thanks Matt. I had a spirit level experience when I called an airconditioner installer to come back and adjust the aircon because the original installer wanted the water in it to run uphill. Instead, it ran all over my bedroom floor.

To answer Tien's orginal question: Get rid of the CORRUPTION. 

A friend wanted to establish an industrial belt splicing business to repair the regularly breaking belts in local mining company. The people with authority to grant permission demanded too much money, so my friend forgot about the idea.

Second example: Twenty or more years ago the Fred Hollows Foundation wanted to build an free occular lens factory in Vietnam to supplement their factories in Africa and Nepal. The lenses would then be used in free surgery in VN, Laos and Cambodia to restore the sight of catarat sufferers. Some senior woman in Hanoi demanded a huge corrupt payment and stopped the factory being built in either Hanoi or Saigon. 
[For a current update, see http://www.hollows.org/au/what-we-do/wh … /vietnam#]

Biggest concern is lack of a free press. In the west, most corruption is
revealed through independent reporting and investigation. At least
mobile phone videos and internet-enabled pubic reporting can produce some
reform through public embarrassment.

gobot wrote:

Biggest concern is lack of a free press. In the west, most corruption is
revealed through independent reporting and investigation. At least
mobile phone videos and internet-enabled pubic reporting can produce some
reform through public embarrassment.

Right up dil the moment they place you under house arrest - or if you are a foreigner, deport you.

Even when caught on video, they just deny it. Losing face is their biggest fear, so that's the best approach to dealing with them.

Thanks all of you for your feedback. I am not proud of Vietnamese people. To be honest, I do not think all of you are rich or stupid. I used to work with very kind expats and respect them a lot for their good leadership skills. There are many things need improvements in VN. I do not like education also. We were educated wrongly with nonsense stuffed information then grew up lacking of skills. We were taught to not to risk and then we are afraid of doing anything,...But to be fair, I think there are good, kind people as well as bad people in every countries. We could not choose where to be born but I believe we are learning little by little to improve ourselves.

Gobot -  I agree, pubic reporting can lead to embarrassment.

Tien - You are correct, there are good, kind people as well as bad people in every country. I try and maximise my contacts with good, kind people. There are lots of them in VN.

Tiennguyen2582 wrote:

Thanks all of you for your feedback. I am not proud of Vietnamese people. To be honest, I do not think all of you are rich or stupid. I used to work with very kind expats and respect them a lot for their good leadership skills. There are many things need improvements in VN. I do not like education also. We were educated wrongly with nonsense stuffed information then grew up lacking of skills. We were taught to not to risk and then we are afraid of doing anything,...But to be fair, I think there are good, kind people as well as bad people in every countries. We could not choose where to be born but I believe we are learning little by little to improve ourselves.

Tiennguyen, I think its important to remember that the population of Vietnam is huge compared to the ex-pat population and so the downside of things tends to become magnified.

But you should be proud of Vietnams achievements in many areas since the end of the war. The standard of living has risen in many areas. The road building program has built many good roads and some superb bridges. There is a Mass Transit Railway being built now. Finally a new airport is being planned......

Since I came to Vietnam for the first time in 2000, I have seen many changes - Banking for example: the old system of queing in a bank with passport and credit card to be ripped off for drawing 100 dollars cash, being charged for that and then queuing again in the same room but different counter, to change the dollars into Dong and being charged again, has gone and there are ATM machines everywhere now.

Saigon used to be a small, dirty provincial city. It is now the largest city in Vietnam and is improving day by day.

So don't be too hard on yourself. There are areas that need improvement and the biggest problem is reluctance to change - that and the sheer amount of bulls*t that needs to be shovelled away to clear the path for progress.

I believe all your comments above are candid and correct.  Most problems in VN will never be learnt and fixed unless corruption is eradicated.  We are all powerless to the 1 party-rule which maintains the corruption process in tack.  Corruption trickles down to all other problems with the cultures of constant lies, deception, confusion and chaos in society because the rules only apply to those who pay to play.  I heard some well diplomatic excuses from my industry colleagues about the officials, top to bottom, can’t make a living on poor communist salaries, so they resort to other means of “Modus Operanti”, in order to survive.  Most of them look overweight today and can really use a good diet plan to keep fit.

Comments to Colinoscapee:
The motorbikes parking at right angles to the house in tiny alleys (hem in Vietnamese), have nothing to do with common sense in VN.  It’s done on purpose.  Corruption trickles down to every problem in society.  The Hem is “free space” for each Vietnamese to take advantage of, before others doing the same.  It probably started with a bully resident purposely making difficulty of others trying to get around, making him look important.  If everyone in the same alley has a busy regular job, this event might not have happened.  Each local VN residence always has to have at least a household member guarding the house 24/7 because neighbours can always be either Innocent Grabbies or Thieves.  Most local VN residents don’t trust banks, so there are always monies in the house stashed in hidden places.  The “Free Space” phenomenon takes place everywhere and not just at the alleys in VN, such as riding motorbikes, mobile canteens on walkways and beaches etc . . .  You get the idea.
True story . . .  I rented out a villa style house in an upscale neighbourhood in Binh Thanh district, with high walls and iron gates covering the front yard.  I usually leave my shoes right outside my front door step deep inside my front yard with locked gate.  One day I went to Bangkok for business for 2 days.  I found my favorite low cut leather boots missing.  I went around to see if I can buy them back from the streets to no avail.

The motorbikes parking at right angles to the house in tiny alleys (hem in Vietnamese), have nothing to do with common sense in VN.  It’s done on purpose.  Corruption trickles down to every problem in society.  The Hem is “free space” for each Vietnamese to take advantage of, before others doing the same.  It probably started with a bully resident purposely making difficulty of others trying to get around, making him look important.  If everyone in the same alley has a busy regular job, this event might not have happened.  Each local VN residence always has to have at least a household member guarding the house 24/7 because neighbours can always be either Innocent Grabbies or Thieves.  Most local VN residents don’t trust banks, so there are always monies in the house stashed in hidden places.  The “Free Space” phenomenon takes place everywhere and not just at the alleys in VN, such as riding motorbikes, mobile canteens on walkways and beaches etc . . .  You get the idea.
True story . . .  I rented out a villa style house in an upscale neighbourhood in Binh Thanh district, with high walls and iron gates covering the front yard.  I usually leave my shoes right outside my front door step deep inside my front yard with locked gate.  One day I went to Bangkok for business for 2 days.  I found my favorite low cut leather boots missing.  I went around to see if I can buy them back from the streets to no avail.

docwood wrote:

The motorbikes parking at right angles to the house in tiny alleys (hem in Vietnamese), have nothing to do with common sense in VN.  It’s done on purpose.  Corruption trickles down to every problem in society.  The Hem is “free space” for each Vietnamese to take advantage of, before others doing the same.  It probably started with a bully resident purposely making difficulty of others trying to get around, making him look important.  If everyone in the same alley has a busy regular job, this event might not have happened.  Each local VN residence always has to have at least a household member guarding the house 24/7 because neighbours can always be either Innocent Grabbies or Thieves.  Most local VN residents don’t trust banks, so there are always monies in the house stashed in hidden places.  The “Free Space” phenomenon takes place everywhere and not just at the alleys in VN, such as riding motorbikes, mobile canteens on walkways and beaches etc . . .  You get the idea.
True story . . .  I rented out a villa style house in an upscale neighbourhood in Binh Thanh district, with high walls and iron gates covering the front yard.  I usually leave my shoes right outside my front door step deep inside my front yard with locked gate.  One day I went to Bangkok for business for 2 days.  I found my favorite low cut leather boots missing.  I went around to see if I can buy them back from the streets to no avail.

Cant agree with free space theory,as common sense would say move that damn thing before it gets hit by a car travelling down the alley.Couldnt they also enjoy free space by parking parallel to the house.

So this alley is wide enough for cars like the ones nearby Le Van Sy street.  I have seen problems with a 1.5 meter wide alley leading to a dead-end, that a bully resident actually blocks the whole alley with his stuff in the middle of the alley, so the residents living further inside have to keep asking him to move his stuff when coming in or out.

Years ago, i warned expats about dog snatching activities and no one believed me at the time.  it has been widely reported in the news in the past few years.

When I unlocked my door at 04:00 in the morning to go for my morning walk a week or so ago, I saw a neighbour (female) from over the road busily stealing a hosepipe from the next doors porch.

Given that we live in an upper middle class estate with access control, security guards and what have you, it seems to me that theft is a way of life in Vietnam.

If they just band the used item street vendors and waste material peddlers and the waste material processors that buy from the peddlers, they can cut down a bit on social common-good problems.  The whole country is a garbage can because, there are no trash cans in the public.  If they do put out the trash cans, the waste peddlers would grab them to sell for a profit.  Also there are many counterfeit liquors and wines out there, because the waste peddlers offer good cash for empty bottles.  It's too bad the residents don't mind to get some extra cash from empty bottle.  The common-good theory is a laughing matter in VN.

Local authorities do chase off the street vendors every now and then just to show that they are doing their jobs. But if there are coffee monies tossing around, the street vendors can be notified via cell phone that they are coming shortly.

I had a shop in D4 about 8 years ago, when it came time to relocate,I discovered how much stuff my staff had stolen. I wasn't impressed.

The street sweepers sweep trash into the street gutters right before dusk.  This is obviously sanctioned by big brother (Out of Sight, Out of Mind).  Lands are valuable in HCMC, so most of the water ponds were filled with soil to be sold for building more homes (Dong is still the king after the Dollars).  The primary function of water ponds in various sections of the city is to drain rain water.  In any raining day, flooding is a guaranteed phenomenon, starting with areas having the lowest sea level.  The old big water towers throughout the city were knocked down due to "Valuable Lands".  So today, most residents have to install their own water tanks above their homes (for decent water pressure), if they can afford them.  The rest will have to use dripping clay pots for water usage with water scoops (It drips faster late at night).  Since most of you live in an upscale neighbourhood that you might not notice these things.

There were also a number of canals (Thank goodness not all of them) filled with dirt and turned into homes.  Canals are even better to hold rain water.  Besides holding water, it serves to filter out toxic and retain good ground water to support a fast growing population.  Again, the common-good theory is just a laughing matter.  The top sets the example for all to follow.

What concern me about Vietnam, is the number of expats coming to the country to live ,make decent business, and keep on whining on why Vietnam is not like their homeland.
Blaming the locals for not speaking english well enough, having them work for 200$ a month salary and expecting them to be as good as a worker back in the west.
Calling everyone liar and thief but still marry a Vietnamese woman and settle here.
Expecting perfection from a country that comes out of years of wars and colonization and just came out of a 30 years embargo.
So yeah, cry me a river...

Acoco wrote:

What concern me about Vietnam, is the number of expats coming to the country to live ,make decent business, and keep on whining on why Vietnam is not like their homeland.
Blaming the locals for not speaking english well enough, having them work for 200$ a month salary and expecting them to be as good as a worker back in the west.
Calling everyone liar and thief but still marry a Vietnamese woman and settle here.
Expecting perfection from a country that comes out of years of wars and colonization and just came out of a 30 years embargo.
So yeah, cry me a river...

Yes I agree with you about the "Reasons",
But at the same time,I agree with most of other people in this thread who talked about the "Results"..

Both these Reasons & Results are the real facts!
Do you think we should not talk them and try to hide all ?

And don't forget "A Vietnamese" started this topic and asked in Expat forum about "...any ideas for improvement. There may be something we can do to help ease your life?" ...

So your words "... keep on whining on why Vietnam is not like their homeland" is never matching the reality of this discussion.

Tiennguyen2582 wrote:

I would like to know what are your biggest concerns when you live and do business here and any ideas for improvement. There may be something we can do to help ease your life.

Can we improve this https://www.instantstreetview.com/@10.7 … .46p,1.66z

This is a very interesting conversation. . I too, have experienced much of what others have said here. But I think both sides should try to keep things in perspective. This country is in it's infancy when it comes to many things. Having been and lived in some 66 countries I have seen much of this before. There was a time here when you got your pay no matter the quality of work. And you were not given the finer things in life to perform your work. To this day I see people in all occupations working with technology/science that we in the West moved from some 50 or more years ago.
  But to denigrate an entire group of people by calling them liars and dishonest is a bit of a myopic view I think. I am sure each and everyone of the people who have stated those feelings have also been in a store where they were treated fairly, just as any local person might be. I can't speak for all, but in my mother country we have boat loads of dishonest liars.
Myself I have met so many wonderful people here that bend over backwards to try to help this non-Vietnams speaking jerk.
  I think in the distant future you will see business conducted in a more Western type of way. Where customer service is the byword. I have never been in a communist country that knew the first thing about customer service. Customer service is a goes hand-in-hand with a capitalist way of life. That is a new thing here...capitalism. Quality control, management by objective, TQM, inventory control, FIFO, LIFO, are all foreign to this way of life. But those of us from countries than embody these things can be of great help to those here who want to advance forward and learn these types of things. And yes, I know, it is very very difficult to teach them at times. I have never met a group of people that think they know everything about everything. But I always try to step back and realize where they are coming from. But there are still countries that will not give blood because they are not advanced enough to realize we make a new batch of red blood cells every 90 days. You can apply this same lack of knowledge to just about every aspect of life.
Yes....I get frustrated when I go into a shop and I have obviously interrupted their TV program and they are irritated I am there. Fine, I walk out.
Yes...I get frustrated when I go to the ice cream shop and the ice cream is melted. When I tell the employee they say they do that to make it easier to scoop. When I tell the owner, they say, sorry you feel that way. It is sometimes very hard for them it seem to connect the dots between business success, and happy customers.
Yes...I get upset when they try to charge me the expat tax (triple the price). But it helps me decide who I will do business with. So I see it as a positive. I never go back to these people, and I tell them why before I depart.
I could go on and on. But I do really enjoy your country, and it is the differences in our two cultures that makes it so enjoyable. If I wanted a taste of home I would have stayed home. And, no, in my lifetime Vietnam will never advance as far as my mother country is. And hopefully it will never become as dangerous to live in as my mother country (USA).
One final observation somewhat inline with the OP question....I don't think Vietnam will every be able to achieve it's full potential until they adopt a higher level language. Much of the advanced worlds terms can never be explained in a language that only has singe syllable words. This is, as I understand it why VN must high from other countries jobs that require
advanced skill sets.
  To the OP, I suppose the best thing is to befriend Westerners and try to learn from some of the positive things they can impart to you. I know, easier said than done. But the future of Vietnam is ahead of you, and you live in exciting times. My mother-in-law, and her mother lived in a much different Vietnam. They could have never imagined seeing advertisements for Coka-Cola etc.

May I?

U guys please read carefully what TIENNGUYEN has written----  she is merely exploring business opportunities by helping EXPAT settling in. We all come here with a purpose, aren't we?

Vietnam today is like China of 2000, everyone work to live while the foreigners live to work, hence seeing things from different perspective. I doubt she cares about the polluted river, or the theft issues, or whatever u guys moan about.

At least i'm honest.

EternalQuest wrote:

May I?

U guys please read carefully what TIENNGUYEN has written----  she is merely exploring business opportunities by helping EXPAT settling in. We all come here with a purpose, aren't we?

Vietnam today is like China of 2000, everyone work to live while the foreigners live to work, hence seeing things from different perspective. I doubt she cares about the polluted river, or the theft issues, or whatever u guys moan about.

At least i'm honest.

Mr Honest, I think a read again of her post will clear things up for you.


However, living in a foreign country may cause you some difficulties.
If you do not mind, I would like to know what are your biggest concerns when you live and do business here and any ideas for improvement. There may be something we can do to help ease your life.

Now.....my opinion:-

Having worked in so many countries over the decades, the biggest issue confront me is the initial 3 months moving to another country! Relocation is always a headache, especially when there is noone to turn to.

So if u can set up a relocation service to help ease off the pain, u are in business, meaning Western style housing (and amenities) for first 3 months, translation or tuition service, secretariat or PA service , documentation issues, children education / enrollment, etc. There are a few companies that are doing these internationally, at a very high cost.

Provide all these at an affordable pricing, u'll be alright. I'm one of the potential customer, anyway.

colinoscapee wrote:

EternalQuest wrote:

May I?

U guys please read carefully what TIENNGUYEN has written----  she is merely exploring business opportunities by helping EXPAT settling in. We all come here with a purpose, aren't we?

Vietnam today is like China of 2000, everyone work to live while the foreigners live to work, hence seeing things from different perspective. I doubt she cares about the polluted river, or the theft issues, or whatever u guys moan about.

At least i'm honest.

Mr Honest, I think a read again of her post will clear things up for you.


However, living in a foreign country may cause you some difficulties.
If you do not mind, I would like to know what are your biggest concerns when you live and do business here and any ideas for improvement. There may be something we can do to help ease your life.

Of Course      live and DO BUSINESS, not pollution, not lies, not parking issues
                       there may be something we can do to ease your life?  she is a business women, not a government servant out on a mission to collect opinion of u expat (anyway, do u think the C Party cares?)...
                      win-win     clearly stated- u no pain, i money, rite?


Again, see things from different perspective will help immensely. Try again, i insist.

EternalQuest wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

EternalQuest wrote:

May I?

U guys please read carefully what TIENNGUYEN has written----  she is merely exploring business opportunities by helping EXPAT settling in. We all come here with a purpose, aren't we?

Vietnam today is like China of 2000, everyone work to live while the foreigners live to work, hence seeing things from different perspective. I doubt she cares about the polluted river, or the theft issues, or whatever u guys moan about.

At least i'm honest.

Mr Honest, I think a read again of her post will clear things up for you.


However, living in a foreign country may cause you some difficulties.
If you do not mind, I would like to know what are your biggest concerns when you live and do business here and any ideas for improvement. There may be something we can do to help ease your life.

Of Course      live and DO BUSINESS, not pollution, not lies, not parking issues
                       there may be something we can do to ease your life?  she is a business women, not a government servant out on a mission to collect opinion of u expat (anyway, do u think the C Party cares?)...
                      win-win     clearly stated- u no pain, i money, rite?


Again, see things from different perspective will help immensely. Try again, i insist.

She asked about living here, this has nothing to do with business, you seem to be fixated on the word business.

Hello everyone,

Just opened this thread after having removed some off-topic posts. Please respect the point of view of one another when you participate.

The subject : "Your biggest concerns when you live and do business here and any ideas for improvement. There may be something we can do to help ease your life.
There may be some win-win solutions coming out from the troubles"

All the best,
Bhavna

TalhaSami wrote:

Acoco wrote:

What concern me about Vietnam, is the number of expats coming to the country to live ,make decent business, and keep on whining on why Vietnam is not like their homeland.
Blaming the locals for not speaking english well enough, having them work for 200$ a month salary and expecting them to be as good as a worker back in the west.
Calling everyone liar and thief but still marry a Vietnamese woman and settle here.
Expecting perfection from a country that comes out of years of wars and colonization and just came out of a 30 years embargo.
So yeah, cry me a river...

Yes I agree with you about the "Reasons",
But at the same time,I agree with most of other people in this thread who talked about the "Results"..

Both these Reasons & Results are the real facts!
Do you think we should not talk them and try to hide all ?

And don't forget "A Vietnamese" started this topic and asked in Expat forum about "...any ideas for improvement. There may be something we can do to help ease your life?" ...

So your words "... keep on whining on why Vietnam is not like their homeland" is never matching the reality of this discussion.

Hi TalhaSami, just saw your post on the other thread and realized that I didn't answer you on that one.
You're right when you say that my answer didn't really match the reality of this discussion,
I went off directly on some comment that was made, and didn't really pay attention to the original post.

Nobody was wrong or right, as we all have different experience when it come to do business or live in Vietnam.
Understand that as having a Vietnamese mother, I took it too personally... Even if I have to recognize that he did have some good point about the way life/work goes here.

As for the original question on "if we have any ideas for improvement, if there is something that she can do to help ease our life/work..." With all due respect to the op, I find this question very naive, to think that she could do anything to fix problems that are affecting expat in Vietnam..
Because that would imply changing a whole society, like:

-Tell people to drive bike in an orderly manner, and stop when the lights are red..(work in progress)
-Tell official not to make it harder on foreigner, and not try to milk cash out of them at any occasion.
-Stop trying to rip off foreigner when you are selling something to them.
-Not to lie, and steal everything from each others.
-Stop taking hard drugs and rob peoples.
-Stop polluting the environment. ( work in progress)
-Stop buying dangerous chemicals from China, to put in the food here. (work in progress)
-Stop being greedy
-Stop picking your nose in public.
-Stop yelling instead of talking.
-Stop improvising on the job, when you have precise instructions.(work in progress)
....etc...etc... we could go all day long like that.... and there is not much she could do to change any of that..

I believe only time and patience will change things around for the better, the youngest generation are more informed, smarter and open to everything and also willing to help each other, but yes the "vinalogic" is still strong...
Time/progress is all that is needed in my opinion.

And the new generation are very, very smart! We have my wife's 9 year old nephew staying with us for the school holidays right now. My job is to teach him English and how to swim as well as how to ride a bike.

3 goes and he had mastered the bike. He wobbles around the estate now getting more confident by the hour.

Swimming I'll deal with later it'll take me three days to give him the basics. English ...... We are working on pronunciation right now.

He Loves to learn. He's also doing maths brainstorming 2 days a week and loves it.

Contrast that with a lot of UK kids who just want to play computer games......

Sort out some of the underlying problems of Vietnam society and the country could be a world beating dynamo of a place .

If people put there heads in the sand and ignore the problems, then things will never improve. Some expats like to make out life is so rosy and sweet here, yet I'm sure they are the biggest complainers when not posting online. As with everywhere in this world, Viet Nam has problems, if people get their noses out of place over it being discussed,so be it. I look at life in a realistic way, I criticise the things I see wrong here, but I also do the same with my home country, maybe to an even greater extent.

Ponder this, China was warned for years that it's continual liking for male over female children would come back to bite it on the arse. People were shouted down for raising the subject and told to mind their own business. Fast forward to today and there is a lack of females for men to marry. Criticism is good,as long as you understand and realise it's not just being negative but actually giving a constructive point of view.

If only we all had the same or similar intellectual abilities.