6 May 2006
The ability to travel as a commodity of wealth
Posted by Bob Keith at 5/6/2006 1:30 AM
Categories: Commerce in Vietnam
It was not until my second visit to Vietnam that my wife Heide brought to attention the notion of "travel as wealth." At our hotel in Saigon, I had been talking to a fellow ex-patriot American traveling in Asia. He was a public school teacher. I was complaining that the street vendors, taxi drivers, cyclo (three-wheeled bicycle taxis) drivers, and wheeler-dealers would ignore my insistence that I was just a blue-collar poor American traveling on the cheap. The vendors would still hound me for a dollar's worth of business. "Look at us." My wife and the teacher seemed to conclude at once. "By the very fact we can leave our homes for two weeks implies a type of wealth." And so I added, "Of course - the intangible wealth of free movement." It is a freedom we Americans take for granted until we can contrast our situation first hand with another culture like the Vietnamese. So even though my pants were dirty, thin, and were beginning to fray, I was considered a wealthy American to the Vietnamese.
I think often about the doorman at the Rex hotel in downtown Saigon where I would go to catch a taxi or to cash a traveler's check now and then. Even though I did not stay there (it is an upper-end place even by Western standards) he always opened the door for me no matter what disrepair my cloths or appearance had become after a day of exploring the endless abyss of streets in Saigon. I am reminded of a fancy hotel in Dallas where I was once asked to leave by the doorman. All I had wanted to do was see the elaborate design of the inner foyer.
Showing posts with label vietnam commerce. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vietnam commerce. Show all posts
Saturday, May 6, 2006
Friday, May 5, 2006
Prolific businesses, cafes, and shops - not America
5 May 2006
Prolific businesses, cafes, and shops
Posted by Bob Keith at 5/5/2006 1:230 AM
Categories: Vietnam Commerce
Busy, busy, people - as a first impression
Everywhere I traveled in old South Vietnam I came upon little shops and cafes. There are open markets everywhere as well. Now days it seems like a land of abundance. I understand that after the war this was not the case. In Saigon there are bigger stores, even some supermarket type businesses. I realize the people work everyday - from sunup to sundown. And, I notice many people have several gigs going on either at once or they finish one job and go to another. There does not seem to be much regard for what we Americans worry about as weekends. Work continues everyday. The women who work in the small hotel in Saigon were I stay at rotate shifts all day. The hotel, as does the town as a whole, only go silent from about midnight to five in the morning. The hotel women and girls sleep in the kitchen.
Who are the real capitalists anyway?
Immediately, on walking the streets of Saigon, I began to feel a bit sad. I feel bad for the hours of work so many seem to be toiling away at but something else begins to dawn on me. The streets are bustling everywhere from morning to dark. And when I thought of my stuffy midwestern town in America I feel even stranger. I draw a contrast in my mind of the seemingly impotent silent downtown streets of my Wisconsin town (many vacant buildings) verses the veracious business environment in Saigon streets and other Vietnamese cities. If they don't have the product you want, a complex system of networking will emerge to find what you want. Relatives, friends, and competitors will be summoned to accomplish the sale. Even villages in the jungle have an entrepreneurial enthusiasm that seems to shame my Midwestern homeland. I couldn't stop wondering who the real capitalists are - we Americans or the Vietnamese. At least at the grass roots level, I will never look at my sterile, quiet down town streets in my Midwestern home the same again after maneuvering the commerce crazed streets of Saigon.
Prolific businesses, cafes, and shops
Posted by Bob Keith at 5/5/2006 1:230 AM
Categories: Vietnam Commerce
Busy, busy, people - as a first impression
Everywhere I traveled in old South Vietnam I came upon little shops and cafes. There are open markets everywhere as well. Now days it seems like a land of abundance. I understand that after the war this was not the case. In Saigon there are bigger stores, even some supermarket type businesses. I realize the people work everyday - from sunup to sundown. And, I notice many people have several gigs going on either at once or they finish one job and go to another. There does not seem to be much regard for what we Americans worry about as weekends. Work continues everyday. The women who work in the small hotel in Saigon were I stay at rotate shifts all day. The hotel, as does the town as a whole, only go silent from about midnight to five in the morning. The hotel women and girls sleep in the kitchen.
Who are the real capitalists anyway?
Immediately, on walking the streets of Saigon, I began to feel a bit sad. I feel bad for the hours of work so many seem to be toiling away at but something else begins to dawn on me. The streets are bustling everywhere from morning to dark. And when I thought of my stuffy midwestern town in America I feel even stranger. I draw a contrast in my mind of the seemingly impotent silent downtown streets of my Wisconsin town (many vacant buildings) verses the veracious business environment in Saigon streets and other Vietnamese cities. If they don't have the product you want, a complex system of networking will emerge to find what you want. Relatives, friends, and competitors will be summoned to accomplish the sale. Even villages in the jungle have an entrepreneurial enthusiasm that seems to shame my Midwestern homeland. I couldn't stop wondering who the real capitalists are - we Americans or the Vietnamese. At least at the grass roots level, I will never look at my sterile, quiet down town streets in my Midwestern home the same again after maneuvering the commerce crazed streets of Saigon.
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