Week 2: Hoi An

While I felt that the tourism industry was booming in Hanoi, it can’t compare to that of Hoi An. The streets are lined with tailors and gift shops just waiting to be filled with the Australian, European, and American tourists who have travelled to Hoi An ready to spend money. The most interesting interaction I have had so far on this trip was with a Vietnamese person on the beach in Hoi An. A 31 year old women approached me and Kelly trying to sell us some bracelets. After telling her we didn’t want to buy anything she started talking to us about her life in Hoi An and her kids and husband. We ended up speaking with her about the differences between America and Vietnam. She kept repeating how nothing in Vietnam is free, and how her parents were only able to give her enough education to learn how to read and write. She’s learned English on her own by talking to tourists. She talked about the war and how people of her generation and younger don’t hold any grudges with Americans, but older people don’t feel the same way and are more reluctant to talk about what happened. This attitude towards the war reminds me of that of American people. Finally she spoke about the fact that the divorce rate is much lower in Vietnam than in America, but if a couple does get divorced it is very difficult for the women to find another husband, yet fairly easy for a man to find another wife. I do not feel that in America women have a much harder time finding a new spouse than men do. Talking to this woman provided good insight on some of the cultural differences and similarities between America and Vietnam, and after speaking with her for over half an hour Kelly and I of course both ended up purchasing a few bracelets each from her.

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