Going into the trip to Vietnam, everyone I talked to raved about Hoi An and spoke so highly of the tailors who work there. I thought tailors was a random thing for a city to be known for and assumed there would be a few tailor shops here and there. As we went on our bike ride through town, looking down the street, every other shop was either a tailor or a leather shoe store. I was intrigued and went into Bebe tailor shop with a few of the other girls on the trip. I was immediately overwhelmed, the sales women surrounded us. They were throwing iPads, catalogues, and fabric swatches at us and pulling out sketchbooks to draw up designs. It was all too much for me to handle so I went back to the hotel, found pictures of the dresses I wanted and returned the next morning.

My salesperson was named Lien. She drew up my designs, helped me choose fabrics, and took all my measurements. As this was happening, the manager of the store came up and was talking with us. He was ecstatic about our huge group that was ordering everything from dresses, to suits, and shirts. We managed to work out a deal with him, 2 dresses for $100 which when he agreed threw the sales women into a frenzy. He later explained to us that they work off commission which is why they were upset. I assumed they still made okay money though based on how busy the shop and the tailoring industry was and didn’t think much of it.

Three days and four fittings later I had three new friends: Lien, Lina, and Yen. Over the numerous trips to Bebe I had learned more than I ever expected about these women from their jobs to the families. Working at Bebe they made 4 million dong a month (approximately 188 USD). They worked from 8 am to 10 pm most days and only got two days off every month. I later did the math and found out they were only making about $7 a day; and they aren’t even the ones working in the back making the clothing. I imagine that the seamstresses make even less, but none of the women knew. Lina wore a blazer over her Ao Dai uniform everyday and it had been made at the tailor; when I asked if she got a discount she simply laughed and shook her head no.

These women worked so hard and attended to our every need with a smile. As I learned more I realized how vital we are to their livelihood, without our business they would be making even less monthly and I felt guilty for bargaining the price down so low. My dress was finally finished and as I checked out, I gave Lien a $5 tip as I hugged her goodbye. She jumped for joy and hugged and thanked me. The women around who saw were all making a commotion and hugging her and congratulating her. I never expected such a response and realized that while $5 to me was nothing more than a Starbucks coffee, to her it meant so much. The amount of work these women do for so little shocks me and makes me grateful for the $8 minimum wage in America. I wish them all the best and hope one day they make the money they deserve for all the hard work they do and talent they have.

Lien, Lina, Vincent, and I.

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Before I arrived in Hoi An I was told one thing; I must buy hand-tailored clothing and shoes before I left. As an avid shopper I would never say no to custom clothing, so I started looking for tailors as soon as we left our hotel for our first biking tour of the city. Little did I know, tailors and custom shoe stores were everywhere. On a street of 6 stores, a minimum of 4 belonged to spaces filled to the brim with every color, pattern, and material I could ever want or need when designing an outfit. Everywhere I looked I could find men and women willing to make whatever I wanted, even if all I had was a picture of a similar style or an idea in my head. Needless to say, I was thrilled!

Once the fog of excitement began to dissipate, I realized that there was a fatal flaw to the textile-focused city. With the same exact tailors showing the same exact sample dresses, suits, and shoes, how were all of the stores able to receive business? There was simply too much competition to ensure work for every single store. In America, business owners are hesitant to place their shops within walking distance of another similar store, but in Hoi An identical stores line every street and are constantly fighting for the same customers.

My biggest curiosity was how each store was able to attract customers when the store sharing the same wall had the same goods. The answer: online ratings. As soon as I purchased my beautiful dress, the tailor was giving me cards, making me promise to write a review on TripAdvisor, and making sure I was willing to write a 5 star rating. Stores with higher ratings would even place signs in the windows or hanging near the products advertising their online scores! The method to beat competition was not to have the better product, but simply to have the best possible rating that could show tourists that they were the store to chose. The online score was a mark of pride for each store, and every tailor we visited was determined to get a good review out of each visitor.

Never had I been requested to write reviews so often, and I honestly felt guilty not providing a good score for the tailors that worked so hard to make the perfect item for me. Maybe my happy reviews will help attract more customers and beat the competition, but I can only imagine what a poor review could do to a business. Until next time Hoi An, and may the reviews be ever in your favor.

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The next stop on our journey through Vietnam was Hoi An. I had no idea what to expect when I got off the plane but the thing that stuck out to me the most about Hoi An was the “touristy” feel to it. For example, the restaurants felt as if they were targeted to tourists more than the ones in Hanoi as almost every resteraunt we went to had Western food on the menu. Even the hotel we stayed at was more touristy, as it was more of a resort with a pool and spa. Another general observation I had was that much more people spoke English, which was helpful because it made navigating the streets much easier but also added to the idea that Hoi An was more touristy. Because of this touristy feel to it, I felt much more comfortable in Hoi An because it was more like what I am used to when I go away.

I am still constantly amazed by the attitude of the locals towards Americans. Whenever we walked by a group, they would smile and wave and ask where we are from, and are intrigued that we are here as a huge group on a school trip. They always seem to excited to talk to us, and to have our business. For example, at BeBe tailor, almost every person in our group got at least one piece of clothing custom made, and it was obvious that they were ecstatic with the amount of business we brought them as a group. One woman who worked there even came up to me and asked when our group was leaving, and when I told her we would be leaving the next day, she looked so disappointed. This really hit me because it made me realize how much Hoi An relies on tourism to keep their economy going, and helped make sense of why the town feels so touristy; they want to draw us in as our consumption as tourists is vital to the economic success of their businesses. I also noticed how important this was through bargaining as you could easily tell how desperate they are to make the sale to us because they would chase us down the streets after bargaining just to make the sale, which shows they would rather go below their asking price than lose the sale as a whole. This just reinforced how much they rely on tourists to make purchases to help their business thrive.

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After leaving the hectic city of Hanoi, we arrived in the smaller more relaxed town of Hoi An. Though less chaotic, Hoi An is a town that thrives on tourism and its effects are immediately noticeable. The streets are lined with shops with competitive vendors trying to convince you to buy from their shop, insisting that they will give you a “special price” because it is “happy hour.” Whenever a store owner said it was happy hour I would immediately respond “Oh, so it’s a two for one deal!?” Needless to say the shop owners did not find this response very amusing.

When I entered the first shop in Hoi An to look at their inventory, I saw the rest of the family in the back room of the store. This first encounter was very powerful for me because I realized that this shop was the family’s soul source of income and their livelihood depended on a sale. Making a sale was the difference between going to sleep hungry or full. After walking through the streets and seeing almost the same shops selling similar products, I began to think how a certain shop could gain an advantage over the store across the street in this seemingly perfectly competitive marketplace to better support their family. I thought to myself that I would not open a shop because it would not be very successful because no shop had a particular niche that differentiated itself from the rest.

Then walking a few more streets, I saw a shop that had a giant poster that said Trip Advisor and beneath it were reviews that people had given the shop. Although they sold the exact same goods as all the other stores, it gave tourists confidence to buy from their shop because a well-established source recommended it. When I purchased items from these stores, the owners always insisted that I write them a good review on Trip Advisor to help their business attract more people in the future. This intense competition between the stores sparked innovation for one store to gain the advantage over the other and help better support their family. A simple promotional method like a Trip Advisor sign made all the difference; I thought it was genius!

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Another week done, so many more wow moments. I have two moments in particular that stood out to me the most as we traveled through Hoi An. On our last night there we had a group dinner at Trip Nguyen. It was a very small, but welcoming environment. I had actually eaten lunch there with a few of my friends there earlier that day, however I didn’t have the same appreciation of it until we came back later for dinner. When we first arrived there for lunch the main guy, presumably the owner came over to us and had a small conversation with us and asked if we were in Vietnam with a whole group. He was extremely friendly and cheerful, which made me like the place even more. The food was very good and the people were extremely nice so I was excited to go back there for dinner. While we were having dinner I needed to use the restroom and asked where it was. The guy pointed to the back of the restaurant so I proceeded to walk back there. This is when my wow moment occurred. As I walked to the back of the restaurant I reached the kitchen. At first I was extremely shocked that the bathroom was beyond where the kitchen is, and at second glance I noticed that there was only one cook. One cook, cooking four dishes each for 25 people. That’s roughly 100 dishes in the matter of about an hour. I was astonished at how hard this guy was working. As I waited to use the bathroom I watched as this guy cooked without skipping a beat or blinking an eye. He was a machine. After we were done with our meal, the owner sat down with us and he looked exhausted, but still maintained a cheerful smile. After seeing these two men work and serve us, I couldn’t help but think about how hardworking this culture is.

My second moment came as I was walking down the street and saw a military or government building (not sure which it was) and there was a huge mounted machine gun at the top of the building over looking the courtyard. As I continued to walk down the street I began to hear children’s laughter. Next to this government building was a children’s school. I couldn’t believe that they had these two buildings next to each other. I’ve never in my life seen a mounted machine gun; the sight of it made me a little scared. However, these kids no older than 12, see it every day. No parent in America would let their child go to a school next to a building with heavy artillery mounted to the top of it. Such a small thing as the location of buildings made me notice some differences in our cultures.

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Throughout our time in Hoi An, I made a few observations that really struck me about the culture of Vietnam compared to the culture of America. First, I noticed that people are willing to bargain for anything, down to any price, if it means they will make a sale. Second, I saw the complete disregard and lack of compassion towards animals.

The shopping culture of Hoi An did not really surprise me. I knew when I came to Vietnam that I would be able to haggle and bargain almost everything I bought. I also knew that the storekeepers would try to rip me off, and if I didn’t bargain I would probably be paying way too much for a good that was not worth it. What I wasn’t expecting was for shopkeepers to bargain so low with me, or for them to chase me down the street when I walked away. This really struck me because it showed how important just making a single sale was to them. Whether they got the price they asked for or not, any sale was a sale, and it meant money. I also noticed that a lot of the shopkeepers would compliment me or engage me in a nice conversation in order to get me to pay. For example, I was walking in a market and a woman came up to me and asked about where I was from and complimented my hair and my skin, then offered to give me a manicure for $1. While I would have loved to pay for her service, I did not want to get a manicure on the side of the road. She even took me to her shop and showed me around and gave me her card, all in the hopes I would sit down for a $1 manicure. She also told me how her sister is a nail technician in the US, and she was so proud of her for that. I found it very interesting and also kind of sad that she was so proud of her sister for getting to be a nail technician in America, and that she was so desperate to paint my nails. The entire shopping situation in Hoi An was very humbling, and it made me realize I that bargaining a few extra dollars down isn’t really worth it because these people need the money more than I do.

Aside from the shopping, what absolutely struck me the hardest was the animal situation in Hoi An. We constantly saw dogs and cats sleeping on the side of the road, which is normal in a developing country but not normal to me. It broke my heart to see them so skinny and not being taken care of. There were two separate instances, though, that really put me over the edge, and I wish I could have done something to help. First, I saw a small puppy sitting behind a man on a motor bike, shaking and not strapped in. The dog easily could have just fallen off and been run over. Seeing the scared dog, and knowing its fate (eventually it will probably be eaten) made me upset. The dog is helpless and petrified, and the fact that people here do not treat them properly makes me sad. Next, I was in the market and saw a dying kitten on the side of the road. It could not have been more than 3 weeks old, and it was shaking and had red, crusty eyes. I knew that by the end of the day it would probably die, whether it was too sick or got hit by a motor bike. As I am sitting there, wishing I could help it, I see people just walking by, stepping over it, and not even caring that this little kitten is suffering. The entire situation made me rally think about humane treatment of animals, and it would be awesome if those values could be taught to the people of Vietnam, or if an animal shelter could be created. It is hard for me to understand that some people just don’t care about them, especially because they are so helpless and dependent on humans. 

Overall, Hoi An was my favorite stop of the trip. Aside from the sad animals, I loved how easy it was to shop and how I could get anything custom made just for me. The beachy feel and beautiful lanterns and bridges were amazing, and the food was so. Fresh and delicious. I would love to be able to come back to Vietnam and spend more time there. 

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Throughout our stay in Hoi An, and especially when we took a day trip into Da Nang, I was continuously shocked at the amount of construction for resorts. After our reflection period, it definitely made me realize that Vietnam’s exploding economy is extremely dependent on tourism. As Vo said, all of the retailers depend on tourists to make their money as it’s more or less seasonal based with peak season in the summer and winter breaks and slow season otherwise. I found it a little shocking because I feel like a lot of these resorts will cause the competition amongst the resorts to rise, which in turn doesn’t fill up all the hotel rooms. To further explain, say there are 5 resorts that consistently are completely booked, especially in peak tourism seasons, then what happens in 10 years when there are 20 resorts? All of these resorts cost millions of dollars and if they can’t be continuously occupied, then they lose money, thus limiting profits and spending habits that help out the average retailer at the end of the block. When looking out the window on our way to Da Nang, it became apparent that throughout the country, more so in more popular tourist areas, that the rich will only get richer and everyone else struggles to remain at the same social status. Along the fences of these blocked off grids for resorts to be built, were hundreds of homes housing citizens. What happens to them when the resorts are finished and restrict their access to the beaches they used for fishing, a main source of food and income? That became more apparent when driving through the city to the big pagoda, where we drove along this massive beach for tourists, but then at the corner of the cove, was the area that was allowed for fishing, which was clearly over crowded. Although Vietnam is economically growing at a rapid pace because of tourism, I’m intrigued to see if that will eventually be bad for them because it seems as if it’s a business sector that both domestic and foreign investors are diving into increasing the amount of competition with every investor.

Another thing that really struck me was the aggressiveness and persistence of the “promoters” or doors people at restaurants, and the foot vendors. I have worked in retail for more than 10 years and I know the first rule of thumb is to make your customers experience memorable and enjoyable so they come back. However in Hoi An, the amount of people that literally stop me in my tracks to try and get me to buy something with somewhat of a begging tone is out of control. From my perspective, imagine if I stood on the sidewalks of my town stopping people in their tracks forcing them into the store to buy something. To me, that doesn’t sound like I’m enhancing the quality of their experience so that customer is inclined to come back. This sort of lead to me to my next point, which is that most of their economy seemed to be retail based, and as someone who knows retail very well, success doesn’t last forever. When I looked around at the products sold in Hoi An, they were a dime a dozen meaning I could find the same exact product two doors down. So, similar to the resort topic, the level of competition amongst the retailers limits their ability for success. Also, none of the products they sell are commodities or something a person needs or expects to have. For example, I don’t need a piece of artwork to get by, but if I want one, I’ll buy it and that’s it, I don’t need a new piece of artwork every year. The same idea goes with the tailored suits, as say I buy 3 suits. Those 3 suits will last me a very long time. My point is that once enough tourists come here, the level of competition of lack of differences amongst resorts and products will cause the economy to come to a holt. Once someone buys a painting once, they keep it for a while, whereas stores like hardware stores can serve a large market population via construction, interior/exterior designing, and agriculture, on a consistent basis.

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In America there’s definitely a prevalent belief in the saying “money buys happiness.” In the past, I have never agreed nor disagreed with this statement but now that I am in Vietnam and experiencing a different culture, I can strongly say that I do disagree with this statement for I believe that money absolutely cannot buy happiness, in fact maybe money even distracts from happiness.

While biking the streets of Hoi An, looking to my left and right all I could see was small, compact villages living such poor lifestyles from what I am accustom to seeing at home, in America. These families’ houses consist of dirt as the ground and fire as the source of heat. They wear rags for clothing and often people walk around and work with no shoes entirely. It has been very evident throughout our travels in Hoi An that majority of these people are living off of very little to no income. And yet when you bike past them they greet you with big, warm waves and smiles as they continue on with their work. You see kids playing games in the sand and running around with no toys, and yet they look like they are having more fun than kids in America do who have all their complex electric toys.

I think I came to this realization that money doesn’t buy happiness when we went on the coconut boat rides the other day and the native people paddling the boats were so silly and literally seemed more happy than most Americans I interact with on a daily basis. No, they aren’t racking in money like those who work on Wall Street, but at least they laugh and look like they’re genuinely satisfied and happy with the way their lives are going. Living in Fairfield County in Connecticut all my life, I know a lot of people who lead extravagant lifestyles but I honestly can say that a lot of these individuals always seem so stressed to the point you barely catch them smiling or laughing. I think it’s refreshing coming here to Vietnam, seeing such poverty, and seeing these same people who are living with nothing appear happy as could be with the biggest smiles on their faces. Experiencing this has definitely made me realize I need to take a step back sometimes to appreciate how much I have and not let the expectation and stress to make money distract me from the ultimate goal, happiness.

Look how happy this guy looks… He was laughing and smiling the entire duration of our boat ride!!

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On the afternoon of 1/8/2015 we visited the Quang Vinh ceramic factory in Bat Trang, near Hanoi. We learned how the workers used molds to mass-produce certain pottery designs. And we all observed the difficult working conditions inside the factory. The air we breathed was surely unhealthy; the work was clearly back-breaking, required intense focus, and obviously monotonous. We all agreed that you would have to pay us a fortune to entice us to work there, and even then we would probably quit within the week.

After visiting the factory we went inside the adjacent store where we could buy the finished products. We were amazed by both the beauty and the great deals! I bought several hand-painted vases, each costing no more than $4. If I had purchased an American-made vase of similar quality in Seagrove, NC (a hotbed of American pottery); I likely would have paid a price 10 times that. Why? Both places have great artists, great clay, and similar knowledge of ceramic production processes. The difference must come down to labor. The vase I paid $4 for was made by Vietnamese workers; the equivalent vase I might have purchased in Seagrove for $40 was made by American workers. I don’t know the actual wages for either the Vietnamese or the American pottery workers, but I do know that in 2013 the real per-capita GDP (in international $) for Vietnam was 5,126 while the corresponding measure for the U.S. was 51,471.

These two numbers are reliable estimates of the average incomes in the two societies. Why do Americans ceramic workers likely earn more, on average, than the Vietnamese ceramic workers? Is it because American workers have better skills, or are willing to work harder, than the Vietnamese? From what I can see, probably not; perhaps the difference comes down to choice. A worker in the Bat Trang ceramic factory is there because she has no better choice. No American would work there at Vietnamese wages. The typical American has many more choices, often times including the choice of not working.

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