A glimpse through my month in Vietnam, from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi.

In this post I want to share with all of you a fine selection of what was a month traveling through Vietnam. The trip I did in 2013 with my friend Guido, moving from south to north, starting in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), passing through Da Nang, Nha Trang, Hue, Ha Long, Thai Nguyen, Hanoi and Sapa.

Although the scenery as well as the food are amazing, what we really loved about Vietnam was the warmth and humility of its people. We always felt that we were treated like a friend or relative, despite having met us minutes ago. When traveling on the classic tourist circuit of Southeast Asia, there are areas so touristy that the treatment of locals with travelers becomes a little hostile. More than anything we felt that they saw us as money dispensers (South of Thailand and surroundings of Angkor Wat in Cambodia more than anything), when in fact we travel in a very austere and simple (and economic) way. But in Vietnam we never felt that. People, always with a smile on their face, will offer you what they do not have, they will sit at your table next to your family and they will treat you like one of them. Such a humane, pure treatment is very valuable and valued when one is away from home and sometimes devoid of gestures of this type.

Communication can be difficult, especially in rural areas, outside cities. In these rural areas we had to trust our instinct to be able to make ourselves understood. Based on body language and signs we always managed. Sometimes we had no idea that we were eating but well ... at least we got to eat... thats a lot sometimes! 😊 And something that caught our attention was like the local people, when we sat in the little streets to eat something, it was very common for those who attended the stands to approach us and speak in Vietnamese. When my friend Guido is super blond and it is 100% evident that he is a foreigner ... that made us funny and we answered them in Spanish, and between laughs we understood each other.

Something that caught my attention in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries, is how people are covered against the sun. There may be 35 degrees and you see a lot of people in long-sleeved shirts, pants, hat and cap. And asking around I was explained that it is for a status issue. People protect themselves from the sun to keep their skin as white as possible. Because having burned skin means that you work in the sun, in the countryside, in the rice fields ... that is, you are a farmer. The same with the nails, many city men leave their fingernails long, with the same meaning, having long and clean nails means that you do not work in the field, which gives you a better social status. Every culture with its ways of seeing things true? Us westerners usually like to have tanned skin ... I wonder if this also has a background of status?

Well ... I leave here a selection of photos ... I hope you like them! Thanks for reading and for the support!