Whilst I am meeting lots of fabulous kind funny people here in Vietnam, and the vast majority of interactions with people are positive, there are a few things that strangers do which have started to get a bit irritating after four months here....
1) People who just stare, without acknowledging a smile or hello. That's rude any place.
2) People (mainly groups/gaggles?/herds? of teenagers) who jostle and dare the bravest to shout "hello" and then before I reply, all run away part-giggling part-terrified, as if they expect my eyes to start glowing red, a forked tongue to flick out or a scaly tail to appear.
3) On the same note, people who wait until I've cycled a safe distance past them to shout "hello". This leaves me in a conundrum - do I ignore them and feel very rude, or turn to shout and wave back, risking veering into an oncoming tractor.
Please, I'm not a freak. I really don't have glowy red eyes. I don't foam at the mouth. I won't bite. So speak to me if you want to, I''m quite friendly. If you don't want to, please don't shout at me...
4) Restaurant/shack owners who, after I've chatted with them (in Vietnamese), and asked how much i owe (in Vietnamese), scrabble around for five minutes to find the appropriate denomination note to demonstrate, or hold up the appropriate number of fingers. Give me some credit, we learnt numbers in week one.
and the next one is by far the most annoying....
5) People who slow down to ride beside me on their motorbikes, wanting to practice English..... Firstly, I can't hear you because you're on a motorbike. Secondly I can't hear you because you have a face mask on, and you're refusing to remove it. Thirdly, you're talking incredibly quickly. So... sorry dude/dudette, it's just not going to work. Please ride on and let me ride in peace?
Wow. That unintentionally turned into a bit of a rant.
All insignificant in the big scheme of things.
I still think Viet Nam rocks....
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