Vietnam: A Street Culture

Crowding the streets of all major cities in Vietnam are vendors accosting tourists to "take a look" at their spreads of knock-off designer purses, clothing with grammatically incorrect English phrases, fruit, vegetables, toys, postcards, city maps, good luck trinkets, conical hats, gongs, string instruments...you name it. Walking down the pavement requires careful navigation around and under merchandise covering the ground and hanging from the outside of storefronts.

Intermixed with the vendors you’ll find Vietnamese people resting on comically tiny red and blue plastic stools. They gather around food stalls serving up traditional delicacies such as: bánh mì, pho and spring rolls. Every type of local likes to sit on the sidewalk and socialize. 






In 95% humidity, you can see young girls in oriental silk costumes working in the tourism industry, construction workers without shirts and pregnant women in pajamas practically sitting on top of one another as motorbikes pass by blowing fumes into their faces. Typically, business men in perfectly pressed suits step out of the office three to four times a day to join the scene for a cigarette and cold beer. In the afternoon, teenagers in uniforms get out of school and scurry over to the nearest corner in cliques to buy a snack or iced fruit drink.

Metropolitan hubs have a growing population of young professionals who can afford a cleaner and more comfortable eating experience than street stalls where perishables are left unrefrigerated, wrappers surround their feet and mutts run free. They turn down the opportunity for an upgrade, because relaxing on the sidewalk (no matter how dirty it is) is an integral part of their social life. In exchange for coping with the noise and pollution, the Vietnamese get what they perceive to be a lively atmosphere full of people watching and the chance to unexpectedly run into friends.

Locals are so used to the overpopulated streets they often take naps smack dab in the middle of the chaos. Frequently shop owners set up lawn chairs outside their stores to solicit passersby and end up closing their eyes. Street vendors curl up in a fetal position next to their goods. Motorbike taxi drivers lie down on their scooters with their heads on the seat and their feet propped over the handle bars.

It’s common to see overheated tourists trying to get down the street aggressively yelling “NO!” at vendors who are trying to pitch a sale. They keep their focus straight ahead as they march forward to their next destination (hopefully somewhere with air conditioning). It’s unsurprising that foreigners unaccustomed to a street selling culture would be stressed by the smells, sounds and sights of Vietnamese cities. The fact that the local people are not only OK with the crowded and loud roads, but choose to relax in the middle of them indicates a clear distinction in mentality. The Vietnamese are susceptible to all the same discomforts as Westerners. They get hot, bitten by bugs and dirty…they just don’t care as much. At the end of the day, engaging in the tradition of congregating with people from all walks of life in the streets is more important than being inside somewhere cool on a hot day.