Stuff Vietnamese people like

Vietnamese people like to take photos. They have polarized into two groups: photojournalist wannabes and nude model wannabes.

Vietnamese photojournalist wannabes try to own semi-professional digital cameras so that they could prove to others they are taking the art of photography seriously. These people sometimes travel alone to the countryside to find picturesque sceneries. You will find these so-called scenery photos featuring at least a person. Vietnamese people like jumping in the photo because they think they will make the photo more beautiful. But often, when these photographers can’t leave the city, you will easily find them on the middle of the road taking photos of a dead rat or a traffic jam from many angles.

Vietnamese nude model wannabes outnumber the photojournalist group, because they don’t need to buy expensive cameras. They have to arrange an appointment with photographers (or the above-mentioned photojournalist wannabes). Even if they are willing to pose nude for free, they will need to queue up a long line in front of the studios. Because they’re desperate to keep up with the fashion trend, these people usually take photos of themselves, with their cellphones or webcams. It will save their time, and even their money (yes, sometimes they have to pay for their own nude photos taken).

If you happen to see a photo collection of a Vietnamese acquaintance, give good comments on the artful work (even if it’s not close to art) and ask her/him the circumstances behind those photos. You’ll have a bunch of stories to tell your friends later.

Traveling alone is economical and fun. Usually, Vietnamese people go online to find information about the place they wanna go and then they start saving money to go there. Some Wednesday afternoon, they suddenly don’t wanna work/study, and the next Thursday morning, after taking a few days off work, they are off to travel on their own with a camera and a backpack.

It’s not easy to travel without a friend, but usually their friends have parents and children and friends and pets and jobs and hopes and plans and memories and futures… and all that they can’t leave behind that fast. And if they have to wait for a team, they’ll have to wait for like another 6 months.

So, some Vietnamese backpackers find companions online, just to make new friends and get their photos taken on the road. Taking photos is an important thing to do for Vietnamese travelers, because they wanna show others that they have been to Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, China, etc. when they get back.

Traveling abroad is a a trend for those who think they are good at English. Vietnamese people feel the need to do it the way foreigners do it: discover new cultures with only a map and without a guide, find the values in places tourists don’t go to or can’t go to. Back home, they try to make you envy them by talking about their pilgrimage as if they were Christopher Columbus just discovering the Americas.